Denver Broncos 17 - Tampa Bay Bucs 10
The Broncos, fresh off their bye, traveled to Tampa and pulled off a big upset of the undefeated Bucs. The Broncos defense was on fire in this one, allowing only 3 points to the mighty Bucs offense (the other 7 came on a kick return late in the 2nd after the Broncos got their first score). The Broncos were able to sustain their drives and kill some clock, effectively executing their plan to keep the Bucs offense off the field. Two huge touchdowns deep to Julius Thomas (which, I'll admit, were the same play, lol) made the difference for the Broncos. Joe Mays made a clutch pick on the Bucs' final drive and the McDouble was able to get enough first downs to kill the clock.
Osweiler was 7 of 9 for 181 yards, 2 TDs and 1 INT. Though the pick was one of my patented arm-based 3rd down punts, I couldn't have pinned them deeper with my punter on 10 tries.
Freeman was 13 of 20 for 151 yards, 0 TDs and 1 INT.
McFadden had 14 carries for 63 yards, while McGahee had 6 for 18.
Michael Smith had 7 carries for 31 yards before leaving with an injury, after which the Bucs mostly turned to the pass.
Julius Thomas had his big boy pants on today, catching two deep balls (one wide open, the other in a bit of coverage) for touchdowns. He ended with 3 catches for 140 yards and 2 scores. I usually am a WR-based offense, but shifting more to the TE today paid dividends.
Delanie Walker lead the Bucs with 6 catches for 65 yards, while Roddy White added 3 for 46. Mighty Stephen Hill had only 1 catch for 15 yards.
The Denver sack boys were at it again, with Miller grabbing two more and Archer adding one of his own. Miller also forced a fumble, though the Bucs fell on it. Joe Mays had the play of the game obviously with his big pick right over the middle.
Bucs got a pick from Stuart Bass as well as a kick return TD from DeVante Stroud.
Couple key injuries in this one, as the Bucs lost their HB early (but only for the game) and the Broncos lose ace return man Tim Trinca-Pasat for the next 4 weeks. I see more touchbacks in my future.
---
gg Hemingway! Always nice to get the win against a tough opponent. My gameplan was to control the pace of the game by holding onto the ball and by making you earn every yard on offense, and I'd say it went pretty well.
Special thanks to staticz for a certain play call recommendation that produced a key play in the game.
