Brock Osweiler scrambles out of the pocket for a gain. He played through an injured left shoulder and elbow. “I am not special case,” Osweiler said. “Everybody is banged up. I will be ready to go.” (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)
It wasn’t always pretty. In fact, a lot of times it was ugly. The Broncos’ offense scored just three points in the first half, but they made some key adjustments in the second half and overtime to add 17 more on the board.
The biggest shift was the re-emergence of the no huddle offense, an asset that was prevalent when Peyton Manning was the starting quarterback.
Denver went to it late in the second quarter leading to their first points. It appeared again in the third and fourth quarters with more success.
After looking overwhelmed by the Bengals’ defensive line for much of the first half, the Broncos’ transition to the no huddle allowed its offensive line to play with more push and kept Cincinnati on their heels.
“It caught them off guard a lot,” running back C.J. Anderson. “That’s not a Kubiak-style offense that they’re used to seeing. We kind of went back into what we’ve done in previous years and good thing we all knew it.”
Turning back the clock revived an offense that looked dead in the water. The Broncos scored their first second half points since November 29th versus New England and the box score told the true story.
Broncos first half: 89 total yards, 16 rushing, three points.
Broncos second half and overtime: 301 total yards, 97 rushing, 17 points.
“It looked like they were getting a little tired,” tight end Owen Daniels said. “We stuck to it and got some good things out of it. It was a nice change up. We didn’t plan on doing that but it’s good to know that we can adjust.”
It could be a one-week transition or it could be a key wrinkle to use during playoff time.
“We always tell ourselves since April we wanted to be the best conditioned team so if we want to go up tempo we can and if we want to slow it down we can,” Anderson said.
Versatility has never been a bad thing.
