The Broncos put together an unbeaten October, and their kicker was a big part of the reason why.
Wil Lutz, who knocked home a walk-off 39-yard field goal to cap a wild comeback win against the New York Giants and didn’t miss a kick over Denver’s 4-0 October, was named the AFC special teams player of the month Thursday.
Lutz made all six of his field goal attempts and nine extra points over a perfect October. That run included several big kicks. Not only did he make the walk-off against the Giants, but he was the only kicker in the AFC to hit two field goals from 55 or more yards in the month, knocking home a 55-yarder against Philadelphia and then a 57-yarder (his longest as a Bronco) the next week against the New York Jets in London.
“We didn’t kick a lot of field goals this month, but we kicked some big ones,” Lutz said Thursday. “When you have team success, it brings individual success. It’s a testament to, shoot, there’s been a lot of blocked field goals this year, but our o-line’s been outstanding and our field goal operation’s been great.
“We’ve got a lot of football left to play.”
Lutz had little room for error most of the month. The Broncos’ first three victories came by three, one and one point, respectively, and each required a fourth-quarter comeback.
The value of consistent kicking was never higher than against the Giants, when Lutz made all three of his kicks and New York’s kicker missed a pair of extra points.
Lutz also won the monthly award in November last year and became the second player in franchise history to take home the award twice, joining former kicker Matt Prater.
Mims out again. The odds of receiver Marvin Mims Jr. playing Sunday took a hit when he missed his second straight day of practice Thursday.
Mims suffered a concussion on a late-game kick return against the Cowboys and has not participated in either day of practice this week. Given the phases a player must pass through to clear the league’s concussion protocol, missing two days entirely makes it very difficult for Mims to get cleared to play at Houston.
Backup center Alex Forsyth was added to the injury report as a limited participant and otherwise Denver’s report looked the same: Mims, CB Pat Surtain II (pec) and TE Nate Adkins (knee) out, and S P.J. Locke (neck) limited.
LG Ben Powers has a ways to go in his recovery from a torn bicep earlier this month, but he was on the side field doing conditioning work Thursday.
Rizzi mum on Mims injury. Head coach Sean Payton on Monday said Mims was only in the game for a kickoff while leading by 20 with 4:44 to go because of a communication failure. Mims sustained a concussion at the end of the play.
Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi was not willing to elaborate Thursday about how the communication broke down.
“I’m not avoiding the question, I’m just not going to get into substitutions and how we do that, and I’m going to leave the injury stuff to Sean,” Rizzi said. “I appreciate the question and know where you’re going, but I’m just going to let him handle that. With the substitution stuff, itap a competitive advantage thing, and I just don’t want to get into that stuff.
“I’ve been in that head coach seat before for a little bit and understand the sensitivity of it, so I’m just going to stay away from it.”
Corner Riley Moss fielded a punt after Mims left the game, and Tyler Badie is the next man up on kick return, but Rizzi said Thursday the Broncos have several capable options to sort through if Mims can’t play.
Harvey rookie of the week: Broncos rookie running back RJ Harvey was named the NFL’s rookie of the week for Week 8.
Harvey scored three touchdowns in just eight offensive touches Sunday in a 44-24 win against the Cowboys. The second-round pick out of UCF opened Denver’s scoring with a 40-yard touchdown run and later added a 1-yard plunge on a direct snap and a 5-yard reception in the fourth quarter.
Harvey has 315 total yards of offense (200 rushing yards) on the season and five total touchdowns (three receiving).
