Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr. was coming off of the worst game of his heralded career and coming up next was perennial All-Pro AJ Green with the playoffs on the line. Instead of folding, the Pro Bowler went back to form and engaged the “No-Fly Zone.”
It took four quarters and an overtime period for Bengals QB A.J. McCarron to hit 200 yards passing on the game. The Broncos defense held the Bengals to just 90 total yards in the second half and Harris held A.J. Green to 0 catches in that same time frame.
What was the formula? “Just loading up the box and me and Talib covering the receivers man-to-man on the outside,” Harris Jr. said. The Broncos gave up two long drives to start the game but completely blanked the Bengals moving forward. T.J. Ward’s answer of “It was just attitude,” seems to be a little more accurate.
But credit cannot be distributed without mentioning Wade Phillips. Harris said that the defensive coordinator had wise words for them at halftime. “Coach Phillips just said that we have to stop this run, man. They were pounding us in the first half. They ran for like 80-some yards in the first half. We just loaded up the box and forced them to pass on us.”
The Bengals had a chance to take the lead back with 7:52 left in the 4th quarter when A.J. McCarron lofted a deep pass to Green that would have certainly resulted in a touchdown if Chris Harris Jr. had not deflected it at just the right time. That play alone could go down as the game saver.
BSN Denver asked Chris Harris about that play and he said “Oh man, That’s what I do. That’s what we do, man. You see me, the only one out there one-on-one (With AJ Green) so you just have to be confident, man. I knew I had a bad game last week so I just wanted to come back, bounce back against another Pro Bowl receiver, and make plays on him.”
For as good as Brock Osweiler was in the second half, it was the defense that halted the Bengals and took back control of the game. Harris did more than elude to this by saying, “We won the game on defense today. Sometimes that’s what it takes.”
