Every football game is shaped by certain plays, some are more obvious as they show up on the scoreboard, some you may not even notice on the stat sheet unless you saw the play itself.
On Monday night, the Broncos got a little bit of everything on their way to a playoff-spot-clinching victory, but there was something three of the biggest plays had in common, all of them came from a player with a chip on their shoulder, a player who was looked over by every team in the league many times over.
First it was one-time undrafted free agent C.J. Anderson taking the handoff from Brock Osweiler, cutting back to the left side and taking the carry 39 yards to the house, giving the Broncos the lead and finally tipping the game, which had been leaning their way for most of the half, in their favor.
“It felt good,” Anderson said after the game. “At one point, I was like, ‘C.J. you might have lost it.’ I have to protect the ball. That’s something I have to do better and I’ll work on that. It just feels good to get a big win and put ourselves in the playoffs.”
Credit: Rob Z at Fightposium
Yes, Anderson was not perfect and it did seem, at one point, as if he had made one of those game-shaping plays for the other team. Instead, the seesaw was kept on the orange and blue side due to a play made by a guy who carries himself with a similar edge to Anderson.
After the Bengals earned one first down to get out to their 40-yard line Chris Harris blew up a screen to Mohamed Sanu. On the next play, NFL journeyman, and 2009 seventh round pick Vance Walker busted through the middle of the Cincinnati line, sending A.J. McCarron nine yards back before sacking him and setting up a third-and-20. Effectively ending the Bengals bid at a game-winning drive in regulation.
“It’s always a great thing when you can make those big plays whether it’s me or my teammates,” Walker told BSN Denver. “But I’d say, at the end of the day, my teammates know what I’m capable of so it’s not really a surprise to them, they’re just happy and the same goes for myself. I just do what I have to do for us to be the number one defense, we all do.”
Then there was Chris Harris, another UDFA who made a huge play of his own in between those two. Just after Anderson’s touchdown the Bengals had finally gotten their offense on track for the first time since the first quarter, as they approached Denver territory they went for it all. McCarron targeted A.J. Green deep down the middle, but Harris was there, matching Green stride-for-stride and eventually breaking up the pass, very possibly turning out to be the difference between a go-ahead touchdown and a game-tying field goal for the Bengals.
“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,” Harris told.
Three plays that shaped the game, earned the Broncos a playoff berth and, more importantly, three players who have helped shape the mentality of the team.
There is no exact formula for developing a mentality and an identity for a football team. For example, the Carolina Panthers operate with vast arrogance and confidence, there’s nothing wrong with that, it fits their personality and it feeds their confidence but it’s not the only way.
For the Broncos, it’s the something-to-prove mentality that fuels them. It’s something that is within players like Anderson, Harris and Walker and something that manifests itself throughout the team. It’s within the backup quarterback, who’s been asked to follow up a hall-of-famer, it’s within the coach, who was fired from his last head job, it’s even within guys like Demarcus Ware who many thought was done after his injury issues last season.
The mentality is contagious and only grew stronger as doubters started to pile up during their 3-4 stretch that followed their 7-0 start. Many of those doubters still exist but the team has punched their ticket to the dance, and at this dance their identity can be quite dangerous.
– Big thanks to Rob Z at Fightposium who gives BSN Denver such awesome cartoons!
