Beating a team like the previously undefeated New England Patriots take a total team effort.
Sure, Brock Osweiler played well in his second start, Emmanuel Sanders caught nearly everything that came his way even in the snow and C.J. Anderson ran like a man possessed. But one of the standouts who may get lost in the mix was Shaquil Barrett.
Simply, Barrett is a football player. He’s not a guy who wants to be in the spotlight all the time, he’s a young man who just wants to make plays for his team, sometimes ones no one else wants to make.
In the fourth quarter, Barrett — who’s filled in solidly for the injured DeMarcus Ware at right outside linebacker — made a massive play on special teams. The second-year standout from Colorado State University has been playing special teams all season long, making a name for himself there with strong tackles. On Sunday night, he jumped on a loose football for a key turnover.
Beating the then 10-0 Patriots was going to involve forcing at least one turnover, which Denver did brilliantly on this punt.
With the Broncos trailing 21-7 just as the fourth quarter began, the offense went three-and-out and had to boot the ball away. Cody Latimer hit the Patriots return man Chris Harper and Barrett bounded on the bouncing ball.
Four plays later, C.J. Anderson ran the ball around the left side of the line and into the end zone, diving across the goal line to bring the game to 21-14 New England.
The Patriots had to punt on their next drive, Denver booted a field goal to bring the game to 21-17 New England.
Following the kickoff, the Patriots took over at their own 20 yard line and after a short completion and an offensive pass interference called on Rob Gronkowski, Barrett came up big again.
The second-year pass-rusher starts on the left side, stunts inside, bounces off one blocker and isn’t phased, running and diving at Tom Brady to force an early and errant throw.
Barrett looks like a lion pouncing on a standing gazelle; it’s a huge hit high which was considered clean correctly by the officials.
New England had to punt the ball back away to Denver, who eventually took the 24-21 lead before the game went into overtime. In overtime, Anderson’s 48-yard run won the Broncos the game 30-24.
All told, Barrett racked up three tackles with the quarterback hurry and hit. He now has 38 tackles with 3.5 sacks and three forced fumbles on the season as Broncos fans hope he continues to grow.
