DENVER — On Sunday, a 5-foot-8, 190-pound, undrafted, local running back scored the first touchdown of the season for the Denver Broncos.

On Sunday, a 5-foot-8, 190-pound, undrafted, local running back led the Denver Broncos in rushing yards.

On Sunday, a 5-foot-8, 190-pound, undrafted, local running back was handed the ball on the last two offensive plays for the Denver Broncos, trusted in the biggest moment.

“It couldn’t be better,” said fellow undrafted Bronco Chris Harris Jr. “It couldn’t be a better story!”

Unbelievable.

Incredible.

Unfathomable.

It was none of those.

On Sunday, a 5-foot-9, 190-pound, undrafted, local running back did exactly what anyone who has ever seen him play expected him to do.

World, meet Phillip Linsday, Colorado’s native son. He’s here to stay.

Born in Aurora, raised at Denver South and groomed at the University of  Colorado, on Sunday, Lindsay burst onto the NFL scene, turning 15 carries into 71 yards and two catches into 31 yards and a touchdown, all in all, averaging six yards per touch.

“Whoever is hot gets the carries and he was hot today so he carried the load,” head coach Vance Joseph said after the game.

Well, get used to Phillip Lindsay carrying the load then.

This guy is cut from a different cloth. He’s not like the rest of us.

If you or I had gone to high school less than 10 minutes from the stadium and went from not being able to afford to go to games to being the one people were screaming for, we would have wanted to soak it in.

If you or I went from idolizing Terrell Davis to wearing his jersey number in the same Orange & Blue, we would have stopped to smell the roses.

Not this guy.

“I walked on the field, and I just said, ‘It’s a football game, and I want to prove that I belong here and I want to show everybody why I love this game,'” he told BSN Denver after the game.

If you or I would have become one of very few Colorado natives to score a touchdown for the Denver Broncos, we would have basked in the glory.

Not this guy.

“I was so focused on the next play. I had to go on for kickoff,” he explained. “When I’m the zone, I don’t think about things like that, I think about what I can do to help us win… I’m locked in.”

If you or I would have found ourselves face to chest with a guy damn near three times our size, we may have thought twice before giving him a piece of our mind.

Not this guy.

“That’s just who I am. I’m not backing down to anybody. I don’t care who you are.”

This is the type of guy you want on your side. In fact, John Elway wishes he could have 53 Phillip Lindsays, yet 32 teams passed on him at least five times. Oops.

One team got lucky that nobody else saw what everyone within a 50-mile radius of the stadium he lit up on Sunday afternoon has known for years. This guy is special.

He’s been under-recruited, underrated and underappreciated and now he’s under the lights at Mile High. So what does he have to say to those who doubted him?

“I don’t got nothing to say to nobody,” he stated. “It is what it is. We’re all human. People have to understand, you can’t let another person tell you what you’re capable of doing. You can’t sit there and let somebody dictate who you are. I want to be a role model to young kids coming up. Don’t let somebody tell you that you can’t do something. Don’t let somebody tell you you’re too small or something like that. That’s just somebody trying to belittle you based on what they think. Well, it doesn’t matter what they think, it’s about what you bring to the table.”

Lo and behold, Phillip Lindsay brings a feast.

On Sunday, a 5-foot-8, 190-pound, undrafted, local running back surprised thousands. Thousands more just nodded and smiled.