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Week 16: Big Plays Lead To Rout
Defense and Special Teams score three touchdowns in win.
by Steve Saslow
Here are our position by position grades:
Quarterback:
Ryan Fitzpatrick struggled with his accuracy for a lot of the game but made two big runs. He didn't turn the ball over and did throw for 196 yards on 15 of 27 passing.
Grade C+: Didn't win the game for them, but didn't hurt them either.
Running Backs:
C.J. Spiller ran very well has he had a career high 111 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He had two catches for 27 yards as well.
Tashard Choice had nine carries for 27 yards and one catch for -8 yards.
Grade B: Didn't use Spiller enough.
Receivers:
Stevie Johnson had four catches for 92 yards including a career long 55 yard catch and run.
David Nelson had a big 30 yard reception downfield on the Bills only offensive touchdown drive. Caught three balls for 41 yards in all.
Derek Hagan had two catches for nine yards.
Scott Chandler returned from an ankle injury but didn't catch either pass thrown his way.
Mike Caussin had one catch for six yards.
Kevin Brock caught a 21 yard pass down the field.
Brad Smith had an 8 yard reception before leaving the game with a hip flexor.
Grade C: Undermanned but didn't make any mistakes.
Offensive Line:
Andy Levitre got called for holding in the first quarter to help thwart a Bills scoring drive that ended with a missed field goal.
Kraig Urbik left the game with a knee injury.
Colin Brown replaced Urbik at center and his first two snaps in the shotgun were very bad.
Grade A: Only gave up one sack and gave Fitz time to throw along with opening up holes for the running game.
Defensive Line:
Marcell Dareus dragged down Willis McGahee for no gain on the Broncos first offensive play. He chased Tebow into throwing his first road interception of his career. He had four tackles.
Dwan Edwards only had two tackles.
Kellen Heard was called for an offsides penalty. On Denver's TD drive to start the 2nd half.
Alex Carrington had just one assist.
Grade A: Really stuffed the run well and got pressure along the line of scrimmage.
Linebackers:
Chris Kelsay had a big sack of Tebow late in the first quarter. He then had a run stuff on third and inches for a loss to force a punt. He then stopped Tebow on a third and two run short of a first down. His biggest play was knocking the ball out of Tebow's hand and the pass was picked off by Spencer Johnson and returned for a score. Kelsay had nine tackles and 2 sacks in the game.
Nick Barnett had six tackles in the win.
Kelvin Sheppard had seven tackles and a quarterback hit.
Spencer Johnson had an interception return for a touchdown. Earlier, he had a nice stuff on a running play for no gain.
Arthur Moats brought down Tebow for only a 2 yard gain on a 3rd and 10 scramble and forced a fumble with another hit.
Grade A: Solid game from this unit really kept Tebow contained.
Secondary:
Drayton Florence had four tackles and was solid in coverage.
Aaron Williams had a nice pass breakup on a bomb to Decker. He almost had the interception but would pick off a pass late in the game. He was called for a defensive holding penalty and a pass interference penalty.
Justin Rogers was beaten badly on what would have been a bomb for six points. Tebow grossly underthrew Decker allowing Rogers time to get back there and knock the pass away. He picked off a Tebow overthrow late in the third quarter. Had two tackles and two passes defensed.
Jairus Byrd found the end zone on his 31 yard interception. He had seven tackles.
George Wilson was very quiet with four tackles.
Bryan Scott had a tackle.
Grade A: Didn't have to do too much holding Tebow to just 13 pass completions.
Special Teams:
Brian Moorman averaged 50.3 yards on four booming punts and a solid 44.5 net with two inside the 20.
Dave Rayner missed a 45 yard field goal. Third straight game he has missed his first field goal attempt. His second attempt was also a miss from 31 yards out. He would rebound by hitting his next four field goals from 28, 25, 25, and 29 yards out.
Leodis McKelvin set a club record with 135 punt return yards on three returns. He had a career long 38 yard punt return before beating it with an 80 yard return for a score.
Justin Rogers is a good kick returner. He had 101 yards on three kick returns for a 33.7 yard average.
Coverage Units allowed just 19.7 yards on 7 kick returns and one punt return for 3 yards. A kickoff return for a score was called back by an illegal block in the back penalty.
Grade A: Helped key the victory.
Coaching:
Chan Gailey once again used Tashard Choice too much instead of Spiller. Simply baffling. Tried long range field goal instead of going for it on 4th and 4 in first quarter. Why not go for it when you have nothing to lose? He did have his team ready to play though as they did not give up.
George Edwards had a solid game as the defense contained Tebow very well while forcing four interceptions. The players seemed inspired to play for their beleaguered coach.
Bruce DeHaven got big plays from his unit. All he needed was colder weather to allow for returns.
Grade A: Deserve a solid grade for breaking the losing streak.
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