Wow, what a wild finish to the season for the Denver Broncos, who handed the Oakland Raiders a loss in their last game before heading to Las Vegas. Though other results sealed the Raiders’ playoff fate, the Broncos ending the season with a win over their bitter rivals starts the offseason off on the right foot.
With the win, the Broncos finish the year 7-9, which isn’t bad after an 0-4 start. There is a lot for Broncos fans to be excited about heading into the offseason.
Here are four takeaways from Sunday’s season finale.
1. Phillip Lindsay makes history… barely
With 53 yards rushing on the day, Lindsay becomes the first undrafted player in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. But it didn’t come easily.
He needed 42 yards entering the game, meaning he finished at 1,011 yards on the season. He was sitting at 1,002 late in the fourth quarter and was tackled for a one-yard loss while the Broncos were trying to run out the clock.
Luckily, he was able to finish above 1,000 yards on the season. He becomes the first Broncos running back to rush for 1,000 yards in consecutive seasons since Clinton Portis back in 2002-03.
2. Denver dodged some terrible decisions at the end of the game
With 1:41 remaining on the clock and holding a 7-point lead, the Broncos faced a fourth down from Oakland’s 39-yard line. The Raiders were out of timeouts.
Vic Fangio could have brought in Colby Wadman to punt it and try to pin the Raiders deep in their own territory, but he instead brought out Brandon McManus for a 57-yard field goal attempt. He missed.
Now, the Raiders had excellent field position and plenty of time to go down the field and get a touchdown. They did.
That score was helped by unsportsmanlike conduct penalties against Garett Bolles and Isaac Yiadom, which almost cost them the game.
3. Shelby Harris gets the game ball
What a fantastic season for Harris and what a way to close the year. He was terrific on Sunday.
Harris had two key knockdowns of passes by Derek Carr in the game, with the second one deciding the end result. After the Raiders scored a touchdown with just seven seconds left in the game to make the score 16-15, Jon Gruden decided to go for a two-point conversion.
Carr had a clean pocket and tried to get the ball to Hunter Renfrow, who had caught the touchdown pass moments earlier. Harris timed the play perfectly and knocked the pass down.
It was a good thing he did because Renfrow would have scored the game-winning points if Harris hadn’t broken the pass up.
4. Get excited, Broncos Country
After an 0-4 start, this season has to be considered pretty successful and that is for a couple of reasons.
For one, the Broncos have found a quarterback in Drew Lock that they can build around.
Fangio seems to be finding a way to get the best out of his players, something that was not happening in September and October and now, this team heads into the offseason with plenty to be excited about.
Finally, they knocked off the Raiders in a thriller to close the year, and the decade, out. How can we complain about any of that?
It should be a really fun offseason.
