OS VETS Week 11: NYJ @ DEN Wrapup - bcruise's Blog

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OS VETS Week 11: NYJ @ DEN Wrapup

Posted on October 28, 2011 at 10:52 PM.

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Jerome Simpson hauls in a 54 yard Tebow bomb to to seal a dramatic Broncos OT victory.

If At First You Don't Succeed...

Tebow shrugs off missed FG to lead Broncos to OT victory over Jets

Boxscore: http://xtreme-football.net/OSVETS/gamecenter/76645

No one at Mile High thought it could possibly happen. After Tim Tebow led the Broncos on a 4th quarter march to the endzone, the ball was placed at the feet of kicker Matt Prater, a 53 yard field goal for the win. But it was not to be - Prater, who booted a 58-yarder earlier this season, inexplicably left it short. After surviving a near miracle Hail Mary from Mark Sanchez, and the Jets having the first possession of OT, Tebow found Jerome Simpson over the top of Jets FS Brodney Pool, a 54-yard play that set up Prater again, this time from 35. He made good, and sent the Denver sellout crowd into a frenzy, and the Broncos back to .500 for the first time since week 2.

The first half was all about both teams' running games, as Ladanian Tomlinson and Knowshon Moreno chewed up the run defenses. Tomlinson broke off 53 and 61 yard runs while Moreno answered with a 73 yard run of his own, all occurring in a wild 2nd quarter that saw 27 points scored.

In a game as tight as this you really have to look at the turnovers, and indeed both of Sanchez's interceptions cost the Jets dearly. Both occurred in their own territory and both led to scores. Tebow threw one of his own, but it was on a deep ball that ended up in the hands of Jim Leonhard at the Jets own 2. Sanchez's second INT in the 3rd quarter was particularly excruciating, as what looked like a completely errant throw ended up right in the numbers of Brian Dawkins. The Broncos cashed it in a few plays later with a short Tebow dumpoff over the middle to Moreno, giving them a 20-17 lead.

That wasn't it, by a longshot. After a bit of 4th quarter field position football, Sanchez and the Jets took over at their own 29 with 6:34 left. Led by Tomlinson again, they marched down to the Denver 13 but were stopped there, and managed only the field goal to tie the game.

That's where the legend of Tim Tebow picked up a few more pages. Starting from their own 20 with 3:11 to go, Tebow engineered a drive that (following a near-disaster sack-fumble) included a 3rd and 14 conversion to Brandon Lloyd, who slipped off Revis and into the slot for that play. That got Denver to the Jets 39, and one missed FG later the teams were heading to OT.

...Or were they?? With one second left on the clock after the miss, Sanchez, from his own 43, heaves the ball toward the endzone. And Santonio Holmes got under it and pulled it down above Rahim Moore and Andre Goodman. But it wasn't enough - he caught it at the 2, was stopped there, and the Broncos lived to see OT. After one first down the Jets were forced to punt, and that set up - finally - the deciding play of this game. The Jets, without Eric Smith due to dehydration, were forced to play backup FS Brodney Pool. Tebow, off a play fake, saw the single zone coverage on the left side, and heaved up a prayer toward recent trade acquisition Jerome Simpson.

It was answered.

The question couldn't have been asked until now, it wouldn't have even been fathomable - did the Broncos actually win a game due to the trade of franchise player Champ Bailey?? But these are the facts - Denver is 3-2 since the Bailey trade, have shot to the top of a wide-open AFC West division, and are riding an incredible wave of momentum into San Diego next week. Oh - and they're also undefeated with Tim Tebow at the helm.