Broncos whole again after ending 2-game slide vs. Texans

It wasn’t just his incredible lack of success last night, after all Denver’s defense is one of the best in NFL history, it was the way he just looked completely inept at anything he tried to do and it was on National Television.

Bill O’Brien on offense: ‘It has to get better.

Denver Broncos fans are a proud bunch. Several of the strongest runs for C.J. Anderson and Devontae Booker came after he adjusted the call at the line of scrimmage.

Lately, the Denver Broncos ground game lacked some punch. “I thought we traveled very well up here, so to go out there and have a performance like we did, it’s extremely disappointing”, Osweiler said. Denver also rushed the ball effectively for the first time since mid-September.

ROAD WOES: Osweiler is still looking for his first road win with the Texans, who have lost by 27 at New England and 18 at Minnesota and now Denver. Initially, the Broncos had it blocked but ended up giving Novak a second try due to an offside penalty. Nick Novak didn’t miss any field goals.

Poor Osweiler had to face a Broncos defense with its back against the wall and something to prove.

In Kubiak’s second season as Broncos head coach, after Peyton Manning’s departure, then Siemian’s ascendancy, the Denver retooled into a balanced, under-center offense that works incrementally. This was the chance for all of that to be turned around for Osweiler, but instead of doing so he flamed out.

The Texans (4-3) limped home still leading the middling AFC South, where every team has surrendered more points than it’s scored. Denver was especially successful rushing right up the gut against Houston. It was scooped up by Harris on the first play of the fourth quarter and led to Brandon McManus’ chip-shot field goal that made it 24-9.

Takeaways: Osweiler performed as expected and was terrible.

Osweiler has had some serious struggles as the starter in Houston, and those 131 yards were the worst he has ever posted in a start, as well as his third time this season with fewer than 200 yards passing.

And get on the right track they did. Last night against the fifth ranked pass defense according to DVOA, 2.0% behind #1 Arizona, Brock Osweiler completed one pass over ten yards.

The Broncos rebooted against the Texans.

“You run two-man routes against me and Aqib, that’s not really what you want to try to do the whole game”, Harris said. They can’t win without a running game.

Texans tackle Duane Brown said the loss of Newton hit him and the rest of the team hard.

The Broncos didn’t lack the money and they certainly lacked a viable backup plan at the time. Siemian went 14 of 25 for 157 yards and a TD. Anderson gained 107 yards on 16 carries and Booker had 83 on 17 handoffs.

Though the Broncos couldn’t keep everyone, they were able to re-sign key contributors on both sides of the ball, including running back C.J. Anderson.