Broncos seal playoff berth with OT win over Bengals

The energy, crackling at kickoff, barely rippled.

The game started off with Cincinnati absolutely picking on the best defense in the NFL.

“He’s trying to tackle a guy and they are struggling; a lot of those things don’t get called and they let it go”, Lewis said.

This is what the team was built for.

“We came out and we started fast”, McCarron said.

A win over the Bengals, who haven’t won a Monday night road game in a quarter century, would put the Broncos in the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.

However, the Broncos’ defense again forced a punt.

The score was 7-0, then it was 14-0. A 39-yard C.J.

It’s OK to be real about it. Chances are, the Broncos aren’t going anywhere in the postseason. The penalty aided the Broncos in their drive toward a field goal in overtime.

All that hard work on that drive–54 yards in six plays–went for naught though, as Broncos placekicker BRANDON MCMANUS sent his 45 yard field goal to the left and nowhere near the goalpost which sent the game to overtime. “We thought we were going to finish it with the field goal at the end (of regulation), but it’s all about that win”. “Everybody stayed in focus, and that’s what it takes”.

“Early in the week it looked like there was a chance Peyton Manning could regain the starting role for the Denver Broncos”. He’s suited up for 13 of Denver’s 14 games this season missing only one with a hamstring injury.

“We loaded the box”. At times, they employed a no-huddle attack and ran plays quickly, denying the Bengals opportunities to make defensive substitutions. “That was the key”.

Seahawks: Coach Pete Carroll indicated that running back Marshawn Lynch could rejoin the team later this week but cautioned no decision has been made as to whether he will play in the regular-season finale this week at Arizona or in the wild-card round of the NFC playoffs.

The offense’s tweaks were familiar to all who watched the Broncos’ Week 2 comeback at Kansas City.

Cincinnati, which holds a one-game edge over Denver and is one game behind New England for the best record in the AFC, can also wrap up the AFC North with a win.

“Their tight end is out, so that kind of changes their game plan”.

Denver Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders (10) scores a touchdown as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Josh Shaw (26) defends during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Dec. 28, 2015, in Denver. The ref looked at me.

And then, after the half, Denver got things together on both sides of the ball.

John Elway wanted kicking and screaming.

“That’s not a Kubiak-style system that they’re used to seeing”. And yeah, Osweilier may have shown he’s ready to break free from that second-half monkey on his back (his first-half passer rating entering Monday was 109.4, in the second half just 65.6).

“We felt like they were getting a little exhausted”, Daniels added. “We’ll get it figured out”. “We didn’t plan on doing that but it’s good to know that we can adjust”.

And it might help the Broncos in January, as well. Everything on top of the playoffs is gravy after the way these two teams started.

Browns: Coach Mike Pettine hadn’t seen the latest viral online video featuring quarterback Johnny Manziel when he spoke to reporters Monday afternoon, but Pettine said he would discuss it with Manziel. So if we want to slow it down, we can.