Mile High Sports

Broncos grind their way to 10-3 halftime lead in Jacksonville

The offensive woes that have plagued the Denver Broncos early in games didn’t get much relief from a new quarterback, as Paxton Lynch was unable to generate much in his second NFL start. Still, Denver took a 10-3 lead into the locker room at the half thanks to a rushing game that began showing signs of life in the in the second quarter and some fortuitous penalties in their favor.

The Broncos, who rank last in the NFL in first-quarter points, again went scoreless in the game’s first 15 minutes. Denver punted on their first four drives of the game. Lynch completed 9-of-16 passes for 79 yards and was sacked once in the first half.

Lynch had a few opportunities to make plays, but missed open receivers on more than one occasion. His biggest chance came on an underthrown ball to Demaryius Thomas in the second quarter. Jacksonville bailed Denver out on that same drive with a roughing the passer penalty on third down. Kapri Bibbs broke loose on a pair of big runs (24 and 13 yards) later in the drive to set up a 6-yard Devontae Booker touchdown run.

Jacksonville did very little on offense themselves, punting three times and giving away the ball on an interception by Chris Harris. Their only offensive success came on a 30-yard drive that began at their own 41-yard line.

The Denver defense tried to give the offense a jump when Chris Harris Jr. intercepted Blake Bortles and returned the ball to midfield, but Lynch and the offense went three-and-out on the ensuing possession. Lynch badly overthrew Jordan Norwood on third down to force Denver’s fifth punt of the quarter.

Jacksonville punted again on their final possession and Kalif Raymond, who was signed off the practice squad this week, had a nice return and took a late hit out of bounds to give Denver good field position. Lynch hit Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas with completions to give Brandon McManus a 32-yard field goal to extend the lead.

Here’s what the team from Mile High Sports and some of our favorite follows in the Denver media had to say about the offensive output in the first half…

https://twitter.com/AllbrightNFL/status/805486033865474048

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