Denver Broncos vs Jacksonville Jaguars Match Player Stats On Dec 04, 2016

The Sports Xchange
Dec 4, 2016

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Needing a victory to keep pace in an increasingly competitive AFC playoff race, the Denver Broncos turned to a talented defense as their offense sputtered for most of the afternoon Sunday at EverBank Field.

As is usually the case, the defense delivered.

Denver forced Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles into three turnovers, including an interception that was returned for a touchdown, and held on to win 20-10 in what was mostly a defensive slog.

The win moved the Broncos (8-4) ahead of the Miami Dolphins for the sixth spot in the AFC playoffs; the loss eliminated the Jaguars (2-10) from playoff contention for the ninth straight season.

The game changed on the third possession of the third quarter with the Broncos leading 10-3. Looking for receiver Allen Robinson on third-and-4, Bortles was hit by outside linebacker Von Miller as he released his pass, which floated to cornerback Bradley Roby, who returned it 51 yards for a touchdown.

The interception was the 11th returned for a touchdown in Bortles' career, including the third in the past four weeks, and gave the Broncos a 17-3 lead.

Riding one of the best defenses in the league, Denver (8-4) didn't need much else.

Bortles ran for a 22-yard touchdown to pull the Jaguars within 17-10 early in the fourth quarter, but the Broncos buckled down from there.

Denver forced a turnover on downs, a pair of punts and recovered a game-sealing fumble when Miller pushed right tackle Jermey Parnell into Bortles as he tried to step up in the pocket.

A 41-yard field goal by Brandon McManus iced a game that was more difficult than the Broncos would have liked.

With starting quarterback Trevor Siemian out due to a sprained foot suffered during a difficult overtime loss to Kansas City last week, the Broncos needed their defense to step up.

Rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch started in place of Siemian and struggled to find any sort of rhythm. He finished 12 of 24 passing for just 104 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions.

Denver used an eight-play, 75-yard scoring drive in the second quarter for its only offensive touchdown, a possession that was helped when Jaguars linebacker Telvin Smith was flagged for hitting Lynch in the head on a third-down pass attempt.

With a new set of downs, the Broncos gashed the Jaguars for runs of 24 and 13 yards by Kapri Bibbs. Devontae Booker then scored on a 6-yard run after breaking an attempted tackle by Smith and overpowering strong safety Johnathan Cyprien into the end zone to put Denver up 7-3.

Denver tacked on a field goal to go up 10-3 at halftime in large part due to more penalties called on the Jaguars.

Bortles ended the game 19 of 42 for 181 yards.

NOTES: Jaguars TE Julius Thomas (back) did not play against his former team. Signed away from the Broncos prior to last season, Thomas was out for the second consecutive week and missed his third game of the season. He has 30 catches for 281 yards and four touchdowns this season. ... RB Denard Robinson started with RB Chris Ivory (hamstring) out and RB T.J. Yeldon (ankle) limited. ... Kalif Raymond had punt returns of 19 and 22 yards for the Broncos. ... WR Emmanuel Sanders reached 400 career receptions with his first catch of the game -- a 12-yarder in the first quarter. ... Denver is 7-0 this season when leading at halftime.