LONDON, UK — At the risk of getting carried away, Justin Simmons may not only have rescued the Denver Broncos from another dispiriting defeat, he may have silenced the criticism of the team’s top two leaders, saved jobs and turned around the season.
That’s all. At least for now.
Simmons, the Broncos’ standout safety, came up with the Denver defense’s play of the year when he thwarted a Jacksonville first-and-goal from the 1 opportunity early in the second quarter by leaping up at the goal line to intercept a pass thrown by Jaguars’ quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
The Jaguars’ quarterback rolled right and was intending to hit receiver Marvin Jones Jr. in the back of the end zone when a leaping Simmons, who was roving on the play and watching Lawrence’s eyes, snagged the pass a good 10 yards in front of the intended target.
“That’s tough on the quarterbacks,’’ Simmons said, kindly offering Lawrence an excuse. “Any time you’re a free roamer on that play he’s going to lose you in the pile. The offensive line is standing up. He’s running. So my job is if he wants to make a back-line throw I’m tall enough to hopefully get my hands on it.”
The Jaguars were already leading 7-0 going into that first and goal at 1 chance. Go up 14-0 – (and why doesn’t running back Travis Etienne Jr., who rushed for 156 yards in the game, get three chances to run it in?) – and there’s no telling how badly the Broncos get beat. The Broncos, who brought in a four-game losing streak, were already playing terrible through the first quarter and first couple minutes of the second. The Jaguars may well have rolled to victory.
Instead, the Broncos rallied for a 21-17 victory. Which means the Broncos are 3-5 with some hope for a second-half comeback -- and not 2-6 and virtually assured of their sixth consecutive losing season and seventh without a playoff berth. Which means head coach Nathaniel Hackett and quarterback Russell Wilson get a couple weeks reprieve from the season-long ambush of criticism they have received. Which means there won’t be any significant staff shakeups – not that there would have been but bringing a five-game losing streak into a bye week is never a good recipe for NFL job security.
Perhaps the Simmons’ play will do for Denver this year what Champ Bailey’s pick six off the Chargers’ Drew Brees in game 2 did for the 2005 Broncos. Or maybe Simmons made a play that simply allowed the Broncos to beat a bad team.
Actually, Simmons made two big plays that saved the Broncos 11 points.
Defenders never get enough credit for this but Simmons also saved a touchdown later in the second quarter when he chased down Etienne on a long run to keep his gain to 49 yards. While the play set up a Jaguars’ field goal for a 10-0 lead, again Simmons would not let the Jaguars go up 14-0.
“Yeah, I missed it last week and it cost us 7 against the Jets,’’ Simmons said in reference to how as the last man to beat he couldn’t stop Breece Hall’s 62-yard touchdown run in the Jets’ 16-9 win. “So that was on my mind. As a post safety it doesn’t matter, you’ve got to get him down. I did a better job with that.’’
Simmons also acknowledged he was called for two penalties that helped extend the Jaguars’ drive he eventually snuffed out – including one for taunting. So he was a bit bashful about taking too much credit for the interception.
“After those penalties, I just kept thinking we’ve got to make a play,’’ Simmons said. “And that’s your whole thought process the whole time within the scheme of the defense. You don’t want to go out of your way. You’ve got to trust the other 10 guys out there with you. Guys were making plays all day. Dre’Mont was causing havoc, Chubb was causing havoc.’’
Dre’Mont worthy of payday with free agency looming
Broncos outside linebacker Bradley Chubb has received most of the attention because of his potential trade but with Denver on bye week, management may want to consider tying up defensive lineman Dre’Mont Jones with a contract extension. Like Chubb, Jones has 5.5 sacks and is eligible for free agency at season’s end.
Where Jones is unique is he’s one of the league’s best interior pass rushers. Only the Jets’ Quinnen Williams among interior defensive linemen has more sacks than Jones with 6.0.
Jones is also six months younger than Chubb, has a cleaner injury history and figures to be a bit cheaper. Jones has particularly flourished under new defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero’s system as he has been granted a little more freedom to go after the quarterback.
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