DENVER – Case Keenum was in a real rough patch.
The new quarterback who carries almost all hope for a better Broncos season had two early touchdown passes, but then he started throwing interceptions. He was floating the ball high over open receivers.
Worse, his counterpart, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, had thrown a 51-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett for a 24-20 lead on the second play of the fourth quarter.
But Case Keenum is a tough-minded son of a gun who didn't overcome the odds and reach his position of prominence by folding whenever times were troubled.
"Play the next play,'' Keenum said. "The game is still in our hands. We’re up and then they go down and score the touchdown – we’ve got to go make a play. You’ve got to forget about everything that you’ve done and play the next play. It was a big time drive when we needed it the most so I was real proud of my guys. They made some great plays and made some great calls at the right time.''
Phillip Lindsay, the surprise hero of Day 1, got that drive started with a 14-yard run around left end. On second down, Keenum called on another rookie, second-round receiver Courtland Sutton, who made a 25-yard grab.
Now the Broncos were in business on the Seattle 31. It appeared bleak again when the Broncos faced third-and-10. But Keenum drilled a 22-yard seam route completion to tight end Jake Butt. Tack on a roughing-the-passer penalty and Denver had first-and-goal at the 4.
Keenum rolled right and drilled a perfect pitch to the outside corner at the knees. The equivalent being a pass that only a reaching, keep-the-tiptoes inside the painted line that only Demaryius Thomas could catch for a touchdown.
That was it. Broncos win, 27-24.
"Obviously, not exactly how you draw it up but it doesn’t matter how, it matters how many,'' Keenum said.
It was the season opener on a warm, but mostly cloudy Sunday before a sellout crowd of 74,682 at Broncos Stadium at Mile High.
"That was our first one and I’m really excited about how good this football team can be,'' Keenum said. "Because we take care of the ball – I take care of the ball, those are all on me – we’re going to be really, really hard to beat.’’
Another difference between victory and defeat: Broncos placekicker Brandon McManus hit field goals of 51 and 53 yards while Seattle kicker Sebastian Janikowski missed a 46-yard field goal attempt.
Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller turned in a sublime performance, sacking Wilson three times and forcing two fumbles.
It was Miller's best game since he was MVP of Super Bowl 50. He's never won the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award, finishing second twice. But he might as well go for it now. This is the kind of start in which awards follow. In one game, he moved from a tie for 55th place on the NFL's all-time sack list to sole possession of 50th with 86.5 sacks. Not bad for a guy who just started his eighth season.
"I mean it's great to be 29 and in the top 50,'' Miller said. "The league has been around for 100 years so ... it's a true blessing. It just shows you the type of teammates that I've had from Derek Wolfe to Elvis Dumervil to Shaun Phillips, DeMarcus (Ware) of course and Bradley Chubb and Shane Ray and Shaq (Barrett). It just shows you the type of support system that I have.''
Let's go back to Keenum's first two touchdown passes. The key was he delivered the ball quickly to his receivers and while they were in stride so they could take it in from pretty far out.
The first was a 29-yard swing pass to rookie running back Phillip Lindsay, who caught it in the wide-open left flat.
"It was a play we ran a lot throughout the week,'' Lindsay said. "It worked just like it did in practice. It looked like the linebacker kind of got confused. And DaeSean Hamilton had a great block for me.''
An undrafted rookie from the University of Colorado and Denver South High School, Lindsay had a splendid NFL debut, rushing for 71 yards on 15 carries and adding 31 yards receiving -- his first 100-yard game.
The second Keenum touchdown pass was a 43-yard in-route to nine-year veteran Emmanuel Sanders.
The play was set up thanks to tremendous pass protection Keenum received from his offensive line. Maintaining his poise, Keenum waited for Sanders to break open, then delivered a medium-range strike.
Sanders cut from left to right, broke a tackle near the Seahawks’ sideline, and raced in with an airborne, forward somersault exclamation point across the goal line.
"It's not the first time I tried to flip,'' Sanders said. "I've been flipping since I was in college.''
The Seahawks opened the scoring with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Wilson to rookie tight end Will Dissly. That play was one play after Seattle safety great Earl Thomas III intercepted Keenum at the Denver 40 and returned it 25 yards.
On the play, it appeared Keenum thought Demaryius Thomas was going to cut off his go-route. Thomas kept going. By all accounts in the locker room, Thomas did right; Keenum was in the wrong.
"Just a poor decision on my part,'' Keenum said. "Very poor. Earl read my eyes and made a play.''
Later, another Wilson to Dissly completion – this one for 66 yards -- set up a first-and-goal at the Denver 5. However, the Broncos’ defense stiffened thanks in part to a pass interference call against Seattle and former Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall for pushing off cornerback Adam Jones that negated a Marshall scoring reception. The Seahawks had to settle for a 35-yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal.
"He could've let it go but it was the right call,'' Marshall said. "Pacman gave me what I wanted. That really hurt our offense.''
Keenum threw his second interception late in the half that killed a Broncos' scoring opportunity in Seattle territory, and he threw another in the third quarter, again deep in Seattle territory which safety Bradley McDougald returned to Broncos' territory. That one set up a tying touchdown pass from Wilson to Marshall.
Keenum completed 25 of 39 for 329 yards with the three touchdowns but also three costly interceptions that led to 14 Seattle points. But to his credit, three picks didn't lead to four. Three picks led to his third touchdown that won the game. Not sure how good a quarterback Keenum is. But he thinks he's good and therefore, he is.
"He gives everyone confidence in the huddle,'' said tight end Jeff Heuerman, who had a 15-yard reception down the left sideline to be counted among the seven who caught passes from Keenum. "Guys make mistakes, players make mistakes. He threw a couple balls I'm sure he wishes he could have had back but it's football. Guys make mistakes but he still gives us confidence. Even after an interception or two when he steps back in the huddle everyone still believes in him and he wound up making the throw to win the game.''
Sanders had 10 catches for 135 yards. Royce Freeman after a slow start got rolling as the Broncos were trying to chew up the clock on their final possession and had 71 yards rushing on 15 carries.
Wilson was 19 of 33 for 298 yards with Dissly catching three for 105 yards. But he was sacked six times, once for a 22-yard loss by Shaq Barrett who was waiting for Wilson to retreat.
Given the Broncos finished 5-11 last year, winning the first game of the new year was considered significant. Then again, the Broncos are 18-1 in home openers since the turn of the century and they only turned eight of those wins as a catalyst into a playoff appearance. So maybe it wasn't that huge in the grand scheme that is a 16-game, 2018 season.
"It was big,'' Heuerman said. "That was a big win for us. It wasn't pretty but it's also good to face a little adversity. We overcame it and got a win. Championship teams have to do that. You're not going to walk your way all the way to the Super Bowl. You're going to face tough stretches and face adversity and you have to keep grinding. That's what we did today. That was a big one for us.''
