Broncos win again as Osweiler stars in relief
Quarterback replaces injured Siemian, runs and passes for three touchdowns.
DENVER 25 INDIANAPOLIS 13
INDIANAPOLIS — Quarterback Brock Osweiler ran for one touchdown and passed for two Thursday night in leading the Denver Broncos to a 2513 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
Osweiler replaced the injured Trevor Siemian in the first quarter and played his best game of the season.
The Broncos (5-9) needed it. After ending an eight-game losing streak Sunday, they won on the road for the first time since Dec. 4, 2016.
For Indianapolis, it was more of the same. The Colts (3-11) blew a 10-0 lead and have lost five in a row, the longest skid of coach Chuck Pagano’s six-year tenure.
Osweiler looked more like the player the Broncos envisioned when they drafted him in the second round in 2012, and the guy who filled in for an injured Peyton Manning during the Broncos’ 2015 Super Bowl season. He completed 12 of 17 passes for 194 yards and led three second-half scoring drives.
“He played with great poise,” Broncos coach Vance Joseph said. “He played great, clean football and it led to a win.”
C.J. Anderson ran for a season-high 158 yards. But it was a rugged night. Siemian went to the locker room because of a sprained left shoulder after Barkevious Mingo drove him into the ground on the Broncos’ second series. Siemian did not return.
The scariest moment came with 14:01 left in the second quarter when Denver linebacker Deiontrez Mount appeared to make helmet-to-helmet contact with Colts tight end Brandon Williams on a punt. Williams was knocked over backward and stayed on the ground as players from both teams watched trainers and doctors strap him to a backboard and remove his facemask. Pagano said afterward that Williams had a concussion and was back in the team’s training room after initially being taken to a local hospital.
Pagano said that Williams was “doing well.”