Lions at Broncos third quarter recap

The Denver Broncos opened the second half with the ball tied up at 10 a piece with the Detroit Lions. Diontae Spencer took a goal line kick off 46-yards out to the Broncos 47-yard line to give Denver solid field position to start the second half.

DaeSean Hamilton continued having a breakout game this week as Drew Lock found him open for a 16-yard gain over the middle. He had 4 catches for 56 yards to this point.

On first down, Phillip Lindsay gained four yards and then a quick pass outside to Courtland Sutton gained another five to set them up with a manageable third and one. Andrew Beck took it the rest of the way to get the first down on his first carry of the game and season.

Sutton continued grinding his way for tough yards, taking a catch outside and fighting for a few extra yards to gain six on the play down to the Lions 17 yard line. Royce Freeman would burst through the line for a nine yard gain to setup a first and goal for Denver.

Back-to-back rollouts to his right, Drew Lock threw one inaccurate pass and the other to Sutton in the end zone was perfectly played and broken up by Darius Slay to force a third and goal from the eight yard line. Lock, from the shotgun, had a laser to Sutton that was barely broken up. It looked like a touchdown all the way, but both Lions defenders made great plays to the ball to force the field goal attempt.

Denver took their first lead of the game to go up 13-10 early in the second half.

The Detroit Lions came out determined to run the ball and ripped off two big runs to begin their first second half possession to get them out past midfield at the Broncos 49-yard line. Then back-to-back runs would net just a single yard to force the Lions into a third and nine situation.

David Blough, from the shotgun, fielded a low snap and fired a pass to an open Danny Amendola for an eleven yard gain and a first down. The Lions went back to the ground game from there and quickly got down to the Broncos 22-yard line on two strong inside runs against that depleted interior defensive line of Denver.

After a quick first down strike to Kenny Galloway, another six yard gain on the ground put the Lions down inside the five yard line. On second and four, another two yard gain would force a third and short at the Broncos three yard line.

Galloday would take a screen pass inside and lunge for the goal line to put the Lions back on top 17-13 late in the third quarter.

Faced with a third and eight, Darius Slay was called with a defensive pass interference to gift the Broncos a first down instead of a three and out. Phillip Lindsay gained four yards on first down, then followed it up with a two yard loss on second down to bring up another third and eight.

Drew Lock found Hamilton over the middle who was tackled a yard short of the marker to bring up a fourth and one. The Broncos would go for it on fourth down, with an option to Andrew Beck who was about to be tackled and he flicked the ball outside to Lindsay who turned it up field for the first down.

Lock would end the quarter with a quick pass to Sutton over the middle for a 13-yard gain down to the Lions 32 yard line.