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The Denver Broncos received the ball first to start the second half and Diontae Spencer had a nice kickoff return to the Broncos 43-yard line. Drew Lock was sacked on first down, but a defensive holding penalty negated the bad play after Bradley Roby was called for the hold on Tim Patrick.
Two short gains, one a run by Phillip Lindsay and another a comeback route by Courtland Sutton gained just four yards. On third and six at the Texans 48-yard line, Lock hit Noah Fant for another big gain down to the Texans 25-yard line for a 23-yard gain.
A great play design two plays later faked a handoff to Royce Freeman inside, then Lock turned and fired a screen pass to Sutton who turned it up field for a ten yard gain and another first down. Lindsay would take the next hand off for five yards on first down.
A fake and a quick slant to Sutton gains another seven down to the Texans two yard line for a first and goal. Lindsay would power his way into the end zone on the next play for yet another Denver Broncos touchdown drive to go up 38-3 over the Houston Texans.
Elijah Wilkinson, Austin Schlottman and Phillip Lindsay have the #Broncos pushing 40 pic.twitter.com/pj7nYyQrqe
— Joe Rowles (@JoRo_NFL) December 8, 2019
The Texans finally went no huddle from there knowing that has been an issue for the Broncos defense. In two plays, they were already out past midfield. On the next play DeAndre Hopkins comes wide open for a 46-yard touchdown reception to cut the lead to 38-10.
Plays like this really illustrate how much the #Broncos lack of a true pass rush has hurt the D the last few weeks. pic.twitter.com/sMWad0b9oZ
— Joe Rowles (@JoRo_NFL) December 8, 2019
The Broncos showed no signs of going conservative as Lock went deep to Hamilton on first down out past midfield on the first play on their next possession. A flea flicker had a guy wide open down field, but Lock tucked it and ran for 12 yards and a first down.
Two straight runs by Lindsay set Denver up with a third and four situation. Lock didn’t like what he saw down field and was flushed outside. He was able to scrambled for five yards and another first down on the drive.
Lock looked to go for it all two plays later, but was intercepted at the end zone and returned to the Texans 30-yard line.
Rookie mistake here #Broncos Country. These are going to happen with a quarterback with a gunslinger mentality, but got to hope he learns from it. pic.twitter.com/41d8ToCZZK
— Joe Rowles (@JoRo_NFL) December 8, 2019
After a big run from Watson on the first play, the Texans were already at midfield on their next drive. Kareem Jackson jumped a route and nearly intercepted a pass that he would have easily walked into the end zone for his second touchdown of the game.
The quarter would end with the Texans in field goal range, but they would need touchdowns over field goals in the fourth quarter. They would need four touchdowns to be exact.