Broncos Upset Titans to go to 2-2!

The Broncos pulled off an upset on Sunday as they went into Nashville and defeated the Tennessee Titans 26-20. Kyle Orton hit Correll Buckhalter on a 6 yard touchdown pass with 1:33 to go to give the Broncos the 23-20 lead. Tennessee returner Matt Mariani mishandled the short Matt Prater kickoff (Shades of Jason Elam's kickoff in the 1998 AFC Championship against the Jets) and Cassius Vaughn recovered to give the Broncos possession deep in Titans' territory. Prater added a 36 yard field goal with 28 seconds left to pad Denver's lead to 26-20. Vince Young took a couple of deep shots down the sideline, one was almost caught by the Titans, but the Broncos were able to hang on for a big road win. Denver opened the scoring on a 2 yard hookup from Kyle Orton to Eddie Royal in second quarter. The Titans tied it at 7 when Young hit Kenny Britt for a 8 yard score midway through the second. The Broncos and Titans traded scores until Tennessee held a 20-16 lead midway through the fourth. Orton's fourth down pass in the endzone to Jabar Gaffney was incomplete and the Broncos turned the ball over on downs. The Broncos forced a Titans' punt, and they got the ball back at midfield with just over two minutes to go in the game. A pass interference on a 2 and 25 play gave Denver the ball at the Titans' one yard line. That set up the game winning pass by Orton to Buckhalter.
Here are my quick hit points on the win........

1) Orton threw for over 341 yards and two touchdowns, but he really needed to bring his team back on the road for a victory, and he did that. He showed a lot of poise because he was taking a beating in the beginning of the game, but he hung in there and made an Elway-like comeback at the end.
2) The Broncos running game was virtually nonexistent. Laurence Maroney and Buckhalter combined for a total of 8 yards rushing. There is no where else to go but up for the Broncos run game. Hopefully, with the line starting to get healthy the Broncos can somehow improve in this area.
3) Give credit to the defense for shutting down Chris Johnson. The Broncos limited Johnson to just 53 yards on 19 carries. He was a nonfactor all game long.
4) The Broncos special teams continue to kill them week after week. Denver gave up a 98 yard kick return to give Tennessee a 17-13 lead in the third quarter.
5) This was a big road win for Josh McDaniels. The Broncos stabilized themselves at 2-2 in the AFC West, and now go back on the road against Baltimore. It would have been hard to see the Broncos being able to rebound if they lost the game at Tennessee and fell to 1-3.