The newly located Los Angeles Chargers started off the season in Denver to take on the Broncos. Both are looking to get off to a 1-0 start. It's the last game of Week 1 and the back end of the Monday night football doubleheader and let's see how it goes. The Broncos would start at their 25 on their first drive. They faced a third and 3 early and Trevor Siemian went to Emmanuel Sanders for a four yard completion and the first down. The Chargers would force a punt on the next set of downs and they would take over at their own 11. After a false start, the Chargers Melvin Gordon went for 21 yards for a first down but couldn't get another and were forced to punt. The Broncos faced a third and 4 and Siemian went to Demaryius Thomas for a six yard completion. CJ Anderson would go for 11 yards on second and 8. After an incompletion, Siemian would find Jeff Hauerman for a 20 yard completion. They faced a third and 7, Siemian found Bennie Fowler for a 10 yard pass. Facing a third and 3 and Siemian would go to Fowler again for a five yard touchdown pass. The PAT would make it 7-0 late in the first quarter. The Chargers would face a third and 7 and Philip Rivers would go to Keenan Allen for a nine yard catch. They would face a third and 8 and the pass would fall incomplete but the Broncos would be called for pass interference. Gordon would go 10 yards on second and 10 and would go for no gain on first down as the first quarter comes to an end. First play of the second quarter, Rivers would go to Gordon for an 11 yard touchdown pass. PAT would tie the game at 7. The Chargers defense would get a three and out and would take over at their own 15. They would face a third and 1 early in the drive and Rivers found Gordon for three yards but wouldn't much else going and punt the ball to Denver. The Broncos faced a third and 7 and Siemian went to AJ Derby for a nine yard pass. CJ Anderson would go for 18 yards on the next play. Jamaal Charles would go for four yards on second and 2. Siemian would go to Derby again this time for 13 yards to make it first and goal. On second and goal, Siemian would go in from a yard out and the PAT would give the Broncos a 14-7 lead. The Chargers would take over and would face a third and 2 and Rivers would find Allen for a nine yard completion. Rivers would find Williams for 14 on the next play but they would only gain a yard and would force a punt as the Broncos got the ball back. The Broncos would just run the clock out as the Broncos would lead 14-7 at halftime. The Chargers would get the ball to start the second half and Rivers would be picked off by Bradley Roby and they would get the ball at the Charger 43. On third and 6, Siemian would find Thomas for a 29 yard completion for a first and goal at the 10. The Broncos looked like they would have a touchdown but an illegal shift would call it back and move it back five yards. On third and goal, Siemian would go to Fowler for a six yard touchdown catch. The extra point would make it 21-7 with 10:27 in the third quarter. The Broncos defense forced a three and out to get the ball back. Siemian would find Thomas for 14 then Jamaal Charles would run for 19 on first and second downs. Siemian went to Derby on the next play for 12. After a sack by Joey Bosa, Siemian would go to Sanders for 20. Siemian continued his great drive by completing another pass to Thomas for 12. Charles would go for 2 on third and 1 for a first and goal from the 1. The Chargers held up and reduced to a field goal and the Broncos would lead 24-7 at the end of the third. The Chargers would move the chain on second and 1 when Rivers went to Williams for nine. Rivers went to Allen and came up one yard short on third and 5 and they would go for it on fourth and 1 and the Broncos would get the stop as Todd Davis got into the backfield to give the Broncos the ball back. Siemian would get picked off by Adrian Phillips on third down and give the Chargers good field position. Rivers would go to Gates for 11 yards on second and 10. Rivers went to Williams for 12 on the next play. Rivers would go to Ekeler for 11 for a first and goal. The next play, Rivers went to Allen for a five yard touchdown pass and the PAT would cut the lead to 24-14 still in favor of the Broncos. The Chargers would recover a Broncos fumble by Casey Hayward returned to the Denver 38. Phillip Rivers would go to Travis Benjamin for a 38 yard touchdown pass on the first play after the fumble. Siemian would get into Chargers territory with a pass to Virgil Green and a roughing the passer would give the Broncos a first down at the Chargers 16 yard line. Back to back sacks by the Chargers would force a field goal attempt by McManus and the 50 yard field goal attempt is no good. Rivers would find Williams for a first down on the first play of the drive. The Chargers would face a third and 10 at midfield and the pass would lose two yards and they elected to punt instead of going for it with less than four minutes to go. The Chargers at this point, only have two timeouts remaining. The Chargers would call their second timeout after a three yard gain. The Broncos would have a third and 3 and Siemian would throw the ball away and the Broncos would punt with 2:09 remaining in the game. The Chargers would start at their own 38, down three and have a timeout as they went to the two-minute warning. The Chargers would face a fourth and 1 after Melvin Gordon was just short on third down. Gordon would just get enough for a first down and on the next play, the Broncos would get called for pass interference and the ball would be placed at the Denver 34 and in field goal range. Younghoe Koo would attempt a 44 yard Field goal and the timeout would be called to ice him which he would have made. The second attempt would be blocked as the Broncos would take the victory, surviving a comeback attempt from the Chargers 24-21.
Thoughts on the game: The Broncos for three quarters looked like they were going to run away with the game, but two straight turnovers would get the Chargers back into the game. The Chargers played great in the fourth quarter and had a chance to tie it but the field goal was blocked. I believe that the AFC West is going to be the best division in the NFL this year.
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