OAKLAND, Calif. -- The moment C.J. Anderson turned something that looked like it was going to be bad into something exceptionally good -- something that even had Peyton Manning shaking his head and smiling -- Anderson knew what he had done to most of the faithful in O.co Coliseum.
He knew he had broken hearts and crushed spirits in the Denver Broncos' 41-17 win over the Oakland Raiders. Anderson knew because he used to sit in those seats and scream the same chants. As a native of nearby Vallejo, Anderson resided in Raider Nation for most of his childhood.
"Just sitting in the stands, like a bunch of the kids, a bunch of the fans [Sunday]," Anderson said, "when I got to see Tyrone Wheatley make plays, Charlie Garner, Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Zack Crockett; [to] be on the same field as they played on and have a good game was great."
A good game? How about being the player who made the game-saving catch? Anderson's 51-yard catch-and-run for a second-quarter touchdown now has a spot at, or near, the top of the list of important plays in whatever becomes of the regular season for the Broncos. Because until that play the Broncos looked like they left their offensive mojo in Denver.
Manning had two interceptions, four passes batted down, had been called for an intentional grounding and the Broncos were losing 10-6 to the winless Raiders.
"That was as fine a play as I’ve seen so far this season, I have to tell you," Manning said. "Thought they had pretty good coverage on the play across the board … felt like I was feeling somebody kind of close to me, didn’t want to have a sack certainly in that situation. It easily could have been a catch for minus-2 yards or something. Next thing you know he breaks the tackle, I don’t know how many guys he made miss, but … just truly an incredible effort play on his part."
Rookie cornerback Bradley Roby, who snared an interception with 3 minutes, 30 seconds to go in the first half, shook the Broncos awake a bit, giving Denver the ball on the Broncos’ 47-yard line. Ronnie Hillman went for 2 yards on first down. Manning then threw an incompletion.
"Our running backs coach, Coach [Eric] Studesville, said this week, that there are plays out there for us," Anderson said.
Facing a third-and-8 and under some duress after the snap, Manning turned toward Anderson, who had not yet finished his route, and lofted what looked to be another incompletion. But Anderson snatched the ball out of the air with only his right hand. He tucked it away quickly, making Raiders linebacker Miles Burris miss.
Then Anderson made linebacker Sio Moore miss as he turned up the Raiders' sideline. Then Charles Woodson arrived slightly too late, sliding down Anderson’s back. Raiders defensive tackle Justin Ellis was also late to shove him out of bounds. And as Anderson, who finished with 163 total yards, cut back across the field, Raiders cornerback Carlos Rogers missed another tackle.
"Third-and-forever and he came out and made a play, took it all the way," Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas said. "Some people were surprised, he made about five, six people miss. He tries to tell everybody, I’m never going to go 80, but I’ll run somebody over … We needed that. Once I saw him cut back … I knew it was going to be a touchdown."
"Once I saw [Thomas] and Wes [Welker] go flying by me, I was like this has a good chance, this could happen," Anderson said.
From that point the roof caved in on the Raiders. Justin Tuck said "it took the wind out of our sails and we weren’t able to get it back." The Broncos scored one more touchdown before the end of the first half to go with three more in the third quarter to leave with another rout in hand.
"That play right there, that’s one busts everything out," linebacker Von Miller said. "We needed a play and C.J., he gave it to us."
