Will Anderson Jr. was a menace. That’s the simplest way to describe his performance against the Broncos on Sunday.
Houston’s rookie pass rusher made his presence felt early when he pushed off Denver right tackle Mike McGlinchey before sacking quarterback Russell Wilson for an 11-yard loss on the Broncos’ first drive of the game.
At the start of the third quarter, Anderson freely charged into the backfield for another sack. And later, he tipped a Wilson pass that ended up in cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.’s hands for an interception.
The Broncos’ offensive line was showered with praise after they contained edge rusher Myles Garrett and Cleveland’s elite pass rush in Week 12, allowing a sack and four hurries total.
But in their 22-17 loss at NRG Stadium, the Texans’ pass rush, led by Anderson’s masterful performance, did whatever they wanted as they finished with five sacks and eight quarterback hits.
“(The Texans) got a really good front and their (head coach DeMeco Ryans) allows them to play with a lot of speed and physicality,” right guard Quinn Meinrez told The Denver Post. “Push the pocket and keep Russ contained was a part of their game plan.”
Anderson showed why the Texans drafted him with the third overall pick last spring, getting in Wilson’s face throughout the Houston win with two sacks, four quarterback hits and five tackles.
Wilson has shown that he still has a little speed left in him at 35 years old. But it wasn’t enough to escape the wrath of Anderson, who recorded the first multi-sack game of his career.
“He’s got a lot of power. It’s going to be dangerous when he polishes the whole thing,” McGlinchey said. “He’s in a great system for what he is capable of doing.”
Houston defensive end Jonathan Greenard also got home against the Broncos’ offensive line. After Anderson recorded his second sack of the game, Greenard took down Wilson for a 7-yard loss, forcing the Broncos to punt with 13:03 to go in the third.
Denver went a dreadful 0-for-11 on third down.
“We didn’t block well enough at times, we didn’t run the ball the right way when we needed to,” McGlinchey said. “We’re going to look at this film hard.”
In the final seconds of the fourth, Greenard (four tackles, sack, two quarterback hits) put the finishing touches on what had been a dominant day for the Texans pass rush. He got past left tackle Garett Bolles and pressured Wilson, who ended up escaping but threw his third interception to safety Jimmie Ward in the end zone with nine seconds left.
This season, the Broncos offensive line has been inconsistent in pass protection. Last week against the Browns, it seemed like the unit was turning a corner at the right time after Garrett didn’t record a sack.
In Sunday’s loss, where the Texans flipped the script on the Broncos to improve their playoff chances, the unit took a step back. Denver allowed the most sacks since Week 10 when it gave up four against the Bills. Now, Wilson has been sacked 36 times in 2023 — the fourth-most in the NFL.
“I got to play cleaner and we all got to play better,” Wilson said. “There are better days ahead.”
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