CINCINNATI — Shane Ray carried the weight of high expectations through his rookie season after the Broncos drafted him in the first round last year. Early in his second season, he just wanted an opportunity. And after veteran DeMarcus Ware broke his arm in a game last week, it was Ray’s turn to shine.
The second-year outside linebacker steamrolled to a career-best game, sacking Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton three times in the Broncos’ 29-17 victory at Paul Brown Stadium. With Cincinnati ahead by two in the third quarter, Ray sacked Dalton twice on back-to-back plays, pushing the Bengals out of field-goal range.
The Bengals set their sights on strongside linebacker Von Miller, using double teams and extra attention to keep him away from Dalton. That left Ray on the weak side to stretch out.
“They tried to block me one-on-one with a tight end. I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ray said.
With less than two minutes remaining, as the Bengals grew desperate, Ray sacked Dalton again on a first down. Miller followed with another on the next play.
“Everybody was looking to see what I would do with D-Ware being gone. I wanted to step up,” Ray said.
Dalton Plan. Dalton entered Sunday with a league-high 732 passing yards. He was allowed only 206 against the Broncos and their secondary.
“He had 100 yards before the last drive,” cornerback Chris Harris said. “So really, we kept him under 100. But that was our guy. We want to continue to play smash-mouth defense. They ran the ball a little bit on us, but we were able to shut them down on the pass.”
Safety Will Parks, who filled in for T.J. Ward when Ward exited briefly with a neck injury, said the team’s practice and last week prepared them for the moment.
“We didn’t beat them today; we beat them on Tuesday,” Parks said. “We went out there and we just practiced hard Wednesday, practiced hard Thursday, practiced hard Friday, and then put all of the finishing touches on. We came out and finished strong.”
Heuerman firsts. Jeff Heuerman made his regular-season debut not far from where he starred in college, at Ohio State. The second-year tight end missed all of 2015 with a knee injury and had a delayed start this season because of hamstring and ankle injuries.
His return was crucial, as the Broncos were without starting tight end Virgil Green (calf), and he made his presence felt. Heuerman’s first catch was a 29-yarder in the fourth quarter that helped to set up a game-sealing touchdown pass to John Phillips.
Injured, inactive. Outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware (forearm), offensive tackle Donald Stephens (calf) and tight end Virgil Green (calf) stayed in Colorado to rehabilitate from their injuries. Joining them on Denver’s inactive list were rookie safety Justin Simmons, who fractured his left wrist against Indianapolis; quarterback Austin Davis; cornerback Lorenzo Doss; and offensive lineman Connor McGovern.
During the game, safety T.J. Ward (neck) and offensive tackle Russell Okung (back) left briefly with injuries but later returned. Coach Gary Kubiak said after the game both were OK.
Footnotes. The Broncos improved to 3-0 — and 76 percent of teams that have started 3-0 reached the playoffs… Broncos coach Gary Kubiak is 7-0 in his career against Bengals coach Marvin Lewis… Receiver Bennie Fowler and offensive lineman Ty Sambrailo returned from elbow injuries for their first game of the season… Center Matt Paradis (offense), cornerback Aqib Talib (defense) and kicker Brandon McManus (special teams) were selected as game-day captains for the Broncos on Sunday.
