Emergence of C.J. Anderson in 2014 sparked Denver Broncos second half

C.J. Anderson wasn’t a household name early on in the beginning of the 2014 season. Heck, he wasn’t even in the top three running backs on the depth chart. With injuries to Montee Ball and Ronnie Hillman early on, C.J. got his chance to shine and took every opportunity to do so. The second-year back out of the University of California ‘wowed’ Broncos fans and essentially became a fan favorite. Not to mention, the addition of Anderson shifted the Broncos from a one-dimension offense to a two-headed monster.

Denver realized after Super Bowl XLVIII that they needed to shift the way their offense was ran, yet took no measures to do so early on. Peyton Manning was playing at the top of his game early on in the season and hit a wall during week 11 against the St. Louis Rams. That game was the turning point of the way Denver’s offense was ran. We all witnessed how ugly, gruesome, and even disheartening a one-dimension offense can be. Denver was out-coached, out-muscled, and of course outplayed in a disappointing 22-7 defeat to the Rams at the Edwards Jones Dome.

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From that point on, Denver emphasized the run game with C.J. Anderson carrying the load. The next two games were as good as it got. Anderson recorded 167 yards on the ground against Miami and 168 yards against Kansas City the following week, earning the NFL FedEx Player of the Week Award for week 13. Anderson showed he was more than capable to keep the starting reigns for the rest of the season and perhaps the future premier back for Denver. There’s not a doubt in my mind that Anderson will remain the starting back entering next season, even with a healthy Montee Ball who has turned out to be a waste of a second-round pick.

One play that stood out to me and many others this last weekend against the Indianapolis Colts was the infamous fourth-and-one run. Anderson appeared to have had a loss of two yards but kept his feet moving and avoiding tackles left and right. That’s determination. It seemed as if C.J. was the only one that cared about winning that day, trying to help Denver advance to their second-straight AFC Championship Game. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but Anderson has made his name known around the league and in Denver for sure.

C.J. finished the 2014 season carrying the ball 179 times for 849 yards, racking up eight touchdowns on the ground. Anderson also collected 324 yards receiving while notching two touchdowns. In essence, C.J. collected a total of 1,173 yards and 10 touchdowns to his credit.

While the talk of the Broncos regards the head coaching vacancy, take some time to reflect on just how good Anderson played in the second-half of the season for Denver. He was basically the spark plug that helped Denver bail itself out of a one-dimensional offense. I’m personally looking forward to just how good Anderson can be in 2015. Keep in mind, he’s only 23-years-old.