How loudly would Rocky Mountain thunder shake Broncos Country if Phillip Lindsay and Melvin Gordon didn’t wait until after the game to do the traditional uniform swap and decided to switch teams prior to kickoff between the Broncos and Colts?
Would you trade Gordon for Lindsay right now?
Look who’s back in this dusty old cowtown. The favorite son returns home for Thursday Night Football. Lindsay could carry the rock for the Colts, while everyone in Denver prays Gordon doesn’t fumble the football for the Broncos.
Well, well, well. Grab the popcorn. Let’s ride.
You riding with Melvin? Or Phillip?
Should Lindsay take the field for Indianapolis for the first time this season, here’s guessing the stadium will shake, rattle and roll with cheers from a whole lot of Broncomaniacs who will momentarily forget this is a must-win game for a Denver team that has yet to establish a solid offensive identity and can’t seem to shake the nagging feeling coach Nathaniel Hackett might mess everything up.
In our football crazy state, Lindsay forever will be considered one of our own.
Gordon, who has dropped the ball after chasing Lindsay from Broncos Country, is persona non grata.
Despite a costly fumble that resulted in a scoop-and-score for Las Vegas during Denver’s fifth consecutive loss to the hated Raiders, the Broncos have little choice except to place the football and their trust in the shaky hands of Gordon, because starting running back Javonte Williams was shelved for the season by a bummer of a knee injury.
The angst Gordon revealed in a brief post-game soliloquy of self-flagellation after handing a touchdown to the Raiders has inspired more angst than confidence in these parts.
But that might not even be the juiciest part of this story.
The Colts, one of only two NFL teams that have had more trouble lighting up the scoreboard than Denver during this season’s opening month, will be without All-Pro running back Jonathan Taylor, who sprained his ankle late in a loss to Tennessee. His backups, Nyheim Hines and Deon Jackson, have combined for eight yards on 10 carries. Lindsay, a former University of Colorado star who started 32 games for the Broncos from 2018-20 and rushed for 2,550 yards, is ready, willing and able to be elevated from Indianapolis’ practice squad.
Earlier this week, before Taylor was definitely ruled out of action in Denver, Colts coach Frank Reich said: “If J.T.’s not up, Phillip will work into the equation.”
Lindsay is a local football hero. But he doesn’t work here anymore, in no small measure because the biggest Colorado football hero of them all never believed in an undersized running back whose 5-foot-8, 190-pound frame is all heart.
In his role as Broncos general manager, John Elway was reluctant to pay Lindsay. And his successor at GM, George Paton, ultimately parted ways with him, because the Broncos doubted Lindsay could pick up the blitz as a pass-blocker, catch the football as a target out of the backfield or withstand the physical pounding to carry a heavy offensive load. That’s why Denver spent good money to acquire Gordon in 2020.
All the criticisms of Lindsay’s skillset have merit. He has had trouble holding a job since departing the Broncos, bouncing from Houston to Miami to Indianapolis, rushing for a meager 249 yards on 88 carries along the way.
But we’ve also seen what Lindsay can do when he gets on a roll. He has brought the crowd at Mile High to its feet by rushing for more than 100 yards three times in the stadium, against the Lions, Steelers and hated Raiders. His team’s record in those games? 3-0.
Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson expects Gordon to redeem himself. On a Denver team that often seemed to lack a sense of urgency in September, Gordon showing desperation to regain everyone’s trust might be a good thing.
Desperate for any kind of offensive spark, the Colts would be foolish not to tap the red-hot passion of Lindsay, itching for his number to be called and aching to show his peeps back in Colorado he’s not done yet.
As a member of the Broncos, Lindsay found the end zone seven times in Denver. On his return home, can you imagine what Lindsay might do if he scores a touchdown for the Colts?
It could be a mile-high salute nobody would ever forget.
