Walking the Walk: How Noah Fant and Dalton Risner have proved their mettle as rookies

[Miles]

The good things Fant and Risner are doing are not hard to see.


That’s especially true if you sat in the first row of section 131 during the Broncos’ game against the Jaguars.


On a second down in the first quarter, the Broncos ran a play-action pass that turned into a tight end screen for Fant. With Risner and center Connor McGovern blocking ahead of him, Fant split the blocks and then cut back to sprint through three defenders to find daylight for a 25-yard touchdown.


He capped it by leaping up on top of the wall and celebrating right in front of the sea of fans in the south stands.


“Most guys would have gotten tackled probably for a 10-yard gain and you have to earn it the rest of the way in the end zone,” Offensive Coordinator Rich Scangarello said on Oct. 3. “Instead, you score from the edge of the red zone and you get the touchdown. That’s what game-changers do in this league, it’s what makes you a better play caller, a better offense and a better team. It’s exciting to see that. He’s going to continue to develop and we’ll try to use him in those ways.”


Fant added a 75-yard touchdown in Week 9, as he broke three tackles to record his second score of the season.


Risner’s most notable play so far came in Week 3, when he also scored a touchdown — at least, in a manner of speaking.


The Broncos could not afford anything less on that play in Green Bay. It was fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. They handed the ball off to Lindsay, who was momentarily penned in behind a strong push at the line of scrimmage by Packers linemen. He bounced outside and then ran into lineman Dean Lowry as he was being pushed backward by Risner. Thinking quickly, Risner did the only thing he could: He pulled Lindsay out of Lowry’s grasp and pulled him into the end zone.


This is no surprise now; finishing plays like that is simply what Risner does. Call it whatever you want — most just call him nasty.


“That’s something I take pride in,” Risner said. “By ‘nasty player,’ I mean my work ethic as well. It’s not always going to be banging a guy into the ground, sometimes it might be finishing Phillip Lindsay into the end zone, sometimes it might be me sprinting down 20 yards to help up my running back — I take pride in that. I’m never going to be the biggest guy on the field, I’m not going to have the biggest biceps, I’m not going to be some monster, you know what I mean? But the type of effort I have on the field, I believe that sets me apart. In the NFL, when you have such great players, the extra things that you do — like your work ethic and your drive and passion for the game — really sets you apart, and that’s what I try to take pride in and continue working on that each week.”


And if Risner had any lingering worries about Flacco holding a grudge for the Goldman hit, it sounds like it’s all water under the bridge.


“I think he’s doing an unbelievable job,” Flacco said on Oct. 2. “When you turn on the film, just how nasty he is and stuff out there on the field and all that … it’s unbelievable. I think he’s doing an awesome job mentally, too, just being on top of the calls and making call and adjusting to this. I can’t say enough good things about him.”