The rookie rushed for a career-high 157 yards and a pair of touchdowns

CINCINNATI (AP) — Nobody’s overlooking 5-foot-8 Phillip Lindsay anymore Shelby Harris Jersey , not with the way he’s run the Broncos right back into playoff contention.Sunday as Denver adapted to a windy afternoon and got its third straight victory, 24-10 over the Cincinnati Bengals.The Broncos (6-6) have emerged from their bye week and knocked off the Chargers, Steelers and Bengals to stay in contention in December.Article continues below ...“Four games left, and they’ve got to be our best four,” linebacker Von Miller said. “We took a long way to get there, and there’s still a long way to go.”Denver handled an unseasonably warm day: 66 degrees at kickoff with wind gusts up to 40 mph that redirected kicks and throws. The plan was to give it to their 190-pound running back and let him live up to his new nickname.They’ve started calling him “Pit Bull.”“I like it,” said Lindsay, who really didn’t have a choice in the matter. “The defensive line gave me the name. When the defensive line gives you a name, you take it.”He took it and ran with it, just like he has since he joined the Broncos as an undrafted rookie from Colorado.“Oh man, I’m so happy he’s on our team,” defensive lineman Domata Peko said. “In training camp and OTAs he was wearing No. 2 and all the guys were like, ‘Who the hell is No. 2? He’s making all these plays on us, man.’“And now the whole word knows it’s Phillip Lindsay, man.”Lindsay ran for TDs of 6 yards and 65 yards — the longest of his career — as Denver got up 21-3 in the third quarter and closed it out against the unraveling Bengals (5-7), who lost for the sixth time in seven games. Lindsay’s two touchdowns matched his career high.Lindsay also became the first undrafted rookie in Broncos history to top 1,000 combined yards rushing and receiving in a season.“I don’t know what else to say about him except the league knows about him, opponents know about him and key on stopping him, but he continues to do so,” said Case Keenum, who completed 12 of 21 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. “He’s having a heck of a year.”The Bengals’ season continues to implode under 16th-year coach Marvin Lewis, who has also coordinated the defense in the last three losses. The crowd of 44,392 was the smallest at Paul Brown Stadium since 2011.The Bengals lost Andy Dalton to a torn ligament in his passing thumb last week. Jeff Driskel made his first NFL start Sunday and went 25 of 38 for 236 yards with a touchdown, an interception, a fumble and four sacks.Standout receiver A.J. Green returned after missing three games with an injured toe on his right foot, hoping to give the Bengals’ offense a lift, but he lasted only one quarter. Green reinjured the foot while running a route and came off the field for perhaps the last time this season, slamming his helmet on the ground before leaving on a cart.“He was obviously battling just to play,” Bengals receiver Alex Erickson said. “I’m sure it’s devastating to him and to the team.”INJURIESBroncos: LB Brandon Marshall was inactive for the fourth straight game with a knee injury. He practiced last week and was listed as questionable. CB Chris Harris Jr. broke his lower right leg in the first quarter. DE Derek Wolfe suffered a rib injury in the second quarter.Bengals: LB Vontaze Burfict suffered a concussion in the second half.FLAGSCincinnati was penalized eight times in the first half, its most in an opening half since 2009. The Bengals finished with 12 penalties for 100 yards.LINE DANCELT Cordy Glenn was inactive for a second straight game with a bad back, prompting the Bengals to juggle their line. Guard Clint Boling started at left tackle Peyton Manning Jersey , and Trey Hopkins started at guard. The line got three penalties for holding, two for false starts and one for an illegal block.FEELING THE LOVEPeko was one of the Bengals’ most popular players during his 11 seasons in Cincinnati, when he’d urge the crowd to get loud during games. Fans cheered him throughout his first game back at Paul Brown Stadium.“It felt really good to get the love from the fans,” Peko said. “Being here for 11 seasons, I was always getting the crowd loud.”NOTHING TO SAYFans in the upper deck tape a large banner to the front of a seating section before each game. On Sunday, they taped up a blank banner — nothing left to say about this season.UP NEXTBroncos: play at the 49ers next Sunday.Bengals: play at the Chargers next Sunday. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Exhibit No. 1 in support of Vic Fangio’s desire to convert Kareem Jackson into a fulltime strong safety is the 10th-year pro’s jackhammering, fumble-causing, touchdown-saving, touchback-inducing, bone-crunching hit of Chargers running back Austin Ekeler .On fourth-and-goal from the 1 and with 7 seconds remaining in the half, Ekeler lined up on the right side of the offense, then raced in front of Philip Rivers, taking the toss and eyeing the goal line. Cornerback Isaac Yiadom came free, forcing Ekeler to bow his path to the pylon.Jackson darted parallel to the goal line and speared L.A.’s tough tailback, jarring the ball loose a foot from the end zone, preserving Denver’s 17-0 halftime lead and maybe even saving their season.“Those are the types of plays we had envisioned when we brought Kareem in here to play safety,” Fangio said after Denver avoided the first 0-5 start in franchise history with a 20-13 win.“It’s always been a part of me,” Jackson said of the reputation he built as one of the league’s hardest-hitting defensive backs during nine seasons in Houston.The Texans tried converting him to safety last season, but injuries in their secondary forced him back to cornerback by October, and he ended up playing the best season of his career, posting 87 tackles, breaking up 17 passes and forcing two fumbles, all career highs.Jackson parlayed that production into a three-year, $33 million free agent deal with Denver, where he had one of the highlight hits of his career four months earlier, a jaw-dropping, bone-rattling hit of Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay.Or, as GM John Elway exclaimed when introducing Jackson, “Kareem welcomed Phillip Lindsay to the NFL.”Jackson ranked that hit as “1B” on his career highlight reel, just behind his stop of a similarly undersized running back with the Vikings.He wasn’t sure this week where to rank his play on Ekeler but he did say Drew Lock Denver Broncos Jersey , “It was my first time in my career getting the chance to be in that position to make that type of play.”The Broncos’ plans to play Jackson at safety were interrupted last month. Because of CB Bryce Callahan’s lingering issues with his surgically repaired left foot, Jackson played the nickel for the first three weeks. Then, a tight hamstring sidelined him against the Jaguars, who capitalized on his absence with a 269-yard rushing performance at Denver in Week 4.“We definitely missed him against Jacksonville,” free safety Justin Simmons said. “Obviously, things are better when he’s out there.”In his first full game at strong safety, Jackson’s 10 tackles led the team and the Broncos allowed just 35 yards on the ground.“We all see what he can do at safety,” cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. “He’s a major impact for us there. To be able to just play free and roam and be able to have open-field tackles, that’s definitely something that we needed in the middle of the field.”Mike Vrabel, whose Tennessee Titans (2-3) visit Denver on Sunday, coached in Houston from 2014-17 and said his “toughness, versatility, instincts” all allowed Jackson to move so seamlessly to safety.“He’s active, he’s disruptive, he can cover, he can trigger (sudden reaction),” Vrabel said. “He made a fantastic touchdown-saving play last week, plays with great effort, cares about the team, throws his body around.”The Broncos’ secondary shuffle shows no sign of abating. The team placed CB De’Vante Bausby (neck) on IR after he was temporarily paralyzed on Sunday and signed eighth-year pro Coty Sensabaugh, who is out to prove he should have been in somebody’s training camp this summer.“I feel like I was one of the best corners in free agency this offseason,” Sensabaugh said before his first practice Wednesday. “And here’s my chance to go prove it.”He could get that opportunity soon because Yiadom, despite his heads-up play that allowed Jackson to meet Ekeler in the nick of time, has been dogged by penalties and poor play in his second season.“He’s got to go out and make some plays so he can be confident. I don’t think he is at this moment,” Fangio said. “But he’s going to have to change that and it isn’t going to be by going to sit on somebody’s couch and get talked into it. You have to go out there and make a play or two to regain your confidence.”No matter his rotation, Fangio wants to keep Jackson at strong safety.“You can argue he can play other positions better than the people we have there,” Fangio said. “We’ve got to weigh all that in the final analysis, but it would be my preference to keep him at safety.”Jackson’s, too.“I’m pretty comfortable there,” he said.