That was an ugly Thursday Night game, but the Broncos once again came out on top and improved to an NFL-best 8-2 record. They have now won 7-straight games, lead the AFC West, and will have a mini-bye week before their big game vs. the Chiefs next weekend.
Like most Thursday Night games, this was a sloppy one. The Broncos held two walk-throughs prior to this game, and it showed. On offense, they looked out of sync, unprepared, and just sloppy. They’re slow starters normally, but it was even worse
tonight as they struggled to score at all. The same cannot be said for the Broncos’ defense, which kept them in it all game, but overall, they looked off tonight.
As for winners and losers, it’s hard to come up with much good despite the victory, but here are your winners and losers from the Broncos’ 10-7 victory over the Raiders.
WINNER – Broncos defense
Much like 2015, the Broncos are winning ugly games thanks to their top-ranked defense. They gave up an early touchdown to rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, but bounced back from that and held the Raiders scoreless for the remainder of the game.
The Raiders were held to just 114 yards passing, 74 yards rushing, 7 points, and the Broncos’ defense sacked them 6 times while Dondrea Tillman came down with his second interception of the season (He’s great in open space).
Nik Bonitto had 1.5 sacks, Hufanga had a big 4th down sack, while Zach Allen, Jonathon Cooper, John Franklin-Myers, Malcolm Roach, and Uwazurike all tallied sacks in this one.
The pass rush was relentless; they held Brock Bowers to 1 reception for 31 yards, and survived another game without reigning DPOY Pat Surtain II.
This unit is playing out of their mind, and the reason they sit at 8-2 right now. Vance Joseph and this unit deserve all the flowers as they continue to play like this despite being down their top defensive player.
LOSER – Broncos offense (everyone)
Woof.
Bo Nix and the Broncos’ offense did not show up for this game. Nix looked flustered and off target. The blocking wasn’t great at times, the receivers dropped passes and struggled to track balls, and the play-calling was iffy at best.
It was their worst overall showing of the season. Not even the 4th quarter could bring them to life. I will say, the short week likely played into this, as they seem to get off to a slow start normally, but it was rough tonight.
Bo Nix threw two interceptions. One ended up being a long arm punt before halftime. He threw a deep ball to Troy Franklin, who was double-covered and it landed in the arms of a Raiders defender. Later in the game, a pass hit Franklin, but he couldn’t come down with it and ended up being a deflection INT. These two turnovers never came back to hurt the Broncos, but something that cannot happen much moving forward.
Play-calling was rough, specifically that 3rd and 1 call where they called a wide receiver pass. The run game was working. Pound the ball and get the first down. That was one of the more head-scratching calls of the season.
Penalties were an issue again, and multiple ones set the offense back and/or killed drives. The big one was an iffy offensive pass interference call on rookie Pat Bryant that erased what would have been a big gain and first down.
Again, they did enough to win the game, but man, it was a sloppy one.
LOSER – Jeremy Crawshaw
Crawshaw has been booting the ball pretty good lately, but man, he had some of the ugliest punts I have ever seen tonight. He had like 3 in a row that he shanked, whiffed, and just kicked terribly.
To his credit, he improved as the game went on and has been pretty good all season, but he had a rough showing tonight. Hopefully, he goes back to booming punts next week, and this showing gets forgotten.
LOSER – Penalties
The Broncos had 11 penalties for 78 yards. Some of these were drive killers, erased first downs, and/or put the Broncos back in awful field position.
We have seen this be a problem all season, and they really need to clean it up moving forward
WINNER – JL Skinner
The Broncos’ special teams have been a problem this year, but they stepped up in a key moment late in the game. It was 4th down, a tie game, and the Broncos’ defense forced another punt. Bo Nix and the offense were struggling to do anything but safety. JL Skinner stepped up and put them in position to kick what ended up being the game-winning field goal.
He put his large mitts on a Raiders punt and set the Broncos offense in great field position. They would go on to kick a field goal, and that would end up being the difference in the game.
WINNER – Best record in the NFL and 7 straight wins
I understand you’re probably coming into this angry, ready to rant, and point out the flaws, but let’s take a step back for a second.
The Denver Broncos are 8-2. They currently have the best record in the NFL, leading the AFC West, have won 7 straight games, and have great odds of playing postseason football this winter.
Enjoy this. Winning isn’t easy, and our Broncos are doing a lot of it right now. It may not be pretty, but how many pretty wins did the 2015 Super Bowl-winning team have? It wasn’t all that long ago that we had Nathaniel Hackett on the sidelines leading this team into the dumpster without a first-round pick, Russell Wilson signed to a historically bad contract, and the Broncos being a total embarrassment.
Yes, this team is flawed, and these flaws may very well catch up to them at some point but man, things could be much worse right now. We have lived through it. I’d rather live through ugly wins and an 8-2 record over the dark times of 2016 through 2023.
Other notable Winners and Losers
- S Talanoa Hufanga – WINNER: He has really stepped up lately and has been making plays all over the field. Hufanga is healthy and is a big reason why this defense is elite this season.
- WR Pat Bryant – WINNER: The rookie wide receiver made probably the biggest play of the game and took a Bo Nix pass down the sideline and into the red zone. This would set up the Broncos’ only touchdown of the game.
- EDGE Dondre Tillman – WINNER: He intercepted his second pass of the season and showcased his open-field moves once again.
- RB J.K. Dobbins – WINNER: It wasn’t flashy, but Dobbins was the Broncos’ offense tonight. He totaled 18 carries for 77 yards and helped the offense milk the clock late in the game.
- Stopping TE Brock Bowers – WINNER: Bowers was expected to be a big part of the Raiders’ offense, but the Broncos’ defense held him to just 1 catch for 31 yards.
- RB Tyler Badie – LOSER: He drops at least one pass every week.
- Thursday Night Football – LOSER: Produces an ugly product most weeks.
