The Broncos are back to winning ugly!
Ugly is the best way to describe this game. The Chargers played like a 0-4 team that has been decimated by injuries, while the Broncos continued to struggle on offense and had lapses on defense. However, despite the ugliness, the Broncos and quarterback Bo Nix led yet another 4th quarter comeback and came away with the win with the help of their defense.
This team makes winners and losers difficult because they are a complete rollercoaster through 4 quarters, but
we’ll figure it out. With all that said, here are your winners and losers from the Denver Broncos 23-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
LOSER – QB Bo Nix/Broncos offense
Nix is once again having a slow start to his season. We saw this last season, when Nix looked just off, lacked confidence, and he and the entire offense tended to struggle. In the past, he has snapped out of it as the season went on and has played well late, but right now, he just looks off again.
Sean Payton was back calling plays, but it didn’t really help too much. Nix looked a bit shook, took some sacks/hits he doesn’t typically take, and the offense once again looked disjointed.
Now, it’s not just a Bo Nix thing. The offense struggled throughout. The offensive line was giving up pressure quickly, the run game was non-existent, and they struggled to move the ball and put points on the board.
With that said, they did score 13 points in the 4th quarter, including a Nix touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton.
Nix finished the game going 16 of 27 for 123 yards and 1 touchdown. He also fumbled the ball during a scramble, which led to a Chargers touchdown on the very next play.
It wasn’t pretty, and it needs to improve, but they made plays when they needed to and came away with the win. At the end of the day, that is all that matters.
WINNER – Broncos defense/pass rush
Outside of one run play and a couple of third downs, the Broncos defense played very well against this struggling and banged up Chargers offense.
They held Justin Herbert to just 121 passing yards, sacked him 5 times, had 3 turnovers, and came up big in the 4th quarter when it mattered the most.
The Broncos’ defense kept them in this game and, at the end of the day, won them this game.
It should be noted how far from 100% this Chargers offense is. They were down all but one of their starting offensive lineman, down multiple wide receivers, and were already struggling to begin with. Even though the Broncos were down their top two corners, they should have dominated this game, and they did for the most part.
They had three blemishes throughout. Giving up a first down on 3rd and 15, allowing Herbert to run for 20+ on 3rd down, and forgetting how to tackle on a Vidal run that led to a go-ahead touchdown. Outside of that, they played well and squashed any hope of a comeback by the Chargers late in the game.
They are going to need this type of effort from this defense moving forward.
WINNER – EDGE Nik Bonitto
Broncos star pass rusher Nik Bonitto has had a slow start to his season, but he was a big part of their defense today. He made multiple plays in the backfield and had 2 sacks of Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.
The Broncos will need Bonitto to get things going and go on a roll moving forward. This defense is known for its sacks and needs to get back to having multi-sack games more often.
WINNER – EDGE Que Robinson
Robinson had what ended up being the biggest momentum shift in the game.
It was 4th and 1 with 10:35 left in the 4th quarter; the ball was near mid-field, and the Broncos were trailing the Chargers 17-10. Jim Harbaugh decided to go for it and trust his big and athletic quarterback, Justin Herbert, to sneak it for the first down easily. He does it often.
Not this time. Broncos’ second-year edge rusher Que Robinson stonewalled him and pushed him backwards.
Turnover on downs.
The Broncos would get the ball at midfield, drive down the field, and tie the game up with a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton. From this point on, the Broncos would go on a 13-0 run, and we can pinpoint the exact spot where the game swung in the Broncos’ favor.
WINNER – WR Courtland Sutton and RB JK Dobbins
The box score may not look great, but both veteran players have had a slow start to their season and had huge impacts on this game.
JK Dobbins looked off for most of the game, despite scoring his first touchdown of the season early in the game. He once again looked to lack the explosiveness he had last season throughout most of the game, but he came alive late. He had some big runs in the 4th quarter and finished with 18 carries for 68 yards (3.8 YPC) and 1 touchdown.
Again, not great, but saw some life late from the veteran back, and hopefully, we can build on that moving forward,
As for Sutton, he was mostly invisible for most of the game and finished the game with just 2 catches for 18 yards. However, his touchdown tied the game late, and like Dobbins, he showed some life. We need more of that from both, and hopefully, he can build on this momentum moving forward.
LOSER – WR Jaylen Waddle
This sucks.
He’s showing his frustration on the field, and once again, his production is lacking. Just 2 catches for 19 yards on 5 targets. He would have had a big play over the middle of the field late in the game, but he ended up dropping the ball.
The production and impact we all, and probably the Broncos, thought we would get from Waddle isn’t happening. He has dropped a handful of balls now, Nix is having his struggles, the OL isn’t giving Nix much time consistently, and the play-calling is in flux.
They need to get Waddle going if they want to get things going on the offense.
LOSER – Broncos offensive line
I am not an offensive line expert. I will always state this, but this “top-ranked unit” is certainly not passing the eye test for me. Multiple times in this game, pressure got to Nix almost immediately, and the running lanes for most of the game seemed non-existent.
Now, could some of this be on Nix and the Broncos’ running backs? Yes, and probably is. Still, this unit has not been playing up to its reputation thus far, at least according to my eye test.
WINNER – CBs Jahdae Barron and Kris Abrams-Draine
Listen, I know the Chargers lacked a passing offense due to injuries all over their offense, but the Broncos were also down their CB1 and CB2 in Pat Surtain II and Riley Moss. Former first-round pick Jahdae Barron and reserve Kris Abrams-Draine were your starters tonight, and the Broncos’ defense did not miss a beat.
Again, the Chargers had their many issues, but if you can escape a game down Surtain II and Moss and get away with it unscathed, that’s a win in my book.
Barron played well in this one. He had multiple nice tackles and did not give up much at all in the passing game. Abrams-Draine had an INT called back by DPI but also played well and was not a weak link of the Broncos’ defense.
Other notable Winners and Losers
- S Brandon Jones – WINNER: Had an INT late in the game and was making plays all over the field. He has been one of the Broncos’ top defenders all season.
- PR Marvin Mims Jr. – WINNER: Mims, who has had a tough start to the year, flexed his return skills and had a 26-yard punt return to set the offense up in good field position.
- DL Zach Allen and DJ Jones – WINNER: Both had a sack today and dominated in the trenches.
- EDGE Dondrea Tillman – WINNER: The reserve edge player made plays off the bench today and stood out to me tonight on a few occasions.
- S JL Skinner – WINNER: The reserve safety and special teamer made some key plays in the return game today.
- CB Ja’Quan McMillian – WINNER: Game-ending sack on the Hail Mary attempt.
- P Jeremy Crawshaw – WINNER: Averaged 45.6 yards per punt and pinned the Chargers inside the 20-yard line 3 times.
- 3rd down offense – LOSER: Went 1 for 12 on 3rd downs today, which…is not good.
- Rush defense – LOSER: While the run defense seemed solid throughout, a couple of big plays padded the stats, and they finished the game allowing 155 yards on the ground. Need to be better against the run and not have lapses in tackling.
- Tackling – LOSER: It only showed a few times, but the Broncos had a few costly missed tackles. Singleton on a 3rd-and-15 play that allowed the pass catcher to advance to the first down, and like, 5 different Broncos on the Vidal touchdown run. Shit happens, but this has been a trend this season, so we cannot overlook it.
- Commitment to the run game – WINNER: While it was not overly effective, the Broncos ran the ball 29 times today.
