You are what your record says you are in the NFL. The Broncos got another notch in the win column this week. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
This isn’t what the Denver Broncos will look
like most weeks. I think this short week made things exceptionally hard for the team, and they didn’t take to the two walk-through-only practices well at all. This young offense needs reps and practice. Even when they have normal weeks, they struggle to execute at times.
The game wasn’t pretty. The offense looked inept. The play calling was frustrating. The execution was lacking.
The Las Vegas Raiders fought long and hard to try to keep the Broncos down, but our defense was too much for them to handle.
I’m going to say that I saw a lot of the 2015 Denver Broncos in this game. Dominant defense. An offense that can barely do enough to put points on the board.
But 8-2. I’ll take it.
Offense
I saw a whole lot of yards left on the field when watching the game. I think Payton had some really nice plays dialed up. I think the offense wasn’t up to the task of handling it in real time with only a couple of days to practice. If you look back at the game, there are many, MANY receivers open that didn’t get looks.
Per usual, this season, it seemed like the team got away from the run game too soon and didn’t come back to it until the 2nd half. The way our line executes, I think they could have cut 5-10 passes out of the call sheet and added runs, and it likely would have translated to more points on the board.
The one play call I hated was the trick play on 3rd and less than a yard. It was laughable to watch. The Raiders didn’t fall for anything and had our downfield options covered. Sutton wisely tucked the ball and took the L. It was a waste of an opportunity. All you needed to do was line up and run up the gut for half a yard.
Quarterbacks
This was easily Bo Nix’s worst game of his career thus far. He was throwing way too many of his passes behind receivers, in the dirt, and too far outside of open routes. There’s always some drops on this team, but far too often, Nix is just flat out missing.
The constant that I’m seeing is his lack of discipline with his footwork. The #1 thing that Nix needs to get serious about is good foundational footwork. He throws off-center, falling to the side, or stepping awkwardly far too often.
To add to it, his decision-making at times has gotten questionable as well. Nix throwing deep at the end of the half was such an awful decision. The safety was still back and watching. Add to it that Nix’s deep passes are long lobs, and you are just asking to get picked off.
The other tweak that needs to be made is who he is throwing to. You may have a great history with Troy Franklin, but he’s not the #1 WR on this team. I wouldn’t even have him as my #2, given how inconsistently he plays and how many drops he has.
Nix is going to get a lot out of this mini-bye week. I do not expect at all that we’ll see the same kind of gameplay from him next game vs the Chiefs. I truly think this down game from him was a mix of lack of preparation on the short week, with the Raiders throwing some new wrinkles at him that kept him confused.
Line
This offensive line, regardless of injury, is one of the best in the NFL. Their only weakness is penalties. Luke Wattenburg had a false start. Mercedes Lewis had a false start. Mike McGlinchey had a false start. It is crazy to me that they are having these problems at a home game.
Let’s give some love this week to Calvin Throckmorton, who stepped in for Quinn Meinerz for the last 23 snaps of the game and held it down.
Running Backs
J.K. Dobbins just keeps grinding. He churned up 77 yards on 18 carries (average 4.3 yards per carry). Some of our problems getting behind schedule get solved if you more consistently let him run on first down.
Tyler Badie, for the second week in a row, had a bad drop with a perfectly thrown ball on a route out of the backfield. As the season progresses, he’s working himself out of a job in Denver from where I’m sitting.
Receivers
Pat Bryant takes a crossing route for 43 yards for the first big play of the game for the Broncos. He’s one of the bright lights I’m seeing this season on offense. I don’t know how much noise he will make by the end of the season, but his future is bright in this league. He’s got a great mix of size, route-running ability, and soft hands that make for a very good NFL wide receiver. I’d love to see him get more consistent targets. He’s got the ability to help this offense in a consistent way.
Troy Franklin made a great catch on his touchdown. Nix zips it into his chest, and he holds on with a defender draped all over him. Franklin is maddeningly inconsistent lately. He had a bad drop that bounced in the air for a touchdown. He also has such mind-numbing trouble tracking down deep balls. Marvin Mims Jr. can’t get healthy soon enough in my mind. Mims is so much better at tracking down the deep passes than Franklin is.
Defense
The offense needs to buy the defense dinner this week, in all honesty. The Raiders got the one touchdown early and then got completely shut down until the end of the game.
The pass rush was incredibly persistent all game long, with another 6 sack outing. This defense’s ability to create pressure up front is this team’s superpower. From the inside of the line to the edge, there are big-time plays being made from everywhere. The sprinkle of blitzes from the linebackers, safeties, and corners keeps offenses on their toes.
Vance Joseph had his defense dialed in on stopping both Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers. Keeping Jeanty to only 60 yards, along with keeping Bowers to only 1 catch for 31, made things easy for the Broncos, as the rest of the Raiders team wasn’t up to the task of winning their match-ups.
Front 7
Nik Bonitto was an absolute madman this week. He got a sack with a quick dip around his tackle. He did such a superb job getting upfield on an end-around to get a tackle for loss as well. He ended the game with 1 ½ sacks, 2 tackles for loss, and 3 quarterback hits.
Dondrea Tillman, for the second time this season, gets an interception and rumbles it back after it popped up off the hands of the intended receiver. He was only on the field for 22 snaps, but the guy just has a knack for being in the right place at the right time in coverage.
Zach Allen brought the heat from the interior line, per usual. He got an effort sack early (shout out to the coverage as the quarterback couldn’t find a target to throw to). He batted down a pass on the 2nd drive. He had 3 quarterback hits on the day as well.
Jonathan Cooper was his normal disruptive presence off the edge with a half sack and a tackle for loss. I do think he had the dumbest penalty of the game, lining up in the neutral zone. There are plenty of dumb penalties made by the Broncos, but you would think the one where you can see the ball and make sure your foot isn’t that far would be pretty avoidable.
Secondary
Talanoa Hufanga is honestly turning into a star of this defense (though I think there are at least 4 blue chip players on this defense to be fair). He had a beautifully timed safety blitz off the edge for a big sack on 4th down. He was all over the place on defense, tied with Singleton for most tackles in the game with 9.
The one play that Bowers made on the Broncos was against Jahdae Barron, who got smoked on a crossing route and couldn’t catch up. It looked like a play that was going to be a great learning moment for the rookie about not getting caught flat-footed in man against a tight end like Bowers.
Special Teams
On the bright side for this atrociously coached special teams unit, they got a superb punt block by JL Skinner to make a huge game-turning play for the Broncos.
Jeremy Crawshaw had one heck of a rookie moment this week. Any week where your punter has more than one shanked punt is a bad week. His first punt of the day was a very poor 30 yards. In the 2nd quarter, he completely biffs another punt, which by some miracle bounced forward for some distance. He had 5 punts of under 40 yards in this game.
Will Lutz missed a 59-yard field goal short. I honestly don’t hold it against him, given the distance. 59 yards is a very long kick, even in the Mile High City.
Final Thoughts
This young team needs practice. This is true in the long term, meaning they have a lot of young talent that needs to develop. It is also true in the short term of preparing to play a game. Hopefully, after a couple more seasons, there will be enough developed veteran talent on the team to have such a short week and still be on top of things.
At the end of the day, it was such an ugly game to watch if you are a fan of offense. If you like defense, it was spectacular. This Denver Broncos football team honestly looks like it is trying to find every possible way to win a game in one season.
I honestly don’t mind as long as they keep winning.
