Broncos Country showed up on the road this week with the stands filled out in orange and blue. The Denver Broncos lost the opening coin toss and the Carolina Panthers deferred to bring out Bo Nix and the offense to start the game.
Sean Fresch took the opening kickoff up the seam for a big return to the 45 yard line. Jonah Coleman got the start, but the first play was a Nix deep pass down the sideline to Courtland Sutton who caught the ball but barely landed out of bounds on the play. Nix went deep again
on second down to Troy Franklin and this time got the defense pass interference call.
The call seemed rather weak compared to how mogged Sutton was on the previous play, but we take those. Coleman then got his first carry of the game to pick up six on first down after that big penalty. A fake pitch to Coleman on second down sent Nix on a rollout where he found Evan Engram at the sticks to move the chains again to give them a red zone opportunity.
A jet sweep to Marvin Mims Jr. picked up five yards to the Panthers 12 yard line. Coleman took a delayed handoff inside for another nice gain of eight to setup a first and goal at the four yard line. He powered forward for another couple of yards on the next play, then Nix was immediately pressured and avoided the sack to nearly get the ball into an open Pat Bryant who wasn’t able to pick up the ball off the turf. After a delay of game penalty, Nix was pressured again and was forced to throw it away to settle for the field goal.
Broncos 3, Panthers 0.
The Broncos gave up an immediate first down on the first play, but then locked things down to force a punt from there to give Nix and the Broncos offense the ball back with less than half the quarter run out.
J.K. Dobbins checked in on the next series for Denver. He immediately ripped off an 11 yard gain on first down. Nix then fired a pass across the middle of the field to an open Jaylen Waddle for a 22 yard gain to get Denver across midfield in just two plays.
Nix found another big play in the screen game a few plays later finding Evan Engram who turned it up field for a 20-yard gain into the red zone. They would end up with another first and goal opportunity a few plays later. Once again from the four yard line.
Nix would fire a bullet on a slant to Courtland Sutton from there for the game’s first touchdown.
Broncos 10, Panthers 0.
Bo Nix went 6/10 for 64 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter.
The first quarter would come to an end with a three-and-out by Bryce Young and the Panthers offense.
