The Denver Broncos defense dominated the Seattle Seahawks all night and were the sole reason they came out with a victory on Thursday Night Football as the offense stumbled in the second half with six three-and-outs and even the game-winning field goal drive didn’t generate a single first down.
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The offense wasn’t totally abysmal. In the second quarter, they put together their two longest drives of the season in back-to-back
possessions. First was a 16-play, 74 yard drive and the second a 9-play, 79 yard drive and both resulted in touchdowns. That gave us hope of a blowout, but the Seahawks defense brought the heat the rest of the game and shut them all the way down.
Fortunately, the Broncos defense also brought the heat and while they gave up a few late scores to send the game into overtime, two timely interceptions sealed the victory and setup the game-winning field goal by Wil Lutz. Whatever issues the defense had in that Week 1 disaster have certainly been fixed now by Week 6.
Here’s who we’re giving our game balls to:
Defensive Front
One guy that has been the center of ridicule early has been Alex Singleton and my game ball was originally going to go to him for how passionate and well he played in this game. He finished with 13 total tackles and two quarterback hits. He seemed like he was in on every play last night. However, I had to go with the whole front seven. They absolutely terrorized Sam Darnold all night long. The defense ended up with 17 total quarterback hits and TWELVE different players on defense had a QB hit. TWELVE! Have a game ball every one of you guys! – Tim Lynch
Wil Lutz
You always hold your breath when the Denver kicker attempts a field goal. And all of Broncos Country did that at the end of Thursday night’s game. Thankfully, it was an exhale of celebration and relief after Lutz nailed the game-winning 53-yard field goal against Seattle. On this day, he was big nuts Lutz, and absolutely clutch Lutz. Helluva kick. – Ian St. Clair
Ja’Quan McMillian
Ja’Quan McMillian is a play-making monster. He had a big sack early and a game-winning interception. He deserves my game ball this week and all the love in the world from Broncos Country. – Sadaraine
Kris Abrams-Draine
Kris Abrams-Draine gets my gameball. He was forced into the spotlight with the absence of both Moss (who only played 20 snaps) and PS2 and he turned in what may be his best game as a pro. He finished the game with 6 tackles (4 solo), 3 passes defended, 1 huge INT, and 1 forced fumble. His career high in passes defended prior to this game was one. The fumble he forced was the first of his career. He did this while facing arguably the best WR in the NFL at this moment, JSN. Did I mention that this was only his 4th career start? Some of this credit has to be given to the pass rush which was harrying Darnold all night (17 pressures on 58 dropbacks) until they got gassed by the criminally inept offense, but he still played the best game of his career. He came into the game with 4 career passes defended and almost doubled that. – Joe Mahoney
Nik Bonitto
This gameball is going to one BAMF, Nik Bonitto. He spent almost the entire game pressuring Sam Darnold. He only had half a sack and 4 tackles, but his forced fumble as the Seahawks were driving at the end of the first half was huge. His pressure rate was 22%, and he had 4 quick pressures (less than 2.5 seconds). He’s just a nightmare for opposing offenses. The whole pass rush was stellar, and Bonitto was phenomenal all night. – Adam Malnati
Vance Joseph
Just give my ball to Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph. I give it to him a lot, but the defense is the only part of the team that shows up to play on a weekly basis. Even without Patrick Surtain II and Talanoa Hufanga, he was able to come up with a great gameplan to limit Seattle’s offense. Without their three turnovers and five sacks, the Broncos wouldn’t have had a shot to win the game. Kudos to the players for executing as well. Just think of how good the defense could be if the offense actually showed signs of life. A tip of the hat to Vance and his players. – Chris Hart
