With a full day in the books from the Denver Broncos win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, I thought it would be a good idea to check in with the Mile High Report staff and see what was one thing they learned about the team from that game: good or bad. Among us, we came up with five things that we learned and what the Broncos could build on from there as they prepare to face the Indianapolis Colts next week.
1. Broncos’ defense is as advertised.
I have been unloading defensive stats metrics today into The Feed section of the site.
There is just a lot of data being posted to X that is fun to see related to the Broncos’ defense. We also dug into some of the defensive data today in a post aptly named the same as this first thing we learned:
Under the guidance of Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph, the Broncos’ defense shut down signal caller Cam Ward and the Titans offense. When the clock struck zero, it was total domination. They had allowed just 12 points and 133 total yards from scrimmage. Ward finished his NFL debut going 12-of-28 for 112 yards. He was sacked five times and lost a fumble. Overall, the Titans amassed just 62 net passing yards, averaged a dreadful 2 yards per play and completed only 14-percent of their third down attempts.
In the second half alone, the Titans gained a total -1 net yardage in a one-point game. There were some drops by Titans’ wide receivers, but a few of those throws from Cam Ward felt like they had zero touch and were just missiles launched out of paranoia. The Broncos pressure rate was quite literally off the charts in that game. – Tim Lynch
2. Offseason hype was way premature.
The overall team hype may have been premature. The defensive hype is somehow probably not quite enough for how good they are and can be (assuming they get Greenlaw back and stay healthy).
I didn’t see a playoff team on Sunday and hope they’ll get the offense sorted out over these next few weeks. I would put Denver below the Chargers and Kansas City so far in the division race, just based on eye test. – Jeff Essary
3. Interior OL was dominated by Titans.
Luke Wattenberg still is poor at run blocking. Jeffrey Simmons ate his lunch all game and T’Vondre Sweat destroyed him on the 4th down sneak. He has got to improve next week or defenses are going to start run blitzing him. – Joe Mahoney
4. Broncos’ offense is not as advertised.
It’s still really early in the season, and the Broncos survived a game that had numerous sloppy mistakes. The offense looked they were still in the preseason. We can’t learn much from a game like this, but we can see that neither team on the field was prepared for regular season football. Penalties and turnovers should have led to a Broncos loss, but the Titans did a lot of the same.
If they want to take care of business in Week 2 they will have to focus on holding onto the football, and limiting mistakes. Preseason is over. Hopefully, they will understand that in their second game. – Adam Malnati
5. How about Jeremy Crawshaw though?
Jeremy Crawshaw delivered a steady and efficient performance in the game against the Titans. The highlight came from his ability to control field position, pinning the Titans inside their own 20-yard line on four occasions.
We didn’t expect this performance after the preseason! Let’s see if he can improve! – Ivan Talavera
