Talk about the best of times and worst of times… The Denver Broncos treated us to one hell of a ride on Sunday. The first half was fairly rough. The offense sputtered. The defense got exposed a few times. The score was 17-3 at the end of the half, and as we gathered for lunch, I remember hoping this team could regroup and come back to at least make a game of it in the 2nd half.
That’s exactly what happened. The offense found a scoring drive. Momentum swung solidly to the Broncos, and the team fought to make sure that the Philadelphia Eagles never got back on their feet.
I gave my game ball this week to Sean Payton. I think it is very clear that his preparation of the team, strategic play designs, and (most importantly) aggressive decision-making were the primary reasons the Broncos won this game. We got to see some pretty inspired football played by this team. Credit needs to go to the head coach on a day when most other NFL coaches wouldn’t have had the stones to go get that win.
One of the most frustrating things in this game was how many near misses the offense had. There was so much left on the field from this game because of overthrows, drops, and minor route-running issues. If the Broncos hit on just half of the plays that I’m talking about, they win the game by at least two scores. There’s a lot of good film in this game of things that the players can improve on. We haven’t seen the best out of this Broncos offense yet this season.
It may not be the flashiest play from Sunday, but my favorite call of the game was the sneaky offsides call to bring man in motion and freak out the defense with the quick under-center snap call. It was 3rd and under 5 and got us a free first down. I damn near fell out of my chair laughing.
My one critique of the game was the many home-run plays that the offense went for on 3rd downs. I like doing that here and there, but the Broncos did this too many times and it didn’t work. Mix in a couple of plays where you need 5 and are throwing to an outlet route that is only 3 yards up the field, and you have a situation where Broncos Country is pulling out its collective hair.
The 2-point conversion was the key play of the game. I fully believe they had a read on how the Eagles defend short yardage and knew they had a winning play. I thought that when the play happened, and it seemed to have been confirmed in Sean Payton’s press conference after the game. The NFL is as much a mental game as it is physical. Having smart coaches paired with players who can execute tends to be the teams that consistently make it to the playoffs.
Not every game is going to come easy. This was a tough one for Bo Nix. From a quarterback perspective, it was tough to watch until the fourth quarter.
The biggest problem was all the near misses by Nix. Most of them were overthrows. Many of them were frustratingly close to being huge plays. I fully believe that these are things that Nix can improve on. His timing with his receivers, other than Sutton, seems to be just off, and he’s got to develop a better feel for where his guys are going to be. The solution could also be for him to teach his receivers where he wants them. I stopped counting these misses by him in the first half when the count went to 4.
I do want to give him big credit for that perfect pass to Sutton down the sideline early in the game. That ball could not have been thrown better.
The only other knock I had down for Nix was his taking a 13-yard sack that pushed us out of field goal range. There’s so much for a quarterback to keep track of, and one of the harder ones is understanding that when you are around the 40-yard line of the opponent, you can’t take that sack.
The 4th quarter was absolute magic. I thought his command of the drives was top-level. His decision-making was on point as far as where to go with the ball (I did see one where there was a guy wide open, but we’re not expecting perfection).
The trenches were tough all game long. The Eagles have such great lines on both sides of the ball and were honestly winning most of the time in the first half. I thought our line made some good adjustments as the game went on. They only allowed two sacks (one of which I put on Nix).
The run game continues to have success. We averaged 4.5 yards per carry as a team against a defense that is stout against the run.
J.K. Dobbins got to show off some power after getting hit for a 3-yard gain that should have been nothing. Again, I will point out that I love seeing a back who runs with vision. He had a run to the outside that he cut back as he saw the blocking develop, which added about 4 yards to the run. It was the kind of long cut back that would have most O-Line coaches pulling out their hair, but it was the right move at the right time. He ended with 79 yards on 20 carries and a touchdown for the good guys.
It is worth pointing out that Harvey only had 4 carries on the day (averaged 3 ypc). It is worth noting that against the Eagles, Payton leaned on his starter far more than we’ve seen in most of the games this season.
Let’s finally give some love to Evan Engram in the passing game. He’s had a quiet season so far, with me even calling him out on not being more impactful, but he showed off some really clean route running late in this game. He had 4 catches for 33 yards and a much-needed touchdown.
Cortland Sutton continues his dominant year as the #1 WR for the Broncos. He had a bad drop on a perfectly thrown ball that I know he’s kicking himself over. As the game wore on, he made multiple first downs with big-time catches on contested receptions. The Broncos needed every one he made, and he was a big reason this game turned into a win for them.
I liked seeing Troy Franklin get some of his early-season mojo back. He had 3 catches for 35 yards. I’m excited to see him continue to develop over the season. I can see that he’s nowhere near his ceiling as a receiver yet.
R.J. Harvey may not have gotten a lot of action running the ball, but he did haul in 3 catches for 18 yards. That’s a great skill set to have for a running back in a Sean Payton offense. He’s turning into a reliable receiving back for Payton.
The way Vance Joseph runs this defense is much like what we saw from the No Fly Zone in 2015. He just needs more players to make it work. He lacks inside linebackers who can cover and a 2nd complete cornerback across from Surtain who will win most matchups. If he had those two positions, the Eagles would have maybe scored 10 on the day.
But let’s get back to what did happen. The Eagles are a smart team with smart coaches. They saw our weaknesses and exploited them for big plays. With Joseph’s penchant for going Cover-0 with this defense, you just have to live with those big plays from time to time. Singleton and Moss are going to give up plays as the players they are today.
The good thing is that the team fixed those problems as the game wore on and locked the Eagles down in the 2nd half. I thought Joseph had them playing inspired ball all the way to the wire.
Nik Bonitto is an absolute terror. On 3rd and 15, the coverage by the Broncos allowed him to get an effort sack looping up the middle. The guy is just a playmaker, and he’s a hell of an assignment to defend if you are a lineman. He had 2.5 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 3 quarterback hits, and 4 tackles on the day.
Zach Allen made such a great pass rush on 3rd and 5 at the end of the half to force an incomplete pass. You wouldn’t know it from the stat sheet, but he was constantly wrecking the pocket in this game. He had 3 quarterback hits and a half sack on the day.
Alex Singleton had a pretty rough game yet again. I did note a good open field tackle he made in space. He also had a sack and a tackle for loss. The problem is that he is a liability in coverage. He had a terrible coverage play in the 2nd quarter, just watching as the receiver close to him makes a catch instead of closing on it. The Eagles schemed him on the outside against Saquon Barkley so they could own him for a touchdown. Singleton is easily the weakest starter on the defense. He’s got some good traits as a linebacker as far as communication and defending the run. In today’s NFL, coverage ability is not optional at inside linebacker. The sooner they can get a better coverage linebacker on the field than him, the better.
Let’s give some more love to Talanoa Hufanga. I love seeing a safety having such a positive impact on a win. He reminded me of the great Steve Atwater with a safety blitz off the edge to blow up a play. He also had a tipped pass and almost got a game-breaking interception out of it. He led the team in tackles with 7 on the day.
Ja’Quan McMillian was another player on the defense who really showed up in this game. He had four tackles, a sack on a corner blitz, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit, and a pass defense on the day.
Riley Moss got absolutely owned on a key 3rd and 17, giving up 57 yards in one play. His pressing his technique on the play was foolish. With that many yards to go, just play off the receiver and don’t let him get by you, especially if there is no safety help behind you. He made this mistake more than once in the game, and it has me wondering if that’s a coaching decision or his own. It is an area of improvement for him to be sure. Situationally pressing your coverage is a bad idea. I will say that the pass interference call on him in the 2nd quarter was nonsense. He had great coverage on the play and shouldn’t have been flagged.
Pat Surtain, II, also had an interference call that was a gift from the refs. That was even more perfect coverage and a pass defense. While the broadcasters were oogling over A.J. Brown’s winning the matchup early, I give this game to Surtain. Brown had 43 yards total. Both are great players, but Surtain was on his ass all game long.
Rookie Jahdae Barron absolutely gets some love from me for his pass defense late in the game that stopped the Eagles on a 3rd and 7. That was some fine coverage in a big moment.
I’m not sure just why J.L. Skinner was in on key plays of the game at safety. I do think he needs to be coached on being less grabby in his coverage technique. I don’t like giving refs reason to throw flags. The Eagles got yardage and a first down on one play. He did it again and thankfully didn’t get called. For the record, neither play should have had a flag thrown as he was looking for the ball and didn’t move the receiver off his route.
Finally, let’s give some serious props to Brandon Jones, as he was the guy swatting the ball away at the Hail Mary on the last play of the game. That’s smart football that makes damn sure the game is over.
How smart is the draft pick of Jeremy Crawshaw looking right now? He had a banger of a game for a punter with 5 punts inside the 20. This guy has a hell of a leg, and he’s accurate with his distance and placement.
That was a hell of a kick by Will Lutz to put the first 3 points on the board. He was perfect kicking on the day with 2 field goals and 1 extra point.
I don’t know why so many games lately have poor refereeing. This game was no exception. This referee crew was an absolute clown fiesta. Both fan bases have reasons to be angry. The big issue was the inconsistency of calling pass interference. By the end of the game, they called the same light hand checking both a penalty and not a penalty. In the first half, they gave the Eagles a PI call to extend a drive where they didn’t call the same interference on the Eagles earlier in the game. At least their ineptitude wasn’t one-sided.
Let me be clear on one thing, though: the Broncos absolutely earned that win. Nothing was given to them. They were aggressive, fearless, and played their tails off to win that game. As a fan, I couldn’t be prouder of the effort from the team all around.
