Let this be a lesson to all of you out there in Broncos Country: don’t trust the talking heads with narratives about this team or its players.
Last week all we heard about was how terrible and inept Bo Nix was. No one in the mainstream media was talking about the quality of defenses the Denver Broncos were facing or the lack of a competent run game. Most of them took their turns dumping on Bo Nix because none of them thought he was going to do anything coming out of the draft. He was mislabeled as a check-down merchant in Oregon, and that label will likely follow him every time he has a match-up against an excellent defense.
Not to worry, Broncos Country. This team is who we here at the No Bull Review thought they were. This is darn near the same script we saw last season. Sit back and enjoy the ride for the rest of this season as the Broncos hit their stride.
Sean Payton continues to tweak the offense as he keeps the team growing and moving toward a better version of themselves as the season wears on. He gave a ton of snaps to young Jonah Coleman, signaling that he’s not satisfied with the best a back can gain on average is 3 yards. He had more plays for Mims in this game and designed a multitude of shots downfield to multiple receivers.
There was still a nice balance of run (26) vs. pass (29). The big difference in this game was in explosive plays. The offense had 5 plays of 20 yards or more.
There are still many things for them to clean up. Receivers had drops, linemen blew blocks, and the quarterback can place the ball better in spots for sure. I’m not saying that the offense is a group of world-beaters. I am saying this team played up to their potential and showed what they are capable of doing.
Bo Nix can throw downfield, in case you didn’t know. He attacked deep early and kept it up through the game. He had an absolutely masterful run for a touchdown. He threw a 27-yard pass to Waddle that was a laser.
I’m going to reiterate that everyone in the media has misread the ankle injury completely. People keep mentioning it as if it is still an issue. The issue is not the ankle from a health standpoint. As we saw on his nearly 20 mph run to the promised land, the ankle is working just fine.
The issue with the ankle injury comes from him getting back into his groove as a passer. His accuracy has been lacking early this season (much like it did last season). I think we’re seeing Nix rounding into form as the season wears on. He’s getting work each week finally, and as he settles his footwork down, his throws are only going to get better and better.
I largely liked what I saw from the line this week. They only gave up one sack. The run game was blocked up well enough. Sure, we saw McGlinchey miss a stunt and block no one to give up a big pressure. We also had a couple of illegal formation penalties that should never happen.
This line has had a rough start to the season. With a more efficient runner toting the rock, I’m optimistic about their progress and ability to round into form much like Nix.
A healthy Jonah Coleman is just what the doctor ordered for this ailing Broncos run game. He was in on 50% of the snaps for the team. He showed a runner who has vision, burst, and power.
I loved his ability to cut back and head north when his designed holes were closing up. That seems simple enough, but we’ve seen far too many runs go for nothing because backs aren’t cutting when the play is smothered. He averaged 6 yards per carry on 9 runs for 54 yards. He also caught two passes for 15. Coleman is versatile in anything we ask the position to do in this offense. I’m excited to see what this rookie does with the rest of his season.
R.J. Harvey is a home-run hitter. He took a screen pass to the house early in the 3rd quarter. It was a perfectly timed and executed play that had multiple blockers running free downfield to help Harvey jet into the end zone. He was pretty rough as far as output goes outside of that one play. His other 4 touches were plays for 2-3 yards each.
JK Dobbins had 6 carries for 23 yards. On one hand, that’s an improvement over what we’ve seen from him in the past few games. On the other hand, there’s a reason he only saw 23% of the snaps in the game. One of his carries was a touchdown that he earned fighting through a tackle to lunge the ball over the goal line.
Let’s give some love to Marvin Mims for getting more involved with the offense this week. He had a gain of 47 yards off a busted coverage play to the sideline. He’s another guy on this offense who is a threat to house the ball if they can just find ways to get him the ball in space.
Cortland Sutton got the party started with an in-breaking route across the middle for a big gain of 20 yards. He’s still looking like a player who has lost a step, but his size and great route running open up plays for Nix.
Jaylen Waddle had a couple of really nice catches in this game. He caught a low throw on a 14-yard out that was way tougher than it needed to be. Late in the game, he caught a 27-yard back shoulder downfield while taking a big hit from a closing safety. He ended the game with 4 catches for 48 yards.
Troy Franklin was ice cold in this game, missing both of his targets. What I loved from him was his blocking for the Nix run. He blocked two guys to help Nix get into the end zone.
The Broncos defense again held the opponents to under 20 points. That’s excellent in today’s NFL. Vance Joseph didn’t have an answer for Trey McBride (he threw everything and the kitchen sink at him coverage-wise). Sometimes you can’t hold down a great player (just ask JSN).
I want to say that Joseph had his defense playing inspired football to close out the game. The Arizona Cardinals got the ball down to the 1-yard line and the defense held them out for 7 straight plays. The effort never dropped even with a two-score lead.
Malcolm Roach, to me, was the defensive player of the game. He was absolutely killing it up front all game long. He had a sack, a tackle for loss, 4 quarterback hits, and a batted pass to seal the big goal-line stand at the end of the game.
Alex Singleton stacked up another really solid game. It wasn’t a shut-out for him, as he had a couple of coverage plays with shaky coverage, including a 14-yard crossing route that got by him. He had an impressive 19-tackle game with a tackle for loss, 2 quarterback hits, and a sack on the day.
Sai’vion Jones had the most impressive sack of the game, with a guy draped over him using one arm. He also had a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit.
Riley Moss got flagged for pass interference for executing perfect pass defense to deflect a pass as it was caught. I’m honestly sick and tired of referees throwing a flag when they see Moss in coverage. The replay made me want to puke, honestly. Riley had a pass defense later in the game with far more contact than we saw on the pass interference penalty.
Kris Abrams-Draine continued to impress me with his play this week. He had an excellent open-field tackle to keep a pass bottled up on a 2nd and 5. On a 4th and 13 play out to his side, he did a superb job not biting as the receiver lateralled the ball to a guy behind him. KAD recognized what was happening and kept himself in line to stop the play.
Brandon Jones on 3rd and 2 got the defense off the field with smothering coverage on McBride. He gave a huge pass interference call up by being too handsy and also had a couple of missed tackles.
McMillian darn near had 3 interceptions in the game. They all go down in the stat sheet as a pass defense, but my soul weeps a bit to see so many passes hit his hands and not get picked.
Barron got a bogus PI call as well for playing perfect coverage. He got another PI in the end zone that was within 5 yards and was just a contested catch.
Adam Prentice got a big time punt block to help put the team in scoring position. He made a great effort to focus on the ball and not just flail his arm into the punter’s leg to avoid a penalty.
Marvin Mims Jr. got back involved with kickoff returns and made an impact with a 38-yard return. He also should have gotten an unnecessary roughness foul drawn from the Cardinals as he was hit 1 yard out of bounds and thrown to the ground, but that went unflagged.
The Broncos had another bonus home game in Arizona. It was impressively loud at times when the Cardinals had the ball. That’s Broncos Country showing up strong and proud for our team.
The Broncos have easily the most important game of the season next week at home against the Chiefs. They can and should take over the AFC West with a victory. This win against the Cardinals should go a long way to helping boost the confidence of the offense as they prepare for the big showdown.
I can’t help but plug [this hoodie again.](https://homage.sjv.io/9V36Je) I’ve been wearing it constantly in the mornings when the fall chill is still in the air. Also, Homage still has a 20% off coupon in October to help sweeten the deal, which should be live on their site. With the holidays around the corner, this discount may help those wanting to save money with some early gift shopping.
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