Mile High Report
The Denver Broncos took care of business at home against the Carolina Panthers. Here are my thoughts, opinions, and analysis on a quality learning win.
What felt good to me about this game was that the Denver Broncos for the first time in what feels like ages faced an inferior opponent on paper and handled business even after multiple game-losing mistakes. In the recent past, we’ve seen the Broncos fold and tighten up after an early turnover and being down 7-0, but this team handled it in stride.
Good teams handle bad opponents. This is part of learning how to be a good team. This season so far, I have just been checking boxes as the team is growing and improving. Last season there was many slinging mud on Sean Payton because of how he tried to make Russell Wilson function and it just didn’t work. Hindsight being 20/20 you can now see that Payton wasn’t the problem at all. He’s got this team heading in the right direction and that statement will be true in two weeks win or lose honestly.
What I loved this week was how the offense got to really work on timing routes at the intermediate level and connected on many of them. Sean Payton had a great game plan that seemed pretty low risk for his quarterback to start really pushing the ball downfield. The team executed well and outside of the fumbles on offense, they looked the best passing the ball that they have all season.
Bo Nix continues his learning path in his rookie year with the best statistical game he’s had as a Bronco with 3 TD passes, 1 rushing TD, and most importantly no interceptions.
He did have a pass downfield to Sutton that he for sure wants back. He threw it too far behind his receiver and it cost him a catch. Outside of that throw, there weren’t quite as many misfires as I’ve been seeing from him in recent games.
Let’s circle back to the timing routes though. This is something that is another tool in the toolbelt of great NFL quarterbacks as well as being a staple of the Sean Payton offense. I love seeing Nix growing his comfort with his receivers and hitting them in stride early and often in this game.
The line gave up a couple of sacks this week which is pretty uncharacteristic for the line that’s been protecting Nix all season long. One of the bigger misses in this game was the run game. The blocking wasn’t quite as immaculate and the run game got slogged down because of it. The good news is that they didn’t need to lean on the run against the Carolina Panthers, so it wasn’t a big deal this week.
I love seeing Jaleel McLaughlin in the flat in the red zone. His speed and balance are a perfect match for getting the ball in the end zone...
