Mile High Sports
The Denver Broncos were blown out 41-10 in Sunday’s AFC Conference showdown with the Baltimore Ravens. Denver drops to 5-4 on the season.
Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos offense embraced being ultra-aggressive against their toughest opponent yet on Sunday, but it was the defense having a letdown day that defined the outcome. Ultimately, they lost in blowout fashion.
In a game where the Broncos came out and emphasized stopping the Ravens run game, Lamar Jackson torched the Broncos secondary with his arm. Jackson did some damage while standing in the pocket, but he produced the most damage with his arm rolling outside the pocket with his legs.
Even when Denver pressured Jackson, he still made them pay for it by evading sacks or tackles and finding his speedy receiving option, Zay Flowers, for four catches for 111 yards and two receiving touchdowns in the first half alone. Flowers found the soft spots in zone coverage and did his damage in yards after the catch, making Broncos defenders miss en route to the endzone.
Sunday’s game showcased how efficient the Ravens offense truly is. They were the most dangerous offense in the league coming into Sunday’s game, and they proved it. He was already an MVP favorite going into the game, but Jackson further solidified his case.
Explosive plays defined the outcome of this game, especially in the first half, where it should have been 17-10 but ended up being 24-10 due to a busted coverage and bad tackling. Denver’s defense allowed 9.6 yards per play in the first half alone, and a 14-point deficit was too much for them to climb out of.
In the second half, the Broncos defense couldn’t get a stop, and the first-half performance snowballed into a disastrous second-half blowout that trickled into Baltimore rushing for over 100 yards.
Denver Broncos need to give Bo Nix more playmakers
The Broncos offense went for it early on in the first half of Sunday’s game twice on fourth down, and failing to capitalize put them in a 10-0 deficit. In particular, on 4th and inches, Payton dialed up a fake inside handoff, pitch toss to the outside to Javonte Williams, whose knee was down one yard shy of the marker. Baltimore went on to score.
The Broncos’ second fourth-down attempt was on 4th and 5, in field goal range — Bo Nix overshot Troy Franklin in the endzone, which led to a turnover on downs. Baltimore would go on to score again, making it 10-0. Luckily, the Broncos offense counter-punched with a touchdown drive of their own, and Payton got creative. Denver executed a Mile High Special to perfection, with Courtland Sutton tossing a touchdown pass to Nix, who went up to high point it.
Denver’s aggressive nature was great to see, and I’m certainly not knocking the approach. A quarterback sneak on inches would have been the more statistically efficient play, and maybe...
