Mile High Report
The Denver Broncos took on the Houston Texans in a hard-fought road battle Sunday afternoon. For three quarters, Denver’s offense was absolutely dreadful. But in the fourth quarter, they did just enough to pull out another comeback victory on the road. With today’s win, the Broncos are now 7-2 and winners of six in a row. Here are some instant reactions and takeaways from today’s game.
Bo Nix and Broncos’ offense fall back to earth against Texans
Over the past five quarters, Denver’s offense had lit up the scoreboard with 77 points. That wasn’t the case in the first half against the Texans today. We knew the Texans had a great defense, but how well they did against the Broncos early on was a bit of a surprise. The Broncos couldn’t get anything done in the first half whatsoever with the exception of a few plays.
Bo Nix was errant and off target with most of his passes. Even more so than what we’ve witnessed early on in most games to date. It was arguably his worst first half performance of the year. Nix was 4 of 12 for 30 yards and interception before connecting with Courtland Sutton on third down for a 30-yard touchdown strike late in the second quarter. By the end of the first half, Nix was 6-of-17 for 76 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception.
What I found curious was how quickly they abandoned the run early on. The Broncos had success rushing the ball on their first with J.K. Dobbins. However, they barely gave him any touches after that. Ultimately, Denver had six rushes for 29 yards after thirty minutes of play with just 105 yards of total offense. They controlled the ball for less than eight minutes and mustered just six first downs.
It didn’t get much better in the second half. Denver had multiple three-and-outs over the course of the third quarter and couldn’t get anything going. It took until the fourth quarter for the offense to score again, with Nix connecting with running back RJ Harvey on a 27-yard touchdown strike. Denver was able to convert their two-point conversion to bring the game to a 15-to-15 tie.
On the final possession of the game, Nix was able to use his legs and scamper into Texans territory to get the Broncos within field goal range. And with just seconds remaining, Wil Lutz delivered a 34-yard field goal to deliver the Broncos’ seventh win of the season. It was a great comeback win for the team, but the offense certainly looked awful for most of the game.
While I can give praise for Nix’s fourth quarter heroics again, being a sub-50 percent passer in an NFL game is horrendous. I’m confident he will continue to improve, but today’s performance is quite concerning. Hopefully they can figure out the issues in their passing game sooner than later. What is going on right now simply isn’t sustainable for success in the second half of the...
