Mile High Report
The Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles squared off this afternoon. It was fast-paced game. It was a hard-fought game. It had all the ups and downs you would expect from a great matchup. The Broncos clearly didn’t play their best, but they did enough to get the job done and secure a monumental road victory on the road in Philadelphia. Here are some instant reactions and takeaways from today’s game.
It wasn’t the prettiest performance on offense, but good enough to win
The offensive performance against the Cincinatti Bengals on Monday Night Football gave fans across Broncos Country some optimism that the unit was starting to turn the corner. Unfortunately, the Broncos had only 102 yards of offense in the first half. Their first six drives resulted in only three points. It was the absolute worst-case scenario and a stark difference from how they looked against the Bengals.
The simple drop back passing was a struggle for Bo Nix. Overthrowing targets and failing to hit receivers over the middle of the field was an issue. But at halftime, things started to change. The Broncos were a lot more effective passing the ball compared to the first half. They found their groove and continued to dictate the pace of the game by pounding the rock with J.K. Dobbins.
In the fourth quarter, they were able to net nearly 150 yards on offense, while holding the Eagles to significantly less. The Broncos possessed the ball for nearly 10 more minutes than the Eagles. They had 23 first downs compared to the 16 for Philadelphia. The big difference? Denver’s ability to run the ball with 130 yards while the Eagles struggled with just 45. As I said earlier in the week, dictating the pace of the game was essential to come away with a victory and Denver did just that.
The Broncos defense deserves a lot of credit for the big victory
While they were able to generate a few explosive plays early in in the game to DeVonta Smith and Saquon Barkley, Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph had a very good game plan against the Eagles. Jalen Hurts and their offense struggled on third down for the most part. On top of that, the Broncos were able to generate quality pressure and got five sacks on hurts, including two from All-Pro defender Nik Bonitto who came up clutch when it mattered the most.
Despite the offenses first half struggles, Denver’s defense remained strong and did a great job on key downs and in the red zone. I’m very proud of their effort today and am impressed with how they were able to come together and help stop the Eagles’ offense from taking flight. I’m looking forward to seeing them become even more dominant as the season chugs along, especially if the offense is able to hit their stride and be more efficient.
Let’s have a little chat about the officiating
I’m not one to often complain about the officiating. However, the refs seemed...
