Watching the Broncos is like watching your child’s kindergarten play: You have no choice, it’ll have some fun moments, but in the end, you’re waiting for it to be over.
On Thursday night, Denver improved its record to an NFL-best 8–2 with a 10–7 win over the Raiders, who often looked like a cross between a high school team and an overwhelmed one.
The Broncos deserve credit. Well, the defense does, notching another six sacks to bring the unit’s total to 46 for the year. The record is 72 by the 1984 Bears, and it’s far more likely than not that Vance Joseph’s defense breaks that mark with ease.
While the Raiders are horrific—as evidenced by their Week 7 showing at Kansas City, where they gained 95 total yards and three first downs—the Broncos smothered them at every turn. All told, Las Vegas amassed 188 yards on 3.2 yards per play, embarrassing numbers in the modern NFL.
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Still, getting excited about Denver is impossible. Defenses do win championships, something we saw a decade ago in this same city when the Broncos’ defenders dragged Peyton Manning to his second title. But Bo Nix isn’t Manning, who could at least get the offense in and out of the right calls. And while Sean Payton is a terrific offensive mind with a Super Bowl ring to his credit, the Broncos don’t threaten anybody outside of a few wild fourth quarters.
Denver is a good team with a great defense, a fact which makes it fun but also fatally flawed. Here’s a few reasons why.
Nix has his moments, but he’s not beating the big boys. In the AFC, there’s a good chance the Broncos will face multiple quarterbacks who will eventually be in the Hall of Fame. For the Bills, Chiefs and Ravens, that means Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes and Lamar Jackson, respectively. There’s also Daniel Jones and Justin Herbert in the current playoff picture, two quarterbacks who have already beaten Denver this season. The other guy will likely be Drake Maye, who is having an MVP-caliber season for the Patriots.
Nix has put forth seven games of 6.2 yards per attempt or less this season. The other six quarterbacks have four such games combined. In the regular season, it’s survivable, as evidenced by Denver’s 6–1 mark in those games. But in the postseason, the Broncos won’t be drawing the Titans, Jets, Giants, Raiders and Texans, who four of those wins came against.
Without any question, if those are the seven quarterbacks in the AFC playoffs come January, Nix is the worst. By a mile.
The lack of receiving threats is also a considerable concern. While Nix isn’t doing the passing game any favors, look at his options.
Outside of a quality veteran in wideout Courtland Sutton, he’s throwing to Troy Franklin, Evan Engram, Marvin Mims Jr. and Pat Bryant. Going into Week 10, that quartet has combined for 940 receiving yards, or eight yards less than the Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba.
General manager George Paton and Payton (who has a say in the personnel side of things as well) should have been more aggressive at Tuesday’s trade deadline. The Broncos could have made a winning run at Rashid Shaheed or perhaps convinced the Dolphins to send Jaylen Waddle to the Mile High City. Instead, Denver did nothing, which could come back to haunt it.
Payton isn’t doing enough to help as a play-caller. If there’s one thing that has worked consistently for Denver’s offense, it’s the offensive line and running back J.K. Dobbins.
Dobbins has proven to be one of the league’s top free-agent additions from last winter, rushing for 695 yards to rank fifth in the NFL coming into Thursday night. Yet despite either leading or being within a score on a weekly basis, Dobbins has gotten 20 carries on only one occasion. While Payton might be trying to keep the 26-year-old healthy considering his history of a torn ACL and Achilles, Dobbins is the Broncos’ best chance to have success.
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If Payton doesn’t want to risk Dobbins, rely more on RJ Harvey. The second-round rookie has been effective as a runner and receiver, catching 23 of his 26 targets while also rushing for 205 yards on 4.5 yards per carry with six total touchdowns.
Ultimately, the Broncos are going to the playoffs for a second consecutive season, barring a Chernobyl-level meltdown. They might even win the AFC West, breaking Kansas City’s streak of nine consecutive division titles.
While watching Denver’s defense inspires plenty of confidence in any game, the offense feels like a bunch of children ambling around a stage, with all the spectators looking at their watches.
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