The afternoon began with pregame ceremonies honoring new Hall of Fame inductee Champ Bailey getting his name in the Ring of Fame, and it ended with a dominant defensive performance pitching its first shutout since 2017.
The Broncos led from start to finish, to win over the Titans 16-0. Denver gets its first home victory after getting its first win of the season last week and suddenly, Vic Fangio and company are on a winning streak. It’s small, but all streaks have to start somewhere. Let’s get into the three takeaways for the 2-4 Broncos.
1. Defense puts on its best performance of the season
In the loss to Jacksonville, the Broncos collected their first sacks of the season. In the win against the Chargers, the Broncos forced their first turnovers. In the game, they finally put it all together by putting on a clinic.
They allowed 204 yards of total offense, keeping Derrick Henry at bay while also putting Marcus Mariota under duress. They also picked up an eye-popping seven sacks and added three interceptions on the day as well as forced a quarterback change in their most impressive showing of the season.
Inside linebacker Alexander Johnson continued to impress picking up two sacks and a tackle for loss as well. To top it all off, this is all without outside linebacker Bradley Chubb.
Slowly but surely, Vic Fangio defensive play-calling and the Bronco’s unit are meshing together. If Denver’s defensive resurgence continues, scoring 16-to-24 points might be enough to win more than a few games this season.
2. The offensive line continues to improve under Munchak
Offensively speaking, this might not have been the most complete game, with three field goals and one touchdown, but the protection of Joe Flacco seems to be getting better as the season goes on.
Through the first three games, the offensive line was under fire by either holding or giving up sacks; specifically, Garett Bolles. Rightly so, because through three games, Denver’s O-line allowed 11 sacks.
The last three games, they’ve only given up four sacks and three were in one game. It’s taken some time, but the value of bringing in an offensive line guru like Mike Munchak has really helped turn this unit around. If they can continue to keep Flacco upright through the rest of the season, there’s no reason to believe Denver can’t get on a roll.
- Courtland Sutton is the Broncos No. 1 wide receiver
Going into the season, it was assumed that Sutton would assume the No. 1 receiving role while Emmanuel Sanders would come in after injury and take up the No. 1 role. However, through six games, Sutton has led the Broncos in targets, receptions, yards, yards per catch, and touchdowns.
After Sanders’ knee injury caused him to miss the second half, Sutton stepped up to the WR1 role and made some huge catches in the second half that put the game to bed. He finished the day with four catches for 76 yards, but the most important takeaway is that Sutton can be looked at as the Broncos number one receiver through the rest of the season.
With the win, Denver improved to 2-4 and are now a mere two games back of first in the AFC West thanks to two straight losses by the Kansas City Chiefs.
