After a few strong weeks that gave the appearance of a young team and quarterback turning the corner, the Broncos came back down to Earth with a blowout loss to Buffalo Bills.

In the second half, the Broncos didn’t even look like they deserved to be on the same field as the Bills, but there are still some positives to take from this game. For a look at those positives, as well as the things that didn’t go quite so well, look below.

Stock Up

Noah Fant

After the standard up-and-down rookie season for a tight end, Fant was off to an electric start in 2020 before nagging injuries slowed him down. Unfortunately he just hasn’t looked like himself since suffering an ankle injury against the Jets in Week 4.

In Week 15 against the Bills though, we saw another flash of how special Fant can be when he’s at his best.

Fant finished the day with eight receptions for 68 yards and a touchdown, which brings his season total to 52 receptions for 560 yards and three touchdowns. That almost perfectly mirrors his rookie statline, which is incredibly impressive considering Fant has been hampered by injuries almost the entire season.

He was one of Lock’s favorite targets in Saturday’s game and made a remarkable catch late in the first half that showed off his rare level of talent. If the Broncos can keep him healthy, they should have a top-five tight end for the foreseeable future.

Stock Down

Taylor Russolino

The Broncos were forced to play without their kicker Brandon McManus, as the kicker came into close contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus.

Fortunately, the Broncos didn’t have to turn to Kendall Hinton this time around to be their emergency backup, as they had former XFL kicker Taylor Russolino on their practice for just this occasion.

Unfortunately however, Russolino didn’t cut the mustard.

The kicker started off the day by whiffing on a 51-yard field goal attempt. Certainly disappointing but nothing unforgivable considering the weather conditions.

But from there things really went south.

Russolino missed the extra point on Denver’s end-of-half touchdown. Then on the kickoff to open the second half, Russolino didn’t have a leg like McManus to force a touchback, which allowed the Bills to have a long kick return and steal back momentum in the game.

Lastly, after the game had been over for a while, Russolino missed yet another extra point. That gives him a kicking percentage of 25 percent, and 75 percent of his attempts were extra points.

Redzone defense

The key to the Broncos’ defensive success under Vic Fangio has been an inate ability to make opposing offenses settle for field goals instead of touchdowns. That ability is a critical piece of Denver’s gameplan, but they were without it Sunday, as Buffalo dominated the redzone with ease.

On the Bills’ first three redzone possesions, they came away with three touchdowns, and it wasn’t until the game was out of reach at 35-13 that the Broncos finally came away with a pair of stops.

That’s the downside of facing a quarterback like Josh Allen, who has the arm to whip a deep pass into a tight window downfield for a Jake Kumerow touchdown, and a rushing ability not too far off that of Cam Newton’s. He’s the league’s best redzone weapon, and frankly, it isn’t all that close.

Denver’s beyond-depleted secondary never stood a chance.

Denver’s secondary

It’s hard to beat up on the secondary too much, as they are incredibly thin due to injuries, but they still were a major problem this week against Buffalo.

The Broncos were forced to turn to No. 3 cornerback Michael Ojemudia — a rookie third-rounder — and street free agents De’Vante Bausby and Will Parks to find their starting lineup at corner, let alone what they need for depth behind that trio.

They then asked that group to shut down one of the NFL’s best receiving cores, hottest quarterbacks, and an offense currently ranked fourth in pass-offense DVOA (behind only the Packers, Chiefs and Titans).

As a result, Josh Allen put on a clinic. He completed 70 percent of his passes, and threw for 359 yards and two touchdowns, while picking up anther 33 yards and two scores on the ground.