The Denver Broncos collapsed late in Sunday’s AFC conference matchup against the Indianapolis Colts after the defense surrendered over 470+ yards to Daniel Jones and their offense, losing 29-28 on a last-second field goal and falling to 1-1 on the year.
Denver Broncos collapse against the Colts
The Denver Broncos took a 28-20 lead against the Colts in the third quarter, with the offense and Bo Nix operating effectively. Defensively, the Broncos struggled to get stops on various drives, but came up big in the fourth quarter on a drive that saw Daniel Jones move the Colts offense downfield near the 50-yard line after Jeremy Crawshaw pinned Indy inside their own 10-yard line.
Jonah Elliss came up with arguably one of the biggest stops of the day, hammering Jones as he threw the ball on fourth down, leading to it falling incomplete, gifting the Broncos offense the ball near midfield.
Nix was pushed late out of bounds on the ensuing play, which drew a late hit and gifted Denver even better field positioning, but two plays later would sail a pass intended for Courtland Sutton that ended up being picked off.
After Denver’s defense forced the Colts to settle for a field goal, the Broncos’ offense broke into field goal range, but got pushed back after two back-to-back penalties impacted the drive. Wil Lutz would go on to miss a 42-yard field goal that would have extended Denver’s lead to 31-26, but it doinked off the upright.
An Eyioma Uwazurike penalty on a missed 60-yard field goal by the Colts would gift them 15 yards and another try at the end of regulation, this time with Spencer Shrader nailing it to defeat the Broncos.
Gut-wrenching. Costly. Heartbreaker.
Troy Franklin’s rise is here
Troy Franklin was one player we talked about all summer long at Denver Broncos training camp, and after last week’s game against the Tennessee Titans, where he saw six targets, his rise came in Sunday’s game against the Colts.
Franklin hauled in passes downfield, across the middle, and underneath formations to give the Broncos offense some rhythm and momentum, including a touchdown that helped them take a 21-20 lead at halftime.
This week, his highly featured role saw him haul in eight catches for 89 yards and a touchdown.
Broncos might have a second-level problem on defense
We haven’t seen what this Broncos defense looks like yet with Dre Greenlaw on the field, but Sunday’s game against the Colts highlighted a second-level problem the team has early on through two weeks.
Three of the Colts’ most explosive plays offensively came from Tyler Warren being lined up in the backfield and Jonathan Taylor catching a pass in the flats without a defender nearby. On those coverages, the Broncos were manned up, and Daniel Jones took advantage of it, hitting these plays with Alex Singleton in coverage.
Singleton’s coverage of Warren on his 35-yard catch seemed to be rooted in confusion. He looked to pass off coverage to Justin Strnad, but that wasn’t something he could do because he had man coverage responsibility on the running back.
As Singleton continues to work his way back into game shape after his ACL recovery, Sunday’s game showcased teams looking to attack him.
It’s something worth monitoring and certainly was problematic today, but it cannot become a trend. There were far too many explosive plays in this game, and other teams will take note of that, especially after the defense allowed 470+.
Broncos offense needs to use their Joker more
Sean Payton raved this offseason about Evan Engram being the ‘Joker’ he’s been looking for on this Denver team, but through two games of regular-season play, we haven’t seen him used like one.
Of course, Engram was injured in Week 1, but he practiced and was off the injury report on Friday. In Sunday’s game against the Colts, he had zero targets on the day and was hardly on the field, and had a false start penalty late in the third quarter that backed the Broncos offense up into a 3rd and 15. Thankfully, Tyler Badie broke off an 18-yard catch and run on the next play to negate it at an important juncture nearing the fourth quarter.
He did haul in an important first down catch in the fourth quarter for 12 yards that helped move the chains, but his usage needs to be amplified a lot more to help diversify the offense over the course of this season.
Broncos news and notes vs. Colts
- The Broncos defense gave up 473 yards of offense to Daniel Jones and the Colts.
- Denver was 4-of-9 on third down offensively, while allowing the Colts to convert on 6-of-13 third down attempts.
- The Broncos were penalized eight times for 83 yards and had one turnover all game.
- Wil Lutz missed the Broncos’ only field goal attempt of the day, while the Colts’ place kicker went 5-for-5.
- Denver’s defense allowed five Colts players to haul in 40+ receiving yards on the day.