The Broncos didn’t just beat any team on Thursday night. They beat the Carolina Panthers, a team that went 15-1 last season and had some people asking if they were one of the best teams ever. And you know what? They might be even better this season. Yes, Josh Norman is gone, but the front seven is as strong as ever and Kelvin Benjamin, a behemoth of a human being, is back and ready to dominate.
Without question, the Carolina Panthers are one of the best teams in the NFL, and the Denver Broncos just handed them two straight losses, twice as many as they had during the entire 2015 regular season.
That’s pretty good.
We can talk about the turnovers or the penalties or the clock management, but at the end of the day, the Broncos accomplished something special on Thursday night.
Here’s what we learned:
In the final nine games of last season, following the Broncos Week 7 bye, C.J. led the NFL with 6.35 yards per carry.
For some reason, people continue to doubt C.J. Anderson. They look past those numbers and see the running back who disappointed during the first six games of last season, and not the one who has dominated at during every other stretch of his career.
Well, he’s on a mission to prove those doubters wrong.
On Thursday night, C.J. looked every bit like a superstar. With 139 total yards and two touchdowns, Anderson was the motor behind Denver’s offense, and he drove them up and down the field. And he did so against the league’s No. 6 rushing defense in the NFL, according to Football Outsiders’ DVOA.
The only thing holding C.J. back from an Offensive Player of the Year-caliber season is health. He’s been riddled with injuries throughout his career, and we saw him struggle with a few bumps and bruises on Thursday, too. If he can stay on his feet, though, watch out.
The guy is skinnier, faster and more elusive than ever before, and he’s ready to take the NFL by storm.
Trevor Siemian may keep this job longer than we thought
We can nitpick Trevor Siemian’s performance all week. Yes, he threw two interceptions. No, he didn’t push the ball down the field. Yes, he missed Emmanuel Sanders on a would-be touchdown. No, he didn’t shock the world with a 300-yard performance.
Who cares.
Here’s what we need to remember about Trevor Siemian: He’s essentially a seventh-round rookie that just went out and beat the Carolina Panthers on national television! Soak it in.
Siemian isn’t Kurt Warner and he certainly isn’t Tom Brady, but could he be the 2015-version of Peyton Manning and Brock Osweiler? In this offense, maybe.
The kid showed some stones on Thursday night, and if he can keep the offense moving up and down the field like they did against the Panthers (a top-five defense), he may be able to keep Paxton Lynch at a distance for longer than we thought.
The defense is as volatile as ever
I love watching this defense play football. There aren’t many things more exciting in the NFL. But I’ll tell you what, they know how to make my heart race.
The Broncos had issues with personal foul penalties last season, and it doesn’t look to be any different this season. Eventually, that’s going to cost them.
The question is: Do we want them to change?
Nobody wants a 15-yard penalty on third and 10, but isn’t it that emotion and, well, violence that makes this unit so great? That’s just who these guys are. They swarm the ball carrier and make him regret ever stepping onto the field. Yes, they’ll draw a personal foul penalty every once in awhile, but the offense knows they’re coming; they look both ways before crossing the middle of the field.
Some will call the Broncos dirty, but I wouldn’t. They’re passionate and they play at a speed and intensity their opponents can’t match. If they cross the line — like Aqib Talib did against the Colts last year — there’s a serious problem. But if they’re simply trying to make a play — like Darian Stewart last night — I’ll write it off as a cost of doing great business.
Andy Janovich is on a mission to revive the fullback position
With offenses becoming more pass dependent over the last decade, the fullback has been going the way of the dodo bird. When teams do run, they often do so out of shotgun or single-back formations. They use three-wide receiver sets to spread the defense, before attacking them up the gut. A fullback, a glorified lineman, seems to be a thing of the past.
That is, unless Janovich keeps doing what he did last night.
Everybody will point to the touchdown run, but that was only the icing on the cake. Janovich was a bully in the trenches, dominating Thomas Davis on the second level. Without him, C.J. Anderson doesn’t spring for several of his long runs.
If the Denver Broncos are going to repeat in 2016, it’ll be because their defense is dominant and their run game is one of the best in the league. Anderson may be the star of that group, but Janovich will play a big role.
The Broncos are ready to contend for another championship
I’ve been saying this all offseason long, and last night made it only more true in my mind: The Denver Broncos are better than they were last season.
Now, that doesn’t mean I think they’re going to win the Super Bowl. They might, but if you play the 2015 season 100 times, the Broncos win the Super Bowl 20 times, if that. They earned earned everything they achieved, but they were extremely lucky, too. I can’t be positive that’ll happen again — though, it did on Thursday night.
If you project the defense to be roughly the same unit they were last season, which I do, and if you project the offense to be noticeably improved, which I do, then there’s no reason to think they’ll be any worse. And if that’s the case, there’s no reason they shouldn’t be competing for a championship into December and January.