The Denver Broncos’ offense and special teams play nearly cost them in Sunday’s ugly, abysmal, you name it win against the New York Jets.
Coming off an impressive win against the Philadelphia Eagles last week, the Broncos laid an absolute clunker against a team they should have beaten by multiple scores, and they nearly lost it.
Denver’s defense saved the day after a nine-sack performance, and they should receive first-class treatment on the flight home.
Denver Broncos left guard problem, Darren Rizzi’s special teams unit has not been special
Nobody said replacing left guard Ben Powers, who landed on injured reserve with a biceps injury, would be easy. Nobody said it would be so hard.
Veteran Matt Peart filled in for Powers, and he struggled mightily, and that’s putting it nicely. He was penalized three times, twice for holding on two plays that saw Bo Nix connect with Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin for big gains and first downs, wiping them away and killing two of Denver’s offensive drives. Peart also got blown up on several pull plays in the run game and gave up a couple of interior pressures.
His struggles can’t become a theme because Sunday’s game showcased him as being a liability, and one that the New York Giants will look to take advantage of next Sunday.
Denver’s special teams coverage units struggled against Chris Banjo’s Jets unit. Denver surrendered a 72-yard kick return, a 31-yard return, and gave New York excellent starting field position often.
On top of that, Denver’s return units struggled to set anything up for Marvin Mims. The Jets also capitalized on a fake punt on fourth down late in the second quarter, which didn’t materialize into points for the Jets.
They constantly put the Broncos defense in a hole from a field position standpoint, and that can’t carry over into next week.
Sean Payton has to take a look hard look in the mirror
The Broncos’ offense didn’t get off to a hot start in the first half, but Bo Nix was rolling after their first couple of series. Penalties killed Denver’s offensive flow and rhythm, and that carried over into the second half, where Nix and the offense hardly produced anything because of penalties and a safety that took away a potential Denver possession.
Until the fourth quarter, Nix was 0-3 passing for 0 yards until he connected with Marvin Mims, Pat Bryant, and Evan Engram for first downs.
Sean Payton has to take a long and hard look in the mirror and evaluate how this unit can evolve and grow because they can’t continue to make these types of mistakes against good teams. The Jets are not a good team, and Denver made them look capable.
The flow and rhythm disappeared for them, and the run game never really had a chance to get going. Their final drive of the fourth quarter ended with Nix being sacked and Denver having to punt near their own end zone.
He’s responsible for the offense and how they perform, and they’ve consistently started slow in a majority of games or have fizzled out in the second half since he arrived in 2023.
The Giants are licking their chops after watching Denver’s offense play today, and they’ll have to make adjustments quickly.
Game balls for the Broncos win vs. the Jets
Typically, a win results in game balls being handed out, and we’re handing out 11 of them.
Denver’s defense gets them after Sunday’s performance.
They held the Jets offense to 82 net yards, eight first downs, 2-of-15 on third down, -10 net passing yards, and an average of 1.4 yards per play.
Brandon Jones, Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Justin Strnad, Eyioma Uwazurike, Zach Allen, Talanoa Hufanga, and John Franklin-Myers all contributed to the sack department that saw them get home on Justin Fields nine times.
On to the Giants.
