Following a demoralizing loss to the hated Las Vegas Raiders, the Denver Broncos now sit at 2-2, wounded, and with a matchup against the Indianapolis Colts up next on Thursday night.

Despite the pain of Sunday’s outcome, it wasn’t all bad.

With that in mind, which Broncos stood out, and which stunk it up? Let’s take a look.

Stock Up for the Denver Broncos

Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams (17) makes a catch against Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II (2) during a game at Allegiant Stadium.

Oct 2, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams (17) makes a catch against Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II (2) during a game at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Patrick Surtain II

Presently, there isn’t a harder assignment for a cornerback than asking them to cover Davante Adams, and to follow Adams all over the field. And yet, in just the 19th football game of his NFL career, Patrick Surtain II was given that exact assignment.

On its own, that’s impressive. Once given the context of how good Surtain looked against Adams, it’s so jaw-droppingly remarkable that it makes one want to react like a ‘Looney Tunes’ character that just saw a gorgeous dame.

Surtain was asked to follow Davante Adams for 25 of the Denver Broncos’ 35 snaps, per Next Gen Stats, and you would only wish that rate was higher, considering how Adams feasted on Denver’s defense the other 10 snaps.

Over the 25 snaps Surtain found himself in coverage against Davante Adams, Adams was targeted eight times, and only recorded four receptions for 48 yards. Surtain allowed a mere 67.71 passer rating. Over the other 10 snaps, Adams was targeted five times, and recorded five receptions for 53 yards.

At this point, the Broncos should take all limitations off of Surtain, because clearly, he’s up to whatever challenge you throw his way. Next time, let’s just hope they don’t give the other team’s best weapon 10 free plays.

Russell Wilson

The offense still isn’t as explosive as much of Broncos Country might desire, but over the last five quarters of football, the Denver Broncos have started to see Russell Wilson look more like Russell Wilson.

Now, to be clear, even at his best, Wilson was a high-variance quarterback. That means you get to experience a lot of tremendously fun highs, but the perilously low lows come with it too. Through the first 11 quarters of the season though, Denver-based fans were suffering through far more lows than highs.

Over the last five quarters though, that’s started to reverse.

Wilson was lights-out in the final frame against a stingy San Francisco 49er defense, helping to lead the Denver Broncos to victory in the final moments, and then he carried that momentum into Week 4.

In the first half, Wilson was near-perfect, connecting on 11 of his 12 attempts, while tallying 149 yards and two scores. That’s good for a 158.0 passer rating. 158.3 is a perfect passer rating.

In the second half, the offensive line began to implode, and, to be fair, Wilson didn’t look as sharp, but he still made some big plays to keep Denver in it late. His deep shot to K.J. Hamler set himself up for a touchdown scramble that brought the Denver Broncos within a field goal, but it wound up being too little too late.

Now, that’s frustrating, but it’s also who Russell Wilson is. Broncos Country is seemingly under the impression they’ve acquired Peyton Manning again, but that just isn’t the case. Wilson has never been (and probably will never be) Steady Eddy. He’s always been Mr. High Variance, and that’s going to continue for a long time. Sometimes, he’s gonna hold the ball too long, and take an ugly, drive-killing sack. He’s also gonna convert some 1st-and-30’s for you.

C’est la vie.

Last week there was plenty of talk wondering if the trade for Wilson was a disaster, so today’s performance was a step in the right direction.

Denver Broncos’ redzone offense

The Denver Broncos’ redzone offense was laughably bad through the first two weeks of the NFL season.

They were averaging 1.8 points per redzone possession. For the sake of context, the Chicago Bears’ anemic offense was averaging 1.9 points per offensive possession. That’s the punchline to a bad joke.

However, over the last two weeks, they’ve been terrific. They’ve scored touchdowns on four of their five possessions, and scored a field goal on the other, resulting in 30 points. From a rate perspective, generating 6.0 points per redzone possession, while scoring a touchdown on 80% of drives is slightly better than what the NFL record-holding 2020 Green Bay Packers redzone offense produced.

Now, it’s unlikely that Denver’s offense maintains that clip, but we criticized them for being historically bad through five drives, so they deserve some praise for being historically good over the next five.

Montrell Washington

When the Denver Broncos drafted Montrell Washington in this year’s NFL Draft, it immediately became one of the most widely panned selections any team made during the event.

It was viewed as a tremendous reach by the media’s draft analysts, many of whom either didn’t even have Montrell Washington ranked on their draft boards, or had him ranked as an undrafted player. Even Washington didn’t believe he would be drafted, as he said himself during the offseason. George Paton selected him in the fifth round.

Well, guess who’s laughing now?

Through Sunday’s Week 4 action, Montrell Washington is the NFL’s second-best punt returner, averaging 15.22 yards per return. Making that even more impressive, is the fact that he and Devin Duvernay (15.40) are outliers. Washington should be leading the league, considering just four returners are averaging over 11 yards per return, and only two are averaging over 12.5 yards.

Plus, Washington has the most reliable sample size of the bunch. Of those four returners averaging over 11 yards per attempt, Montrell Washington is the only one with more than five returns on the season (nine).

Even when he’s pulling up with heat-checks from half-court, Paton is consistently finding the bottom of the net. Now, he just needs to find someone to manage the coach-hiring process for him in the future…

Stock Down for the Denver Broncos

Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs (28) rushes towards Denver Broncos safety Kareem Jackson (22) during a game at Allegiant Stadium.

Oct 2, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs (28) rushes towards Denver Broncos safety Kareem Jackson (22) during a game at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Melvin Gordon

The Denver Broncos absolutely have to sit Melvin Gordon down at this point, and had they done so before this week’s matchup with the Las Vegas Raiders, they might be sitting at 3-1 right now instead of 2-2.

Denver was rolling and had all the momentum in the world, until Gordon’s fumble on Vegas’ 32-yard line led to a 68-yard fumble return for a touchdown. That fumble almost certainly erased three points off the board, and it also gifted the Raiders six points.

The Broncos lost by nine.

Gordon also mixed in a drop in the shadow of his own goal line for good measure.

He’s fumbled the ball four times already this season, three times in the past two weeks, and is lucky his two fumbles last week didn’t cost the Broncos that game.

This is a well-documented problem for Gordon too.

At this point, it appears to be a mental issue, and Gordon should be given time to clear his head, even with Javonte Williams’ injury on the radar. The Denver Broncos can’t afford to give Melvin Gordon the ball right now, because the chances for a catastrophic, game-losing negative are just too high for the benefits a mediocre running back provides.

Denver Broncos run defense

Entering the day, the Denver Broncos were ranked sixth in rushing yardage allowed and eighth in run-defense DVOA (an advanced metric that gives context to yards, by factoring in the situation those yards were gained in).

Then, they allowed a Las Vegas Raider rushing attack, which ranked 28th in rushing yards per game and 23rd in rushing offense DVOA entering the day, to rush for over 200 yards. Josh Jacobs nearly went over 150, and Derek Carr (yes, that Derek Carr) rushed for 40 yards on over five yards per carry.

When the Denver Broncos scored a late touchdown to bring them within two points, it was ultimately proven meaningless, as Denver’s defense just didn’t have any as left to get a stop against the Vegas’ rushing attack.

Josh McDaniels’ run game sliced through the Broncos’ defense, drained the clock, then punched in a short-yardage touchdown to ice the game.

This showing might’ve exposed the Achilles Heel of the ‘Darkside Defense,’ and they’ll only have until Thursday to get right. Making matters worse? The uber-talented Jonathan Taylor will be the running back on the opposing sideline.

Denver Broncos OL

This unit is seemingly in the midst of a meltdown for the Denver Broncos after the last two weeks.

In each of the last two games, the right side of the offensive line — Graham Glasgow and Cam Fleming — has been embarrassed by the opposing defensive front, while Garett Bolles has shown some serious signs of regression.

Not only is Bolles getting beat more frequently than he’s accustomed to, but he’s also on pace to be penalized 21 times in 2022. He has never been penalized more than 17 times in any season and was flagged merely 15 times between 2020 and 2021.

Those offensive line malfunctions were the top reason why the offense went completely missing at the start of the second half.

This team needs help, and fast, but who knows when they’ll get it. Will Meinerz’s quad stop nagging him in time for Thursday Night Football? When will Billy Turner return to practice, and once he does, how long does it take for him to get acclimated, considering the importance of offensive line chemistry and the fact that he’s barely taken any snaps with this first-team offensive line?

Those are troubling questions, especially because they can’t afford to suffer much more offensive line ineptitude, and there’s no clear end in sight.

The health of the Denver Broncos

The Broncos lost a ton of talent on Sunday and will be awaiting some tremendously consequential injury updates throughout Monday.

Both Javonte Williams and Randy Gregory — both of whom at least have an argument for being the best player on offense or defense, so far, respectively — were carted off the field with knee injuries, and Coach Hackett didn’t have an update for the reporters in attendance postgame.

The drop-off from Gregory to Baron Browning is a steep one, especially in the run game, where the Broncos most need help right now. Fortunately, though, Gregory offered Broncos Country some optimism in the locker room after the game.

The drop-off from Javonte Williams to Melvin Gordon could be cataclysmic though, given the fumble problems.

Then, P.J. Locke, who has been tremendous on special teams and in dime packages, went down with a scary injury on the very first play of the game. Damarri Mathis has done a good job filling in so far, but considering how shaky Mathis was in preseason, it’s tough to rely on that.