On Sunday, the Denver Broncos celebrated the 25-year anniversary of the first Broncos squad that won a Super Bowl.
Unfortunately, the game that was paired with the ceremony served as a demonstration of just how much something great can deteriorate over a quarter-century.
While the defense was as stingy as ever, despite missing several key pieces, the offense was once again stuck in the mud and painful.
It’s the same script every single week, and this screenplay isn’t in the running for any awards. It’s deeply miserable. It’s the recurring nightmare that haunts you for decades, never releasing its ironclad chokehold on your psyche.
Who’s responsible for these dark dreams, and what nuggets of hope can Broncos Country cling to? Let’s take a look.
Stock Up for the Denver Broncos
Oct 23, 2022; Denver, Colorado, USA; New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson (2) is sacked by Denver Broncos defensive end Dre’Mont Jones (93) as defensive tackle DeShawn Williams (99) and linebacker Baron Browning (56) defend in the first quarter at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Jerry Jeudy
With trade rumors swirling about, Jerry Jeudy had one of the best performances of his NFL career.
Jeudy finished the game with seven receptions (tying his previous career-high), for 96 yards (the fourth-highest mark of his career), and looked like one of the most gifted players on the gridiron.
In recent weeks, defenses have been tightening the screws on Courtland Sutton, daring the Broncos to beat them with any of their other weapons, and Denver has been completely unable to do so.
On Sunday, that wasn’t the case, as Jeudy stepped up to lead the way for the Broncos’ offense.
It’s such a shame the narrative around Jerry Jeudy because he continues to play some really good football but some people just stick to their pre-conceived notions about the player.
— Jason Bishop (@JasonBishopNFL) October 23, 2022
Yes, Jeudy has been maddeningly inconsistent through the first two years and change of his NFL career and hasn’t lived up to being a top-15 pick. That doesn’t mean he’s a bad player, as he’s continued to show in spurts this season. Now, seven weeks through the season, Jeudy has a higher passer rating when targeted (93.04) than Sutton (82.11).
Throwing the baby out with the bath is especially inadvisable here, cause where else are the Denver Broncos going to turn for the help they so clearly need moving forward? They have limited draft picks, and needs at too many positions to invest primo picks at wide receiver. Plus, the veteran wide receiver market for the 2023 offseason looks pretty unimpressive.
The fact of the matter is, continuing to roll the dice with Jeudy might still be the best option for the Denver Broncos, as they search for any offensive piece to blossom the way Sutton, Tim Patrick, and Javonte Williams already have.
Dre’Mont Jones
One of the Denver Broncos who is greatly underrated by the national media is Dre’Mont Jones, but it’s going to be a lot harder to underrate him if he continues to produce like this.
Jones continues to be one of the Broncos’ few bright spots, with his ability to rush the passer and blow up plays in the run game as a gap penetrator, but that’s been the case since he entered the league. The difference this year is that now, in the form of D.J. Jones, he has an elite player to pair with, and that pairing has unlocked the fourth-year defensive lineman.
Today saw Jones tally sacks on back-to-back plays, pinning the New York Jets back deep in their own territory, and ending the drive. However, his impact on the game should have been even greater than that, as replay seemed to show that he forced a fumble — which would be scooped up and returned by D.J. Jones for a touchdown — on the first sack.
Through seven weeks, Jones has already tallied 4.5 sacks, putting him on pace to hit 11 sacks by the season’s end, which would nearly double his previous season-long career-high of 6.5 sacks.
Considering this is a contract season for Jones, he’ll be handsomely rewarded for these performances this offseason, either by the Broncos or one of the NFL’s other 31 teams
Greg Dulcich
His performance these past two weeks hasn’t been revolutionary, but Greg Dulcich is quickly emerging as one of the better and more reliable weapons in the Denver Broncos offense, greatly surpassing the expectations one would place on a rookie tight end who missed nearly all of the off-season practice time with injury.
Tight end is notoriously one of the hardest positions to make the transition from college to pros, and Dulcich was afforded minimal time to make that adjustment, as a result of his nagging hamstring injury.
The rookie @Greg_Dulcich keeps the drive going.
📺: #NYJvsDEN on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/FWWyCS9aA1 pic.twitter.com/qXM67q0PwX— NFL (@NFL) October 23, 2022
It would be impossible to recognize Dulcich’s background from his on-field play, as his athleticism and natural feel for manipulating defensive leverage continue to show up.
Greg Dulcich: TE1
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) October 23, 2022
As we discussed in the ‘Jerry Jeudy’ section, the Denver Broncos offense has to find weapons not named ‘Courtland Sutton,’ and Dulcich has the potential to be one.
Damarri Mathis
Damarri Mathis had a rough starting debut for the Denver Broncos, as he took the league lead for defensive pass interference penalties and was responsible for nearly 90 yards of penalties, in just one single game.
However, this week, the story was wildly different for Mathis.
He wasn’t penalized a single time, the New York Jets attack barely targeted him, and he frequently had sticky coverage even when he was targeted.
He also fired downfield to make some impressive plays as a tackler, a skill he also demonstrated during the loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
It's a second straight three-and-out for Denver's defense.
That second-down tackle by Damarri Mathis on Garrett Wilson was big time.
— Nick Kosmider (@NickKosmider) October 23, 2022
If Mathis plays like he did today for the rest of the season, the Denver Broncos will be ecstatic with what they got out of a Day 3 rookie CB
Denver sports fans
The Nuggets and Avs are back.
Stock Down for the Denver Broncos
Oct 23, 2022; Denver, Colorado, USA; Denver Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett reacts after a play as down judge Jerry Bergman (91) looks on in the fourth quarter against the New York Jets at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
Denver Broncos coaching staff
Just as hellish as what the Denver Broncos are enduring at quarterback is what they’re enduring with the majority of the coaching staff.
Defensive coaches are exempted from all of what is about to follow, as Ejiro Evero, Christian Parker, Marcus Dixon, Peter Hansen and Bert Watts have all seemingly done a terrific job with the defense and their respective units. Praise be to these hallowed few.
Everywhere else has been a disappointment in terms of execution. Sunday featured gaffes from the special teams, in the form of both the kicker and the holder (more on that later), and some less noticeable mistakes blocking for Montrell Washington. Last week, it was gunners and punt returners. In prior weeks it has been the snapper and the holder, as Brandon McManus personally highlighted.
The offense has been the real bottom-feeding unit, as fans are now finding themselves pining for the days of Pat Shurmur, Teddy Bridgewater, and even Drew Lock. Meanwhile, the Trevor Siemian and Gary Kubiak era feels like a warm memory from the college years, back before the hair fell out and the wife left.
Nothing comes easy, the playcalling is all extremely predictable, and yet somehow, at the same time, it’s also stunningly nonsensical. Seeing a shotgun pass on 3rd-and-1 melts the brains of Broncos Country, not only because it lacks reason, but also because everyone knows it’s coming.
They’re scoring fewer points per game through seven games than any of the post-Peyton Manning teams, and by a comfortable margin.
This week they decided to pass the ball 46 times, more pass attempts than they had in any of the games Russell Wilson started, with Brett Rypien installed at quarterback.
The offensive line has regressed to a painful extent across the board. Weak points that have long festered on the roster, in the form of Lloyd Cushenberry and Dalton Risner, are now experiencing a nuclear meltdown, with Cam Fleming and/or the ghost of Graham Glasgow playing alongside them. With Garett Bolles, Quinn Meinerz, and Billy Turner all on the field at the same time, and Mike Munchak running the show, it’s possible to picture a solid offensive line. That has not been the case for much of the season, though it has to be noted their performance tonight was not a major contributing factor in the letdown.
Albert Okwuegbunam has regressed from a promising young player to an unactivatable tight end under the tutelage of this staff.
The development of the wide receiver room has generally been positive, but there are consistent issues that have plagued the performance of the room for multiple seasons.
Perhaps the cruelest part for Denver Broncos fans though, as MileHighReport’s Frankie Abbott highlighted, is that the only brilliant thing Nathaniel Hackett has done so far is make himself pink-slip-proof.
Hackett really set this coaching staff up perfectly so there weren't any desirable interim HC's to take over incase he crashed and burned. Guy is out here playing 4D chess with his job security and you've gotta respect it.
— Frankie Abbott (@FrankiesFilm) October 18, 2022
Fire Hackett in-season, and not only does it send a dubious message to the next head coach about job security (Urban Meyer is the only coach since 1994 to have been fired before the end of their first season), but it leaves Denver with the predicament of finding an interim.
Yeah, Evero has been amazing, but that’s also the reason you might want to just keep him installed as defensive coordinator. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Also, despite being awesome, he only has seven games of coordinating experience, which would make him an ironic solution for a team currently learning a lesson about the follies of hiring inexperienced coaches.
Justin Outten doesn’t require a paragraph to explain why not.
Similar arguments that applied to Evero would apply to Dwayne Stukes.
Other logical answers that come to mind are Dom Capers and Klint Kubiak, and then maybe Bill Kollar, Zach Azzanni or Jerry Rosburg. None of those options are exciting though.
https://twitter.com/xanb21/status/1584526157252558849?s=46&t=pgqR3Ed7UqZNqXuxacaXPQ
Evero is the most enticing option it feels, but do you really want to risk sacrificing the one thing presently working?
A nightmare with no way out.
Russell Wilson
It’s true that Russell Wilson didn’t play tonight, but the quarterback position has to be discussed after that Jets game, and unfortunately, Brett Rypien didn’t do enough to end up in the ‘stock up’ or the ‘stock down’ section this week.
Now, Rypien certainly wasn’t good, but what did you expect from the former practice squad quarterback who narrowly made the roster? It’s hard for his stock to drop from there.
The reason Wilson finds himself here in the stock-down column is the fact that the offense wasn’t markedly worse with that borderline-rosterable quarterback, than it was with the quarterback the Denver Broncos staked the future of their entire franchise on, and that’s a major problem for Wilson.
Now, certain aspects of the offense were adapted for Rypien, such as seeing more plays under center, but the Broncos were running many of the same concepts they had been running for Wilson. And, although Rypien wasn’t able to create the jaw-dropping explosives that have carried the Broncos’ offense the first six weeks of the season, he was able to create a lot more on quick concepts, where Wilson has been fairly dreadful.
The end result was a quarterbacking performance that wasn’t much worse than what Wilson displayed when he was in the lineup.
The Denver Broncos are paying a premium at quarterback, and that premium is being paid in the hopes that the quarterback will be able to elevate his surroundings, and it’s pretty impossible to argue that Wilson has upgraded anything in 2022.
When you change a variable, and the end result stays more-or-less the same, it leads one to believe the variable is insignificant. If the drop-off from Wilson to Rypien is relatively insignificant, Broncos Country has to feel concerned.
Trying to determine whether the short-circuiting quarterback or eternally-lost head coach is more to blame is truly a fruitless effort (though a fruitless effort this columnist wasted oodles of time on throughout Sunday), so long as you’re able to see that both are contributing this atrocity we’re all doomed to watch every week.
If the prime culprit ends up being the quarterback that just signed a lucrative, long-term contract, the future outlook for the Denver Broncos will be as dark as could be.
A nightmare with no way out.
Brandon McManus
The missed extra point wasn’t on Brandon McManus, as the holder made a sizable adjustment on the hold while McManus was going through his kicking motion. Let’s get that clear right now.
Lots of blame for McManus on the missed PAT.
That’s on his holder. pic.twitter.com/8FwRWziaOV
— Vic Lombardi (@VicLombardi) October 23, 2022
However, the missed field goal was a mistake that falls on McManus entirely and the excuses of windiness and it being a difficult kick are going to fall on deaf ears here.
While the Broncos’ kicking crew tallied just three of the possible seven points they could’ve added to Denver’s final score, the New York Jets’ crew was a perfect 10-for-10.
Brandon McManus is the NFL’s ninth-highest-paid kicker in 2022. He is paid to be one of the NFL’s nine best kickers, and he is supposed to produce like one of the NFL’s nine best kickers.
With that in mind, making the easy kicks and missing the hard kicks should not be the expectation. The expectation should be that he can perform above replacement-level at times, and live up to that contract.
And don’t worry, these are conclusions coming from the entire body of McManus’ 2022 work, not a single week.
According to Football Outsiders’ DVOA ratings (which take into account factors like the weather, the elevation, the distance of the kick, and much more) the Denver Broncos’ kicking unit entered the week as the NFL’s ninth-worst unit.
That doesn’t square with the franchise’s investment in the position. Stop me if you’ve heard that before.