I love seeing our team defeat their opponents and win in easy ways. This isn’t something we as a fanbase have enjoyed much in recent history, so we all really enjoyed the moment.

I think this game was an absolutely wonderful development opportunity for the team. The New Orleans Saints have a terribly broken roster, which resulted in the team winning multiple matchups on both sides of the ball in almost every game and running many plays well.

attack

This is damn near the peak of what the Denver Broncos offense is capable of under Sean Payton coaching and Bo Nix as a rookie quarterback. Although they dropped a few points at the start of the game, overall the performance was great.

The running game opened up everything for the offense. Swing passes and screens were productive. The passing game had to make both quick throws and intermediate throws to keep the chains moving, but never felt like it needed to carry the offense as it did in previous games this season.

I also emphasized the efficiency of 3rd down and said that this offense would come to life if they converted on 3rd down just ⅓ of the time. They ended the night with a 3rd drop of 36.5%. Payton has mentioned it constantly in his press conferences and it makes a huge difference in how good an offense looks overall.

line

Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post

The offensive line won the game and earned the leadoff zone for the offense. I can’t remember a game where our inside linemen looked as good as Ben Powers, Alex Forsyth and Quinn Meinerz did in this game. They created bus lanes for those behind in the middle to walk through. They constantly came to the second level and kept the lanes clean for the back line.

But we can’t ignore tackles Garrett Bolles and Mike McGlinchey. Both bookends of the line held them tight, blocked their ends and largely kept Nix clean throughout the game.

Quarterbacks

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Bo Nix is ​​a real weapon as a runner. They relied on a lot of read-option plays early that helped unbalance the defense and open up the offense.

He still needs a lot of work on his accuracy as we saw a poor early pass overturned for a short goal. Two plays later, Tim Tebow again bounced a pass in front of an open receiver. Here I would like to say that we left a lot of points on the board. I don’t know if this can be fixed over the course of the season, but Nix needs to focus on this next year as he really needs to learn more about how to align his platform better to improve the consistency of his throws. I honestly believe that most of his poor throws are solely due to him choosing to throw off on his back foot, and that this is something that is very fixable if he is willing to do the work .

I love seeing Nix tackle some easy slant routes. They are an integral part of Sean Payton’s offense and can really help drives build momentum while keeping defenses on their heels. He hit both Vele and Franklin with perfect throws. This is just another wrinkle to the offense that can help support the defense and keep them from stacking the box to stop the run game.

Running backs

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While I give the line a ton of credit for that running game, someone needs credit for actually carrying the ball, and Javonte Williams put together another fantastic game to add to his season. He managed 88 yards rushing on just 14 attempts and two touchdowns that day. There was a lot of daylight and he kept running there for easy yards throughout the game.

Jaleel McLaughlin also had a good game, capitalizing on four carries for 35 yards with one run that was just an ankle tackle away from being brought to the house in the third quarter.

Audric Estime had more runs in this game with good success (5 carries for 29 yards), but also showed a flaw in his game. He fumbled in the 2nd half while really clutching the ball and narrowly got rid of the ball. It was an ugly sight for a guy who you’d hope to give the ball to for more than 10 runs per game in the future. Hopefully offseason training at the NFL level can help improve his arm strength and minimize fumble risk for his team.

Recipient

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Troy Franklin had a pretty good day at wide receiver for the Broncos. He had 5 catches for 50 yards, including an outstanding 30-yard catch in the 2nd quarter. It was both nice to see him given plenty of opportunities to develop and to see him show that he can contribute consistently to the offense with solid hands throughout the game.

Lucas Krull had an excellent diving catch over the middle for 23 yards in the third quarter. He seems like a tight end that could step up as the season progresses and actually be a passing threat for the team, and I like that. He has the athleticism and size to be completely mismatched on the field, which would greatly help this offense.

I honestly don’t know what to think about Courtland Sutton being on the field for 86% of the offensive plays and only scoring one goal the entire game (it won’t show up in the stats due to a penalty against New Orleans). on the play when his defender caught him on the route). Is Sutton washed? Does Nix prefer throwing to the younger receivers? I do believe that Sutton never quite regained his pace after his leg injury in 2020. That makes him more of a big-possession receiver than a true No. 1 jump-ball target. That being said, I think he still has a lot left, and if the Broncos don’t want to use him for some reason, they should consider it thinking about trading him so he can do his thing somewhere else.

defense

This defense, without its best player, Patrick Surtain II, held an NFL team to just a measly 10 points. Yes, the Saints brought out a rookie who looked a little overwhelmed. You can’t control who you play each week, and you shouldn’t apologize for it.

The Broncos’ defense continued to dominate with plenty of man coverage at the back, allowing for creative blitzes in the background to keep the offense largely confused throughout the game.

While I hope that Vance Joseph decides to stay in Denver and be a well-paid, outstanding defensive coordinator for the rest of his career, he is well on his way to getting another look at a head coach in the NFL, if he wants to do that, based on what we want. I saw him do this defense in his time with Sean Payton.

Front 7

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Cody Barton had a breakout game for the Broncos. While he narrowly missed an early interception and had a fumble return for a touchdown, he called back a penalty; Near the end of the game, he picked up a fumble caused by a corner blitz and recovered it for 6 points. He tied with two other players and led the team with 8 tackles, had a sack, had a quarterback hurry, a pass defense and both caused and recovered a fumble on the day. This is the type of performance you want to see from inside linebackers in a 3-4 defense. What sets the players apart are their effective moves and not just the high number of tackles in each game.

Zach Allen continues his monster season with another half-sack that collapses the pocket. He was a liability for the Saints’ passing game all night long, as he also scored three quarterback hurries. The guy was constantly in doubles and still had an impact.

John Franklin-Meyers had a great technical sack up the middle in the second quarter and a long drive in the third quarter. He jumped left while throwing the guard’s arms to the right, turning on the afterburners to get around the defender and bring down the quarterback. He also had a tackle for loss and a quarterback rush that day while being on the field for just 40% of the snaps.

Secondary

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Ja’Quan McMillian had his best game of the year against the Saints. He had a great tackle in the open field in the second quarter for a huge tackle for loss. At the end of the half he had another goal that Kamara caught in the flat and it immediately blew up. This guy is a football player in every way. He finished the game with 6 tackles, 1 sack, 2 TFLs, 1 rush and 1 pass defense to his credit.

PJ Locke and Brandon Jones from the safety positions were active participants in this game. Both got tackles for loss and each had 5 tackles on the night.

Special teams

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Wil Lutz had another perfect game as a kicker for the Broncos. He went 4 of 4 on field goals and hit all three of his extra points on the night.

I see you, JL Skinner. On a kickoff return midway through the second quarter, Skinner hit the returner so hard that the returner’s grandchildren felt it. He did an excellent job of not engaging with his blocker, breaking away from the block and attacking the ball carrier in space.

Final thoughts

It was fun to watch this win, but I think it’s important not to get carried away by it. To their credit, the Saints were not healthy and were almost a snake as a team when it came to injuries. While I think this was a great game for the development of the young Broncos, I don’t think it was a tone-setting game.

As long as the team doesn’t turn their heads and let this game go, they should continue their success against the Panthers in a few weeks. Then they’ll be put to the real test when they travel to Baltimore to take on the Ravens.