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We bought some tickets on the Denver Broncos to go to the Super Bowl and the Broncos to make the AFC title game, also pegging them as the potential hosts of that game in successive years. Bo Nix still has his issues, and the slow starts are a thing. The defense had a sluggish start to season. There seemed to be a bit of a hangover and the David Webb experiment was a total dud. Live and learn. But Sean Payton has another Lombardi Trophy in him and this team showed the big, bad Chiefs in recent years they could trade blows with them and be the last one standing.
Sunday was a very big deal for a Broncos team that is finding its mojo again. They couldn’t afford to get swept by KC, and they didn’t. They needed a crucial stop at the end of the game and QB pressure that makes them so special when they are at their best … And they got it.
We had them near the top this summer. They are back there now.
We just told you how much we much like them. They have a true home-field advantage. They put some of their clashes and issues behind them. If they do get the top seed, they are going to end up in the Super Bowl. They are starting to find more of a run game and, man, wouldn’t Derrick Henry or Jonathan Taylor look good there?
This wasn’t a tour de force. In fact, the first half it was like they were still on a bye week. Josh Allen was off, and the pass game still seems to be feeling out where some pieces like DJ Moore fit in. Still, they rolled and the defense showed a strong aggressive bent, and Greg Rousseau feasted. They need some defensive back help, though.
Seattle will get quite a test Monday night against that Bears offense but we like their chances. Adding Quenton Nelson will get that offensive line going with more power and push. Sam Darnold needs a run game and they are getting healthier at running back, too. Such a gritty team. Mike Macdonald is special.
They are going to land a wide receiver — and probably a couple. You knew Kenneth Walker wasn’t going to rewrite all the record books, but you give Patrick Mahomes anything close to the run game he had with a few more weapons to throw to, and this team could be the last standing. Of course, KC picked up ghoulish kicker Justin Tucker. Morality has never mattered to Clark Hunt.
Have to respect them fortifying their defensive line with the DeForest Buckner reunion. Can they stay as relatively healthy in the second half of the season as they were in the first? There is definitely a part of me that thinks we might look back and say they peaked in October.
Great way to come off the bye. One of the more complete teams in football, they are going to run away with the AFC South and could land the top seed. Expect them to thrash the Ravens on Thursday night given Baltimore’s QB woes and the schedule sets up well for the Jags.
Did they pay a QB price for Jeffery Simmons? Yeah, but he might be the best defensive tackle on the planet and this ownership group needed to send a signal to the locker room that they were invested in this, and man did they. Part of me thinks they could still add something else on the defensive side.
Just don’t know that you can ask this of the defense every single week. Kyler Murray is not it and Kevin O’Connell, frankly, has done better work with Josh Dobbs and Carson Wentz and Kirk Cousins in the past.
You kind of thought that second half against the Ravens in Week 7 would go their heads a bit on both sides of the ball, and boy did it. Joe Burrow coming off a perfect second half in that game, scoring 35 unanswered, to account for six total TDs on Sunday — that’s what he does in November. The MVP push starts now.
This was a gutsy enough win. All kinds of issues on offense, bad start to the game, Drake Maye couldn’t throw completions and the margins were slim — yet they pulled it off. This is who they are, as we have been pointing out. Smooth enough operation not to blow it to the dregs, but do not expect them to punch above their weight class.
This defense needed to make some statements. And it did Sunday. The Browns carved them up in the first meeting and they suffocated them in the rematch. They are really trying to add something to the offense and I expect a pass catcher of some acumen to be there by the deadline. They are 6-2 and it’s like no one knows it.
This defense really needed to make a statement that what we saw the first two months of the season wouldn’t just be the norm. Even bad offenses were going off against them. This was like a playoff game for them and that was quite a response. You run for 200 yards on Brian Flores’s defense, you get a lot of people’s attention. Bet we see even more six-O-linemen stuff in the second half.
Christian Watson returning to Lambeau Field and grabbing his helmet from an ambulance and catching more balls — that's the kind of thing that can really bring a team together. Wouldn’t be surprised if they added to the O-line or, if necessary, the running back room pending the investigation into Josh Jacobs. Wish we had more concrete info on Micah Parsons.
Playing complementary football again is a big step forward. The defense is going to have to be more consistent and give this offense more short fields. Could they make a move for a kicker by the deadline — Joey Slye? — and shore up special teams? Finally?
You win a game without completing a forward pass; you get a bump. Baker Mayfield brings moxie if nothing else and that’s a game in a storm you cannot love to a dome team. The NFC South is sitting right there for them, and perhaps they will make a power move.
Part of why people around the league were starting to buy the Browns was because of how they played the game. They could stay close and Todd Monken could manage things and then uncork the offense late. If they have to chase games early on, this isn’t going to work nearly as well. Still an overwhelmingly positive start to the season.
They have a chance to host a playoff game, they have managed some crazy close-and-late situations quite well, and they clearly are playing hard for John Harbaugh. The defense seems to be jelling and the front seven has a chance to rattle some quarterbacks in the second half.
Firing the defensive coordinator in the middle of the season rarely turns things around. The Vic Fangio coaching family tree is getting torn up. With the changes offenses are making, getting under center more and selling play action differently, you better be willing to blitz to make things happen. I still like the potential of this offense in a weak division.
This should be a better football team than it’s been. All around. The offense being ahead of the defense is hard to figure out. I believe they can rally and salvage something from the season and at least stack some wins. Playoffs are probably a pipe dream, but consistent football shouldn’t be.
Weird game. Just a weird game. I have a really hard time knowing what to make of this operation from week to week. Can never build up any real momentum and don’t do anything all that well often enough, though it wasn’t that long ago the defense seemed to be coming together.
This is probably far too generous. This is a 5-6 win team every year without Lamar Jackson and general manager Eric DeCosta is the new Thomas Dimitroff — media creation with lots of awards and bogus A+ draft grades. Dude has no clue how to build an offensive line and failed Jackson in epic fashion. Bottom three second-half defense. The bottom will keep falling out.
They are good enough to beat the worst teams in the NFL consistently now. Unfortunately, the schedule doesn’t provide too many of them. Offense is pretty legit and defense has issues. What do they do with Maxx Crosby? I suspect they explore moving him. After the Simmons trade, the value is high.
Their selloff is about to begin, including possibly Jacoby Brissett to Baltimore. But Gardner Minshew threw three touchdowns in relief. They came back on Dallas and they have pulled off a few upsets, if nothing else.
They showed some fight and gumption amid more upheaval on their defense and bringing in new coaches. And it actually worked. Yeah, it was against an Eagles backup, but there was cohesion and connection sorely lacking all season on that side of the ball. Jayden Daniels is not nearly as aggressive as we have seen in the past, however.
How many pieces do they sell? Did Saquon Barkley show enough in the face of hamstring issues to showcase for a trade? Given how terrible the NFC East is, will they really be out of it even after a sale? I’d like to see Joe Milton get a run at quarterback.
Yet another team being totally undone by a Fangio-influenced defense. It’s kind of an epidemic. It would seem only natural to shed some salary at the deadline. Tyler Shough better show more than he has to this point if he’s going to be their long-term answer at quarterback.
They are really a joke. But, again, the division will throw them a lifeline. Brian Schottenheimer is not going to be back next season. This team has had too many ridiculous meltdowns in special situations for him not to pay, like in Brazil and blowing this late lead to Minshew.
They aren’t getting blown out every week. That’s progress. And in a total startup like this, you are really just searching for tangible signs of progress.
Much more interesting team than they were a month ago. Showed real spirit after trading Simmons … But they traded their best player and Tony Pollard has to go next with his surge, and this ownership group is as feckless as they come.
Geno Smith balls out in his revenge game and Aaron Glenn’s defense can’t get off the mat. It’s always something with Gang Green. When will it ever be safe to take Woody Johnson seriously? Never, right?
Just trade everybody. Trade them all. We told you Anthony Richardson would get his run back at QB. Jonathan Taylor played his last game as a Colt.
Will they ever win a game? Why didn’t they trade anyone at the bye? What are they waiting for? I’d like to wager on whether Justin Herbert will be there next season.
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