Once again, the Broncos played a game that came down to the final minutes. Once again, their defense stepped up and made the play to win the game. Denver outlasted Minnesota 23-20 in a thriller on Sunday in Mile High. In a game that Denver led 13-0 at one point, the Broncos held off a late rally by Teddy Bridgewater and a T.J. Ward strip sack sealed the victory. The Broncos are now off to a 4-0 start, and they head to Oakland next week. Here are my thoughts and observations on the game.....
1) Another game another stellar performance by the Broncos defense. Forget the nickname "The Orange Crush." This Broncos defense is more like the "Orange Swarm." That is what the Broncos do: They swarm and attack. Demarcus Ware was unstoppable and the defense totaled 7 sacks. None bigger was the sack by T.J. Ward and the forced fumble that was recovered by Von Miller to seal the game late. The Broncos did give up some big plays including a 48 yard touchdown run by Adrian Peterson in the 4th quarter on a 4th and 1 to make the score 20-17. But, when they needed to make the play to win the game, they got the job done once again. This defense has been the story of this early Broncos season.
2) The running game finally got a jolt and it came from Ronnie Hillman. Hillman scored on an electric 72 yard touchdown run on a toss sweep in the 2nd quarter to make it 10-0 Broncos. Hillman just has a different gear, and that is what the Broncos running game needs right now. He finished with 103 yards on only 11 carries. C.J. Anderson was disappointing once again and he only finished with 43 yards on 11 carries. There were some holes open there in this game, and Anderson just didn't hit the hole with enough speed and couldn't break a tackle. It is worth watching, but if I'm Gary Kubiak, then I am sticking with Hillman as much as possible.
3) Now to Peyton Manning. I thought Manning was mostly good in this game-except for a few throws. His two interceptions were bad throws and he got fooled on the coverage on the first pick. Both set up scores by Minnesota and kept them in the game. He only attempted 27 passes because the Broncos didn't have the ball enough. They only had 26 minutes of possession time and they only ran 53 plays. It reminded me of the Week 2 win at home last year against Kansas City. I still think that his day was positive. He made a great play to hit Owen Daniels for a touchdown to make it 20-10 late in the third quarter. I love how he just throws up jump balls to Demaryius Thomas and DT just boxes out the defender and grabs it like a rebound. Thomas had another big day with 9 receptions for 93 yards. Also, once again with the game tied at 20, he drove his team down the field with some big throws and got the Broncos the score they needed to take the 23-20 lead late when he had to do it. Don't give up on Manning. Stand behind 18.
4) The offensive line is still up and down. Give them credit for improving a little in the run game, and give credit to Michael Schofield, who started his first game of his career with LT Ty Sambraillo out with a shoulder injury. They still gave up too many free runners at Manning, and they are still a work in progress, but they showed some signs of life.
5) This was a quality win over a good opponent. The Broncos looked like they were going to cruise up 13-0 in second quarter, but the Vikings got back into the game. The Broncos had to fight and pull it out in the end. This was a good game to build on. They are showing mental toughness late in these games, and hopefully this will make them battle tested as the year goes on. This is a different approach because in the first three years with Peyton Manning this was the type of game that Denver just dominates and blows out the Vikings in the fashion of 41-20 or 38-17. It is not like that this year with this team, and I'm okay with that. I don't mind it at all, as long as they are on the winning end.
6) Tricky game next week at Oakland. The Raiders are 2-2, but they looked much improved from the last two years. It is a rivalry game, and you know the Raiders will be looking forward to try and take down the Broncos. Denver has won four in a row in Oakland, and the last two games haven't even been close. I would expect a tougher game this time around. I really hope they stick it to Jack Del Rio. He was the biggest disappointment the last three years as the defensive coordinator, and I didn't like how he was auditioning for the Raiders job while he was preparing Denver for the playoffs. I felt like he had one foot out the door before the Colts game, and it showed. Let's stick it to Del Rio this week.
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