Denver Broncos vs Washington Redskins Recap

By: Adamo Marinelli

August 28th, 2018

    The Denver Broncos put on a show in their 29-17 win against the Redskins in week four of the preseason and had an excellent performance from all positions during the game. Even better, the Broncos first team offence and defence had their best game in the preseason thus far. The Broncos are now 1-2 thus far in the preseason, so are the Redskins.

    Case Keenum looked a little shaky in the first two games in the preseason, with only one completion for five yards against the Vikings and then improving in the next game against the Bears with eight completions on 13 attempts for 78 yards. In the third game, Keenum looked like the QB that led the Vikings to the NFC championship game last season.

    Against the Redskins, Keenum moved the ball very well, spreading it out to many different receivers and running backs extending drives and scoring points. On five drives for Case Keenum in the first half, he scored points on three of them -- a 50-yard field goal by Brandon McManus on their first drive and a rushing touchdown from both Royce Freeman on their second drive and Emmanuel Sanders on their fourth drive -- and only going 3 & out once on their third drive. On the fifth drive, he was able to get one first down with the help of a three-yard rush from Devontae Booker. On the following series of downs, he had two incompletions, the second one batted down by a Redskins’ defender and a sack that forced a punt. He finished the half, and his night, completing 12-18 passes for 148 yards.

   Despite the fact, he has not scored a passing touchdown thus far into the preseason, the entire first-string offence around him has improved greatly scoring either a touchdown or a field goal on its last five of seven possessions after starting the preseason with three consecutive three and out drives. By the time the regular season comes, Keenum will be throwing touchdown passes like it’s nothing. Another positive, the starting offence did not start the game with a 3 & out drive, like they did in their first two preseason games. The most important thing, however, is Keenum is yet to cause a turnover this preseason. He has not thrown an interception or lost a fumble. Considering turnovers and lack of ball security plagued the Broncos last season, it’s awesome to have a QB who knows a lot about ball security.

    Not only did Keenum succeed in last week’s game but so did many other fantastic players on the Broncos’ roster.

    Emmanuel Sanders had four receptions for 61 yards and one rush for 27 yards for a touchdown on a reverse handoff with a fullback block from Andy Janovich. In the Broncos’ fourth drive, where Sanders got into the end zone, he accounted for all 75 yards of the Broncos’ offence. He had two receptions for 48 yards and then proceeded to rush the ball 27 yards for a touchdown. Sanders had an amazing game, especially on this drive, running all over the field, beating defenders, winning jump balls, being a threat in both the receiving and ground game and proving he’s an elite wide receiver.

    Royce Freeman, the rookie, a third-round pick in 2018 draft showed he is the real deal and made his case to be the Broncos’ starting running back this season. Not only did he score a 24-yard touchdown, he also had 26 yards on five carries. He has now scored a touchdown in all three preseason games thus far. That is incredible, especially for a rookie.

    The Broncos’ offensive line also played an amazing game, they looked like a brick wall allowing adequate time for Keenum to throw the ball, excellent pass protection, and provided lots of holes on the Redskins’ defensive line and gave plenty of room for the running backs to work with and run through. They only gave up one sack and only had one penalty -- an unnecessary roughness call on Garret Bolles for pushing Anthony Lanier after he sacked Keenum on 3rd down, forcing the Broncos to punt for the second time. Overall, an excellent performance by the offensive linemen. They ate much better than they were last year.

    Philip Lindsay also had a very good game in three categories. He had five rushes for 31 yards and one reception for 18 yards but he also had one kick return for 18 yards. Kicking and punt returning have improved significantly from last season, Isaiah McKenzie hasn’t muffed a single punt or kick and now they also have undrafted free agent rookie Philip Lindsay out of Colorado who can return punts and kicks. They also have cornerback Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones to strengthen their cornerback depth, which may be the only position of need in Denver who is also proficient at kick and punt returns.

    Brandon McManus also was on fire, going 5/5 in field goals, making two from 50 yards out or longer, with one from 50, the other from 56. Marquette King, the punter also had 2 punts for 94 yards, pinning the offence deep into their own territory, which is important on special teams.

    Overall, the offence was good in this game and should have an amazing season if they continue to play like they did against the Redskins, with an elite QB in Case Keenum, amazing WRs in Emmanuel Sanders, Demaryius Thomas, Courtland Sutton and Deshaun Hamilton, a pretty good running game with Royce Freeman, Devontae Booker, Carlos Henderson, Philip Lindsay, and finally they have a strong tight end core with Jake Butt, Jeff Heuerman and even Troy Fumagalli. Keenum is one of the 22 players not expected to play their final preseason game against the Cardinals but will study the Cardinals’ defence to prepare for their week seven matchup against them. Chad Kelly will start against the Cardinals on August 30th, so Keenum will also help him play well with the first string offence and will help Lynch when he plays in the second half.

    But the Broncos’ defence was also spectacular. As well as amassing 2.5 sacks -- one against Alex Smith and 1.5 against Colt Mccoy, which shows excellence in the pass rushing department but they also limited Alex Smith and the Redskins starting offence to 33 passing yards as Smith only completed 3-8 passes for 33 yards. Great pressure applied by the starting defensive line and the starting pass rushers to collapse the pocket and a great performance by the starting secondary only giving up 33 yards through the air. Chubb got 0.5 sacks as he had help bringing down Mccoy and the other half of that sack didn’t register as a sack but only a tackle, Adam Gotsis got one sack against Smith and Shane Ray with another sack against Mccoy. The Broncos will have an excellent season in 2018, as well as their offence, with an amazing defensive line, pass rushers in Von Miller, Bradley Chubb, Derek Wolfe and Shane Ray amongst others as well as a decent secondary with cornerbacks in Chris Harris Jr., Bradley Roby, Tramaine Brock, and newly acquired Adam Jones and safeties Darion Stewart, Su’a Cravens once he returns from injury, Justin Simmons and Will Parks.

    The linebackers were also amazing, applying pressure to the quarterback, helping out in close pass protection and amazing in stopping the running game. After being startled by Adrian Peterson’s seven-yard run to start the game, the Broncos pretty much stopped him the rest of the game. He finished with 11 carries for 56 yards, Kapri Bibbs, an ex. Bronco, had two carries for 41 yards and the Redskins only finished with 136 rushing yards from six rushers.

    In the fourth quarter, Redskins’ QB Kevin Hogan came into the game and completed 7-9 passes for 88 yards and two passing touchdowns to bring the Redskins within 12 points, the Broncos now only led 29-17 after leading 23-3 going into the fourth quarter. This was against the Broncos’ second-team defence. The second team pass rushers weren’t able to sack Hogan however, they pressured him four times and their second team secondary including cornerbacks Isaac Yiadom, a rookie fresh out of Boston College selected in the third round of the 2018 draft and Brendan Langley, a cornerback drafted in the third round in the 2017 draft. Obviously, those cornerbacks are not NFL ready yet, but eventually will be ready to start. That’s okay, because the players on the second team defence will eventually improve enough to move up to a starter.

    Overall, it was a great game for the Broncos’ offence, defence and special teams. Head coach Vance Joseph managed the game well, offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave ran the offence smoothly and was an excellent play caller, leading drives that led to the Broncos scoring points which gave them the win. Also, the defensive coordinator, Joe Woods had an excellent game, limiting the Redskins’ starting offence to nearly no production on the ground or the air. Keenum’s success in this game was owed to his talent and the collaboration of offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and QB coach Klint Kubiak who worked together to help Keenum play well.

    In terms of injury, Broncos’ safety Su’a Cravens, with a knee injury is questionable for Friday’s preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals but he took the field on Monday, August 27th, for his first practice all preseason long. He should be okay to start the regular season. Broncos’ tight end Troy Fumagalli, with a sports hernia injury won’t play against the Cardinals and is questionable for September 9th when the Broncos open up their season against the season at home. The rookie out of Wisconsin has been battling this injury for a couple of months now and it seems like he’ll need time to rest and get back to full health. So it’s likely he will miss the first few weeks of the regular season. And, it looks like Jake Butt and Jeff Heuerman will be the starting tight ends for the Broncos to start the regular season. Broncos’ safety Will Parks who suffered a knee injury against the Bears exited the game but head coach Vance Joseph indicated that Parks avoided structural damage and is only dealing with a bruise. He appears to have avoided a serious injury and it’s unclear whether he will play against the Cardinals bit should be okay to start the regular season. Also, safety Shamarko Thomas did not suffer a detached retina, contradictory to previous reports and he’s still being evaluated by Broncos’ trainers and it’s not clear when he will return to the field. A detached retina would have meant immediate season-ending surgery to save his vision.

    The Redskins injuries include: running back Derrius Guice who tore his ACL and his out for the season, which is why the Redskins signed running back Adrian Peterson; running back Chris Thompson with a lower leg injury, he is questionable for their final preseason game but Jay Gruden said Thompson’s leg looks “fantastic” in practice, Kareem Copeland of The Washington Post reports after he has been held out for all of the Redskins’ preseason games despite participating in all practices since the beginning of training camp. He is questionable to start the regular season. Also, tight end Jordan Reed is questionable for the last preseason game with a toe injury is on track to play in week one of the regular season against the Cardinals. Washington has taken a cautious approach with Reed and Thompson throughout the preseason, not playing them at all, despite them participating in training camp due to their infamous injury history. Also, backup QB Colt Mccoy is questionable for their last preseason game but Alex Smith and Kevin Hogan should do just fine and wide receiver Jamison Crowder didn’t play against the Broncos and is questionable for the last preseason game and the start of the regular season with a groin injury.  

    Overall, the Broncos had an amazing game on both offence, defence and special teams and were the better team against the Redskins in their 29-17 win. They should have a pretty good year, might even make the playoffs.

    In their final preseason game, the 1-2 Redskins visit the undefeated 4-0 Baltimore Ravens and the 1-2 Broncos visit Josh Rosen and the Arizona Cardinals who are 3-0 in preseason thus far to try and finish at .500 in the preseason.