Pros and Cons for the Broncos in week two of the 2018 preseason

By: Adamo Marinelli

August 13th, 2018

   On August 11th, the Broncos and Vikings played in their first preseason game of 2018. In a 42-28 loss to the Vikings, there were many pros and cons in the Broncos performance.

Pros:

    Punt return & special teams: Finally, Isaiah Mckenzie is performing to his full potential. In 2017, there were too many dropped balls off punts that led to costly turnovers and most of those turnovers were normally the difference in a Broncos’ loss. Everyone in the stadium held their breath whenever he touched the ball. But that should not be happening this year based on his performance at training camp and in the first preseason game. In his only punt return attempt of this game, he ran it back 78 yards for a touchdown. That score cut the Vikings’ lead in half to 28-14 with McManus’ extra point. That touchdown benefited him and the Broncos. Let’s hope Mckenzie will have a lot of punt return touchdowns this upcoming season.

    Royce Freeman: Freeman on four carries had 38 yards, including a 23-yard rushing touchdown to get the Broncos on the board, they now only trailed 17-7. Devontae Booker had two carries for seven yards and De’Angelo Henderson had four carries for 10 yards. Royce Freeman was the best running back of the three in this game and might be the starter this upcoming season where he should be very productive in helping out the offence run by Case Keenum, however that trio of running backs should be very promising this year.

    Offensive Line: With the new acquisition of Jared Veldheer in free agency, the Broncos’ offensive line is set to be much better than last season where they were 29th in the league allowing 52 sacks, 104 QB hits and produced only 1,852 rushing yards, their worst performance since their 4-12 season in 2010. The Broncos only allowed one sack in the game against the Vikings and Veldheer only allowed four last season with the Arizona Cardinals so he will help Denver’s offensive line become very strong. In his time playing against the Vikings, he let nothing get by him: no sacks or QB pressures allowed.

    Chad Kelly: Chad Kelly, the current third-string QB, entered the game with just under six minutes left in the third quarter and made his case as to why he should leap Lynch in the depth chart and become backup quarterback to Case Keenum. He had an excellent performance completing 14-21 passes for 171 yards and two touchdown passes, and only one interception late in the game. He also had 38 rushing yards on four rushes, tying Royce Freeman for the rushing leader in the game. He ran the offence well and proved he’s NFL material. Because of him, the Broncos took the lead, 28-27 with 10 minutes left in the game. In fact, the Broncos announced yesterday that Kelly will be the backup to Keenum and Lynch will be third string.

    Backup defence: Was good at some points but looked questionable at others. They got one interception, sacked Siemian twice, and sacked Sloter once. However, the Broncos secondary gave up some big plays, but what teams don’t give up some big plays at some points. Most of their rookie defence will be good and likely be playing at some point this season.

Cons:

    Starting offence: The starting offence including Case Keenum, Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, Devontae Booker and Jake Butt amongst others were very quiet and couldn’t get anything going in their time on the field. Keenum completed 1-4 of his passes, for five yards with 0 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Demaryius Thomas only had one reception for five yards, Keenum’s only completion, and Emmanuel Sanders didn’t even get one target. The starting running back Devontae Booker was not very productive either, after carrying the ball twice for only seven yards. Both tight ends Jeff Heuerman and Jake Butt didn’t get a single target either. We know the starters only played two drives, and two drives are hardly enough to get anything going and not sufficient data to evaluate the starters’ performance, however, with more playing time in future preseason games, the offence will click. Despite this though, the Broncos starting offence only produced 16 total yards after one quarter compared to 116 for Minnesota and they only were able to get one first down in first half, which is bad, even for only two drives played.

    Paxton Lynch: With a big and tall physical stature, Paxton Lynch had potential to eventually be a starting QB in the NFL. Which is why John Elway drafted him in the first round in 2016. However, despite having skill around him and a good physical stature, Lynch has not made any progress whatsoever in his time with the Broncos. In fact, he actually was better in his rookie season in 2016, where he played three games, started in two of those games than in the 2018 preseason. Normally, players improve over time. Evidently, that’s not the case with Paxton Lynch. He struggled against the Vikings -- and that’s putting it kindly -- completing 6-11 passes, throwing for only 24 passing yards, 0 TDs, one interception, and three rushing yards with an atrocious QB rating of 22. That performance demoted him to third string QB, Chad Kelly will now back up starter Case Keenum. The Broncos could cut Lynch, but if they do, they’d have about $4 million in ‘dead money’, which can’t be used to sign another veteran backup QB. It’s cheaper to keep Lynch and not sign another backup QB, which is what the Broncos will do. They will just have Keenum starting and Kelly as the backup. Besides, if Keenum gets hurt, God forbid, the Broncos’ season will likely be over anyway, as Chad Kelly will not be the next Nick Foles, so just throw Kelly in as starter and see what he can do until Keenum gets healthy again to plan for the long-term future after Keenum, if he decides to leave after his two year contract depending on how his time with the Broncos is. Ideally, if it’s good, he stays; if it’s bad, he leaves.

    Starting defence: The starting defensive players only played two drives to open the game, and the Denver defence is normally very good, easily top five in the league for the last five seasons, maybe excluding last year. However, with the departure of cornerback Aqib Talib, being traded to the Rams, the secondary or at least the cornerback depth in Denver became a bit weaker. Sure, they still have Bradley Roby and Chris Harris Jr. but that trio with Talib is better than the duo without him. In the opening drive, Denver’s defence got trampled by the Vikings offence which resulted in a Cousins to Diggs touchdown after a 40+ yard pass from Cousins to Diggs earlier in the same drive that flew right over CB Bradley Roby’s head. The defence also surrendered a lot more yards of total offence than Minnesota and gave up 42 points, which is much higher than their average total, but they got three sacks and one interception while Minnesota’s defence only got one interception and one sack. That just shows how good of a group Denver’s defence is even when they have bad drives or games, like both of their drives against the Vikings. So the starting defence and offence shouldn’t be that much of a problem for the Broncos in the regular season, despite it being lackluster against the Vikings.

    Isaac Yiadom: He is a good cornerback, fresh out of Boston College, but he needs more development to be one of the starting cornerbacks in Denver alongside Roby and Harris Jr. You can’t just get out of college and be a superstar. It doesn’t happen often. Sure, Stefon Diggs scored the opening touchdown over the head of Yiadom, but in his first NFL game, he shouldn’t be expected to cover veterans like Diggs. He sure wasn’t covering any ‘Stefon Diggs’ in his college days.

Conclusion:

    Despite the 42-28 loss to the Vikings, the Broncos are a good team offensively, defensively and on special teams they received a lot of upgrades this offseason, particularly with Keenum at QB, Veldheer strengthening the offensive line at offensive tackle, adding Su’a Cravens and Tramaine Brock to the secondary as a safety and a cornerback respectively, Clinton McDonald to the defensive line as a defensive tackle, and drafting Bradley Chubb to strengthen Denver’s pass rush with Von Miller and Derek Wolfe and drafting a good running back in Royce Freeman who can also be a backfield receiver and tight end Troy Fumagalli who will compete with Jake Butt and Jeff Heuerman for the #1 spot. With Keenum at QB, and three elite receivers in Emmanuel Sanders, Demaryius Thomas and Courtland Sutton the offence should be better with fewer turnovers, the defence should be able to force more sacks and turnovers and with William Mckenzie able to return punts for touchdowns confidently, after his 78 yard return for a touchdown against the Vikings, the Broncos should have a good season.

    Courtland Sutton wasn’t targeted very much in the game only having one reception for three yards, but I’m sure he’ll be more utilised as the preseason and the season progress. Also, running back Philip Lindsay is a huge threat in the passing game as well as in the ground game and he was who Kelly threw the touchdown to in the fourth quarter to take the 28-27 lead. He had 3 receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown as well as seven yards on two carries which is good for a fifth string running back behind Booker, Freeman, Henderson and Williams. If he makes the team, the Broncos will use him a lot. Finally, tight end Matt Lacoste who had two receptions, for 40 yards and a touchdown, also from Kelly will be a good addition to Heuerman, Butt and Fumagalli if he makes the team. The Broncos have a lot of depth at most positions on both sides of the field and that should lead to a good season. I say they finish 10-6, second in the division behind the 12-4 Chargers, get the second wild-card spot and lose in the divisional round to the Jaguars in a close game.