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Tag: troy franklin

  • Keeler: Broncos should spend Russell Wilson money on getting Bo Nix receivers without butterfingers

    Say this for Sean Payton: He sure liked to spread the drops around.

    The Broncos were the only NFL team to place three players among the league’s top 15 in dropped passes during the regular season, per Pro-Football-Reference.com — wide receiver Courtland Sutton (eight), tight end Evan Engram (eight) and running back RJ Harvey (seven).

    No wonder a 15-4 record feels like such a Boverachievement, in retrospect.

    It’s going to be a beast to repeat if Payton and GM George Paton don’t add an experienced, proven wideout for Bo Nix in 2026. Or a big-time tight end. Better yet, both.

    What the heck. Russell Wilson is off the books, right? Paton is rolling into the offseason with diamond encrusted Walmart gift card in his wallet. Go nuts.

    “I think the position that this team, the position that we’re in, (we) have a win-now mentality,” Engram said Monday at Dove Valley as the Broncos cleaned out their lockers following a 10-7 loss to New England in the AFC Championship. “And there are some things that we can work with to even make our roster even better.

    “So, yeah — I have the utmost faith in the guys upstairs, all the decision-makers, the coach. They’ve done a great job since they’ve been here. They’ve built (a) championship team. Being able to add to that already, we’re in a great spot. We’ll be in a good spot for a while.”

    Yeah, but you’ve got to strike now. Nix is on a rookie contract through 2027. That time is going to fly by. Like the Nuggets with Jokic and Murray and the Avs with MacKinnon and Makar, this is the window. Right here. We going for this? Or not?

    “Obviously, we need some key players to come in and do what they need to do by getting points on the scoreboard,” veteran left tackle Garett Bolles noted Monday. “(We’ve) got a phenomenal defense. We have everything we need. We just need a couple more playmakers, and sky’s the limit for this team.”

    Almost everything. Nix can sling it with Sam Darnold all stinking day. What do the Super-Bowl-bound Seahawks have that the Broncos don’t? A bell cow tailback (Kenneth Walker) who has averaged 15 games per season over his career. And a No. 1 wideout (Jaxson Smith-Njigba) who’s putting up seven catches and 86 receiving yards per game this postseason.

    Sean Keeler

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  • How Broncos’ Marvin Mims Jr. roasting Pat Surtain II in practice led to go-ahead TD vs. Bills

    Before the Broncos even knew they’d be playing Buffalo in the AFC divisional round, Sean Payton decided to pull a play off the shelf and put it into Denver’s postseason plans.

    During the team’s OTA-style practices on Jan. 9 and 10, Payton emphasized good-on-good work.

    The No. 1 offense worked against the No. 1 defense. No contact, of course, but Payton and his staff put as much as possible into making the situations competitive.

    During one of those practices, receiver Marvin Mims Jr. ran a double-move against reigning defensive player of the year Pat Surtain II and, as Payton tells it, roasted him.

    Parker Gabriel’s 7 Thoughts after Broncos’ wild OT win vs. Bills, including why Sean Payton trusts Jarrett Stidham

    “We just hadn’t called that play in a while and it looked so good in our joint practice, I was like, ‘Man, that’s got to go to the call sheet,’” Payton said Sunday morning after the Broncos beat Buffalo, 33-30 in overtime, to advance to the AFC Championship Game.

    Part of the Broncos’ normal team meeting the night before a game is to go through what Payton calls the touchdown reel. It’s a compilation of the plays he thinks players have a chance to score on the next day.

    Payton had a message for Mims.

    “When we did our video the night before and I put the practice clip up, I said, ‘You’re beating the No. 1 corner in the world,’” Payton recalled. “‘I don’t care who they put over there in the game tomorrow. We’re running this play.’”

    The moment arrived in the final 61 seconds of regulation.

    Mims motioned from the right slot to outside on the left.

    He closed the gap to Buffalo corner Dane Jackson, stuttered and took off up the field. Jackson did a fairly good job sticking with him, but Mims pulled away by just enough and left space to allow Nix to put the ball to his outside along the sideline.

    The 26-yard touchdown put the Broncos momentarily in front with 55 seconds to go.

    “There’s a few times I’ll say to the (coaches) in the booth, ‘guys, we can’t finish this game with me not having called that play,’” Payton said. “That was one of those plays. We cannot finish this game with me not having called that play.”

    Parker Gabriel

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  • After putting out feelers, could Broncos look for more RB help in J.K. Dobbins’ absence?

    The Broncos won the first war.

    But the Chiefs won a small battle that could prove important, in the weeks to come.

    A few days after Denver’s landmark 22-19 win over Kansas City, the Broncos quietly maneuvered to try to sign running back Dameon Pierce, a 2022 fourth-round pick by the Houston Texans. After rushing for 939 yards as a rookie, Pierce’s production had slipped for three straight years, and Houston officially cut bait with the 25-year-old on Thursday. Pierce cleared waivers, and the Broncos put a contract in front of him, a source told The Denver Post.

    Pierce signed a practice-squad deal with the Chiefs instead.

    The choice could be meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but the Broncos’ interest in the 215-pound Pierce makes clear, at the very least, that Denver isn’t completely settled in life on the ground without J.K. Dobbins.

    “Thought it was good,” Broncos head coach Sean Payton said of the team’s run-game, after the Kansas City win. “Good enough.”

    Good enough might not be good enough during the next six weeks and likely playoff run without Dobbins, the bell-cow back who the Broncos placed on injured reserve Nov. 15 with a foot injury. The Broncos came into that Chiefs matchup ranked ninth in the NFL in rushing at 128.6 yards per game, as Payton often turned to Dobbins in the second half of games when his passing game struggled. They finished with just 21 carries for 59 yards total against Kansas City, and were largely carried by a monster effort from second-year quarterback Bo Nix.

    Teams will likely scheme to take away Nix’s weapons in the passing games come January, though — from Courtland Sutton to Marvin Mims — and dare the Broncos to beat them on the ground without Dobbins. At present, there’s a minimal amount of experience and a minimal amount of demonstrated 2025 production in Denver’s backfield.

    One key piece on the roster is third-year back Jaleel McLaughlin, who immediately leapt from gameday inactive into a key role as the Broncos’ No. 2 RB against the Chiefs. And one didn’t need much context to sense how much a goal-line touchdown against Kansas City meant to McLaughlin, who blew a few kisses to the crowd in Denver and roared after a ferocious backward push sent him over the plane in the third quarter.

    “With Jaleel’s situation, just from the beginning of the season until now – I think he’s handled it very well,” receiver Troy Franklin said Monday. “He stayed ready. And when it came to one of our biggest games of the season so far, he showed up and he did what he needed to do for us.”

    That may be just the start for McLaughlin. Third-string RB Tyler Badie’s role wasn’t going to change, cemented as head coach Sean Payton’s third-down back. Rookie RB RJ Harvey has produced in fits and starts this season. McLaughlin wound up earning six carries against Kansas City and two key goal-line reps in the third quarter, and could be in the line for plenty more in the coming weeks.

    “Jaleel had a handful of good runs,” Payton said Monday. “I think with the flow of a normal game, he’s going to be important for us in this stretch.”

    McLaughlin’s sheer heart, though, won’t carry the Broncos’ backfield for two months. Particularly in short-yardage situations. Denver is now absent a heavier back on the roster. Rookie Harvey is the largest option, at 5-foot-8 and 205 pounds. Badie weighs in at 197, and McLaughlin stands at all of 5-foot-7. Practice-squad stash Deuce Vaughn is 5-foot-6 and 176 pounds.

    Luca Evans

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  • Broncos-Chiefs report card: Vance Joseph’s defense shines; Bo Nix comes up clutch again

    In a game that could live for months in Denver sports memory, the Broncos outlasted the Chiefs 22-19 at Empower Field on Sunday to take pole position of the AFC West.

    OFFENSE — B

    It’s been a season of stop-and-go for Bo Nix and the offense. In a notable development Sunday, the problem was often not Nix — who’s been heavily criticized for his play the last two weeks — or head coach Sean Payton, who’s been heavily criticized for his play-calling the last two weeks. Wide receiver Troy Franklin had a couple of killer drops in the first half, and Nix was sacked twice on the opening drive.

    Nix was in rhythm all game, though, in an encouraging sign for the second-year quarterback’s progress. He connected on two monster deep shots to Franklin and Pat Bryant in the second half, and Nix looked poised both hanging in the pocket and on the move en route to a 295-yard day. And in a final tour de force, Nix orchestrated his fifth game-winning drive of the season with a clutch 32-yard bomb to Franklin, the deep connection finally clicking as Payton’s unit made enough plays to close a monumental win.

    DEFENSE — A-

    Payton had so much deserved trust in defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s unit on Sunday that he declined one fourth-quarter holding penalty on the Chiefs to get to a third-and-9 — even though accepting the penalty would’ve set Kansas City back to second-and-19.

    That said, playing Patrick Mahomes comes with several degrees of peril. And after a banner first half, Denver’s defense started to sag in the second half. Mahomes aired out a 61-yard bomb for Tyquan Thornton in the third quarter for the longest passing play of the year against Joseph’s unit, and leveraged a rough third-and-20 defensive pass-interference call on Riley Moss for an eventual score to take the lead. But Joseph hung tough, and the Broncos came up with a massive three-and-out stop on a late Chiefs drive to hand the ball back to Payton.

    SPECIAL TEAMS — A+

    A Darren Rizzi tour de force. Having Marvin Mims Jr. back after a two-game absence for a concussion certainly helped. The Broncos’ All-Pro returner whizzed for a 70-yard punt return in the first quarter to set up a field goal, and Denver’s kickoff and punt units soundly outplayed Kansas City in a key divisional matchup.

    Kicker Wil Lutz went 5 of 5 on field goals and made the game-winner in another monumental day, and rookie punter Jeremy Crawshaw got his mighty leg back underneath him with two punts. And in a coaching tour de force, offensive tackle Frank Crum came up with a monumental blocked extra point in the fourth quarter to hold the Chiefs’ lead to 19-16.

    COACHING — A-

    In a familiar script, Payton couldn’t get out of Payton’s own way early on, orchestrating a fantastic opening drive only to kill momentum with a flea-flicker call from RJ Harvey to Nix that nearly got picked off. And the Broncos’ offensive operation struggled enough that CBS Sports’ Tracy Wolfson reported on the game broadcast that Nix was begging Payton to get play-calls in quicker.

    Luca Evans

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  • Grading The Week: Broncos’ passing woes wouldn’t be saved by Jaylen Waddle at NFL trade deadline

    Jaylen Waddle can’t throw the ball to himself.

    It’s kind of been the worst “best” week for the Broncos that anybody on the Grading The Week (GTW) crew can remember.

    After all, the orange and blue went 2-0 over the last seven days to extend Denver’s lead atop the AFC West with an 8-2 record. The Broncos set up a showdown with the Chiefs (5-4) at Empower Field on Nov. 16 that could officially end the Mahomes-Reid stranglehold on the division.

    It’s how they got there. A victory over the Texans (18-15) was due to a brilliant defense and a very timely injury to Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud. A win over the Raiders (10-7) on Thursday night was an exercise in sheer agony. Brilliant defense again, but mostly agony.

    In between the games, Sean Payton was grouchier than usual. And on Tuesday, despite being on track for a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs, the Broncos elected to stand pat as the trade deadline came and went. Marcedes Lewis, the 41-year-old “blocking” tight end, was Broncos Country’s midseason acquisition of note. Everybody dance!

    Broncos at the NFL trade deadline — D

    Payton insisted midweek that he had everything he needed inside Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit. Against Vegas, his offense showed him otherwise.

    Several reports over the last few weeks had the Broncos sniffing around at offensive additions, primarily at wide receiver. Denver was allegedly a suitor for New Orleans wideout Rashid Shaheed, only to be pipped by the Seahawks.

    NFL reporter Jordan Schultz then claimed the Broncos reached out to the Dolphins to inquire about Shaheed clone Jaylen Waddle, only to find the reported asking price — a first-round draft pick, at the least — to be too steep.

    Considering the Colts (7-2) coughed up two first-round picks to free star cornerback Sauce Gardner from the Jets, it puzzled the kids in the GTW offices why the Broncos wouldn’t consider a corresponding move in kind. Nix will only be on a rookie contract for so long, and the Broncos’ cap situation improves significantly in 2026.

    Waddle would be an upgrade over Troy Franklin. But we’re not sure he’d be a significant improvement over Marvin Mims Jr., assuming the latter is good to go. And it would be a waste of a first-rounder to land a guy that Sean Payton would likely just be asking to block on screens anyway.

    DePodesta is a Rockie! — C

    The GTW gang is torn on this one. We’re mildly and pleasantly surprised that Rockies CEO Dick Monfort hired a director of baseball operations from a) outside the organization; and b) outside his genetic family tree. Baby steps, after all, are still steps.

    Sean Keeler

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  • Broncos’ search for tight end help continues as NFL trade deadline nears

    The Broncos are in the market for help at tight end.

    Where, ultimately, Denver finds it at this point is an open question.

    The Broncos, at the moment, are down to two healthy players on their 53-man roster in Evan Engram and Adam Trautman, and a pair of project-types on their practice squad in rookie Caleb Lohner and Patrick Murtagh.

    Sean Payton’s offense has seen its depth dwindle quickly in recent days.

    Lucas Krull originally hoped to return from injured reserve after the minimum four weeks due to a foot injury, but instead, he ended up having surgery Monday to repair a metatarsal fracture. He’s now expected to miss in the neighborhood of eight more weeks, a source told The Denver Post, which means most of the remaining regular season.

    Nate Adkins, meanwhile, sustained a left knee injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win against Dallas. The injury appeared to happen without contact on a play that resulted in a touchdown pass from Bo Nix to Troy Franklin. The severity of Adkins’ injury has not been revealed.

    The Broncos, though, attempted to address their depth at the position Monday when, multiple sources confirmed to The Post, they put in waiver claims for both Ben Sims and Brenden Bates.

    Sims had been waived by Green Bay and Bates by Houston.

    Denver, however, lost out on both because teams higher in the waiver priority — Minnesota and Cleveland, respectively — also put claims in and thus were awarded the players.

    So now Denver is looking for other routes to fill the position. One part of the equation is that Trautman will likely see his playing time increase again.

    The veteran played just 30.9% of Denver’s offensive snaps against the New York Giants in Week 7, tied for his lowest usage in two-plus seasons with the Broncos. He’d seen an overall decline in playing time as Adkins got up to speed after a training camp ankle injury that cost him the first two games of the season.

    Adkins had been playing between 30-40% of Denver’s offensive snaps and provided some versatility — an ‘F’ tight end who could play out of the backfield, in the passing game and as a blocker.

    “He’s too good of a football player for us. We’re going to need him,” Payton said at the outset of the season when Denver opted not to put him on injured reserve.

    Now the Broncos may have to examine options externally.

    They could look to a familiar face from training camp like Caden Prieskorn, who just recently signed with Cleveland’s practice squad.

    Or they can try to work via the trade market with the NFL’s trading deadline just a week away.

    Among tight ends around the league who have reportedly drawn interest, could be available or generally make sense as potential trade targets, is a list that includes Cleveland’s David Njoku, Baltimore’s Mark Andrews, Tennessee’s Chig Okonkwo, and New Orleans’ Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau. There are, of course, others around the league, including a pair Denver just faced in former Broncos veteran Chris Manhertz and Daniel Bellinger with the Giants. Bellinger is in the final year of his rookie deal and had the best game of his career against the Broncos.

    Depth issues can force a team’s hand in making a move, but Payton has previously cautioned against the idea that a trade deadline acquisition can change a team’s fortunes.

    There’s not much time to learn a system, and Payton, in particular, is protective of the locker room culture the Broncos have developed.

    Parker Gabriel

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  • How Broncos felt ‘difference of play-calling’ from Sean Payton in blowout of Cowboys

    The head man smelled blood.

    Dallas came to Empower Field on Sunday afternoon wielding some of the best weapons in the game, but riddled with holes from weapons they couldn’t stop.

    This would be an old-fashioned mountain shootout between the Broncos and the Cowboys, the latter a franchise ranked dead-last in the NFL in total defense.

    “We wanted,” Sean Payton reflected later Sunday, “to keep them last.”

    Broncos analysis: RJ Harvey, rookie class shine in blowout win over Dallas. ‘Maybe they read someone’s article.’

    On Saturday night, in the kind of film-review meeting that normally glazes eyes, Payton introduced a semi-surprise. Joe Harrington, the Broncos’ director of football video, stitched together tape of 11 plays they’d repped throughout the week that Payton felt could go for touchdowns. And Harrington, at Payton’s behest, overlayed the college fight song of the scoring recipient on each play.

    Payton went around throughout the week asking players the names of those fight songs. Tight end Adam Trautman was accompanied by Dayton’s “We know we’ll make your team feel blue!” Rookie Pat Bryant heard Illinois’ famed “Oskee Wow-Wow.” Second-year Oregon product Troy Franklin got the Ducks’ “Go! Ducks! Go.” Players heard that song about five times, tight end Evan Engram cracked, a dead giveaway Franklin was due for a big game.

    Bryant’s eyes lit up when discussing the meeting. Franklin smiled that all the flair was “pretty funny.” Veteran receiver Trent Sherfield, who has played for six NFL franchises and seven head coaches, put it best.

    “It’s Sean, bro,” the 29-year-old told The Denver Post. “Like, he has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.”

    Payton whipped them all out a day later, throwing every grain of magic dust he had at the Cowboys in a 44-24 win that steadied concerns about the Broncos’ offensive inconsistency.

    Renck: With this version of Bo Nix, the extraordinary seems possible for Broncos

    After Bo Nix attacked the sidelines and middle of the field in a four-touchdown performance, and J.K. Dobbins stayed in rhythm in a 15-carry, 111-yard performance, Payton made one thing clear postgame: He didn’t think Dallas’ defense could keep up.

    Thus, the head coach recounted, he started to goad on his defense through four smashmouth quarters: Can you guys keep up with us?

    Luca Evans

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  • Renck: With Broncos’ offense out of sync, time for Sean Payton to let Bo Nix go more uptempo

    Denver is well known for LoDo and RiNo.

    GoBo better join that list if the Broncos are serious about becoming a Super Bowl contender.

    The Broncos delivered a second-half performance against the Jets that was embarrassing. So, you let me have it.

    Preparing to board my flight from London Heathrow to DIA, the criticisms veiled as questions included, “Who calls a pass on the 1-yard line and risks a safety? Was that a fullback draw on third-and-10? Why doesn’t Evan Engram play more?” And my personal favorite from a man with a heavy British accent, “If I wanted to watch a game with no scoring,” you guessed it, he could have saved his money for a fútbol game.

    The fans are mad. They are angry. They are right.

    We will find out more about the Broncos, so much more with a normal practice schedule and no travel, when they host the New York Giants. We will find out an answer to the question hanging over this season: Will coach Sean Payton do more to help Bo Nix?

    Will he employ doses of uptempo?

    Until Payton provides that answer, the question on whether or not the Broncos are a legitimate AFC threat will remain an unequivocal no.

    Teams that play deep into January don’t rank in the middle of the pack or worse in every meaningful offensive category.

    The reason this is the case? Nix and Payton are not in rhythm.

    This season has been an exercise in frustration.

    For every eye-opening quarter, there has been a dizzying array of punts. Nix admitted Wednesday that it was “a relief” when Engram converted a first down on the cgame-winning drive last Sunday.

    Is that the new reality for Nix and this offense? It better not be or the Broncos will waste one of the greatest defenses in franchise history.

    What unfurled against the Jets was so odorous that it suggests that the Nix and Payton have contrasting visions of how to achieve success.

    Nix needs to go fast. At least for the foreseeable future.

    He was 11-for-15 for 96 yards in uptempo against the Jets, according to Next Gen stats. He excels at the quick hitters, not surprisingly since he mastered it over his final two years at Oregon. The Jets and the Giants are the not the same defensively, but they have this in common: they bring the heat.

    Nix is already getting rid of the ball quickly. Why not add wrinkles with sprinkles of tempo? The quarterback sure sounds like he would be all for it.

    “It gets the defense off balance. We play well from the quick game. It’s tough on defenses,” said Nix, who is completing 64.6 % of his passes with nine touchdowns and four interceptions. “You are more attacking them, instead of letting them attacking you.”

    Will Payton consistently hit the throttle? Unlikely. He has pumped the brakes anytime the issue has been raised over the past two seasons. His reasoning is sound, that going too fast too much will compromise his own defense.

    Let’s be clear, I am not suggesting there is a disconnect between the coach and the quarterback. But there appears to be a difference in preference.

    Nix believes uptempo “can limit what the defenses will do, and they may not be in the right set.”

    Payton sees its value, but likes it more as a situational weapon.

    “I think a lot of it is dependent on what personnel we’re in, what do we want to get to. I think it’s always part of our plan. It’s just a matter of where we’re at field position-wise and what we’re trying to accomplish,” Payton said. “I can’t recall that we went away (from it last week). There are times when— like the touchdown was kind of an up-tempo play. We’ll use it each week where we see fit.”

    He’s the boss. But it is obvious the Broncos need more of it and fewer personnel groups.

    As it stands, Denver’s passing attack is akin to an NBA team that relies on layups and 3-pointers. There is no intermediate game, though Engram could change that if, you know, he ever becomes a focal point of the offense.

    Given the reliance on the short passes to set up deep strikes, it makes sense to press the pedal. Nix admits that he picks his spots when going over the game plan with offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and Payton, a concession to their experience.

    But the six-game sample size is something. Nix has raised his voice before during games, and would be well-served to speak up now with a third of the season over. This could shift him into high gear.

    The offensive issues are more than a Nix problem. But wouldn’t the speed game help solve some of them?

    “Yeah, I think he likes that we’ll probably get a really simple or base defense, or coverage from lining up fast and putting tempo on ’em. For example, like, with the Giants, those guys up front – they’re real. It also has a little bit to do with like, wearing guys down,” receiver Troy Franklin said. “Just getting them to move fast, they’re bigger guys. So it’ll help us in the long run and stuff, for sure.”

    This week will begin answering questions. No matter how you break down the numbers, the Broncos’ offense has been average at best, disappointing at worst. Payton is fond of saying that all teams begin the season a race to find their identity.

    It is clear that the coach can speed up that process for his quarterback by going uptempo.

    It is time for BoGo.

    Troy Renck

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  • Renck vs. Keeler: Bigger concern for Broncos’ offense, the play-caller or the players?

    Troy Renck: The exit brought an insult. As Broncos fans left the overground train at White Heart Lane, an NFL usher offered, without prompting, this assessment. “You all need a new chant. Go Broncos! is lazy work.” Hate to think of what he thought of the offense. The Broncos were a mess against the Jets. They collected 246 yards on 57 plays, a total that would have spelled doom if not for a Denver defense delivering of the most dominating performances in franchise history. The Broncos have yet to take the step forward that was expected. So is it because of the play-caller or the players?

    Sean Keeler: It takes a village to build that much ugliness. But I’ll give the edge to Sunshine Sean here. Let me ask you this, my friend. Was it Adam Prentice’s fault that his coach calls a fullback draw on third-and-10 with 1:56 left in the third quarter while trailing by one in a foreign country? Was it Jaleel McLaughlin’s fault that he had a screen dialed up for him on third-and-4 in the third quarter while Denver was nursing a 1-point lead? And should we mention that this was McLaughlin’s first action of the young season? The same five words kept banging in my head Sunday afternoon, and I hope they’re banging in Payton’s: What are we doing here?

    Renck: The Broncos’ lack talent at skill players. In four of the first six games, the opponents have boasted better receivers, tight ends and running backs. Enough with the experiments, coach. This problem traces back to Payton. It’s time for the best players to get the lion’s share of reps. That means more cJ.K. Dobbins and Evan Engram and less everyone else. The Broncos lack consistency offensively because they lack consistency with the personnel. At one point in the second quarter, Payton used Dobbins on first down, R.J. Harvey on second and Jaleel McLaughlin in three downs. Uncle. Time to taper off the line changes that would make Jared Bednar blush. The Broncos need to establish an identity. But, It is hard to know who you are when you don’t know who is in the game.

    Keeler: Payton’s worst enemy? Sean Payton. Sean Payton, Offensive Genius. Sean Payton, Riverboat Gambler. Sean Payton, Super Bowl Champ. The shadow of a mad scientist is always creeping over his shoulder, tapping on it, reminded him to be clever. To experiment. Reminding him of the pressure, the expectation, to prove that he’s the smartest guy in the room. The problem with being the NFL’s Baron Frankenstein is that the creature that rises from the slab is inevitably a patchwork job — but it’s rarely a monster.

    Troy Renck, Sean Keeler

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  • Broncos-Jets report card: Sean Payton’s offensive slump, sloppy special-teams play nearly down Denver

    The Broncos narrowly avoided a baffling loss to the Jets in London on Sunday with another fourth-quarter defensive stand, improving to 4-2 through six games after a 13-11 victory. Here’s The Denver Post’s report card from the day.

    OFFENSE — D+

    Sean Payton got Bo Nix rolling in the first quarter Sunday, calling for a bunch of quick throws over the middle. Nix looked every bit the same guy who torched the Eagles in the fourth quarter last week, dicing up the Jets for 112 first-quarter yards and a beautiful end-of-quarter drive. And then, in a baffling combination of play-calling and execution, Payton downshifted Denver’s offense into purgatory for three quarters.

    Nix had just a handful of completions after the first quarter. The Broncos had their worst rushing game of the year, with just 40 yards on 14 carries for the steady J.K. Dobbins. Star receiver Courtland Sutton finished with just one catch for 17 yards on three targets, and Denver had just one first-quarter touchdown to Nate Adkins on a secondary breakdown to show for themselves.

    DEFENSE — A+

    This was a “defensive team” today, as Sean Payton said postgame. And as Denver fumbled its offensive identity away with Troy Franklin’s first-quarter giveaway, the Broncos’ pass-rush scooped an entire organization up again, as Vance Joseph’s attack has so often done. Jets quarterback Justin Fields looked like a fawn in the headlights of a London double-decker bus, and the Broncos finished with a ridiculous nine sacks. That’s tied for the second-most in a single game in franchise history, according to StatMuse.

    Don’t forget about the Broncos’ secondary, either, as Pat Surtain II held another top receiver in purgatory in the Jets’ Garrett Wilson. Denver’s linebackers had one of their best games of the season, too, as the Jets’ running backs had just one catch for minus-1 yard and tight end Mason Taylor had one catch for 2 yards. And Talanoa Hufanga continued to fly around like a calamity let loose from Pandora’s box, adding a key third-down pass-breakup on the Jets’ final offensive drive.

    SPECIAL TEAMS — D

    No way else to put it: Darren Rizzi is off to a bad start in his Broncos tenure. There was the Week 2 leverage incident. There have been consistently meh returns on kickoffs for Marvin Mims Jr. and breakdowns in kick coverage. And Week 6 in London was the worst day yet, as the Jets nearly stole a game thanks to Jets special teams coordinator Chris Banjo — an assistant on Denver’s staff last year — out-executing Rizzi for four quarters. New York had a 72-yard kickoff return, outgained a tentative Marvin Mims by 89 combined yards across punt and kickoff returns, and beat the Broncos on one fourth-and-1 fake punt that Rizzi had sniffed out.

    COACHING — D

    Vance Joseph is single-handedly pulling this one up from an F. Again, the Broncos’ defensive coordinator mixed in a variety of pressures and went with a gutsy all-out blitz on a first-down sack on the Jets’ last drive, matching his game-calling perfectly with the Jets’ utter lack of juice in the passing game.

    Luca Evans

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  • The Bo Nix Index, Week 5: How tempo, blitz recognition keyed QB’s fourth-quarter breakout

    Eventually, they stopped talking about points. Bo Nix, and the rest of the Broncos’ offense around him made clear: they needed to go get six.

    They had punted on six straight possessions in Philadelphia. Nix was playing some of his worst football in a topsy-turvy start. He “wasn’t happy,” as he put it postgame.

    And then a shining version of Nix unfurled before the hostile Philly crowd, the best version of the second-year quarterback shooting the Eagles down in the fourth quarter in one of the most important performances of his young career.

    “We handled it how we handled it,” Nix said after the Broncos’ 21-17 win, “and we went out and won the game.”

    Welcome back to The Denver Post’s Bo Nix Index, reviewing every drop-back from Nix’s performance the previous week. For Week 5, let’s focus specifically on the factors that contributed to the quarterback’s star-making final frame: 9-of-10 passing, 127 yards, a touchdown. Plenty of reps both explained Nix’s erratic play early and his steadiness down the stretch. Here are four key themes.

    1. Nix favors tempo. It worked against Eagles

    Last week, head coach Sean Payton noted that Nix “likes tempo” to start a game — a kind of fast-paced offense that incorporates no-huddle and motion to wear defenses down. Within that, too, Payton hinted his staff has adapted to reduce verbiage in play calls so Nix can get to the line quicker.

    “He’ll have input like, ‘Hey, this is a play I really like, can we get that in?’” Lombardi said of Nix. “And nine times out of 10, we do it.”

    Denver went straight to tempo in their first drive against the Eagles. Nix clapped his hands in an early no-huddle third-down look, smoothly one-handing a high snap, pivoting, and firing a quick comebacker to Courtland Sutton for a first down. The Broncos went no-huddle three times across that first drive, and Nix moved them into Philadelphia territory before a sack by Cooper DeJean stalled the drive.

    After veering away from tempo in the third quarter, Nix got rolling in Denver’s early fourth-quarter drive with some faster looks. He hit Sutton again on a quick play-action back-shoulder ball for a first down to push the Broncos into Eagles territory. His eventual game-tying touchdown pass came off tempo, as Nix cycled through his reads while rolling out and found Evan Engram for a score.

    Nix has a 108.8 quarterback rating this season on play-action passes, and a 101.5 QB rating when taking less than 2.5 seconds to throw, according to Next Gen Stats. Generally, he appears to make quicker decisions when Payton speeds up opposing defenses.

    2. Nix scraps strange statue-feet habit

    As has been pointed out in previous Bo Nix Indexes, the QB is better when he actually sets his feet to throw — and more importantly, doesn’t drift. But Nix also has a particular mechanical quirk at the opposite end of the spectrum. At times, on quick-hits, he’ll take a snap and fire with only a tiny tap of his front foot, generating little lower-body momentum.

    Sometimes, it works out fine — like a second-quarter strike to Trent Sherfield, when Nix fired quickly to expose an opening in the middle of the Eagles’ zone. But it can also backfire.

    On a late Broncos third-quarter drive that stalled out, Nix had receiver Marvin Mims Jr. open on a short flare on third-and-2. He turned his body in Mims’ direction toward the right sideline. But instead of shuffling his feet again to point parallel at Mims, Nix planted near-horizontally and fired a sidearm throw. The ball sailed and tipped off an outstretched Mims’ fingertips for an ugly incompletion.

    Nix’s feet went topsy-turvy at times throughout the fourth quarter, as he’s wont to do. But each of his most visible strikes — a 10-yard hit to Troy Franklin, an 18-yard crosser to Engram, a pivotal 34-yard connection with Sutton — came with drive off his back foot. He switched off statue mode, and the Broncos were better for it.

    3. Nix deciphered and felt out pressure much more quickly in fourth quarter

    Broncos third-string running back Tyler Badie got more snaps on Sunday than rookie RJ Harvey, in large part because Denver trusts him more in pass protection (and two-minute situations). Badie absolutely wiped out Eagles inside linebacker Zack Baun on an early third-down ILB blitz.

    Harvey, meanwhile, got smoked by DeJean on a blitz on that same drive, and Nix nearly was dinged for a game-changing sack-fumble.

    That play knocked the Broncos out of field-goal range and an early opportunity to put points on the board. But it wasn’t all on Harvey. Nix had a few puzzling moments where he got himself into trouble against the Eagles by not feeling pressure off the edge.

    Harvey wasn’t even blocking DeJean on Nix’s blind side, and the quarterback had ample room to step up or even escape the pocket on that third down. This played out again in the second quarter, when Azeez Ojulari got an angle on Broncos left tackle Garett Bolles and hit Nix for an incompletion when he didn’t step up.

    Luca Evans

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  • Renck: In signature win for Sean Payton, Broncos prove they’re afraid of nobody with remarkable comeback vs. Eagles

    PHILADELPHIA — The quarterback fought frustration. The tight end remained in witness protection. The cornerback got cooked.

    The penalties, each more ridiculous than the last, mounted. The Broncos were on the verge of getting skunked.

    Then something remarkable happened. They finished.

    They met the moment. At last.

    Trailing by 14 points against the defending champion Eagles, who had not lost a home game in 13 months, the Broncos rallied for a 21-17 victory, surviving a heart-in-a-blender Hail Mary pass.

    Broncos Analysis: In dominating trenches vs. Philly, Sean Payton’s team finally has road map to loftier goals

    This game threatened to become a blowout. Instead, it became the blueprint. You saw it. Run the ball. Convert third downs. Use the middle of the field. Turn Nik Bonitto loose (not sure if he showers after games or just licks his paws).

    As the football sat lonely in the corner of the end zone with time expired, safety Talanoa Hufanga taunted Philadelphia fans, raising his arms in the air for dramatic effect. The swagger and confidence were no longer just a locker room thing, but in the light for everyone to see.

    The Broncos are back in every January conversation.

    They are 3-2 and should be favored in their next seven games. In a remarkable final 15 minutes, they transformed the lingering narrative that they were frauds into a story inspiring fear.

    These players, who were the equivalent of a clenched fist after walk-off losses to the Colts and Chargers, punched back.

    Enough was enough.

    Troy Renck

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  • Keeler: Can Broncos QB Bo Nix be fixed? Yep! But Sean Payton needs to do these 4 things first

    Can we really call Bo Nix’s feet “happy” when they make Broncos Country so miserable?

    If I’m Sean Payton, the first thing I’m doing with Nix is sitting the quarterback down in my office. The second thing is popping open my laptop. The third is showing Nix a clip of the last 45 seconds from the first half of Broncos-Chargers this past Sunday.

    The fourth is congratulating the kid for finding Courtland Sutton over the top for a sumptuous 52-yard score on fourth-and-2. The fifth is asking Nix to lean in closer to the laptop. To take a long, careful look at his tootsies on that perfect rainbow to Sutton.

    They’re set.

    Like a mighty oak. Right foot planted. Rock back. Smooth release. Easy money.

    Nix has 21 NFL starts under his belt. He still tippy-taps in the pocket like a skittish rookie.

    We love Bo because he can go “off-script,” which is football shorthand for improvising when stuff hits the fan. The ability to turn nothing into something.

    The problem: Nix’s feet are so fast, they’re sometimes two steps ahead of his brain.

    He’s a talented young man locked in an almost constant internal struggle. His upper half is running the play while his lower half is plotting an escape route.

    When the two are in tandem, you get Sutton walking, untouched, into the end zone. But those joys are rare these days. Bo’s mechanics won’t allow it.

    Sean Keeler

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  • Broncos’ Bo Nix, Sean Payton explain — in slightly different terms — sideline interaction vs. Colts

    As Bo Nix jogged past head coach Sean Payton on the sideline during the third quarter Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis, Payton tried to say something to him.

    Nix carried on toward the bench before Payton turned him around by calling after him. The conversation that ensued was a lively one.

    It followed a stalled drive, which began to go south when Nix and rookie running back RJ Harvey weren’t on the same page for a run play, leading to a broken scramble from Nix. Two plays later, Denver punted.

    On Wednesday, both Nix and Payton downplayed the exchange, though they remembered it differently.

    “It wasn’t what it appeared,” Payton said Wednesday. “It was an affirmation of, ‘This is what we’re wanting to do.’ I was looking at it and trying to think — I don’t recall — I think it was more about excitement. I saw it, and it was following, I think, a series where we ran it pretty well.

    “I would know if there was ever one of those moments. I guess what I’m saying is I don’t think it was what it appeared. In fact, I know it wasn’t.”

    The Broncos did, indeed, run the ball well on their first possession of the third quarter, but then ran three times for 6 yards on the drive that preceded the exchange, including the Nix scramble on the broken play.

    Nix, for his part, said he had to repeat what happened on a play for the preceding series because of the noise in Lucas Oil Stadium.

    “For whatever reason, we’re allowing conversations to become bigger than what they are,” Nix said Wednesday. “We oftentimes forget that it’s a big stadium and a lot of people are talking at the same time, so you’ve got to be a little louder and more vocal.

    “That was just something as simple as, he asked me what happened on a play, I told him. I turned, and he couldn’t quite hear, so I turned back and told him again. There was no issue. Yeah, it was just a quick conversation with the head coach. Nothing pressing.”

    Nix didn’t look to be pressing much at all Sunday.

    He and the offense failed to score on three second-half drives that could have extended a lead in the Broncos’ eventual 29-28 last-second loss, but the second-year quarterback on the whole played much better in Week 2 than in Week 1.

    “There’s plenty of good plays, but I’m focused on the ones that didn’t go our way, because that’s how you learn and get better and find ways to improve,” Nix said Wednesday.

    Nix threw touchdown passes to Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin and Adam Trautman. For most of the first three quarters, he played with good rhythm despite a lack of production from top receiver Courtland Sutton (one catch for 6 yards) and Engram (one catch for 12).

    “Sometimes if it’s a progression read, then it’s a progression, and who gets it sometimes maybe isn’t as easy to predict,” Payton said. “There’s other times where you can try to work for an isolation — a lot of it is scheme-dependent. But the new guys here, we talk about (receivers Trent Sherfield Sr. and Pat Bryant), those guys are getting acclimated and obviously they give you flexibility.”

    Parker Gabriel

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  • Renck: Blaming refs for Broncos’ loss to Colts is just plain dumb. This one’s on Denver

    INDIANAPOLIS — Time to run mental lapses.

    And extra gassers at the end of practice.

    Here in Naptown, a poster with Colts players adorns the J.W. Marriott, paying tribute to late team owner Jim Irsay. It reads: For the Boss. For the City. For the Shoe.

    For the love of God, this ending was stupid. A series of cognitive disconnects, each more costly than the last, resulted in a 29-28 walk-off loss for the Broncos.

    This wasn’t just a Denver loss; this was the ultimate brain freeze. Like guzzling a 32-ounce Slurpee through a straw in a single drink.

    Unwisely conceived: Darren Rizzi, why ask Dondrea Tillman to try to block a 60-yard field goal from a kicker who has never made a 50-yarder? Poorly executed: If you are going to speed, even if by one mile per hour over, don’t get caught — and stained by failure.

    The Broncos were dealt their first loss of the season in their first road game of the season in a way that, as far as the internet can tell, was a first.

    In four weeks, if your friends ask you how the Broncos’ special season became ordinary, the story starts here. When they ask you at the office Christmas party why they have to win out against Kansas City and the Chargers to make the playoffs, remind them of the Colts.

    The Broncos put themselves in a dangerous position with upcoming cage matches against the Chargers, Bengals and Eagles by squandering a game the Colts were begging for them to win. Or at least coach Shane Steichen was as he performed his best Nathaniel Hackett Clueless in Seattle impersonation.

    When writing the Broncos’ history since Super Bowl 50, what unfolded before our wide eyes demands an entry. Let’s start at the end and work backward.

    Leading 28-26, the Broncos took possession at their 35-yard line with 8:29 remaining. On an afternoon when the offense finally awoke from its summer hibernation, this represented a chance for a statement drive in a benchmark game. Siphon the clock. Kick a short field goal, and let the beleaguered defense leave with its dignity with a clinching sack of Daniel Jones.

    Troy Renck

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  • Bo Nix shoulders blame for Broncos’ Week 1 offensive struggles: ‘I have to do a much better job’

    They went one by one at the Broncos captains’ dinner on Monday, veterans of this league who have climbed the mountaintop and know the footing the trek requires. Wil Lutz. Talanoa Hufanga. D.J. Jones. Each gave their speech. Each bared their hearts.

    Last of all came Bo Nix, the 25-year-old anointed one who’s never met anyone who expects more of him than he expects of himself.

    He spoke and set a bar for a group of men who respected him enough to not only listen to his words but feel them. John Franklin-Myers and Marvin Mims Jr. recounted his words separately in the days to come.

    “We have this team that’s been put together. Each one of us are hand-picked,” Franklin-Myers recalled Nix saying. “But our goal should be to go out there and win every game.”

    There are three kinds of teams in this league, Nix continued, as Mims remembered. The team that wants to go out and simply compete. The team that wants to go out and win. And the team that wants to go out and dominate.

    These Broncos, Nix emphasized, needed to be the team that dominates.

    “Shoot, something like that is powerful from a quarterback, a younger guy,” Franklin-Myers said Friday. “And you see that type of fire from him, and it kinda gets you going.”

    Nix did not dominate in Sunday afternoon’s win over Tennessee, his first start since a rookie campaign that cratered and then skyrocketed. Far from it. He threw a bad cross-body interception in the first quarter on a ball that sailed to Courtland Sutton. He threw a worse one in the third quarter on a ball to a double-covered Troy Franklin that had no business even being thrown. He ran directly into a strip-sack in the second quarter for the first lost fumble he’s had since he played at Auburn. He finished 25-of-40 passing for 176 yards, a touchdown, and a passer rating of 60, the third-worst game of his NFL career.

    And still, new safety Hufanga came strolling to a podium postgame wearing a beaming smile and a grey T-shirt that had a giant decal of Nix.

    “I got a lot of confidence,” Hufanga said. “I wouldn’t be wearing this shirt if I didn’t have confidence in my guy. He’s a Christian man that just goes out there and leads us.

    “So, regardless of what kind of day he has, I know I got his back, and he got mine.”

    Luca Evans

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