Vance Joseph and the Broncos’ defense saved an entire organization from a truly uncomfortable nine-hour flight back from London on Sunday. Here’s The Denver Post’s stock report after Denver’s ugly 13-11 win over the Jets.
Stock up
Vance Joseph: Denver’s defensive coordinator just keeps rising and rising and rising some more, and might just rise to another head-coaching gig. The Broncos’ defense tormented Justin Fields and the Jets for four quarters, and the stats are ridiculous: nine sacks, 82 total yards. Joseph’s unit really only gave up three points of the Jets’ 11 on Sunday, and pretty much single-handedly won Week 6 for Denver. It’s becoming a rather common occurrence.
Joseph has earned particularly high marks for his ability to dial up pressure, and he crushed the Jets on one all-out look on New York’s final drive. But it’s the smaller details where the brilliance shows up. Justin Strnad, an inside linebacker whom Joseph loves blitzing, has 3.5 sacks through six games. Denver’s run defense on the interior has tightened up, holding a run-heavy Jets offense to three yards a carry. They look near-impenetrable right now.
The Joker: He’s arrived! Evan Engram’s gone from Jared Leto to Joaquin Phoenix to Heath Ledger levels of Joker performance in the span of about three weeks (no, Phoenix is not the best on-screen Joker. Sorry).
Engram led Denver with five first-half touches and came up big with two early third-down conversions. He burned a Jets receiver on a choice route early, and keyed a fourth-quarter field goal drive with a stretching grab over the middle. He’s grown enough trust with Sean Payton so quickly that Payton drew up an end-around for him — yes, a 31-year-old tight end — that went for 7 yards.
“That’s what happens when you try to get him the ball — he makes big plays,” quarterback Bo Nix said postgame. “That’s why we acquired him.”
Life pre-Dre Greenlaw: Beyond the occasional wheel route, the Broncos have pretty neatly tied up their issues at linebacker. It’s partly a credit to Joseph for leaning into his core’s strengths, and partly a credit to Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad for playing their roles excellently on Sunday.
Singleton had seven tackles and a tackle for loss against the Jets, but perhaps the most telling stat: New York’s tight ends and running backs had just two combined catches for 1 yard against the Broncos. No coverage issues here. Strnad, meanwhile, has become a legitimate asset as a blitzer at weak-side linebacker. After 1.5 sacks against the Jets, he’s now at 3.5 through six games, third on the roster.
Wil Lutz: The Broncos kicker naturally earned the fanbase’s ire after shanking a key 42-yarder in a Week 2 loss to the Colts, but Lutz has put together an excellent few weeks since. He nailed a 55-yarder against the Eagles, and followed it up with a monster 57-yard field goal against the Jets. Quietly, Denver wouldn’t have won without that kick.
Stock down
The mental sanity of any WR1 who plays the Broncos: Know that meme of the Grim Reaper going door-to-door? That’s Pat Surtain II right now with the league’s best receivers.
After a shaky start in Weeks 2 and 3 against the Colts and Chargers, Surtain’s blown up the emotional stability of entire offenses for weeks because high-paid receivers aren’t getting the ball. First came an extended sideline conversation between Ja’Marr Chase and Bengals head coach Zac Taylor in Week 4, when Chase finished with five catches for 23 yards. Then came AJ Brown’s continued subliminal unhappiness with Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts after finishing with five catches for 43 yards in Week 5. Then came Garrett Wilson barking at Jets coach Aaron Glenn on Sunday, as Wilson finished with three catches for 13 yards on eight targets.
As he continued to endorse teammate Nik Bonitto for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, the reigning DPOY had two more pass breakups Sunday.
Fullback love: This was in the “stock up” section last week. Life moves quickly. Life especially moves quickly when one’s head coach dials up a fullback sneak on a third-quarter third-and-10.
Adam Prentice was 2 for 2 on third-down carries entering Sunday against the Jets. He is now 2 for 3. It was a baffling play-call from Payton. Nate Adkins caught the Broncos’ only touchdown of the day, but for the purposes of this entry, Adkins shall be referred to as a tight end.
Darren Rizzi: Marvin Mims Jr. has morphed from an All-Pro returner into just decent, and looked like he was overthinking his angles at times against the Jets. The Broncos’ kick-return units continue to disappoint. Denver continues to get outplayed on special teams, with 89 fewer combined kick and punt-return yards than New York in London. It hasn’t been a banner start to Rizzi’s career in Denver, who Payton hired from New Orleans in the offseason, seeing a future NFL head coach.
“I think Darren is probably just as disappointed relative to his units as I would be, relative to our offense,” Payton said postgame.
The O-line: Nix only took one sack against the Jets, and that was more of a function of Nix’s ability to avoid sacks than the Broncos’ offensive-line play. Matt Peart is the obvious point here, as the veteran reserve struggled mightily (three penalties) in filling in for the injured Ben Powers at left guard. Payton and the Broncos need an answer there.
But their entire run scheme was ineffective for long stretches, as Denver finished with just 78 yards on 26 carries. And All-Pro guard Quinn Meinerz was torched for a key holding penalty backed up in the second half that gave the Jets a rare safety.
“I didn’t think we played well up front,” Payton said.
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