As Bo Nix said postgame, the ugly wins are how the Broncos are doing it right now. Denver sits at 7-2 after another fourth-quarter grind-it-out victory over Houston on Sunday, one in which several familiar issues sprang back up but were tamped down by more defensive excellence. Here’s The Denver Post’s stock report from the day.
Stock up
Talanoa Hufanga: Hats off to a Broncos free-agent acquisition who has become one of Denver’s most important pieces on defense. Hufanga continues to smack opposing ball-carriers around with little regard for manners, talk stuff at them after doing it, and make plays on every inch of grass. The safety’s final line from the Texans win was a gem: nine tackles, two pressures, two passes deflected and two catches allowed for 4 yards on four targets in coverage.
That last point is particularly notable, as Hufanga’s been terrific in an increased dosage of man-to-man coverage in Denver: 22 targets and 11 catches for 73 yards allowed this season. He’s a huge piece in the Broncos’ plans without Pat Surtain II, and he provided plenty of help over the top against the Texans in the absence of their star CB1.
Ja’Quan McMillian: There’s a reason that first-round pick Jahdae Barron hasn’t won a starting job through nine weeks, and his name is J-Mac. McMillian is one of the quieter presences in Denver’s locker room. He put his head down in camp and reaffirmed his claim to his spot as the nickel in Vance Joseph’s defense — and has been nails since. He was one of the more important pieces in Joseph’s all-hands-on-deck plan to cover for Surtain’s absence, and allowed just three catches for 13 yards on seven targets Sunday. Quarterbacks have just a 70.5 rating when targeting McMillian’s assignment this year.
Zach Allen: Let’s just keep running through game balls for the defense. Allen was a second-team All-Pro after a 2024 breakout, and is playing his way into consideration there again. For a player who often thrives at opening up rush lanes for others, Allen was constantly around the ball against Houston: five tackles, a sack and two passes deflected. He sits first in the NFL in QB hits (25), and the differential between him and No. 2 is greater than the differential between No. 2 and No. 27. That is not a typo.
Sean Payton gimmicks: Why not keep it rolling? A week ago, the Broncos’ skill players chuckled when Denver stitched video of their collegiate fight songs over touchdown plays in Saturday night’s film review. This past week, staff stitched video of players’ families cheering them on over touchdown reps from practice. Rookie RB RJ Harvey caught a TD against the Texans on one of those same plays. Maybe the Broncos head coach will figure out a way to tape himself from the future and splice it over Saturday’s cut-ups at some point.
Stock down
Second-down Bo: Denver’s offense stuck itself back in the mud on Sunday, and had two drive-killing play-calls from Payton in part to thank for it. A second-quarter second-and-10 screen to Tyler Badie went for a loss of 6 yards. A third-quarter third-and-10 end-around to Troy Franklin went for a loss of 6, too. The Broncos didn’t help themselves in those situations whatsoever.
Nine games in, Nix has thrown nearly a third of his passes on second downs with more than 4 yards to gain. He has a 63.4 quarterback rating in such situations. That’s more than a large-enough sample size to be concerned, and a point to the fact that Denver’s offense functions best when it’s humming on first down.
Evan Engram: The Joker face paint has slowly worn off. This isn’t Engram’s fault: Nix had him wide open on two targets Sunday and completely misfired both times, including a first-quarter ball on a beautiful hitch-and-go route that would’ve gone for an easy touchdown. But Engram went 0 for 3 on his targets and has yet to show consistent chemistry with Nix in situations where he’s not a primary read.
On the year, Engram now has 26 catches for 215 yards and a touchdown in eight games. That isn’t the production that the Broncos paid $16.5 million guaranteed for this offseason, no matter whose shoulders the blame lies on.
Whoever the heck wasn’t ready on special teams: Payton is not upset with Darren Rizzi, and thinks he’s doing an outstanding job. Allegedly.
Instead, he clarified his special-teams frustration was directed at personnel. In particular, there seemed to be a poor chap who was late getting out to the field on kickoffs on Sunday.
“That player that’s supposed to be out there, I’ll find someone else to do his job,” Payton said Monday.
Thursday night might reveal who landed themselves in Payton’s doghouse.
The Nix-Sutton connection: Yes, Courtland Sutton authored perhaps the day’s biggest play on offense, with a 30-yard touchdown on a perfect ball from Nix in the second quarter. But Nix and Sutton couldn’t connect on five other targets, and Sutton even showed a bit of frustration on a second-half third down that Nix threw behind him. This isn’t a major issue, but a function of an out-of-sync game from Nix overall.
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