Denver Post Broncos writer Parker Gabriel posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season and periodically during the offseason. Click here to submit a question.
After the first four games of the season, what overall letter grade would you give the Broncos? And why?
— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.
Thanks for getting us going this week, Ed. I hadn’t thought about it in those overall terms so far. Let’s say in the B- or C+ range. Looking at the first four games, I’d have guessed 1-3 before the season. In fact, I think I did for The Post’s preview magazine. So just by that mark alone, 2-2 is slightly above expectations in a broad sense.
The 2-0 road trip can’t be considered anything other than impressive, no matter what the wins looked like. Tampa Bay and the Jets are teams that should be in the mix for the postseason and after the 0-2 start it could have gone sideways fast for Denver. Instead at 2-2, the Broncos are in an area where anything’s possible. Parity in the NFL is insane. Only 10 of 32 teams are 3-1 or 4-0, but there are 13 alone at 2-2. That includes the two divisional teams Denver plays at home the next two Sundays in Las Vegas and the Los Angeles Chargers. Big opportunities coming up.
Vance Joseph’s defense gets top marks so far, special teams gets a good grade, too, and the offense is off to a much slower start. Think Sean Payton ever thought he’d coach a team that’s No. 28 in scoring offense and No. 3 in scoring defense?
Nothing’s a finished product, of course. The defense has to show it can withstand early-season injuries over more than just a couple of weeks. The offense has seen its engine, the offensive line, start to find a rhythm after a really poor start. The biggest single question is whether Bo Nix starts to find a sustainable groove. If the rookie does, this team can be dangerous. If he struggles, the long-term outlook might not suffer but it’s going to put the Broncos in a mode this fall where they have to ace every close-game test in order to be in playoff contention.
Overall, consider it a relatively promising start. This is going to sound worse than I mean it, but it reminds me a little bit of 2022 in that the defense got off to a roaring start and you were just waiting for the offense to come around. It never did, the defense finally buckled and the season went off the rails. This offense doesn’t need to score 30 a game, but the Broncos have to be a lot better than their current No. 31 on both third down and red zone touchdown rate.
Parker, it felt like in Week 3 our offense started flowing like a capable offense for the first time in ages. I know it was rainy, but why were so many of our plays just short dump-off passes behind the line of scrimmage? If we’re throwing the ball, shouldn’t we do something more than screens? This isn’t the Peyton Manning era with Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker.
— Mark, Arvada
Hey Mark, thanks for writing in. They tried, they just couldn’t get anything down the field going in the first half. One of the better balls Nix threw early on was up the sideline for Courtland Sutton on the first drive. It was just a touch overthrown but it was a good decision and a near big hit. They had some other chances early but missed them all. At times Nix looked like he had no idea where the ball was going to go coming out of his hand. Eventually screens and quick game and checking the ball down became what they felt like they could accomplish. That changed later on by just enough. But there are a couple of things that remain clear at this stage: Defenses are going to make Nix and the Broncos prove they can threaten down the field before they start loosening up.
Also, bad weather games are going to happen. They’re not always going to be pretty and maybe the rain really was that bad at MetLife, but you’re going to have to figure out a way to throw the ball some in adverse conditions going forward.
I’m so bummed out about Alex Singleton being out for the year, but Cody Barton stepped up to be the heart of that defense last week. Do you think we’ll give him an extension in the offseason?
— Mike R., Arvada
Yeah, Mike, a brutal break for Singleton. Really, all of the ILBs stepped up on Sunday. Barton took over calling the defense, Justin Strnad stepped into Singleton’s position and played well. Rookie Levelle Bailey got his first NFL work on special teams. Kristian Welch came up huge on the goal-line stand. They’ll need more from all of those guys — and maybe recently signed practice squad veterans Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham — the rest of the season.
As for an extension, Barton’s currently on a one-year, $2.5 million deal. There’s plenty of time after the season to figure out if they want him back and, if so, what that looks like.
Hey Parker, the refs’ botched fumble call late in the game nearly cost us the win. If handled properly the Broncos would have returned the fumble to the house and iced the game. Additionally, we see every week teams rushing to the line of scrimmage to try and run a play and prevent their opponent from having the time to see if a challenge is warranted. With the amount of money wagered on these games, you would think the league must create a system where they are committed to officiating excellence.
– Fergus Chapman, Toronto, Ontario
Yeah Fergus, good thoughts. Conventional wisdom is to let plays like that play out. You can always reverse and say Rodgers was down by contact. You can’t go the other way after the play’s been blown dead and say, “Oh, actually it’s a Jonah Elliss return for a touchdown.” Of course, if Payton and the Broncos had a challenge, they could have at least got the call overturned to a fumble and a clear recovery.
What makes this particular one more frustrating for Denver is the way the NFL communicates the situations that officiating crews can use a replay assist from New York. You’re seeing this more frequently with spotting the ball where New York chimes in and has the ball moved by a half-yard or a first-down is given, no challenge and no trip to the monitor required. It keeps games moving.
On the list of things crews can use the assist on: Spot of a foul, complete/incomplete, possession of a loose ball, several other items and also this, “Player down by contact (when not ruled down on the field).” That would indicate that had Rodgers been ruled to have fumbled, the call could have been looked at without a review. But not the other way around. It’s one where the crew should have let the play run its course and refrained from calling him down on the field.
What exactly happened to Tyler Badie? I’ve never seen someone feel the effects of an injury so much later.
— Vince, Westminster
Hey Vince, thanks for writing in. As I’m writing this, we don’t know exactly what happened to Badie. As he walked off the field it appeared he was hurting from the hit itself in the lower back/side area. But his face mask also dragged on the ground after the hit and pulled his head forward.
Either way, I’m not going to speculate too much about what it might or might not be. Suffice it to say that a delayed reaction isn’t all that uncommon. That can happen with trauma injuries — bones, muscles, etc. It can happen with concussive spinal injuries. And it can happen with internal injuries.
We’ll report anything further we learn this week, but certainly the good news is that Badie seems to be in a pretty good place according to Payton and fellow running back Jaleel McLaughlin. At some point on the football side there will be a decision made about whether he’s an injured reserve candidate, if he’s in a position to potentially play again this year, etc.
Hey Parker, two questions from me. The first is where’s Davaughn Vele? He looked so good in Week 1 and we haven’t seen him since. My second question is about Javonte Williams. He looked like the guy we drafted last week. Is he the RB1 with Tyler Badie likely out or will we platoon him with Jaleel McLaughlin? A bonus question: Where’s Audric Estime?
— JJ, Los Angeles
Hey JJ, good questions all around. Vele’s an interesting one. He looked good all preseason and training camp and then had eight catches in the opener, although they only amounted to 39 yards. He hurt his ribs that week and missed one game, but has been considered healthy by the team since then. The Broncos right now are basically activating Troy Franklin instead of Vele. I suspect — and it’s a good question to ask this week — is that the way the offense is currently constructed, Vele might have too much crossover with Lil’Jordan Humphrey and/or Josh Reynolds and they believe Franklin brings a different element with his speed. We haven’t seen that pay dividends yet, but they’ve taken deep shots to Franklin each of the past two weeks.
As for your other questions, yeah, it’ll be Williams and McLaughlin mostly this week. Perhaps rookie Blake Watson will be active for the first time.
Estime is on injured reserve after a Week 1 ankle injury and he’s first eligible to return after Sunday’s game against the Raiders.
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