Broncos pummeled into oblivion with catastrophic 41-10 loss to Ravens

The Denver Broncos turned into their own worst enemies on Sunday afternoon. From the start of the game until the clock hit zero, they were outplayed in all three phases. Nothing went well for them today at all.

The result? Absolute decimation with a brutal 41-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Broncos are now 5-4 on the season and have another tough matchup on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs next weekend.

Let’s get into some of the instant reactions from today’s game.

Broncos turn into their own worst enemies with miscues and turnovers

As I wrote several times throughout the week, the Broncos couldn’t afford to be their own worst enemy against the Ravens. The Broncos were fortunate to overcome untimely turnovers in past wins, but the room for error against a good Baltimore team was slim. Unfortunately, that issue came to be early on in their game against the Ravens. Three specific instances in the first half alone proved to be too much to overcome. Let’s break those down.

The turnover battle was lost immediately with Bo Nix’s first hands of the game which tipped off the hands of Lil’Jordan Humphrey which was intercepted by the Ravens. That’s two weeks in a row where Humphrey was the culprit in a turnover. If I were Head Coach Sean Payton, I’d start phasing out his reps in the passing game and give time to the younger receivers on the team.

The second came on fourth-and-short just past midfield in the first quarter. The Broncos opted to toss the ball to Javonte Williams instead of going up the gut. Initially it was called a first down, but on replay was overturned. That put them down two in turnover differential.

But a trifecta was in order. On the first play of the second quarter on fourth and four, the Broncos opted to go for it instead of kicking a field goal. I’d of went for three, but Payton thought otherwise. Nix overshot Troy Franklin in the endzone and it was yet another turnover on downs for the Broncos. For perspective, Nix wasn’t facing any pressure and it’s a throw he had to make.

Those three miscues in the first half put the Broncos’ backs against the wall. Points were taken off the board and the Ravens were able to capitalize on several of them and get points of their own. You can’t win many games in the National Football League shooting yourselves in the foot that many times.

Lamar Jackson and Ravens’ high-powered offense lights up Vance Joseph’s defense

In my Scouting the Enemy piece this week, I discussed Jackson being the offensive player to the watch. He didn’t disappoint on Sunday and shredded Vance Joseph’s defense. It was easily the worst performance from his defense all season long. And it might be an indicator that it’s just a good unit—not a great one.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what all went wrong, but Joseph clearly wasn’t as aggressive with blitzing as he had been in past games. When the Broncos didn’t blitz, Jackson was virtually perfect in the passing game. I’m not so sure why Joseph abandoned what made Denver’s defense so good in the first half of the year, but perhaps Jackson being the best quarterback against the blitz in the league made him change his mind for today’s game.

On top of that, I saw a lot more zone coverage and off-man pattern matching coverage deployed today. Jackson was able to cut through it with ease. Zay Flowers was a menace and had himself an incredible game against the Broncos secondary. Starting in place of P.J. Locke, Devon Key was the weak link in the Broncos’ secondary and had several big plays go against him that resulted in touchdowns for Baltimore.

The Broncos weren’t able to set the edge and keep containment either. They also couldn’t stop Derrick Henry and the Ravens’ rushing attack. Any way you slice it, this was a disastrous effort from Denver’s top-ranked defense. Next week they take on the Kansas City Chiefs. If they want to have a shot at winning that game, they certainly can’t lose touch on the defensive side of the ball like we witnessed today.

It has to be fixed—quickly—or else they could be in some big trouble down the stretch.

A Little Bit of Fun: The Philly Special — Broncos Edition

The Broncos were defeated soundly in today’s game, but I thought I had to give a shoutout for a cool play on the offensive side of the ball. On fourth and goal halfway through the second quarter, Payton reached deep into his bag of tricks and pulled out The Philly Special.

Courtland Sutton dialed up a touchdown pass to Nix who put on the jetpacks to come down with the touchdown. It’s the first time a Broncos quarterback has caught a pass for a touchdown since John Elway in 1986. This probably doesn’t take away from the sting of an embarrassing loss so much, but I felt it was something worth pointing out.