The Denver Broncos upset the undefeated Tampa Bay Buccaneers by the score of 26-7. They dominated the game from beginning to end on the road in hot Tampa weather and got their first victory of the year. Rookie quarterback Bo Nix had the best start of his career, the defense had 7 sacks and multiple turnovers, Tyler Badie continues to make a name for himself and the Broncos played their best all-around game of the season.
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With all that said, here are your winners and losers from the Broncos 26-7 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
WINNER - QB Bo Nix
The rookie quarterback bounced back after having two tough starts to start his career and had himself his best showing of the year thus far. Nix finished the day 25 for 36 for 216 yards and 9 rushing attempts for 47 yards and 1 touchdown. He still has not thrown his first passing touchdown of the year, but he got his second rushing touchdown on the year.
Nix looked comfortable out there, his footwork and mechanics looked improved, and he was throwing accurate strikes and led the Broncos down the field for multiple scoring drives. This is the type of quarterback play Sean Payton envisioned when he drafted Nix at 12th overall and the rookie played very well in this game.
He was facing a Buccaneers defense down multiple key starters but after having two tough defenses to start the year, it was nice to see Nix get a weaker defense. Hopefully, we see Nix continue this play next week on the road vs. a tough Jets defense.
WINNER - Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph
Vance Joseph got a lot of hate during his first stint with the Broncos and again last season, especially after the 70-point performance in week 3 last year. Well, a year later in week 3 in another game in Florida, Vance Joseph got his revenge. He held the Bucs offense to just 7 points, had 7 sacks, multiple turnovers and dominated the game from beginning to end.
Joseph is having a great start to 2024 as his defense has been playing well all season. They kept the Broncos in the first two games of the year and dominated in this one which helped the Broncos get their first victory of the year.
He deserves a lot of credit for turning this unit around and having them perform like one of the best defenses in the league right now.
WINNER - RB Tyler Badie
We saw Badie get one carry last Sunday and explode for 16 yards. Unfortunately, that was his only carry in the game. This week, it took a while for him to get some carries, but the explosive back certainly made his impact on the game when given the chance. He finished the game with 9 carries for 70 yards including a long run late in the game.
Outside of Badie, the Broncos running backs struggled to do much on the ground. Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin had 10 carries for 19 yards combined while Badie had 9 carries for 70 yards. Jaleel did find the end zone while Javonte failed to run it in at the goal line and also had a fumble (more on that later) but Badie was by far the most productive back on the Broncos in today’s game.
Badie, who is currently on the practice squad has made a strong case for more carries and potentially even being the Broncos lead back moving forward. You cannot continue giving Javonte Williams carries when his production is as bad as it is.
WINNER - EDGE Dondrea Tillman
With the Broncos placing Baron Browning on the injured reserve, the Broncos promoted Dondrea Tillman off the practice squad. The former UFL standout impressed in his first game with the Broncos and had two of the Broncos' seven sacks in today’s game.
If he can continue this sort of play, he will continue earning snaps on defense. He made multiple plays in the backfield today along with the two sacks. With Browning sidelined for at least four weeks, we’ll see what Tillman can do moving forward.
LOSER - RB Javonte Williams
Javonte Williams struggled last season coming back from a horrible knee injury and those struggles continued into this season. He has yet to average over 3 yards per carry in a game, is coming off a game where he had 1.5 yards per carry, and only averaged 2.4 yards per carry in today’s game while also fumbling the ball away.
This production is unacceptable.
Pre-injury Javonte Williams was great but currently, he is borderline a rosterable player. His lack of vision is showing and he lacks the speed and burst to make up for it. He was stuffed at the goal line early in the game which is supposed to be his bread and butter. He is also being outperformed by Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin and probably will lose snaps to rookie Audric Estime when he is healthy.
It sucks but Javonte Williams is my lone loser from this game.
WINNER - RT Alex Palczewski
Listen, I am not an offensive line expert by any means, but I forgot Alex Palczewski was starting at right tackle in this game, which is a good thing. With offensive linemen, if you do not notice them, they’re doing their job, and that’s what Palczewski did today in my opinion at least.
You could include the entire offensive line here but most of them are highly paid and should be performing this way to begin with. Palczewski will get the starts for at least the next three weeks and hopefully, he can continue to play well for the Broncos.
WINNER - CB Pat Surtain II
Broncos corner Pat Surtain II is the best corner in the league, he is the best player on the roster, and he proved why again today with another dominate performance. In week one he held DK Metcalf to 3 catches for 29 yards, held George Pickens to 1 catch for 16 yards and today held Mike Evans to 2 catches for 17 yards.
I initially left Surtain II off this list because he did what he does almost every week and shut down the opposing team's number-one receiver. He eliminated Mike Evans from the game and was a big reason why the Broncos' defense held the Bucs offense to just 7 points.
Next week, he gets Garrett Wilson who New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers will heavily target throughout the game. This will be another fun matchup to watch and hopefully, Surtain can come out and dominate like he has so far this season.
Other Winners and Losers
- Winner - K Wil Lutz: He has been automatic and was once again today. He was perfect today and went 4 for 4 with his field goal attempts which helped the Broncos extend their lead in this one.
- Winner - WR Troy Franklin: The numbers aren’t impressive, but we saw the rookie wide receiver get multiple targets in this one and just involved in the offense. He is one of the Broncos fastest players so we’ll see how much work he gets moving forward
- Winner - S Brandon Jones: I should have mentioned him earlier but he had a key interception early in the game and a fumble recovery which clinched the victory late in the fourth quarter.
- Winner - CB Riley Moss: Another week of Riley Moss playing damn good football. With Patrick Surtain II locking down the WR1 and Ja’Quan in the slot, a lot of attention will be on Moss and he is stepping up to the challenge.
