Well, that was easy. The Broncos got out to an early first-half lead Monday night and sleepwalked to a blowout 28-3 win over an overmatched Bengals team. There was plenty of good. Also plenty frustrating. Here’s The Denver Post’s report card as Denver improves to 2-2.
OFFENSE — B-
Call it the tale of two halves. The Broncos had one baffling goal-line possession in the second quarter — two boot rollouts to Evan Engram, then a Wildcat package for RJ Harvey, then an interception on another Bo Nix rollout. But Denver piled up yardage and three first-half touchdowns with some of the best playmaking distribution Sean Payton’s attack has showed all year. There was balance in all phases: Dobbins and Harvey complemented one another in a consistent ground game, Nix sprayed screens and crossing routes and seam routes, and the Broncos utilized all their playmakers effectively in the passing game.
The second half, though, brought more of the same offensive dysfunction that Denver’s seen all season. Troy Franklin had his second drop of the game. Center Luke Wattenberg had five penalties in total Monday night (two were declined). The Broncos finished with an easy-season high 512 total yards, and J.K. Dobbins had the first 100-yard rushing game by a Denver running back in the Payton era, but the unit left too much on the board as a whole.
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DEFENSE — A
Hard to objectively grade here. Backup QB Jake Browning took the keys to a high-powered Lamborghini from an injured Joe Burrow and crashed the Bengals' offense directly into several lampposts. Cincinnati had a solid first drive by simply dinking and dunking Denver before the Broncos' pass rush could get home on Browning, but the Bengals' entire first-half offensive plan Monday night seemed to consist of throwing fade balls on Riley Moss's matchup.
Moss warded off enough, Nik Bonitto (1.5 sacks) continued to destroy opposing offensive lines, and the Broncos' run defense was massively improved Monday after a shaky couple weeks. The offense could've started collectively hitting the cha-cha for 30 straight plays and the Broncos would've been fine on Monday.
SPECIAL TEAMS — C
Near-disaster here, as Marvin Mims Jr. almost muffed his second punt of the season in the second half. Overall, though, special teams didn't play much of a factor Monday night. Punter Jeremy Crawshaw didn't have his best day, averaging 50 yards a punt but delivering two touchbacks and only pinning the Bengals inside the 20 once. Whatever. No leverage penalties, at least.
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Payton was cooking the weirdest dishes imaginable at times; take that aforementioned second-quarter possession. He also continues to avoid J.K. Dobbins on first-and-goal situations for...some reason. Overall, though, the play-calling was solid Monday night, as Denver spread Cincinnati between the numbers and to the sidelines for most of Monday night's contest.
The issue — the low grade here — is penalties. Payton's preached for weeks that the Broncos have to have better discipline, and even put up a breakdown in a meeting room this past week of how many penalties each individual player had through three weeks. It wasn't any better Monday. Flags killed second-half momentum for long stretches, and the Broncos finished with seven total accepted penalties against the Bengals
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