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| Jerome Miron, Imagn Images |
Nothing like a good get-right game to put your season back on track as September gives way to October. That’s exactly what the Denver Broncos were able to enjoy in the second installment of Monday night’s twin bill, easily bucking the undermanned and underperforming Cincinnati Bengals by a 28-3 score at Empower Field at Mile High.
After dropping its previous two games (by a total of four points), Denver is level again at .500 as it prepares to play its next two games on the East Coast against the Eagles and Jets.
Meanwhile, the Bengals
now stand at 2-2 themselves but are trending in the other direction and
into what seems like an increasingly precarious position – a spot where
we can find more losers from Monday night to go along with a few
additional winners:
WINNERS
Bo Nix
His sophomore NFL season had been uneven at best through three weeks, which included the 1-2 start and not much luck moving the ball through the air. But Denver’s quarterback – with some help from Cincinnati’s leaky defense – got it going Monday night. Nix looked like the efficient player he was last season while surprisingly leading the Broncos to postseason, generally making safe passes that gave his targets room to run while taking off from the pocket himself when circumstances warranted. Nix finished with a career-high 326 yards passing, throwing for a pair of TDs while running for another.
Denver defense
Simply suffocating. This wasn’t a night when Broncos defenders were constantly celebrating turnovers, sacks or pick-sixes. But they simply didn’t cede an inch to a Cincinnati offense that averaged just 3.7 yards per play and was barely able to hold the ball for 22 minutes.
J.K. Dobbins
The
Broncos new RB1, who signed with the team in June, rushed for 101 yards
(on just 16 carries) – his most in more than a year, when he was still a
member of the Chargers. Dobbins also became the first Broncos runner to
hit the century mark in head coach Sean Payton’s 38-game tenure in the
Rocky Mountains.
Russell Wilson?
Bengals QB2 Jake Browning has now had a pair of rough starts while filling in for injured Pro Bowler Joe Burrow. Browning can still point to his 2023 performance,
when he won four of seven starts after Burrow went down with a
season-ending wrist injury and wound up leading the league with a 70.4%
completion rate. But he also won three of his first four starts in 2023
and hasn’t been nearly as efficient this year.
LOSERS
Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins
Things were just peachy six months ago, when Cincinnati’s wideout tandem dually signed four-year extensions that could collectively max out at $276 million. Of course when read more...
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