Predominantly Orange
FanSided

Broncos lead Ravens at half: Defenses dominating early

By Sayre Bedinger

facebooktwitterreddit

The Denver Broncos lead the Baltimore Ravens at the half 9-3 in a defensive bout early on. Here are some quick thoughts and takeaways from the first half.

The McManus show

I’ll be honest, I was skeptical about McManus coming into this game but in the first half, he has answered in a big way. He nailed a 57-yard field goal to start the scoring, and followed that up with hits from 56 and 43 yards respectively.

The kicks from 56 and 57 were absolutely crushed and would have been good from 70.

Add in the kickoff game and McManus has been incredibly effective for the Broncos early on.

Defense is stellar

The Broncos’ defense is tremendous, and if not for (yet another) horrible punt from Britton Colquitt, it’s questionable as to whether or not the Ravens would have even surpassed the 50-yard line. They didn’t run a single play in Bronco territory until late in the 2nd quarter.

It’s been a masterful performance so far from Wade Phillips’ unit, which is playing fast, aggressive, and smart. Of note in the first half (because I’m not just going to sit here and name off every player) were Brandon Marshall, Von Miller, and DeMarcus Ware. I also love what I’m seeing from the entire secondary as a hole.

The offense has been…not great

The Broncos have completed a couple of nice crossing patterns and Emmanuel Sanders/Jordan Norwood are doing a great job of getting open and making catches. That being said, it will be really interesting to see what the Broncos can do with an offensive line. Peyton Manning has been sacked more times than I care to count, but the (few) times he’s been able to get some time to throw, it’s been decent, but not great.

Early on, the Broncos were doing alright converting third downs, but the offense as a whole has been really stale. The running game has been almost non-existent, which is a major issue for the Kubiak offense.

Hopefully some adjustments are made at halftime that allow the Broncos to start moving the ball consistently. Right now, it looks nothing like the team we’ve seen the last three years with Manning under center.

More from Predominantly Orange

Home/Broncos News