Denver Broncos: Week 9 Position Grades

The Denver Broncos put together a less than stellar performance against the Oakland Raiders, in a key week nine matchup this Sunday.

"After a stellar defensive performance against the San Diego Chargers, the Denver Broncos were manhandled in every phase of the game Sunday night in Oakland. At least since 2014, there never was a performance where the defensive line got whipped upfront by an offensive line. It did not help matters key players missed the game or left injured."

Bradley Roby’s first game as a replacement to Aqib Talib proved to be stellar, turning in a Defensive Player of the Week award. Sunday, Roby played soft coverage the entire game except for a few plays. That type of play is inexcusable in a critical game such as the one with Oakland.

To make matters worse, the Broncos’ offense appears to have no identity. Gary Kubiak states they must run the ball better to get in the flow of a game. The Broncos appear to play at a much different style than Kubiak’s intent. On Sunday, the team ran the ball only 12 times to 37 passing attempts. It may be said the offensive line woes may be due to not having any semblance of a running attack to start a game.

Even in the passing attempts, Trevor Siemian is struggling to stretch the field to his receivers. When he does the offense opens up, but overall the past four games the game plan seems vanilla. It is important for a quarterback to hit nice easy throws to gain confidence throughout a game. However, once that certainty is obtained chances need to follow suit. Siemian is 6-2 as a starter, but both losses came in division and that is a cause for concern.

Let’s get these positional grades started.