Denver Broncos: Team doesn’t get the best grades vs. Ravens

The Denver Broncos were punched in the mouth on Sunday and unfortunately could not get it all together for their first loss of the season.

It’s not time to hit the panic button for the Denver Broncos and cancel the rest of the season. There are still some areas where they will need to refocus or retool to get where they need to be again when they were undefeated. The Baltimore Ravens are also still one of the better football teams in the AFC. The last thing it shows is Denver is not quite there in terms of getting over the hump of becoming a consistent or playoff-caliber team.

The Broncos flat out struggled mightily in almost every single phase of the game. The Ravens are certainly beatable with the numerous injuries they sustained early this season, but Lamar Jackson is a player that can carry the team, no matter who is healthy. The Broncos still are a fine team on paper and that will not change.

The defense still has the cornerback depth of Kyle Fuller, Pat Surtain, Bryce Callahan, Ronald Darby, and Michael Ojemudia once they are at full strength. Even with safeties Caden Sterns, Justin Simmons, and Kareem Jackson the safety room is also still plenty good to get the job done.

Throw in Jamar Johnson at some point and the back end is extra deep. There’s enough depth there that the defense will be able to mix and match with appropriate assignments going forward.

Another thing to remember is Lamar Jackson is a very different quarterback than they will have played. Defensive-minded head coach Vic Fangio called Jackson the Barry Sanders of quarterbacks when it comes to running the football. On Sunday, it was the other part of the game which took center stage.

We spent time over on Manely Broncos Podcast to talk about the Baltimore Ravens and Denver Broncos game.

Let’s hand out grades from Sunday’s game.