For the second week in a row, the Denver Broncos narrowly escaped with a victory in their clutches, this time in an 11-10 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday Night Football. Though a much more formidable opponent than the Houston Texans, this win felt a lot uglier.
Perhaps it is because the Broncos’ offense failed to find the end zone until nearly halfway through the 4th quarter, with a prior score of 10-5 that felt as if it could just be the final score. And while a five-point deficit looks very doable on paper, Broncos Country is sure to understand how things felt so doomed while considering the offensive production of the evening.
However, Russell Wilson was able to channel his inner… well, Russell Wilson, and brought the Broncos back to life in front of a sold-out stadium in Denver, followed by the defense securing what may be one of the most lopsided victories in franchise history.
That being said, it is time to dive into this week’s stock report.
Denver Broncos Stock Down after 49ers win
Melvin Gordon, RB
While Melvin Gordon made up for his mistakes upon scoring the only touchdown of the night for the Broncos, some concerns are justifiable. After fumbling twice against the 49ers on Sunday night, Gordon has now fumbled three times over the course of three games.
Unfortunately, it is only adding to the existing narrative that Melvin Gordon cannot be trusted with the football, and will be used to argue the case that he definitely should not be back in 2023.
However, with the state of the entire Denver Broncos offense thus far, troubles with ball security feel pretty on-point. Perhaps as the offensive unit gets into the swing of things, Gordon’s performance will steady and ball security will improve. Nonetheless, Gordon’s performance was rocky enough to land him on the stock-down portion for the week. Here’s to hoping we see an improvement this weekend against the Raiders.
Broncos Tight Ends
While there could be a long, detailed dialogue about how poorly the Broncos’ offense has been played through three weeks (they have yet to reach 20 points in a single game), it makes more sense to take a more in-depth look at the components that seem to be the least effective right now, and one of those is the group of tight ends.
Albert Okwuegbunam has been quiet so far, with just six catches for 45 yards on 10 targets. Eric Saubert has one catch for 22 yards. Andrew Beck quickly looked to have established chemistry with Wilson in the season opener but has not caught a pass since (per Denver Post).
Greg Dulcich has not seen the field yet.
Truthfully, it all comes down to a stunted offense once again, now just one for seven in red zone scoring attempts. It is an improvement from 0-6, but still worrisome. Hopefully, once the offense clicks, all of the position groups follow suit.