The Denver Broncos are 2-1 and have gotten out of the month of September with a winning record for the first time in the Sean Payton era. It didn't come without some drama, though, as the Broncos needed two second half comebacks to beat Jacksonville and Los Angeles.
Sitting near the top of the NFL hierarchy, as most expected, the Broncos will finish up this six-game gauntlet against San Francisco, Los Angeles (A), and Seattle before seeing the schedule ease-up in late October.
Let's focus on Sunday Night Football for a little bit, longer, though, What were the main positives and negatives stemming from this game?
The Denver Broncos won in Week 3, but it was a bit of a mixed bag
Positive: Bo Nix's late-game magic continues
It happened again. Bo Nix totaled three touchdowns in the second half, helping the Broncos put up a total of 30 points across the second half of action. While it wasn't pretty, and almost never is, the third-year quarterback is again proving why he continues to be the most clutch passer in the NFL.
It's great, as we have said, that the team gets better as the game goes on, and not the alternative of shrinking when the stakes raise. As long as this keeps happening and the Broncos keep winning games, Nix will continue being a winner, and we'll have to keep talking about this as being a major positive and foundational identity of this football team.
Positive: Broncos have their best September record in the Sean Payton era
For the first time in the Sean Payton era, the Broncos exit the month of September with a winning record. They were 2-2 in the 2024 and 2025 seasons, and are now 2-1 this year. They were 0-3 in September back in 2023.
Things are gradually getting better in the first month of the year, and now that the Broncos have escaped with a rare winning record heading into October, the team can really begin to kick things into high gear, perhaps going on another long winning streak. Ensuring the slow start didn't happen this year is outstanding.
Positive: The turnovers are coming each week
The Broncos have forced turnovers each week in 2026. They forced one turnover in each of the first two weeks and forced two turnovers in Week 3. All of them have been interceptions, too. Struggling to force turnovers last year, much of generating takeaways is a bit of luck, but it's also putting an emphasis on attacking the football.
Talanoa Hufanga was the hero in Week 3, as he forced two Broncos turnovers in the second half, including a pick-six and the game-sealing interception in the end zone. Forcing turnovers each week is an encouraging start after struggling with this last year.
Negative: The first half offense is simply non-existent
The Broncos have scored exactly three points in the first half over the last two weeks. In the second half of Week 2, they scored 17 points, and in Week 3, it was 30 points. We've had this talk for over a year now - why can't this team simply show up on offense in the first half?
Perhaps this is an issue with the offensive script, which could be the most logical reason, but we're not inside the building, so we don't truly know for sure, as Nix has proven to be able to push the ball down the field and exist as a legitimate passer when needed, so we know it isn't necessarily a QB issue.
While the Broncos did nearly make the Super Bowl last year with some of the same issues, you'd have to logically thing that it can't continue deeper into 2026.
Negative: The run game is mediocre
The Broncos have rushed for 61, 104, and 78 yards across their three games this year. They have allowed 220, 95, and 116 yards. Not only has the team actually not stopped the run game that well, but they've simply not been good enough running the football.
It's not clear if this is more of a personnel issue or scheme issue, or perhaps both, but it's been in a bad spot in two of three games thus far. The Broncos did not have Jonah Coleman in this game but did get both J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey into the lineup.
The limited success running the ball on early downs really sticks out here, as the team is forced to throw the ball on second and third down, which then leads to them abandoning the run a bit when the defense figures out what the Broncos plan on doing.
The Broncos do have plenty talent in the room, but the team hasn't been able to deploy all three efficiently, and the team's overall inefficiency running the ball in Week 3 was a huge negative.
Negative: Riley Moss and Alex Singleton are getting picked on a lot
Sayre Bedinger summed up the struggles of Alex Singleton and Riley Moss here:
"Alex Singleton and Riley Moss continue to have struggles this season.
Although Moss had a bounce-back game against the Jaguars, he had another huge penalty in this game against the Rams, as well as a huge lapse on a go-ahead touchdown in the 4th quarter when he was caught cheating on a double move by a Rams receiver.
It was an ugly game from the start for Alex Singleton, who was clearly the player on Denver's defense circled and targeted by Rams head coach Sean McVay, and rightfully so.
Until Singleton proves he can not be a liability in coverage, teams are going to keep going after him."
Moss seems to make an outstanding play one minute, only to follow it up with a bad play the next series. He's an incredibly talented but frustrating player. He got beat in coverage multiple times in Week 3, got called for a major penalty, and genuinely almost threw the game away, as he gave up a Rams go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Singleton is what he is at this point - he's horrendous in coverage and is going to continue to be put on an island by opposing offenses. Until the Broncos simply bring in better personnel into this room, Singleton's struggles will be on full display.
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