Winning in the NFL is hard enough as it is, but the Denver Broncos have made it a lot harder on themselves in the first two weeks of the 2025 season.
And they've got to figure out a way to get out of their own way...fast.
The Broncos lost in heartbreaking fashion on the road against the Indianapolis Colts, a game that appeared to be well in hand until a complete collapse in the 4th quarter and a brutal call by the officials to extend the game. As is always the case, there are many dirty hands in a loss, and there was still plenty of "good" to take away from this game. Who were the biggest winners and most unfrotunate losers for the Broncos?
Broncos biggest winners and losers from Week 2 loss against the Colts
Broncos winner: WR Troy Franklin
Let's start off on a positive note, because there's plenty of negative to say after a game like this. Second-year receiver Troy Franklin continues to impress. Although Franklin's production in the team's Week 1 win over the Titans was relatively modest, he broke through in a big way against the Colts with eight receptions on nine targets and a touchdown. He finished with one of the biggest plays of the game for Denver's passing attack and has proven he deserves a significant chunk of targets each week going forward.
Franklin's eight receptions for 89 yards against the Colts proved he's got significantly boosted confidence from a season ago, and the Broncos were doing their best to manufacture him touches because he's been making plays deep downfield as well as after the catch.
Broncos loser: The entire defense
If it weren't for a couple of stops on fourth down, the Broncos would have allowed the Colts to score every single time they touched the ball for the second consecutive week. We all felt coming into this game like that was a complete outlier, but the Colts simply had too many weapons and showed early on that they weren't afraid of the Broncos.
At all.
Daniel Jones started going after Pat Surtain II right when the game started, and didn't really stop throughout the course of the game. The Colts had over 470 yards of total offense in this game, they didn't punt a single time, and five different skill position players had at least 40 yards of offense.
This was a gross performance by Denver's defense, which only sacked Daniel Jones one time the entire game after racking up six sacks the week prior. Hopefully, they are embarrassed by this performance.
Broncos winner: Jeremy Crawshaw, punter
You know it's a sad week when the punter is getting a shoutout, but here we are.
There was genuine concern over the Broncos' punting situation after a brutal preseason from rookie Jeremy Crawshaw, a sixth-round pick in this year's draft who was the only punter selected in the entire 2025 selection process. Over the first two weeks of the season, he's proven exactly why the Broncos picked him.
Not only has Crawshaw flipped the narrative on his preseason performance, but he's flipped the field every time he's been asked to kick the ball. Every single one of his punts so far in the NFL has pinned the opposing team inside the 20. He's been a nice surprise at the start of the year and a weapon on special teams for the Broncos.
Broncos loser: Wil Lutz, kicker
We'd really rather not be talking about the specialists on posts like this, but Wil Lutz has to take on his share of the blame for this loss against the Colts.
The Broncos got in position for Lutz to make a relatively "easy" field goal for NFL kickers to make, and he had some sort of weird, mystical knuckling of the ball going on. We actually saw the same knuckling/fading effect on the ball on a kick earlier in the game from Lutz on an extra point, but because it went through the uprights, it was no big deal.
When a game-deciding kick doinks off the uprights, it becomes a very big deal.
Lutz has to find a way to bounce back. The Broncos obviously want him out there kicking more extra points than field goals, but you can't have misses like that when the margin for error is already razor thin.
Broncos winner: Bo Nix, QB
Say what you want about his interception in this game, Bo Nix bounced back against the Indianapolis Colts in a big way with some awesome throws, great operation of the offense, and a huge play on the ground as a runner.
Nix threw an interception late in this game that ultimately came at a horrendous time (and was the game's only turnover), but he did his part to put 28 points on the board, and if the defense wasn't completely incompetent in this one, that should have been more than enough to get a win.
It wasn't Nix's fault that JK Dobbins spiked the ball or that his offensive lineman got called for a facemask penalty. It's just bad luck that Wil Lutz missed a field goal. Nix ultimately could have done more to help his team win, but at some point, your defense has to make a play and get a stop. They didn't do that almost the entire game.
We asked for a bounce-back game from Nix, and he delivered with three first-half touchdown passes.
Broncos loser: Darren Rizzi, special teams coordinator
This is not something I thought we'd be talking about two weeks into the season. In fact, quite the opposite.
Darren Rizzi was one of the best hires any team made this offseason among the assistant coach hires around the league, or so I thought. Rizzi has long been considered one of the best special teams coaches in the NFL, but his unit made an egregious mistake in Week 1 kicking the ball in play at the end of the first half, and they're in focus yet again in Week 2.
Not only did we have the missed field goal by Wil Lutz, but we also had the leverage penalty that ultimately gave the Colts a mulligan on the game-winning kick.
Whether or not you think that was a valid call (it probably wasn't), Rizzi has to have his guys coached up better than that. You have to be completely flawless on a play like that. Unless you are in total desperation mode, what is the value in trying that hard to block a field goal from 60 yards out?
It feels like Rizzi's unit has taken some completely unnecessary risks, and they've made some really bad mistakes overall.