The Denver Broncos won a stunning game on Monday Night Football on the road against the Buffalo Bills. Just let it all sink in for a moment, Broncos Country. The same team that gave up 70 points to the Miami Dolphins earlier in the season has now beaten the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in consecutive games. But the reality is, it's not the same team that lost 70-20 to the Miami Dolphins. This Denver Broncos team looks like a completely different group out there and they are playing some great football over the last month.
Is it always pretty? It rarely is in the NFL. Winning is extremely hard to do, especially when you're talking about the opponents the Broncos have faced in recent weeks.
As we look back at the team's performance against the Bills, which players stood out for better or worse?
Denver Broncos stars and some on thin ice after Bills win
Star: Russell Wilson
Say what you want about Russell Wilson at this point, but the guy is playing some good football. One of the things I see on Twitter (or X) a lot these days is this idea that Russell Wilson's stats are not telling the "full story" or they are "misleading" in some way, and I think that's just bad analysis. I don't know if there's anyone in the NFL whose stats more accurately describe the way he's played than Russell Wilson.
Wilson is completing a relatively high percentage of his passes (67.9 percent), he's throwing touchdowns at a very high rate (6.9 percent), he's not throwing the ball into harm's way (4 INTs in 9 games), and he's not throwing for many yards at all (200.7). If his yards per game of 200.7 holds up, it will be the second-lowest of his NFL career after just his rookie season with Seattle.
But Russell Wilson has been efficient and he's been clutch in big situations lately. We can complain all we want about the passing game not being dynamic at this point. The Broncos are looking more like a Big Ten team than the 2013 juggernaut of a passing attack. But it's been a winning formula lately, and Russell Wilson is doing his job better than most QBs in the league right now.
Star: Coverage unit
Outside of a couple breakdowns in coverage, the Denver Broncos' coverage unit was sensational against the Buffalo Bills and quarterback Josh Allen, building off of the great work they had done in the previous three games against Patrick Mahomes and Jordan Love.
The Broncos allowed Allen to complete just 57.7 percent of his passes, with 15 completions on 26 attempts. It was Allen's worst passing performance of the season, at least statistically speaking. He threw a pair of interceptions and the Bills were just 3-of-8 in this game on third down
Allen still had moments of brilliance throughout the game, which you expect from him, but the Broncos made life impossibly hard for him throughout, forcing interceptions and incompletions, and simply refusing to let the Bills get anything going through the air.
Arguably the biggest factor in Allen's struggles was the performance of Pat Surtain II, who held Stefon Diggs to just one catch in his coverage against him. Diggs caught three passes, but two were not against Surtain, and he was basically erased for the majority of this game.
On Thin Ice: Kicking game
The kicking game for the Denver Broncos needs to get it together, and quickly. Why is it that when the team finally scores a touchdown to go up 10-0, it ends up being just 9-0 because of a botched extra point? The Broncos need to get to a point where the kicking game is not an issue at all.
Now, some kudos are well deserved for the way the field goal unit rushed onto the field not once but twice in this game, and got in position to kick the ball despite the clock winding down and the pressure on. But with that being said, there were some critical errors that nearly cost this team the game.
- Missed XP by Wil Lutz after first TD
- Botched XP on snap exchange/hold from Riley Dixon
- Multiple punts from near midfield that were hit into the end zone
- Missed FG at the end of game, bailed out by Bills penalty
These are issues that need to be corrected, and issues that could have cost the Broncos a game they rightfully should have won.
Star: Samaje Perine, RB
Samaje Perine wasn't as big of a part of the game plan running the ball against the Bills as he probably could have or maybe even should have been, but he continues to be a tremendous asset as a receiver for the Broncos.
Perine had three targets and three receptions, picking up some key yardage for the Broncos in clutch situations on some great plays that were made by quarterback Russell Wilson as well. Perine caught a pass on 3rd-and-7 and moved the chains that helped the Broncos extend what would be their final touchdown drive, and he had the 18-yard drive starter on the game-winning field goal drive.
Perine may be more involved in the gameplan against the Vikings on Sunday night.
On Thin Ice: Damarri Mathis, CB
Let's be honest here -- Damarri Mathis is probably way beyond the point of still being on "thin ice". Mathis needs to be benched on a more permanent basis, at least defensively. He was only on the field for four snaps against the Buffalo Bills defensively but on one of those snaps, he was in coverage against Bills WR Gabe Davis on a 3rd-and-16 play which Davis converted for a first down.
Unfortunately, it just seems like Mathis is going to need extended time off to clear his head or whatever needs to happen. He's not been able to work things out with more reps on the field. He's seemingly got worse and worse.
The Broncos need to put Riley Moss on the field or go out and sign another player in free agency to play at the cornerback position. Maybe it will be time to promote Art Green from the practice squad soon.