The Denver Broncos played horribly in Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season against the Las Vegas Raiders. Let's overreact a bit after the Broncos start the season 0-1. I could have sworn I saw Nathaniel Hackett on the Broncos' sidelines on Sunday. Denver once again scored 16 points and lost what should have been a very winnable game against a bad team in the Raiders.
It was frustration, and much of what went wrong for Denver in Week 1 were some of their issues in previous seasons. The pass rush was simply nonexistent, there wasn't really much to talk about with the pass catchers, and the team struggled with bad special teams play and penalties.
Perhaps Sean Payton knows how to fix these issues, and I trust that he does. However, it's really worrisome that what transpired on Sunday felt exactly like the previous Denver Broncos' seasons. Let's overreact x3 after the Broncos Week 1 dud.
3 overreactions after Denver Broncos get embarrassed by the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1
1. The Broncos' pass rush is easily the worst in the NFL
I mean, my gosh. Where was the pass rush? The blitz-happy Vance Joseph, who was recently very complimentary of his pass rushers, couldn't get any pressure on Jimmy Garoppolo and against a bad offensive line. What exactly is the team paying Randy Gregory for? Where was Frank Clark? Where were the young pass rushers in Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto who apparently had a great camp?
I've been clamoring for months that Denver needs to do something with their pass rush. I advocated for signing Yannick Ngakoue for what feels like years now. The defensive front as a whole really just got their butts kicked on Sunday. And outside of Kolton Miller, I'm not sure the Raiders have much else along the offensive line.
This was a scary sight. Denver had one of the worst pass rushes in the NFL last year and didn't really add much to it this offseason. Perhaps Baron Browning returning to the lineup will provide a spark to this unit.
2. Russell Wilson is ALL the way back to his old self
The Denver Broncos did not have Jerry Jeudy, Tim Patrick, KJ Hamler, and Jalen Virgil on the field. Russell Wilson was throwing to plumbers and electricians for the most part, but man, was he sharp! He looked much quicker, more decisive, and the velocity of his passes just seemed a lot faster, too.
I loved that not one, but both of his TD passes on Sunday came from Wilson making a small play with his legs to buy more time in the pocket, and outside of that weird overthrow on an attempted dump-off to Javonte Williams in the first half, I'm not sure Wilson made another mistake. Week 1 was very encouraging for Wilson in my opinion.
Here was his final stat line:
27/34, 177 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 108.0 passer rating.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the old Russell Wilson, and I bet if Jerry Jeudy was in the lineup, we'd have seen his passing yards up above 200. Yeah, there were a lot of high-percentage, dink, and dunk plays, but who cares? Denver did move the ball pretty well, and kicker Will Lutz cost Denver four points, so the 16-point output is a bit misleading. Denver also only had six drives on offense, which is about half of what an NFL offense gets each week on average, so while you might see the low-point total, I think it doesn't fully reflect how efficient the offense and Wilson were on Sunday.
Perhaps Russell Wilson is back, gang.
3. Damarri Mathis needs removed from the lineup and the secondary overall is pretty bad
Damarri Mathis was simply atrocious on Sunday, and I think the Denver Broncos' secondary might not be as good as we all think. Mathis made Jakobi Meyers look like a prime Randy Moss, and the second-year CB just could not keep up with the Raiders' pass catchers, and frankly, it's a bit scary to watch.
The team is going to be without K'Waun Williams for a while. And if Mathis is truly going to be this bad this year, Denver better hope that rookie Riley Moss can step in and play. I'm not trying to say "I told ya so" in this article, but I was advocating for a veteran CB addition. The team could have signed Ronald Darby back; Darby signed with the Baltimore Ravens this offseason for about $59.
Fabian Moreau was a veteran CB addition that Denver made, but he's really not much more than a depth piece. I really think Denver needs to look to the remaining free agent market to bolster this CB room because outside of Patrick Surtain, this is a pretty poor secondary overall. Bryce Callahan is also still a free agent, and he can lineup on the outside and in the slot.
There really are no excuses here for this unit. They simply have to be better, but the early returns are not at all encouraging, and if the pass rush is truly still inefficient, and the secondary isn't as good as he think, this is going to be a bot