The Denver Broncos have dropped their seventh game of the season falling to a 7-7 record at .500 following a rough loss to the Detroit Lions in Week 15. Denver's defense looked out of sorts through the majority of the game and the offense truly never found an answer for Detroit's blitzing attack. With the loss, the Broncos are now in a "win or go home" mode with their playoff chances becoming slightly slimmer. Head coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph will have a lot to clean up ahead of their matchup with Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve.
Denver Broncos Stock Up following a disastrous loss to Lions:
WR Jerry Jeudy
Despite the Broncos' offense struggling to find any momentum whatsoever, especially in the first half, wide receiver Jerry Jeudy strung together a rather nice bounce-back game following one of the worst games of his career last Sunday in Los Angeles. Jeudy caught three receptions for 74 yards and led the team with seven targets. Jeudy's 74 receiving yards and 24.7 yards per reception led the team on Saturday. On a night where the offense struggled in virtually every capacity, Jerry Jeudy was essentially the only light on Denver's offense besides perhaps Courtland Sutton and Samaje Perine.
DT D.J. Jones
Interior defensive lineman D.J. Jones was a lone bright spot on Denver's defense in Saturday's disastrous defensive showing. Jones recorded four tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss, and one quarterback hit in the game and made a good impact in stopping the run in the first half. However, given Denver's poor effort as a team, his performance will likely be swept under the rug.
P Riley Dixon
Broncos punter Riley Dixon, who has not necessarily had the best season since returning to Denver, had a nice performance Saturday night. Dixon totaled five punts for 259 net yards and an average of 51.8 yards of distance per punt. In addition, Dixon had two punts land inside the 20-yard line with just one punt reaching the endzone. Even though it didn't stop Detroit's offense from going nuclear, Dixon still had one of his better games of the season.