Broncos at Bills: The No Bull Review

AFC Wild Card Playoffs: Denver Broncos v Buffalo Bills — Photo by Elsa/Getty Images

The Denver Broncos got predictably stomped by the Buffalo Bills. These are my No Bull thoughts, opinions, and analysis on the final game of the Broncos 2024 season.

Before this game, I had told my family that we’re likely going to lose by double-digits. The Buffalo Bills are top to bottom a better roster that has had consistently good coaching for a longer stretch. I had said if we play this game 10 times, I think the Denver Broncos may be able to win one of them.

So at the end of the day, I’m not really surprised by how this game went. I am disappointed in some aspects to be sure. We’ll analyze what went wrong, then I’m turning the page to what looks like a very exciting offseason for this team.

Notorious Ref Note

The Bills’ third-quarter touchdown was not a completed catch. The player’s foot touched out of bounds and the ball was rolling in his hands making that an incomplete due to the player being out of bounds. I had figured we’d see calls like this from Bill Vinovich but hoped we wouldn’t. That was a critical down at a critical point in the game with the team only down by 6 where if the call had been overturned correctly, a big momentum shift would have happened.

Offense

Sean Payton had a great plan for the first drive of the game. After what seems likes dozens of failed deep shots to Franklin, they finally connected on the biggest game of the season and it looked like this offense was ready to compete.

Sadly, it didn’t seem like we had a plan to do on any drive after that until the game was put away and the Bills smartly decided to start playing a soft zone defense late in the game.

We’ve bagged on Payton for his lack of commitment to the run all season long. In this game, we’re going to bag on him for his inability to abandon it. The difference is, the run game wasn’t working in this game. It hadn’t worked for at least half the game and in the 3rd quarter for two drives in a row, we were just triple and quadruple downing on that plan.

Time of possession was sideways and it seemed to me that to Payton, that meant we needed to run the ball like the Bills were. The only problem is that there is no player on our roster that’s even close to as good as their backs. We aren’t that team.

The biggest hand in losing this game in such a lop-sided manner was Sean Payton’s play calling in the 3rd quarter in my mind. Run-run-pass-punt, run-run-pass-punt, and the 3rd quarter is over. It was 10-7 when the quarter started and 20-7 when it ended. Our offense did absolutely nothing. Our best player on offense is our rookie quarterback and the coaching staff didn’t set him up to be able to help his team.

Quarterbacks

The most frustrating thing to me was seeing just how dialed-in Bo Nix was. He looked dialed in and determined. He made some great passes on 3rd down (for example the 3rd and 8 to Sutton down the field).

I especially loved on 3rd and 1 at the end of the half him tricking the Bills using his fake cadence to actually snap the ball and help the quarterback sneak play work. It caught the Bills’ line completely by surprise and they were flat-footed as they gave up the easy conversion.

My hope for Nix is that this game was a great learning opportunity for him. Winning in this league requires more of everything he’s doing in his rookie season, but dialed a little tighter. I don’t say that to short Nix in any way, it is just reality. There are some accuracy issues we saw in this game with ball placement that need to be tightened up. It would be great to see him be more consistent with his throwing platform as that’s usually the problem with those overthrows and underthrows.

Line

I honestly thought the line played a very solid game. The Bills aren’t world-beaters as a defense, but they can do some damage. Our squad kept Nix clean in the pocket for the most part and definitely were opening holes for the runners. The problem with the run game was not because of blocking issues at all and I think that’s very important to note.

Running Backs

This was a valiant effort from Javonte Williams. He averaged 4.1 yards per carry on the day on his 7 carries for 43 yards. That’s about the best we can expect from a player who doesn’t have a different gear any longer and doesn’t have the power to break tackles any longer.

Jaleel McLaughlin actually had negative two yards on the day. The Bills had him well-scouted and their defenders have a lot of quickness up front which counters McLaughlin’s game. I like the speed and quickness McLaughlin brings, but his lack of size and power means he’s very one-dimensional as a back and easier to read from a defender’s standpoint.

Receivers

Here’s my No Bull hot take from this game: there’s not a receiver on this team outside of Marvin Mimms, Jr. that’s worth keeping in the long term. Yes, some of these players will return next year. Yes, some of them will make the team. They aren’t long-term answers for what this team needs to be on offense.

Why do I say this? Because in the biggest game of the year, all of them were dropping balls that hit them in the hands.

We’ve complained about this part of Sutton’s game for years. He’s always had the size, route-running, and high-point ability to be a plus receiver, but he drops passes that he shouldn’t consistently.

Credit to Troy Franklin on finally making a great deep ball catch for a touchdown, but he had the worst drop of the game with a ball that was perfectly led directly to his hands that he dropped. This is the NFL. Catching the ball is the #1 job you have as a receiver. Get super comfy with hours of work at the Juggs machine or go hock cell phones at the mall. Do note, that this sentiment comes from what I’ve seen all season from Franklin, not just this one drop.

Devaughn Vele joined in on the drop party in the 4th quarter. Vele is a rookie that I think has potential based on what we’ve seen from him this season. But his drop was as bad as the other two we’ve discussed. This offense needs better weapons and getting two targets with no production on the game is not the look you want to give as we turn the page on the season.

Defense

Vance Joseph has been working magic to make chicken salad out of this defensive roster all season long. I thought the defense played as well as they could. The problem is that there are just too many holes on the roster.

We’ve had issues with inside linebacker talent for damn near a decade. Our free safety has been an issue all season long. The Bills smartly identified this in their scouting, took this defense out back to the woodshed, and proceeded to beat that drum all game long.

The defense shored up many times when they got into the red zone (as we’ve seen all year). They dammed the river for close to three quarters and then the leaks turned into torrents as the game wore on.

The effort was there. I appreciate what this defense did a great deal. They are the main reason we won 10 games on the year and made the playoffs. I honestly think we’ll have to big Vance Joseph farewell as he heads to a head coaching job this offseason (and I hope you’ll all join me in cheering for his success…he’s been a great coach for us this season).

Front 7

All-pro Zach Allen is just an absolute machine. He had a monster sack, two tackles for loss, and two quarterback hurries on the game. He’s a big part of the success this defense had on the game in forcing some field goals instead of giving up touchdowns.

Jonathan Cooper takes such bad angles at times and I saw it twice in this game. He’s got to work on learning how to hold contain on the edge properly as it was a liability that led to big 3rd down conversions for the Bills. This was honestly a terrible game for Cooper who is usually a more productive and stable defender.

D.J. Jones was another interior lineman that came to play on the day. He had the game’s other sack for the Broncos along with a tackle for loss and quarterback hurry.

Cody Barton and Justin Strnad were placeholders in this game. They both had some tackles, no impact against the run, and Barton was picked on constantly in the passing game. Neither of these players are starting-quality ILBs and this game showed it in spades.

Secondary

P.J. Locke has all season long played it safe at safety. He’s always sitting back too deep, watching 3rd down completions instead of impacting the plays. He had the guy who made the incomplete touchdown in the 3rd quarter and just wasn’t covering the play allowing the ball to be caught…I guess just jogging along the route is good enough to earn a paycheck, right? The Broncos can’t keep trotting out a special teams player at safety and expect to be successful against great quarterbacks.

Patrick Surtain II benefitted from a no-call on 3rd and goal in the 2nd half. He illegally contacted a receiver deep in the end zone and got away with it. The best player on the defense didn’t really have an impact on the game since it was largely easy for Allen to ignore him and pick on easier defenders downfield.

I love Brandon Jones (he’s been a stable force in our defensive backfield), but he made a huge mistake trying to kill a receiver who was leaping for the ball mid-air. It cost us 15 yards, gave the Bills a first down, and gave Ray Davis a concussion. This isn’t 1990 and the rule for defenseless receiver has been in play for long enough that you should know better.

Special Teams

Riley Dixon made a beautiful fake punt to pass for first down for 15 yards. At the moment, I was really worried about how long the pass floated in the air, but the Bills were not expecting it at all and Mims was wide open. The offense wasn’t able to do anything with this big play, but it sure did look good.

Normally sure-footed Wil Lutz doinked a 50-yard field goal that was honestly heart-breaking to see. Those 3 points at the end of the half would have tied the game going into halftime.

Final Thoughts

I’m going to quote one of John Fox’s favorite lines: “It is what it is.”

As I said earlier, I’m not surprised by the results of this game at all. The Bills are built the right way. We in many ways need to emulate what they are doing to have future success. Build the offense around your quarterback, get a running attack to help support the passing game, and build quickness into the middle of your defense.

I think the coaching and the execution by the Broncos left much to be desired. That’s not surprising for such a young team. This season was a stepping stone and I think there’s a very bright future to be had by the Broncos.

I’m always going to be the guy who calls it like it is and doesn’t pull punches, but even for all the players here that I critiqued, I have nothing but love for this team. They worked their tails off this season to be the best they could be and it showed. For the first time in many years, this team rose to the occasion and made the postseason. They earned that by hard work, determination, and God-given talent.

Thank you for a great season, Broncos!