Falcons at Broncos second quarter recap

The Denver Broncos offense has been about as efficient as an offense could be. They lead the Atlanta Falcons 21-6 at halftime.

The Atlanta Falcons took over on offense to start the second quarter and quickly found themselves into a third and 10, but Kirk Cousins made a beautiful pass to Bijan Robison on a wheel route to get the first down.

Things devolved from there with a botched snap resulting in a sack, then a Malcolm Roach sack on second down to force the Falcons into a third and 24 where they’d hand the ball off up the middle and punted it back to the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos seemed to be on the verge of punting it back on a third and long, but a great play design got Marvin Mims Jr. wide open for what turned into a 37-yard gain into Falcons territory.

Mims would be blown up for a 6 yard loss on the very next play, but a great screen design would open things up for Javonte Williams to gain those yards back and 10 more for the first down at the Falcons 20 yard line. Williams would break through the middle for a massive gain on the next play where he met former-Broncos Justin Simmons at the four. The cavalry would arrive and carry Williams the rest of the way for a decisive touchdown run.

Broncos 14, Falcons 3.

That touchdown would cap an 11-play, 82 yard drive that left just six minutes left in the half. This is a Broncos offense we haven’t seen much of this season, but they came to work today.

On the Falcons next drive Denver’s defense had a third down stop, but on fourth and one Kirk Cousins had all day to throw and found Drake London open for a 26-yard gain. The Broncos ended up holding them on the next set of down, but they were within field goal range and cut the Broncos lead back to a single score advantage.

Broncos 14, Falcons 6.

With just over two minutes left in the half, the Broncos looked to respond to the Falcons scoring drive. Two plays in, Bo Nix fired a deep throw over the middle to Devaughn Vele for a 34-yard gain at the two minute warning.

After avoiding a sack on the next set of downs, Bo Nix found Courtland Sutton on a shallow crosser for a seven yard gain to bring up a third and three. Nix would find Sutton again across the sticks for another first down at the Falcons 19 yard line.

They’d grind through another set of first downs to setup a first and goal from the seven yard line as the clock ticked under one minute in the half. Unfortunately for Denver, Bo Nix on first down had Mike McGlinchey pushed into him for a 12-yard sack.

From just inside the 20 yard line, Nix found Sutton over the middle for a 7 yard gain. On third and goal from the 12, Nix fired a quick screen pass to Marvin Mims who burst up the field for a 12-yard touchdown with 20 seconds left in the half.

Broncos 21, Falcons 6.

Bo Nix went 17/19 for 192 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.