Denver Broncos vs. Washington Commanders Review | PFF Grade Release Show

Denver Broncos vs. Washington Commanders Review | PFF Grade Release Show

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The top five greatest players that we have for the Denver Broncos in this one. Guard Quinn Miners at the top of their list with a 92.3. Linebacker Dre Green Law right behind him with an 899. Offensive tackle Garrett BS with an 890. Edge rusher uh Dandre Tilman with a with a 85.7 and then offensive tackle Mike McGllinchi with a 79.4. Bonix in this game a 61.8. We’ll talk a little bit more about Bonix in a second. On Washington side of things, their offensive lineman Sam Cosby was their highest graded player with a 91.4. Four linebacker Jordan McGee with a 797. Wide receiver Terry McLuren back at healthy in this game a 785. Offensive tackle Josh Connorly a 769. And then offensive tackle Laramie Tonsel on the other side with a 754. Marcus Mariota in this game a 62.7 stat that told the story. Dalton, what do we got? I I think obviously this game was just fantastic from start to finish, right? The back and forth nature of it and coming down to the very last play and there’s so many things at times for the Denver Broncos this year that have felt like they’re unstable, right? Bo Knicks and all the close games they play in and things can kind of be streaky for them, especially on offense. But the one bit of stability they have and I think the one reason that they felt good about winning this game even as it went to overtime, this is one of the best offensive lines in the NFL and they just continue to get the job done. How about a 91.6 PFF grade as a group in this game? That’s the fourth highest by any offensive line in any game this season. The pass protection was outstanding. They were only charged with eight pressures up front in this game. all hurries. Knicks, I believe, was only sacked one time and that was for holding the ball too long. A 92.2 run blocking grade. I know they didn’t have a ton of rushing yards, but it really wasn’t on the offensive line for that. And even then, they were able to punch in the winning touchdown for RJ Harvey in overtime there. So, I I just think when you look at this offensive line and the stability it allows in the and the the stability allows Shawn Peyton in the play calling as well, knowing that Bo Knicks is going to be protected and he had a 78.7 passing grade in a clean pocket knowing that even though they’ve been struggling to rack up yards on the ground all night when they need it the most down at the 5 yd line, they can still hand the ball off, get behind Garrett Balls, get behind the rest of this offensive line and punch it in for the winning score. This is what makes the Broncos offense the most dangerous to me because you just don’t have a whole lot of answers for a really, really good front five. And the Commanders tried their best. There was times where they made plays and they got stops when they needed and they stayed in the game. But at the end of the day, I think this offensive line controls the pace of the offensive side of the ball for the Broncos. Yeah, it’s the Broncos are still on paper one of the best teams in the NFL. I think when you look at their offensive line, that’s really where it starts. if Nicks was going to play well. Obviously, I think that you felt good about a lot of other pieces on this team. Some other wide receivers have stepped up for them. Evan Ingram was big in this game. RJ Harvey, not a big night from him. I believe he only had 35 rushing yards in this game, but like you said, when they needed the most, they were able to lean on him and he was getting able to get in the end zone. The defense sort of speaks for itself how they are absolute closers and were once again in overtime on that two-point conversion attempt with Nick Bonito getting the PBU there. So, I think that the Broncos are just they’re really strong. They’re 10-2. I know that’s sort of an understatement with uh how well they are playing and how they’re right there for the number one seed in the AFC. When you look at Bon Knicks in this game, 29 for 45, 321 passing yards, had one touchdown and one interception. Um when you look at some more like PFF statistics, he had two turnover worthy plays, one big time throw. So that’s why his passing grade is a little bit lower with just a 60.3. But my stat that told the story here was Bon Knicks on that final drive, four for four, 71 yards. And now a big chunk of it was the Evan Ingram yards after the catch. And so obviously those are easy yards for him because he’s not doing anything to pick it up. He’s just giving it to Evan Ingram in a way where he can get a lot of yards after catch. But it was more of Knicks and the offense in that final drive in overtime where um you know the Commanders elect to kick the ball which was interesting. Chris Chris the boss man said this on the uh on the broadcast. She’s like, “Man, I would have been tempted to take the football there because even though you’re not the team answering and there’s some advantage to being able to answer because you know what you have to do after that. Do I have to kick a field goal? Do I have to get score a touchdown?” So, you’ve got a good feeling of what you have to do. So, I understand why you kick it. But, the Broncos defense had been on the field for a while and that game got tied up at the very end. You could send that defense right back out there again. That defense would have been tired. It would have been gassed. And who knows whether or not that would have ultimately been a better decision. But when the Broncos offense did get out there, they were ready. They It just felt like completion, completion, long yards after the catch, getting towards the goal line, punching it in, like it was methodical. Shawn Peyton was ready for that drive in overtime, and so was Bonix and the rest of that offense. So that to me was just the true stat that told the story when we had a back and forth game the whole time. them being able to set the tone there right outside of overtime when they hadn’t been on the field for a while obviously was uh what made the biggest difference for them being one-point victors in this game. Absolutely. I mean and you look at what eight of their 10 wins have been by one score. They’re they’re just used to these situations at this point. How many times have we seen even in the two games they lost to the Colts and the Chargers. Very, very close games, right? this game, the Kansas City game with the big throw at the end and then the field goal to win it, beating uh the Raiders 10 to7. It’s ugly, but you just keep moving on to the next play. I I think that’s the idea is that Shawn Peyton, look, knowing that this team, they got to the playoffs last season, they know they’re trying to take the next step. They’ve won close games all year. I think they just have this mentality now of just keep playing. And again, that stability they have in the trenches on both sides of the ball. I really should say their offensive line was elite in this game. But the biggest play of the game at the end made by Nick Bonito batting the pass down from Mariota that looked like it would have scored had he gotten it over him. Right. I think you just have that level of stability and the heart and soul of this team, the offensive and defensive lines and then Shawn Payeyton with all of his experience just guiding his team through all of these close wins. I know that he didn’t complete that last pass, but my most impressive in this game is Marcus Mariota and how he’s been able to honestly just step in for Jaden Daniels over the last couple of seasons. It’s sort of been an encapsulation of him being able to step up in those big moments. There were times when you getting right down to that fourth quarter, I believe it was that final drive when they had a a massive third and long situation and you go, “All right, what are you going to do here?” Right? I mean, like, this game is basically over. And Mariota kept his composure. He completed the pass. They were able to then convert on fourth down. They end up getting the end zone. They tie the game. Uh, and it’s just well, they kicked the field goal and they and they tie the game there. And then even leading them down the field, scoring that touchdown, having a chance to win it at home in overtime. I mean, I just thought he did an excellent job. 28 for 50 overall in this game, 294 passing yards. Also had 55 rushing yards, which was the most on his team, which, you know, I think that’s a that is an issue with the Commanders, like they they need more rushing output from their running backs in this game. I know that who Marcus Mariota is and who Jaden Daniels is like the rushing ability from the quarterback position is always going to be an important part of their offense, but we have talked about and and we talked about this a lot last year as well when this team was really rolling. Running the football was a big part of their identity. Everybody loved to talk about Jaden Daniels and some of the big passes that he was able to complete, but they were able to stay really balanced last year and when they ran the football, you felt very good about that offense. And I just feel as though the explosiveness and the rushing output and the efficiency has not quite been there this year. It obviously wasn’t a major reason why they weren’t competing in this game because they were right there to the very end. But that just goes into how Marcus Mariota was able to supplement in my opinion a little bit of lack of explosiveness from the run game, get involved in the run game himself and then what he did with his arm during the final couple of drives of the regulation and then into overtime I just thought was really impressive from him. For sure. And you can feel the difference in their offense, too. It’s something I feel like they’ve been missing for most of the year with Terry McLaren the big vertical threat out there as well just opening things up for everybody else and McLaren himself had a really good game. But I I I just think this Commander offense obviously it hasn’t been all together all in one piece basically at all this season and having McLaren out there is a big difference. And honestly as far as the game goes it’s just a game where look two teams went out there and played really hard for more than the full 60 minutes. What about 68 minutes and one team just made one more play than the other. It really was an awesome game we saw last night. Uh most impressive, most disappointing. I’ll stay on that uh that offensive line with Garrett BS. Look, the Broncos dropped back 48 times to pass and Garrett BS only allowed one hurry on the night. 89.5 pass blocking grade. Also an 84.5 run blocking grade with five positively graded run blocks. I know the rushing output doesn’t look like much uh for the Broncos side, but their offensive line was opening holes all night. And I just think the backs really didn’t take advantage of what they were given getting yards after contact or anything like that. But Garrett BS was outstanding. Quinn Miners as well up front. That whole unit was, but I thought BS really stood out in that kind of two-dimensional way as a pass blocker and a run blocker. My most disappointing this game was Bobby Wagner. And and Wagner’s not terrible. He’s still a strong presence in run defense. He is still generally where he needs to be. I think that even when he’s dropping in coverage, like you feel good about his positioning exactly where he is. The problem is, and and this got exposed specifically in that overtime period with that long catch uh to Evan Ingram, he just doesn’t have the twitch anymore at his age. The straight line speed, okay, like he he could probably get to the sideline and, you know, pursue ball carries to the sideline and try to cut off angles with with outside zone or outside toss plays or things like that. like like he can run in a straight line, but when you put him in conflict with a wide receiver or specifically a tight end like Evan Ingram who has the ability to run sort of this pivot route or whip route the way that we saw last night in overtime and that wasn’t the only time they ran that route. I specifically went back and I saw a play earlier in the game where they actually ran that exact same route against him just to the opposite side of the field and it was the same exact result. they cooked him and and it’s just a situation where Wagner just doesn’t have that agility anymore. He just does not have that lateral quickness and that’s going to be something that a lot of teams are going to be able to point to and say we can exploit this and and the the Broncos were able to do that a couple of times last night. And so for a guy who has had an unbelievable career, he’s been one of the best linebackers over the last two decades with how he has played, Father Time has just caught up to him in that regard. And unfortunately, we saw it in overtime for them. Yeah. and he’s still got the seventh best run defense grade among qualified linebackers in the NFL, but only a 51.3 coverage grade for the season. And if you’re going to have a player like that, then you need your other linebacker, say, as you know, I’ve talked before about Dre Green Law kind of being that compliment on this really on, you know, right on the other side here with Denver of being that guy who can cover at that linebacker position. The problem is is Frankie Luvu is not great in coverage either. He’s only got a 50 coverage grade himself. So is it is something I think going into next year that Dan Quinn is going to have to think about finding somebody who can cover at that first level at that linebacker spot. Whether it’s someone who’s just a really good athlete who can rotate in or maybe finding a new starter and really turning over a new leaf with this linebacking core.

PFF’s Trevor Sikkema and Dalton Wasserman review the matchup between The Denver Broncos and The Washington Commanders.

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