Denver's winning streak hides a struggling offense and nail-biting victories. Can the Broncos' shaky play sustain their impressive 8-2 record much longer?
On Thursday Night Football, the Denver Broncos beat the division rival Las Vegas Raiders by a score of 10-7 to bring their record to 8-2. Though their record calls for celebration, last night’s game only raised more questions about how legit they are as a playoff team.
The problem with Denver all season long has been the inconsistent offense. Thursday night was no different, totaling only 220 yards against a mediocre Raiders defense. Quarterback Bo Nix threw two interceptions, keeping the Raiders within striking distance the whole game. Denver converted on just 33% of its third-down plays and red zone drives.
It's unacceptable for a team that has hopes of a Super Bowl run. Week after week, the Broncos have barely scraped by much poorer teams. A win is a win, and the win-loss column only looks at which team led at the final whistle, but there needs to be serious changes in the Broncos locker room in the second half of the season.
To truly understand how deceiving the Broncos' record is, let’s look at a few of their wins this season.
In Week 1, they beat the Tennessee Titans, who were coming off the worst record in the NFL, by just one score. Denver beat a winless New York Jets team in Week 6 by two points before following that up with a one-point win over the then 2-5 New York Giants. In Week 9, the Broncos beat the Houston Texans, who were without their starting quarterback for the majority of the game, by three points. And of course, last night against the now 2-7 Raiders, the Broncos managed only a three-point victory.
Against teams with a winning record this season, the Broncos are just 1-2. They lost to the Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts at the start of the season before pulling off a late-game comeback against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 5.
An 8-2 record on the surface level is an ideal place to be halfway through the year, but it doesn’t paint the full picture of what’s happening in Denver. Football fans, Broncos fans, and the players themselves know it: this isn’t going to pan out well if things don’t change. Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins said it best after Thursday’s game.
“Eventually, it’s going to bite us in the butt.”