It Might Be The Jonah Coleman Show For Broncos Against Panthers

The Denver Broncos are leading the American Football Conference West division by a half-game after knocking off the Kansas City Chiefs in a thrilling 28-24 victory in Week 8 and now set their sights on the Carolina Panthers.

The Broncos were outplayed in several aspects of the game offensively but won the penalty battle as the Chiefs committed 11 penalties for 105 yards, which ultimately cost Kansas City on the last play of the game.

A false start by offensive tackle Jaylon Moore backed the Chiefs up from fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line to the 6-yard line, leading to quarterback Patrick Mahomes dropping back and getting sacked by Malcolm Roach to seal the game for Denver and take over first place in the AFC West.

The Broncos did an excellent job at stopping Kansas City’s running game and it has been the key in defeating the Chiefs this season. The Chiefs lost to the Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks because Kenneth Walker III was held to just 69 yards or less on the ground (36 against his former team).

Denver seems to have found its midseason form from a season ago and now the offense is starting to roll, with QB Bo Nix exercising his clutch gene. The guy just finds ways to win even when it isn’t pretty throughout the course of the game.

He isn’t going to be near the running for Most Valuable Player, but he is very important to the offense despite his individual stats being mediocre. He always seems to do just enough late in games, and we saw how lost the Denver offense was last year against the New England Patriots without Nix at the helm.

I expect Nix to have minimal impact in the passing game against a Carolina team that struggles to stop the run and he should have a good opportunity to get his legs moving in this one.

Speaking of getting the legs moving, fourth-round pick Jonah Coleman may just be the main guy in the backfield after three solid performances off injured reserve. The 23-year-old will have an awesome opportunity to show what he can do in an expanded role against the Panthers, which rank 30th in rushing yards allowed per game (140.7).

While J.K. Dobbins appears to be getting phased out of the running game with just 11 total carries over his last two games (2.7 yards per carry over his last three games), he will still have a role in the offense – but it may be the Coleman show from here on out.