The Denver Broncos escaped their trip to London with a hideous 13-11 win over the New York Jets, and although the performance was one you had to pinch your nose through, it all counts the same in the standings.
Who helped secure victory for the Broncos and who nearly handed it away? Let’s take a look.
Stock Up
Talanoa Hufanga
This offseason, as the Denver Broncos’ franchise inflated its expectations, they made three big veteran signings to help catapult this team to the top of the conference in 2025 — TE Evan Engram, LB Dre Greenlaw, and S Talanoa Hufanga.
The return on Engram has been middling and Greenlaw has yet to play a snap, but Hufanga singlehandedly balances those outcomes, as he’s consistently delivered game-changing plays and has lived up to every bit of the most optimistic projections. Plus, so far, he’s avoided meaningful injuries.
He’s been a terror when blitzing, a constant physical presence against the run, and a downfield enforcer in coverage. Highlighting that all-around impact and nose for splash plays, he’s the only player on Denver’s roster with a sack, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, and a pass breakup so far this season.
With Hufanga playing so well all season, why the recognition now? First, it was well overdue. More importantly though, Hufanga headlines this week’s ‘Stock Up’ segment because he saved the Broncos’ Week 6 victory over the Jets with his pass breakup on Justin Fields’ 3rd-and-8 target to Garrett Wilson that would have set New York up in field goal range, to potentially kick a game-winning field goal as time expired.
If Hufanga doesn’t make that play, Broncos Country likely suffers its third buzzer-beating field goal loss in six weeks.
The Denver Broncos’ Pass Rush
There are simply too many amazing players making valuable contributions to this league-leading pass rush for any single player or pair of players to be isolated from the rest, in a section of their own (save for a well-deserved upcoming exception).
With 30 sacks through six weeks, the Denver Broncos have 10 more sacks than any other team in the league right now. That’s 50% more sacks than their next-closest peers — the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks. For further context, the gap between the Broncos and those second-place teams right now is greater than the gap between second-place and the league’s 24th-most sack-happy team.
Not only are they dominant, but they’re historically dominant. No team in NFL history has ever tallied more than 72 sacks in a season, with that record belonging to the legendary 1985 Chicago Bears defense. The Broncos are currently on pace to blow by that record, as their 5.0 sack per game average has them on track for 85 for the season. At this rate, Denver would own the record before halftime of Week 15, meaning this stat isn’t a product of the new 17-game schedule.
That all-time pace is spearheaded by some outstanding individual performances. Nik Bonitto currently leads the NFL in sacks (8.0), pressures (34), quick pressures (16), sack rate (6.2%), and pressure rate (26.2%), while also ranking inside the top 10 in get-off speed (0.76 seconds) and time-to-pressure (2.75 seconds).
What’s made the Broncos especially deadly, though, is that they have two edge defenders playing at this elite level, along with an excellent interior rush. Jonathon Cooper ranks among the league’s top-10 edge defenders in sacks (4.5), pressures (26), pressure rate (19.3%), and has the fastest get-off in the league so far this season (0.72).
Meanwhile, John Franklin-Myers and Zach Allen have continued to create immense pressure from the interior, ranking among the top-10 interior defensive linemen in sacks, pressures, and pressure rate.
Plus, adding Dre Greenlaw to the mix will only make Vance Joseph’s pass-rush arsenal deadlier.
This isn’t just the best pass-rush in the NFL. It’s maybe the best pass-rush in NFL history.
Bo Nix
The final stats are unimpressive, and the second half was wildly unproductive, but Bo Nix’s first half against the New York Jets defense was the best Denver’s hopeful franchise quarterback has looked all season.
Nix operated the offense on time and in rhythm much more consistently than he had earlier in the season, and seemed to display more confidence than he had at any other point this year. On his first 13 attempts, Nix was 11-for-13 for 101 yards, a touchdown, and a passer rating of 124.7. Plus, those numbers could have been even more impressive if not for Matt Peart’s holding penalties negating big plays and ending drives for the Broncos.
It would be impossible to include Nix here without addressing how much he cooled off after halftime. While the stark difference in production was shocking, it wasn’t like Nix’s play became dramatically worse. Instead, the offense retreated within itself. In the first half, Nix’s average target was 6.6 yards downfield. In the second half, as a result of all the screens the offense ran, his average depth of target was 2.6 yards downfield.
Not only did the offense get dramatically more conservative, but that conservatism led to more stalled-out drives, which limited how many plays Denver’s offense was able to run and prevented Nix from carrying the rhythm we saw in the first half.
Nonetheless, it was nice to see Nix play at that level and continue to build on the quality campaign he’s had since Week 1. Overall, this season, Nix (.077) ranks 23rd in adjusted EPA per play among 35 qualifying quarterbacks. However, if you remove Week 1 from the equation, Nix ranks 13th (.136).
The NFL sample size, especially at this point in the season, is so small that it’s always problematic to write off entire games, but this case does seem to be a reasonable exception. Nix’s Week 1 performance is an outlier from any other game he’s played this year, both from a tape and an analytical perspective, and it seems silly that one game played over a month ago is the gap between the 23rd and 13th-best quarterbacks.
If Nix can keep improving, the sky is the limit for this talented Broncos roster in a wide-open AFC.
Eyioma Uwazurike
As was previously mentioned, the Broncos’ defensive front is playing so well that it almost feels wrong to single out any one individual in this exercise. Eyioma Uwazurike is the lone exception though, because unlike his peers on Denver’s defensive line, he’s in the midst of an extreme career turnaround.
Over his first three NFL seasons, as a result of a one-year gambling suspension and being buried on the depth chart, Uwazurike appeared in just 12 games for the Broncos, totaling 28 tackles, zero tackles for loss, and 0.5 sacks.
So far, in 2025, Uwazurike has appeared in all six of the team’s games and has played 37% of the team’s defensive snaps — the highest rate in any season of his career. Uwazurike hasn’t just been eating snaps though; he’s been making a real impact. The freighter-sized defender has nabbed a sack in each of Denver’s last two games, 15 tackles already this season, and has provided much-needed size and run-stuffing ability during Malcolm Roach’s absence.
Less than two years ago, Uwazurike looked like a no-brainer cut to save cap space. Now, he’s trending towards a contract extension.
Stock Down
Sean Payton
The Denver Broncos were a much better team than the New York Jets this week, and they still almost lost the game as a result of extreme offensive conservatism, questionable playcalling, and general dysfunction.
If not for Aaron Glenn turning in one of the worst NFL coaching performances of the 21st century, the Broncos might have had a much more depressing trip home from London.
Now, a head coach should adjust throughout the game and change their game plan to match the flow and feel of any given game. It’s not inherently problematic that Sean Payton recognized the offensive ineptitude on the other sideline and decided to play things safe in the second half.
That decision only becomes problematic when considering the absurd extent to which the offense played scared, especially with how well Bo Nix was playing, how poorly the run game was performing, and the fact that Denver entered the second half with a lead of just four points.
The Broncos’ second-half average depth of target was just over one-third of what it was in the first half, and that number is buoyed by the team’s game-winning touchdown drive, when the offense opened back up.
Generally speaking, when Broncos Country has waved their pitchforks at Coach Payton for refusing to open up the offense for Nix, their anger has been misplaced, with Nix being the true culprit for the offense’s lack of aggression. In London, against the New York Jets, Payton was almost entirely responsible for taking the wind out of the offense’s sails.
Going forward, if the Broncos are going to realize their full potential, Payton needs to accept the growing pains that come with developing a new quarterback. If he keeps Nix in bubble wrap all season long, he won’t be ready to elevate the offense when Denver’s attack needs it.
Denver Broncos Offensive Line
The most concerning aspect of Sunday’s victory was what we saw from the Denver Broncos’ offensive line in their first game without starting guard Ben Powers.
So much of Denver’s offensive identity is built on the foundation of having a high-end offensive front. Bo Nix is more heavily affected by pressure than almost any other starter, and the backfield doesn’t have the type of superstar presence that can help an offensive line look better than the sum of its parts.
Against the Jets, the Broncos appeared to have a bottom-tier offensive line. Nix was constantly harassed, and the run game had its worst outing of the season. On 17 designed carries, Denver’s running backs gained just 44 yards.
Now, those struggles can potentially be explained away by the fact that Powers’ replacement, Matt Peart, was playing through a torn MCL and has since been added to the team’s injured reserve. Upgrading on Sunday’s level of play should be easier than it seems as a result.
If left guard remains a turnstile, though, the Broncos might have to make a sizeable trade to save their lofty hopes for this season.
