What a game we had in Week 4, huh?
In a game filled with many forgettable moments, horrible weather, and overall bad football, the Denver Broncos were able to sneak away from New Jersey with a win, defeating the New York Jets, 10-9.
The game displayed numerous bright spots but also presented some real areas of concern. Nonetheless, it was nice to see the Broncos win against a team in the playoff mix they probably should not have beaten.
Numerous aspects of the game were important for the Broncos to win if they were going to beat the Jets, as discussed in our Week 4 preview, and in those areas, Denver won the matchup more often than not.
The New York Jets Could Not Get Anything Going on the Ground
Going into the game it seemed like whichever team was able to run the ball better would win, and that was especially true given the weather conditions.
Vance Joseph and Co. responded to the challenge with a resounding performance, holding the Jets to a meager 38 yards on 18 carries, including holding lead back Breece Hall to just four yards on 10 carries.
Perhaps more importantly, the Broncos’ run defense got a crucial goalline stop early on in the game, preventing multiple rushing attempts from the 1-yard line from turning into touchdowns, and eventually forcing the Jets to settle for a field goal.
Denver managed to do this for two reasons.
The first was a creative and intentional game plan from Vance Joseph, utilizing several different fronts and looks to create leverage for the Broncos defenders. We saw Vance often get five or even six down linemen on the line of scrimmage, and the Jets struggled with those looks all day.
From there, it was on the Broncos’ front seven to take advantage of these matchups, and they did. We saw another dominant performance from Zach Allen, who is quickly emerging as one of the best down linemen in the NFL. Jonathan Cooper continued to prove that Denver should wrap up an extension with him sooner or later, and his strides against the run, specifically, this season have been impressive. We also saw Justin Strand step up as a starter and deliver a strong performance, tallying a sack and multiple key tackles.
The Denver Broncos Offensive Line More Than Held Its Own
A major question we had coming into this bout was if the Broncos’ offensive line could hold up against one of the better front fours in the NFL, facing a Jets defense headlined by All-Pro defensive lineman Quinine Williams and former first-round pick Will McDonald, who already has five sacks on the season.
The line answered this question with a resounding, ‘Yes,’ holding the Jets to zero sacks throughout the game. Part of this was due to Nix’s ability to get rid of the football, but it was a great performance by the line nonetheless.
Alex Palczewski, the former UDFA who is filling in for starting right tackle Mike McGlinchey, had another solid day in his second career start. He is not a mauler in the running game by any means but he displayed strong movement skills and looks better than anybody could have expected early on. PFF has Palczewski as having given up only two pressures and one quarterback hit through two games as the starter.
The Broncos also had a sound game plan for defensive tackle Quinnen Williams. Matching Williams up against third-year player and first-year starter Luke Wittenberg presented a nightmare scenario for Denver, so the Broncos avoided that. The team made an intentional effort to get four hands on Williams on the majority of snaps, and he was shut out as a result.
The Denver Broncos delivered their best rushing performance of the season
While the team shut down the Jets running game, we also saw the team’s running game show signs of life.
We were looking for the team to utilize Tyler Badie more, but he went out of the game with a back injury that will likely land him on Injured Reserve.
Despite that, the Broncos running game still had a productive day. Jaleel Mclaughlin was extremely efficient rushing the football, carrying the ball nine times for 46 yards.
Even more encouraging was Javonte Williams, who carried the rock 16 times for 77 yards. While the numbers by themselves are not particularly impressive, Williams displayed a level of explosiveness and ability to break tackles that we have not seen at all since his injury. If Javonte is able to maintain the level of play he showed against the Jets, it would be a great sign for the team’s rushing attack.
