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5 takeaways from the Broncos' 20-12 win over the Titans
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- 5 takeaways from the Broncos' 20-12 win over the Titans
The Denver Broncos held on to defeat the Tennessee Titans in an ugly 20-12 win on Sunday afternoon. Here are five quick takeaways from that home victory.
1. Bo Nix – and the entire offense – had a rough game: Denver's offense looked sloppy and rusty. They had a delay of game penalty and burned a timeout early, Nix threw two interceptions (one of them was bad ), and the second-year quarterback also lost a fumble. The offense appeared to be out of sync at times, and Nix was shown by Fox cameras yelling at a teammate after burning a timeout (it appeared to be directed at wide receiver Troy Franklin ). Later in the game, Nix was frustrated with tight end Lucas Krull for not stopping his route in the soft spot of coverage after a pass fell incomplete because the QB expected his TE to stop running. Nix's strip sack came on a play when he clearly wasn't on the same page with running back J.K. Dobbins . Those kinds of mistakes are fixable. But it was an ugly showing from Nix overall. He had a chance to ice the game late, but he overthrew wide receiver Marvin Mims on fourth down while facing pressure. Nix ended the day completing 62.5% of his passes for 176 yards with one touchdown and three turnovers. Broncos fans will hope better days are ahead for Nix in Year 2.
2. Broncos backfield turned it on late: Denver's ground game struggled early, but the offense got a spark in the fourth quarter when rookie RJ Harvey ripped off a 50-yard run that set up a 19-yard touchdown for J.K. Dobbins. Harvey finished the game with six carries for 70 yards, and fans (and fantasy football managers) want to see more from the rookie going forward. Dobbins turned 16 carries into 63 yards and one score. One interesting wrinkle in the backfield was Tyler Badie drawing six targets in the passing game. It's still early, but it appears that Badie might be the team's favorite option for obvious passing situations.
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3. Sean Payton threw four challenge flags, a rarity: NFL coaches are allowed to throw two challenge plays per game, but there's a risk of losing a timeout if you lose the challenge. If you win two challenges, you are awarded with a third. Payton pulled off a rare feat on Sunday, throwing four challenge flags. Technically, one of them didn't count because the officials had him pick it up as the play was automatically reviewed. Including that automatic review, Payton started 3-for-3 on challenges before finally losing a challenge on his fourth attempt of the game.
4. Evan Engram 's injury is a concern: Engram was deemed questionable to return in the fourth quarter with a calf injury and he ended up not going back into the game. We still don't know the severity of Engram's injury, but it's concerning that Denver might not have its best receiving tight end available. Before leaving the game, Engram totaled three catches for 21 yards on four targets. The team's two other TEs, Krull and Adam Trautman , combined to haul in two catches for 11 yards on three targets. Engram is a key part of the offense, and Broncos fans will hope he's not sidelined long.
5. Denver's fortunate the Titans played such a sloppy game: Tennessee made some questionable decisions on Sunday, and they helped nullify several sloppy mistakes from the Broncos with miscues of their own. The Titans went 2-of-14 on third down attempts, they only totaled 133 yards of net offense (Denver had 317) and rookie quarterback Cam Ward took six sacks. The Broncos' defense deserves credit for the big plays they made, including knocking Tennessee out of field goal range with two big sacks, but Denver's fortunate it wasn't a more formidable offense that could have capitalized on the Broncos' sloppy game on offense. Next week, Denver will face the Indianapolis Colts , who are coming off a 33-8 win . The Broncos got a bit lucky in Week 1. If the offense plays like that again in Week 2, the defense might not be able to bail them out again.
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This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: NFL: 5 takeaways from Broncos' 20-12 win over Titans
