5 Biggest Takeaways from Denver Broncos' Week 1 Game vs. Baltimore Ravens
The Denver Broncos kicked off their regular season the right way—with a win over a conference foe. The Baltimore Ravens put up a fight, but they were unable to get a win in the Mile High City on Sunday.
The final score was 19-13 in favor of Denver.
The game was not pretty for the Broncos offensively, as the team struggled to find cohesion and rhythm on that side of the ball. However, the defense did show up in a big way with an interception returned for a touchdown by cornerback Aqib Talib.
While the Broncos struggled on offense, it was the kicking game and defense that helped the most to get this win.
Head coach Gary Kubiak has no problem with winning in such fashion.
“You better be able to win this way in this league. It’s just too tough a league," he said. "You’ve got to have confidence as a football team, when you get one of these games, that you will find a way to win.”
Kubiak continued: “I don’t think we ever panicked. We kept battling and did that. You’re going to have to win some in this league 42-35 too. We know that. But today we got it done and it was a tremendous job defensively and just a gut check as a football team.”
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Broncos’ regular-season opener.
Peyton Manning Looks Rusty
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There’s no denying it: Quarterback Peyton Manning doesn’t look quite like himself. During the preseason, the Broncos' first-team offense (led by Manning) only mustered two field goals over essentially three quarters.
The offense didn’t score a touchdown on Sunday, but it did manage to get kicker Brandon McManus in position for a couple of 50-plus-yard field goals (and four field goals total).
The offensive struggles continued—even though Manning came out firing passes from the shotgun formation.
Manning attempted 40 passes against the Ravens, but he only completed 24 of them for 175 yards with no touchdowns and one interception that was returned for a touchdown. It looked more like the Manning offense of old, but there were some classic Kubiak rollouts that Manning struggled to execute.
Kubiak knows the rhythm he builds for Manning and the passing game must improve.
“It's got to be better than it was today. I've got to help him out better. Obviously, we've got to play better than we did offensively. Whether it's run or pass, it doesn't matter, but he kept battling and had us in the right situations there at the end of the game and made some big third downs.” Kubiak said. “That's part of this league—got to keep battling, but we've always got to get better.”
Manning seemed to be playfully annoyed with some of the questions after the game.
“Everybody is looking for these summaries of our offense and our team after Week 1 and I just don't think we're going to be able to do that," he said. "It's Week 1. We're a work in progress. If you need a catchy headline for your little article or whatever it is you might be doing, we're trying to get better every single week.”
“What's another cliche I can think of? We're chipping away. Something along those lines,” he joked.
All kidding aside, the sooner that Manning can find his rhythm in the Kubiak offense, the better.
The Offensive Line Needs to Jell
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This is the first game in which all five starters on the Broncos' current offensive line played together—and it showed. Manning was sacked four times, and the Ravens had him under pressure on multiple snaps.
It was also difficult to get the running game on track, as the holes for the running backs weren’t huge—and sometimes they were nonexistent.
Kubiak had an answer for why Manning was sacked more than usual on Sunday.
“I think it's a combination of things. Obviously, we can't get him hit like that. I'm thinking of three sacks right now. One was a play-action pass and one was a max protection that we busted, I want to say two of them might have been max protection.”
“I'm thinking of three of the sacks, I don't know if there was four or not," he said. "We're in the best possible protection we can be in and we're getting sacked. I've got to go back and look at it. We're going to have to play a lot better. We as coaches have got to figure out how we can help them play better up front because we've got to protect them.”
The Broncos have some talented players up front on the offensive line. While the edges were protected, the interior of the offensive line needed to be stronger against the rush.
With new left guard Evan Mathis in between two players starting their first regular-season game (left tackle Ty Sambrailo, center Matt Paradis), it’s surprising the pressure on Manning wasn’t greater.
Almost the entire offense seems to be a work in progress. Getting the offensive line to jell would greatly benefit the rest of the offense.
They Didn't Run the Rock Enough
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The Broncos didn’t jumpstart their rushing attack on Sunday.
After three quarters, the Broncos only had 13 rushing attempts for 27 yards (2.1 yards per carry). They couldn’t blast open holes for either C.J. Anderson or Ronnie Hillman, and the team didn’t really make an attempt to establish a rhythm with multiple rushes in a drive.
That changed in the fourth quarter as the Broncos tried to milk their lead.
At the end of the game, the Broncos combined for 25 carries with a total of 69 rushing yards. Hillman led the team in rushing with 41 yards on only 12 carries.
Anderson started the game, but according to Vic Lombardi of CBS4 in Denver, the third-year back suffered a gruesome toe sprain against the Ravens. He finished with 12 carries but only 29 rushing yards against a tough Baltimore front.
Manning had some thoughts about why the team passed more than it ran in Week 1.
“I'm not really the spokesperson for that. I'll just tell you that Baltimore's got a really good defense," he said. "They were pretty stout all day against the run like they have been against a lot of teams. In the end, I thought our line hung in there.”
Manning continued: “On that last drive, we created some holes. They sort of got more comfortable there on that last drive and created some nice holes. Ronnie [Hillman] and C.J. [Anderson] made some nice runs. That's kind of what you've got to do versus these guys. It's not going to be these gaping holes throughout the entire game.”
“I think we've got to build off that last drive. That'd be pretty impressive,” he said.
The team does need to build on its final drive. We’ll see if Anderson can be healthy enough to play against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night. If not, then the team is going to turn to guys like Hillman and Juwan Thompson to carry the load.
In order to make Manning more comfortable, the team should try to run the ball a lot earlier than it did against the Ravens.
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The Pass Rush Is Intense
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This team came out and pressured Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco early and often. The Broncos only sacked Flacco twice, but they had a whopping nine quarterback hits in Week 1.
The defense under coordinator Wade Phillips certainly looks more aggressive than the scheme ran by Jack Del Rio last year.
After the game, safety David Bruton commented on the aggressive style of this defense.
“We’ve got a lot of playmakers on this defense. This system allows us to go wild and make plays,” he said.
Cornerback Aqib Talib loves what the pass-rushers do for the players in the secondary.
“It’s a dream come true. It’s a DB’s dream to have that kind of pressure up front," he said. "You put that kind of pressure on a quarterback, he’s throwing off his heels a lot. Receivers have to get in their route; not a lot of dancing at the line. It’s a DB’s dream to have pressure like that.”
Linebacker DeMarcus Ware expressed confidence in the defense after the game.
“We always talk about, from a defensive standpoint, of just being consistent. It sort of rolled over from the preseason to the season and that's what it's about," he said. "As a defense, being able to close the game out shows that we really matured from last year. We have to keep it up each game.”
The pass-rushers on this team are going to give opponents nightmares in 2015. This first game was just a taste of what is yet to come from a defense that could go down as one of the best—if not the best—in Broncos history.
The Identity of This Team Is Defense
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Broncos fans are used to the Broncos being an offensive team since Manning showed up. However, this season the identity of the team could very well be its world-class defense.
A player who will do a lot of heavy lifting for the Broncos defense is inside linebacker Brandon Marshall. He loves that this defense is built to win games.
“This defense is great. Wade [Phillips] and those coaches do a great job with the scheme," he said. "Historically, it’s a great defense and we have the players to play in it and to dominate. When you bring that defense here, with all of our talent, the sky is the limit.”
Marshall continued: “That’s the style of defense we play. Everyone is a one-to-one battle. I had the running back on that play and I beat him on the one-to-one and I got the sack. It’s great to have that happen in my first game back. I’m just elated right now.”
There is an old saying that goes, “Defense wins championships,” and that’s often true in the NFL. Compared to the last few seasons, the Broncos could mostly be known as a defensive team—and oh yeah, Manning is their quarterback.
Kubiak had a plan for this defense entering the week.
“We talked about turnovers turning the game—two defensive touchdowns," he said. "You just keep battling. The good news is, as much as we were struggling offensively, nothing ever got away from us. We just needed to put a good drive together or something.”
“It's nice to know you can win a football game like that. We physically held up and got it done,” he said.
The plan for the rest of the season could be for the defense to make big plays. While the offense is a work in progress, the defense looks like a finely tuned machine.
It’s also important to note it played without strong safety T.J. Ward and defensive end Derek Wolfe due to suspensions. Ward comes back for Week 2, and Wolfe will come back in Week 5. At that time, this defense could turn out to be even better than the dominating unit we saw on Sunday.
All quotes and injury/practice observations were obtained firsthand. Record/statistical information was provided via the Broncos' media department unless otherwise noted. Advanced stats via ESPN's employees-only database.
Contract and salary-cap information provided by Spotrac. Transaction history provided by Pro Sports Transactions.
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