Up: SoFi Stadium scoreboard. Who needs The Red Zone Channel? The wrap-around video boards in Los Angeles are so big, every early game was broadcast for fans arriving early.
Down: Flip card accuracy. The COVID-19 chaos for the Broncos rendered the program mostly useless. On the flip card distributed to the media, 11 players needed to be crossed off because they were on the reserve list.
Up: Home field advantage. They will always be the “San Di-e-go Super Chargers!” to us. And if the makeup of Sunday’s crowd is any indication, they will be for a majority of Los Angelenos as well.
Down: Quality depth. One place where a lack of depth shows up immediately? Special teams, where the Broncos allowed a 47-yard kickoff return to start the game and a 101-yarder to essentially end it. Of course, those sorts of things happened when they were at full strength, too.
Up: Fourth-down Fangio. The season is all but lost, and the Broncos were bringing in guys off the street to fill out coach Vic Fangio’s roster. Why not roll the dice every chance you get… results be damned?
Down: Risk-free Staley. Up 7-0, the Chargers had fourth-and-goal at the Broncos 1 and coach Brandon Staley … opted to kick a field goal? Probably the best indication of how poorly Staley regarded the Broncos’ offense.
Up: Surtain-ly good. GM George Paton’s 2021 draft continues to age well — especially at the top. There aren’t a whole lot of guys who can be put on an island with Keenan Allen one-on-one. CB Pat Surtain II is one of them.
Down: More injuries. Less than a quarter into a game that saw the Broncos missing nine starters, both QB Drew Lock and LG Dalton Risner went to the locker room with injuries. Fate, it seems, is stacked against Denver.
Up: Sneaky tough. Give credit where credit is due. Not only did Lock come back in after dinging his shoulder. He ran a QB sneak on third-and-short in his first drive back. Say what you will about his decision-making. Just don’t question his toughness.
Down: Philly Special. Your quarterback is already hurting, so why put him in a position to take another big hit as a receiver? Just one more week of offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, friends. The end can’t come fast enough.
Down: Specialty player. Hard to justify saving a roster spot for a return specialist if he isn’t going to deliver the occasional big play. Three years in, Diontae Spencer has one return TD — and Sunday’s muffed punt at midfield.
Up: Sea level strong. Who needs Colorado’s thin air? Certainly not Brandon McManus, who provided the lone highlight of the first half with a beauty of a 61-yard field goal as time expired.
Down: Everything but the catch. A promising Broncos drive to start the second half stalled after Eric Saubert bobbled Lock’s well-thrown play-action pass while sliding out of bounds. That, friends, is why Saubert is a (very good) blocking tight end.
Up: Shifty Sutton. Finally, a pulse from receiver Courtland Sutton, who hauled in a 44-yard bomb in the first half, and later broke DB Michael Davis’ ankles on the most impressive seven-yard reception you will ever see.
Down: Vic Fangio challenges. At this point, it’s kind of funny how bad Vic Fangio is at challenges. We’re now in it for the comedy. Keep on throwing that flag, Vic.
Down: Procedural pain. A one-yard TD Melvin Gordon run was taken away by a procedural penalty on offensive lineman Austin Schlottmann. Yup, it was that kind of day.
