Initial thoughts from Broncos’ 19-17 win over Green Bay in Week 7 at Empower Field:
1. K-Jax isn’t just hurting the Broncos. He’s hurting his wallet: You can’t play with your head on a swivel. Or play tentative. But how many times is Kareem Jackson going to cross the line before the league tells him to get lost? The NFL office is going to be taking another chunk out of Jackson’s wallet after his fourth-quarter hit on Green Bay tight end Luke Musgrave near the Packers sideline. The veteran safety’s already been fined four times by the league this season for a total of $89,670. Jackson could be crossing the six-figure barrier after that Musgrave shot. At least.
2. Football gods, what did the Broncos do to you?: Nobody said winning a home game would be easy. (Actually, it used to be around here, kids, just ask your parents.) But there were two second-half moments that make you wonder if the football gods have it out for the Orange & Blue. The first was on the Packers’ second touchdown of the day, when Green Bay wideout Romeo Doubs let a Jordan Love slant in the end zone slide right through his fingers on fourth-and-2 on what looked to be a sure incompletion. Right? Wrong. The ball deflected off Doubs’ finger tips into the back of the end zone toward teammate Jayden Reed, who secured the carom for a what-the-heck-just-happened score. A few minutes later, Broncos wideout Jerry Jeudy appeared to get hurt while high-stepping. Because, even though it’s not Halloween yet, curses are apparently real.
3. Surtain got robbed (of a pick): The what-else-can-go-wrong deflection off Packers wideout Romeo Doubs and into the arms of teammate Jayden Reed in the end zone wouldn’t have hurt as much if the officials had gotten the call on the previous Green Bay touchdown right. Namely, by not ruling it a TD at all — replays showed that Broncos corner Pat Surtain II had possession of the interception with two feet down before Doubs had his two feet down. CBS’ rules maven Gene Steratore said the ball should’ve gone back to Denver on the pick. Instead, it dragged the Packers, lifeless until the third quarter, to within 16-9 before the extra point.
4. Lost letters: When it hurts too much to cry, you gotta laugh. After the Broncos kicked a field goal to go up 9-0 with five seconds until halftime, we witnessed some premature celebration on the part of the Empower Field staff. Instead of eight flags flapping across the field to spell out “B,” “R,” “O,” etc., only the “B” and the “R” were seen making the trek from one side of the field to the other. If that didn’t symbolize a game with two half-baked offenses slugging it out, Big Ten West style, nothing did. On the plus side, Sunday’s designs brought back (happy) memories of the final game at old Mile High, Dec. 23, 2000, when the north end zone was blue and the south one was orange. The Broncos routed San Francisco that day, 38-9.
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