Initial thoughts from the Broncos’ 30-26 win over the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3 Sunday Night Football at Empower Field:
1. Nix responds yet again: Week 2? Trevor Lawrence. Week 3? Matthew Stafford. For the second straight week, the best quarterbacks in the league challenged Bo Nix to match their clutch and meet the moment. For the second straight week, Super Bo responded. Stafford’s stunning 48-yard touchdown toss to Konata Mumpfield, who’d left poor Riley Moss eating wet dust, shocked apountry and gave the Rams a 25-23 lead before the extra point with 3:38 left in a see-saw tilt. Nix didn’t blink. The third-year QB on the ensuing Denver drive completed a 39-yard toss to Pat Bryant on second-and-20, then a 21-yard strike to Troy Franklin that gave the hosts a 1st-and-10 at the Rams’ 15 just before the 2-minute warning. The hosts marched 65 yards on 10 plays, with their only sin leaving perhaps too much clock (47 seconds) for Stafford to play with at the very end.
2. First-down runs: How did the Broncos get their third-quarter mojo back? By finding their juice on first-down runs again. On its opening three drives of the third quarter, Denver ran it five times on first down, which was a good sign — and gained 31 yards out of those carries (6.2 per run), which was an even better sign. The Broncos’ RB1, J.K. Dobbins, rushed for 28 yards on his first nine carries of the second half, setting a physical tone that helped get the hosts off the mat again. After three series, the Rams were averaging 9.6 yards per carry (56 yards on six attempts) on first-down runs. The Broncos, on the other hand) were averaging 3.0 per first-down tote on three carries. Low moment: Matthew Stafford at the half had more rushing yards (10 on one carry) than Dobbins (nine on four rushes).
3. Adams-vs-PS2 rematch: We had some ’22 Raiders-Broncos flashbacks, didn’t we? Only not in a good way. With 34 seconds to go until halftime, Rams wideout Davante Adams, a pain in the neck for the Broncos when he wore silver and black, completed an out route on Patrick Surtain to the Broncos’ 37, a 14-yard pickup that saw the All-Pro cornerback reply with visible — and rare — frustration. With 7:44 left in the first half, as the Broncos trailed 10-0, Adams appeared to push off the Denver defender on a second-and-10 rainbow up the left boundary to create separation. The veteran wideout then turned around quickly to snare a 22-yard grab along the sidelines that gave the visitors a first down at the Denver 15. It was a marquee matchup with some history — in their previous four meetings, Adams had caught three balls for touchdowns, while PS2 had broken up six throws thrown Adams’ way.
4. Light rain doesn’t help: With five minutes left in the opening stanza and the Rams at the Broncos 5, light rain started to fall. After L.A. scored, the rain fell harder. Ironically, the Broncos might’ve suffered from the slickness first, as Wil Lutz’s 43-yard field goal attempt tailed left right at the end and bonked off the upright. And we didn’t believe this stat ’til we looked it up, but the Broncos kicker through the first quarter had misfired on three of his last six attempts from 40-49 yards out at home. On the other hand, Stafford, Mr. Indoors, had put up a 2-9 record in his previous 11 appearances in games played outdoors under rain or snow. But his numbers in the first half didn’t show it — the veteran completed 19 of his first 32 throws for 190 yards and a score. Yikes.
