Broncos Player Grades for Week 12's Pathetic Loss to Panthers
What more is there to say about the Denver Broncos? The offense has been bad all season, with very few bright spots. Flying under the radar has been Denver's terrible special teams.
The Broncos' defense was good for most of the season, but it's begun to falter. This team is getting tested, and they're not meeting the challenge. Unfortunately, the Broncos can't beat the 'bad' teams they are supposed to.
Let's jump into the grades, but first, for a quick rundown of how my grading system works, click here.
MVP(s)
Offense: Latavius Murray | RB | Grade: 71.5
There were few bright spots for the Broncos' offense, but Murray was one of them. As the game went on, he seemed to do a better job. He busted off an excellent 52-yard run that ended up doing nothing as the offense went to the quarterback, who failed.
Defense: Alex Singleton | LB | Grade: 74.2
While the defense as a whole did poorly, the Broncos have multiple players who had a good game on an individual level. Singleton was one of them and one of the few who was consistently strong against the run.
Quarterback
Russell Wilson | QB | Grade: 20.7
Wilson started 4-of-5 for three yards. He picked up some yards when the Carolina Panthers switched up their defense and scored a touchdown. However, Carolina had his number all day in coverage, and he consistently was making the wrong reads, both pre and post-snap, and his placement was terrible.
The worst was a fumble where the offensive tackle was beaten, but Wilson sat at the top of the arch instead of climbing the pocket, which had plenty of space for him to move up. Wilson was a shorter version of Joe Flacco with his pocket awareness.
The offensive line needs work, but the quarter-billion-dollar quarterback doesn't do them any favors. Good quarterbacks can overcome injuries, bad offensive line play, and bad coaching, but Wilson consistently proves to be a more significant issue than any of those other less-than-ideal factors.
The Positive
Josey Jewell | LB | Grade: 71.1
Jewell and Singelton had a good game but still had their issues. Jewell had some misses with his run fills and, at times, seemed late with his reactions. However, the Panthers did a good job keeping the linebackers guessing with their run game, which sometimes is what you need for an efficient run game.
Kareem Jackson | S | Grade: 68.2
If Jackson had been playing at this level all season, maybe the Broncos would have more than three wins. He has been a consistent week link, but he was almost the star of the defense against the Panthers. Jackson's play was at the same level as when he first came to Denver.
Mike Purcell | IDL | Grade: 67.5
Purcell had a good game against the Panthers and got himself in a good position multiple times. He also did his job to open space for others on the defense. While it wasn't perfect, it was a good game from the big man.
Courtland Sutton | WR | Grade: 67.3
Sutton has been quite good the last couple of weeks when the Broncos' receiving corps has been him and the young ones. Sutton's play as a blocker is on the rise, and he is still fighting hard as a receiver. Drops, however, have been a concern all season — some have been placement issues, like the one against the Panthers.
Graham Glasgow | IOL | Grade: 60.2
Glasgow held his own up front and has settled down as the center for the Broncos. While the run game hasn't been great, the Broncos have been more efficient in recent weeks since Glasgow took over. In addition, the center isn't pushed back as often in pass protection.
Quinn Meinerz | IOL | Grade: 56.4
Meinerz had some collapses in pass protection, but his worst came when the ball was held longer than it should've been. Meinerz had some good blocks in the run game, but the Panthers' Derrick Brown also gave him issues. It was a good, well-balanced fight in the trenches between those two.
The Negative
Greg Dulcich | TE | Grade: 31.5
Dulcich did alright as a receiver, but he has a long way to go as a blocker. Multiple runs struggled because Dulcich isn't there yet, and when he was kept in to help with pass protection, it made the offense worse. Why? It removed another receiver option from running a route.
Nik Bonitto | OLB | Grade: 31.8
Bonitto did nothing this game and was shut down consistently by some powerful offensive tackles. Clearly, he doesn't have the strength to hold up in the NFL as a pass rusher or run defender, so if he doesn't win with his quickness, he likely won't do much. However, he did manage to pick up one of the five total pressures the Denver defense picked up.
Jonathon Cooper | OLB | Grade: 32.1
Cooper was showing tremendous growth as a run defender from his rookie season, but against the Panthers, it was like he was a rookie again. He got taken for a ride multiple times against some big, powerful tackles the Panthers have.
Patrick Surtain II | CB | Grade: 34.4
Surtain started the game with a huge hit coming downhill, hopefully setting the tone for the game. However, that didn't last. Surtain wasn't consistent with his play or physicality against the run, and his play in coverage didn't make up for it. He allowed 3-of-5 targets to be caught, one for a touchdown, while breaking up one pass. These back-to-back rough games don't make him bad, but Denver needs him to bounce back.
Kendall Hinton | WR | Grade: 41.3
Denver has grown to rely on Hinton over the past few weeks, and he answered the bell. However, while he still caught five of his seven targets, he didn't do much with it, as he averaged just seven yards per reception. His play as a blocker also wasn't up to par with what he has shown previously.
Calvin Anderson | OT | Grade: 48.7
Anderson did alright as a run blocker, but he struggled in pass protection, credited with relinquishing three. There were a couple of other plays he lost initially, but he recovered decently to keep the play from worsening.
Other Noteworthy Grades
Eyioma Uwazurike | IDL | Grade: 64.5
The rookie finally saw more than 20 snaps in a game and was more impressive than expected. He had a couple of snaps against the run, where he did a great job flowing with the play while staying on the line. It showed some promising potential.
D.J. Jones | IDL | Grade: 63.1
Jones had some good plays against the run, but a few stood out negatively. Ultimately, he has been a massive addition to the defense, but teams have limited his overall impact over the last two weeks.
Cameron Fleming | OT | Grade: 54.1
Fleming struggled against Brian Burns for most of the game, where he was credited with giving up three of his opponent's eight total pressures. What did help his grade was Fleming killed it in the run game. Fleming had a massive block on the 52-yard run by Murray.
Brandon Johnson | WR | Grade: 53.4
Johnson got close to a second touchdown against the Panthers, and he almost had one the week prior. He is showing well as a run blocker and as a route runner. On top of that, he has shown growth since his preseason tape and might be a receiver the Broncos want to keep getting out there on the field.
Dalton Risner | IOL | Grade: 51.2
Risner has been an issue since his rookie season. His play has continued to regress, and his technique has been a mess all season. A once-promising guard now seems poised to bounce around as a cheap backup-caliber option.
Justin Simmons | S | Grade: 38.5
Simmons was all over the page, and his run fills were consistently incorrect. While he was signed to an extension in 2021, there are rumors of Denver moving on from him in the 2023 offseason, and this level of play doesn't help.
Coaches
Nathaniel Hackett | HC | Grade: 45.2
With Hackett not getting fired after the Broncos' cruddy performance against the Panthers, he seems safe for the rest of the season. However, while he hasn't lost control of the team yet, the fractures are becoming apparent, and he is on the verge of losing it altogether.
Klint Kubiak | QB Coach/Play-caller | 32.6
In his second week as the play-caller, Kubiak didn't show much of what worked against the Las Vegas Raiders. In fact, it was the offense that the broncos showed the rest of the season. It was full of Wilson's favorite concepts that can't be properly executed.
Ejiro Evero | DC | Grade: 39.7
Evero was promising to start the season, but his defense has begun to fall apart over the last two weeks. Injuries have piled up, especially among their pass rushers. But the biggest issue is his run defense has shown a weakness all season, and teams are starting to exploit that now.
Dwayne Stukes | STC | Grade: 29.4
Stukes has been a significant letdown. Every week multiple aspects of his units fail. While his project punter, Corliss Waitman, did well against the Panthers, everything else faltered. The Broncos have the worst special teams unit in the NFL, which goes unnoticed because of how bad the offense is.
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