Broncos Individual Player Grades for Week 9 vs. Browns Revealed
It was a good performance all-around from the Denver Broncos as they managed to walk out with a home win against the Cleveland Browns. There were a lot of changes with this team besides just the change at quarterback that helped them win this one.
The Broncos' offensive play-calling wasn’t, well, offensive. OC Rich Scangarello called plays that fit the strengths of the players in his offense, attacked the weaknesses of the Browns defense, made things very simple for the quarterback, while throwing in things that Denver hasn’t used all season.
It was a nice change of pace from the play-calling and those changes, along with a mobile quarterback, helped the Broncos execute better on offense. Plus, Denver played with a lot more energy, which falls completely on the quarterback change.
Many wanted to make it a one-sided issue of either the play-caller or quarterback being at fault for the offense's struggles when the issues were on both, but after the Week 9 win, having players and coaches talk about the changes Scangarello made proved that he was part of the problem as well as Joe Flacco.
As for the defense, they played their 'bend but don’t break' brand of football and held the Browns out of the endzone on nearly every drive, despite allowing them to move into the red zone five times. The Broncos rattled QB Baker Mayfield, and forced him to make mistakes. Though there were no takeaways, Denver came close on a few occasions. This defense also shut down Nick Chubb and the run and punished the Browns offense for putrid play-calling like they’ve had all season.
Now it is time to focus on the players and how they went out there and executed. There were a lot of positive grades for this game with very few negative grades.
This grading system has been honed and adapted for the last five-plus years. Each player starts with a grade of 50, and it will either get raised or lowered based on each snap and the player's impact on the play.
A cornerback on the backside of a run shedding a block will get a slight raise to their grade, but a corner shedding a block in the run path at the point of attack will get a higher raise in their grade, as they have a bigger impact on the result of the play.
I reveal the highest-graded player, or the MVP of the game, only in the video above and explain the rationale and reasoning.
The Good
Derek Wolfe, DE: 90.6
The veteran is playing himself into another good-sized contract, either from the Broncos or a different team. Ever since the game against the Chargers, Wolfe has been killing it out there. He leads the team with five sacks, and his run defense is still superb. The stunts upfront are helping him generate pressure like never before in his career. He is 1.5 sacks away from setting a new career-high.
Davontae Harris, CB: 89.6
Harris missed a tackle on a touchdown, and got stiff-armed to the ground for a first down. Those were two big negative plays, but outside of those, his play was good. He is feisty when coming down against the run and will challenge receivers at the catch point if he gets there in time. This was on display when he got to the catch point and broke up a couple passes, one of which would have been a touchdown if he hadn't made the play.
Phillip Lindsay, RB: 89.2
Lindsay has been up and down this season and not all of it is on him. He has plenty of fight, but it can only do so much. Against the Browns, he got some solid blocking and made the Browns pay with how he ran the ball. There weren’t many missed holes for Lindsay, and he was quick to hit the ones that opened up.
Justin Simmons, S: 87.7
Denver needs to lock Simmons up before he gets any more expensive than he already is. His play for the Broncos this year has been tremendous and he is just getting better. It was a rough start to the season, but once they got the defensive scheme down, his value has been sky-rocketing.
The Bad
Andy Janovich, FB: 29.9
While he did have a good block on the Lindsay touchdown run, Janovich whiffed on multiple other blocks that led to a Broncos run play getting blown up. He has been very solid for the Broncos since he came back from the injury, but this was a very down game for the fullback.
Connor McGovern, C: 39.3
It has been a rough few weeks for the center, and his mistakes are compounding on the field. He is struggling in the run game, with rushers crossing his face and generating pressure. Denver needs him to bounce back.
Chris Harris, Jr., CB: 44.2
Harris got bailed out in this one more than a few times. He asked to take on Odell Beckham, Jr., and Harris struggled. Beckham had five catches for 83 yards, though not all that production came at Harris' expense, but most of itdid. Harris also got beat for what could’ve been the game-winning touchdown, but the Browns quarterback didn’t see Beckham.
Shelby Harris, DL: 47.4
The defensive lineman's just below average grade shows how well the rest of the team played. Harris had some issues when it came to his run defense, but he also made a couple of plays as well. His play has a high variance week-to-week and drive-to-drive, and Denver needs him to be more consistent. If he wants to get paid, he may want to get more consistent as well.
Other Grades of Note
Alexander Johnson, LB: 77.3
Johnson has shown some issues in coverage, just with his movement in space, and the Broncos realized how to use him to help cover that. They blitz him more than drop him into coverage, and that is putting pressure on the quarterback. His run defense is top-notch, but there are times he plays a little fast and gets lost in the play.
Adam Gotsis, DL: 76.5
It has been a while since we saw Gotsis on the field, but he played a really sound game. He wasn’t out there often, but he made his presence felt against the run. The defensive end has a history of being a really good run defender — he was before he got benched — and he put together a better game against the run than the guy who took his spot.
Noah Fant, TE: 74.0
That 75-yard touchdown he had was great with hin breaking multiple tackles to get there. That wasn’t the only play Fant made and he really flashed what he brings as a receiver. There are still concerns with his blocking, however, and Denver needs to get that worked out.
Dalton Risner, LG: 75.7
The rookie left guard played a really strong game and he opened up some big running lanes for the running backs. He did give up a couple of pressures, and had a few runs where he didn’t manage to get push, but there was a lot more good from him than bad against the Browns.
Follow Erick on Twitter @ErickTrickel and @MileHighHuddle.
