Broncos report card: Sean Payton’s play-calling shines, but Vance Joseph’s defense struggles in loss to Colts
In an off-the-rails affair in which the Broncos and Colts kept handing each other the challenge in the fourth quarter Denver fell to Indianapolis - in their Week matchup Sunday Here s The Denver Post s account card from the day OFFENSE B On one hand it s pretty encouraging that the Broncos scored points and hardly looked perfect offensively on Sunday The the greater part pivotal ingredient here was Bo Nix who made one visibly poor decision all day a fourth-quarter interception in a major Week bounce-back effort Head coach Sean Payton effectively balanced Denver s rushing attack from the jump too as J K Dobbins ran for yards on carries Still Denver largely cratered in the second half scoring just one touchdown Dobbins run Their two fourth-quarter drives started strong and ended up wilting first with the Nix pick and second with a couple of bad penalties on Dobbins for spiking the ball after a run and tight end Adam Trautman facemask DEFENSE C- This is grading according to the Broncos standard because they did hold strong in the red zone holding the Colts to of on TD conversions inside the -yard line But coordinator Vance Joseph s unit was gashed for a whopping yards more than they gave up in all but two regular-season games last year and looked ineffective at times in stopping the Colts arsenal of weapons Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor ran for yards on carries and broke off several massive gains Rookie tight end Tyler Warren caught four balls for yards and made Broncos linebackers Justin Strnad and Alex Singleton miss on the same -yard catch-and-run Even all-world corner Pat Surtain II didn t have his best day with Colts quarterback Daniel Jones not hesitating to go after him on routes over the middle SPECIAL TEAMS C For a second straight week rookie punter Jeremy Crawshaw quelled any concerns over a shaky preseason performance continuing to pin the Colts back inside the on all three of his boots on Sunday And new special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi s coverage units performed well holding Colts returner Anthony Gould to just four yards on two punt returns But normally steady veteran kicker Wil Lutz brings the grade down here after he doinked a critical fourth-quarter -yard field goal that would ve extended Denver s lead to five COACHING A- Payton established early he d taken the time this past week to look in the mirror beginning Week by using Dobbins as a battering ram to bludgeon Indianapolis s defense on three straight runs And the offensive operation looked much smoother as Payton meshed the Colts to death and befuddled their defense on a second-quarter touchdown in which tight end Adam Trautman split out wide Related Articles What is leverage Explaining call on Dondrea Tillman that handed Broncos Week loss at Colts PHOTOS Denver Broncos fall to Indianapolis Colts - in NFL Week Broncos four downs Shane Steichen goes full Nathaniel Hackett but Denver loses anyway Broncos star cornerback Pat Surtain II suffers ankle injury vs Colts but returns How it Happened Broncos lose - on Colts last-second field goal Vance Joseph s pressure-happy defense meanwhile didn t much solve the Colts offensive line on a day with a lot of clean pockets for quarterback Daniel Jones But Payton nailed a gutsy fourth-quarter call declining a holding penalty that d have pushed back Indianapolis to a third-and- and instead trusting his defense on a fourth-and- and Joseph s unit came through with a turnover on downs If only that mattered in the end Want more Broncos news Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis