Broncos Game Grades: Brett Rypien rips it up but the Broncos lose 42-15 to the Bills

The Broncos lost 42-15 to the Buffalo Bills on Saturday. The score is lopsided but it’s worth noting that the Bills played their starters and the Broncos left theirs on the bench. That staggered the whole game, since the Broncos’ threes were playing the Bills’ twos, etc.

I was surprised how well the offense graded out. The grades aren’t good, but they’re better than you’d expect for a team that lost by 27. I realized that 15 points in a preseason game isn’t great but it isn’t that far off from normal. Especially when you consider the Broncos were inside the 10-yard line in the closing seconds. That’s a C-level preseason effort and the offense probably came out around a C average.

The defensive grades are exactly what you’d expect.

I decided I’m not grading on a curve; Zach Johnson doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt because he’s blocking starting defensive linemen. He has a job and he gets graded on whether he does his job or not. So does everybody else.

Offense

Josh Johnson — C

Last week, Johnson was arguably the Broncos’ best player. This week, not so much.

The 36-year-old missed a couple of throws to Kendall Hinton and was forced to throw away a couple more because of pressure. He also hit two difficult throws with pressure in his face and he gave Hinton a chance at a deep ball down the sideline.

Completing 8 of 16 passes for 70 yards in a half of playing time is never good enough. But Johnson was buried on just about every throw, so we’ll cut him some slack this time.

Brett Rypien — A-

The 26-year-old hit Darrius Shepherd up the sideline on his first throw for 28 yards. He hit Albert Okwuegbunam on a back-shoulder ball for a 26-yard gain on the other sideline. He dropped perfect balls over the shoulders of Trey Quinn and Jalen Virgil for 20+ yard gains up the sideline.

Rypien missed a couple of throws but his touch on the boundary was on full display against the Bills. It’s worth noting that he was not under nearly as much pressure as Johnson. Still, it was a solid bounceback from Week 1.

Kendall Hinton – C+

The 25-year-old wide receiver graded out as high as possible for a four-target, zero-catch performance. Here’s what happened on those four targets:

First: Hinton was open underneath on a bootleg but Johnson led him too far. The ball was uncatchable.

Second: Hinton ran up the sideline and Johnson threw him a back-shoulder pass. Hinton snagged it with one hand but wasn’t able to tap his toes.

Third: Johnson missed him again.

Fourth: He didn’t have much separation but the pass was nowhere near the tight window.

It was not a good day for Kendall Hinton. He deserves half of the blame at most.

Seth Williams — C+

The second-year player spent more time on the field than any other receiver, but didn’t have much to show for it. He caught a couple of passes for short gains and drew a pass interference call on a comeback.

Darrius Shepherd — B+

Shepherd caught a long ball up the sideline. He moved the sticks on a third down on the final drive. The team even drew up a screen for him.

Three catches on three targets for 38 yards is a solid day.

Trey Quinn — B+

After a disappointing Week 1, Trey Quinn bounced back in Week 2.

He caught a deep ball up the sideline to set the offense up just outside the 10. He had a contested catch through contact on a slant in the final minutes. He carried the ball on an end-around, too. He caught five passes for 47 yards. Both were team highs.

He fumbled a kick return but picked the ball back up.

Jalen Virgil — B+

The big play from Virgil was an over-the-shoulder catch near the boundary for 20 yards. He caught another ball on a third down for 19 yards a few plays later.

Virgil also had a pair of 30-yard kick returns.

Quinn Meinerz — A

The Broncos’ offense scored once against the Bills’ starting defense and it was the lone series that Quinn Meinerz was on the field. That’s no coincidence.

Meinerz was out there for a dozen plays and he was nearly flawless. He hit Tremaine Edmunds at the second level on one rushing play and drove him past the sticks. He worked one-on-one in pass protection—leaving the double-team for the rookie on the other side—and drove a starting lineman onto his butt on one occasion. He showed a nasty streak when he tossed another defensive lineman to the ground after a run up the middle. The only flaw was that he couldn’t find anybody to block on a screen pass to Montrell Washington.

If Meinerz had played more, the Broncos would have scored more. I’m convinced.

Graham Glasgow — B

For the second consecutive week, Glasgow played a really clean game. He moved between guard and center and was only beaten once or twice. After Meinerz left the game, he was the only lineman who could hold his own in the first half. He didn’t get as much push in the running game as last week, though.

Luke Wattenberg – C-

The rookie played better in his second game than in his first, but that’s not saying much. There were still mental mistakes, like when he left a defensive lineman for his teammate to block, but he didn’t, and the play was dead before it started. He played much, much better in the second half. At least until he gave up the sack on the 4th and goal in the final minute of the game.

Zach Johnson — C-

The 25-year-old is another tough lineman to grade. He struggled in the first half. He failed to pick up a stunt on 3rd & 11 that would’ve ended the first drive of the game, if not for a defensive penalty. He gave up a tackle for loss on a missed block on the second drive. He gave up more pressures when the second-team came in for Buffalo.But Johnson played a very clean second half, which bumps his grade up.

How do we weight Johnson’s performance against other youngsters vs. his performance against the starters? I’m not sure. But that second half keeps him out of the “D” range.

Quinn Bailey — C-

You could basically copy and paste the Johnson grade.

That stunt mentioned above was a joint mistake with Bailey. Bailey should’ve passed his man off but was beaten too cleanly off the line to pass him over. Johnson should’ve been further back in pass set so he could’ve had some margin for error. Like Johnson, Bailey played very well in the second half, particularly in pass protection.

Calvin Anderson — C-

The 26-year-old tackle only played the first half, so he didn’t get a chance to repair his grade like a couple of the other linemen.

Anderson was largely a neutral when he was in the game. He didn’t give up any egregious pressures but he also didn’t get much push in the running game. He gave up a tackle for loss on the first play of the Broncos’ second drive, when he was bullied by Jordan Phillips. We’ll give him some points for sealing the edge on a nine-yard run.

Albert Okwuegbunam — B-

The big play from Albert O was the 26-yard, back-shoulder catch in the third quarter when he nearly mossed the defender. It was one of the best grabs of his career. He almost made another massive play on a deep fade but he ran out of space when he tried to catch the ball near the side of the end zone. The ball was slightly off-target but it would have been fine—and the throw would have been easier—if Okwuegbunam would’ve left more space to work outside instead of running right next to the boundary.

The 24-year-old tight end caught three other passes, which combined for six more yards.

His blocking wasn’t good but it wasn’t as obviously bad as in Week 1. There was a throw away from Josh Johnson because he allowed pressure. There was an outside run to his side that failed because four of the blockers on that side (including Albert O) fell down when trying to make contact. I couldn’t tell from the TV angle what exactly happened.

Eric Tomlinson — C+

The big, blocking tight end was mostly solid. There were a couple of misses in the run game and he gave up a pressure when blocking an edge rusher one-on-one (a tough assignment). Not catching a ball knocks him out of the “B” range.

Eric Saubert — A-

It was a solid day for Eric Saubert.

Outside of a missed a block on a toss to his side that forced him to hold the defender, Saubert was mostly good as a blocker. He scored the only touchdown of the day for the Broncos with a beautiful toe tap in the back of the end zone. I’m probably overweighting that play but there was almost nothing else to get excited about.

Mike Boone — B-

The veteran back had five carries for 11 yards but he still gets a B-. And his grade could be even higher.

On his first touch, he broke a tackle and turned a one-yard gain into eight. He caught a pass five yards downfield, spun past two defenders who collided and gained a dozen yards. The the running lanes dried up.

We’re knocking him down from a B because he missed a block and could’ve ended a kick return inside the 15.

Defense

Caden Sterns — B+

The safety played about half the game and you could make the case he was the only defender who held his own against the Bills’ starters. He stood up Devin Singletary a couple of times, which was a rarity on Saturday. He also flew right by Singletary on one occasion with a whiff. He tied for the team-lead in tackles and for second in solo tackles.

Sterns also made an open-field tackle on a kick return, which may have saved a touchdown.

Dellarin Turner-Yell — B-

The rookie has been quiet since he got to Denver but he made a nice special teams tackle and a great tackle at the sticks in the flat to force the Bills’ first punt of the game.

Faion Hicks — D+

The rookie was beat on the free play before the half (more on that later). He jumped and wasn’t able to get a hand on the ball. It wasn’t good coverage, but I wondered how often a college quarterback (which is what he’s used to playing against) would make that throw. I decided it was 50-50. In the league, that’s a 90% throw. He’ll learn.

He also gave up the touchdown to OJ Howard. It was a post from the boundary and the veteran tight end was physical on the break and created separation. Hicks wanted a call. He didn’t get it. He will never get it in the NFL.

Saturday was a learning experience for the rookie. Don’t get caught up in how ugly it was. That was healthy for him.

Damarri Mathis — C+

The rookie gave up the long touchdown to Gabriel Davis. He wasn’t in horrible position but most of the receivers he’ll see on Sundays would’ve made the catch.

He lacked some physicality on a couple of occasions, but was also involved with a tackle.

Essang Bassey — D+

Bassey dropped off to help against Davis on the touchdown. I’m not going to knock him for not getting there. He also gave up at least three catches to three different receivers on the Bills’ final drive before halftime. It was an ugly stretch.

Michael Ojemudia — D

Saturday was a bad day for Michael Ojemudia.

He gave up a catch downfield to Gabriel Davis. Then on the next play he was beat even further downfield by Stefon Diggs.

He made a nice tackle on OJ Howard, but was shook out of his shoes by Devin Singletary on the next play. After that, he was beaten by Khalil Shakir.

Shortly thereafter, he left the game with a dislocated elbow.

Alex Singleton — C

Singleton made a pair of nice tackles but the most notable play was a missed tackle in the hole that gave up an extra 10 yards.

Justin Strnad — C

The third-year linebacker struggled for the most part when the Bills’ starting linemen got their hands on him. The Broncos blitzed Strnad on the Josh Allen touchdown pass and he couldn’t get around the edge in the five seconds before Allen threw the ball.

Strnad also bottled Singletary up by playing the angles well and later in coverage on a hitch he manhandled the back on the tackle.

Joe Schobert — D+

The new addition played more than half of the game but only had two tackles (one solo) to show for it. He had a clean miss on the perimeter that could have made it three. When he crashed through the middle of the line on an inside run, the back was able to bounce the run outside for a 20-yard gain. It wasn’t his fault, but it was that kind of day. He didn’t stand out in coverage, either

Barrington Wade — C

Wade didn’t make any notable plays—he almost did when he blitzed up the middle on the Bills’ fourth touchdown and was within a couple of feet of the quarterback but couldn’t knock the pass down—but he was solid from the inside linebacker spot.

He probably dropped back too far in zone coverage on a short pass across the middle that picked up 10 in the red zone. He made seven tackles, all solo, which tied for the team lead.

Nik Bonitto — D+

The play of the rookie’s day was probably when he crashed inside on a run and brought down the back for a short gain. A short while later, he jumped inside again instead of setting the edge and Zack Moss scored the Bills’ third touchdown, at least for a moment before it was called back. Bonitto doesn’t seem to understand how to play the angles in the running game. Even when he’s out wide setting the edge, he’s usually too far upfield, leaving a big cutback lane.

Bonitto’s bend jumped off the screen on a few occasions but he never got to the quarterback. He was grabbed by the neck on one of them but no hold was called. He actually was in decent poison to stop the Bills’ fifth touchdown but was held without a call then, too.

Bonitto is a limited player right now. He can rush the passer around the edge and that’s it. When the Broncos sent him up the middle on Josh Allen’s touchdown, Bonitto stood no chance at all. He can’t win physical battles against linemen. He’s close to being a real threat off the edge on passing downs, though.

Baron Browning — B-

The second-year linebacker got into the backfield a couple of times but never truly finished. At one point he was right in the quarterback’s face but the pass was still completed. I can’t believe that ball got through. It was that kind of day.

It was a disappointing day for Browning, but only because of how well he played last week.

Jonathan Kongbo — D

Typically I wouldn’t include somebody who wasn’t too involved in the game, like Kongbo. But I have a feeling people are out for blood so here we are.

Kongbo jumped offside on 3rd & 15 before the half. It was a terrible play. Bonitto had just jumped offside, too, which makes it worse. Case Keenum used the free play to pick up the first down. Kongbo also blew a contain on a 20-yard run. He had one tackle in the game.

DeShawn Williams — C+

The veteran didn’t play much and didn’t make any plays. He got into the backfield behind one play but that’s all that really happened.

McTelvin Agim — D+

The third-year defensive lineman wasn’t able to hold his ground at the point of attack. He was moved out of the hole on a couple of occasions, including when he was knocked down on a 10-yard run that went right by him. He picked up his game a little when the Bills’ reserves came in.

Jonathan Harris — D

The 26-year-old defensive lineman had a pressure that forced an incompletion in the third quarter and made a great tackle when he dropped off his blocker and snagged a running back’s ankle, which tripped him up for a one-yard gain.

But Harris wasn’t stout enough to stop the run, even against the Bills’ backups. He was moved out of the hole often. He was also rushing on the edge when Allen had five seconds to throw the touchdown.

Matt Henningsen — B

There were no splash plays from the rookie. His only tackle was when he reached off a block and helped drag down a running back for a four-yard gain.

But he wasn’t out there much when the defensive line was getting absolutely manhandled and there was one play that popped: he was working to free up another lineman on a stunt and pounded a pair of offensive linemen inside. He’s a big, strong, mean man and he gets a B basically for that play alone.

Special Teams

Montrell Washington — A

It feels good to give an A.

Washington improved as a receiver this week. He picked up 25 yards on two catches, including 19 on a third-down post through contact.

The big story, again, was Washington’s contribution as a returner. This time he gained 55 yards on two kick returns. He was hit early on one but he bounced off the potential tackler and gained another 20 yards.

Brandon McManus — A

He made his kicks. One was from 55 yards. Easiest grade of the day.

Corliss Waitman — A-

It was a big day for Waitman, who took both of the punt attempts after Sam Martin went down with a pregame ankle injury.

He averaged 52 yards per punt with good hang time. One of the punts trickled into the end zone. It was almost downed inside the five.

Kind of unbelievable that the Broncos only punted twice, right?