Broncos Game Grades: Denver's cornerbacks shine in 21-20 victory over the Vikings on Sunday Night Football

The Broncos can’t lose.

Denver beat the Minnesota Vikings 21-20 after trailing for most of the game on Sunday Night Football. The Broncos are now 5-5 after starting the season 1-5. The Vikings’ five-game win streak came to an end.

Here’s how the Broncos graded out…

Offense

Quarterbacks

Russell Wilson: A- — Every week I get to Russell Wilson and am surprised at how highly I’m grading him. If anything, an A- might be too low.

Wilson has thrived in the clutch recently. Some big catches and runs from Samaje Perine helped against the Vikings, but the fourth-down ball to Courtland Sutton and the touchdown ball to Sutton at the end of the drive were beautiful. 

Before halftime, Wilson led a field-goal drive in 1:11. His passes picked up 8 yards, then 19, then 14, then 5. He was clinical. The best of those throws was the 14-yarder to Adam Trautman. The Vikigns rushed seven and had Harrison Smith free up the middle, and Wilson stood tall, delivered the ball and then wore a massive hit. He took another massive hit on the ball to Jerry Jeudy in the end zone that was barely broken up. Wilson was not making business decisions.

Wilson had his flaws of course—mostly the ball that was too high to Sutton on 3rd & 2—but there weren’t many of them. He finished 27-of-35 for 259 yards with a touchdown.

Running Backs

Javonte Williams: C+ — Williams didn’t have a lot of room to work with and he came closer to maximizing his opportunities than he did a week ago. His struggles came in pass protection, where he wasn’t terrible but wasn’t clean. On one rep, he was knocked backward a little and tripped up Garett Bolles, who couldn’t hold his block and gave up a sack. It was a fluky play. Later on, Williams waited for contact instead of attacking the defender and wound up in Russell Wilson’s lap. Wilson had to flush from the pocket.

Samaje Perine: A — On the final drive, Perine had consecutive catches of 10 yards, 17 yards and six yards. He went to the bench for a play and then returned to convert a 3rd & 4 and carry the Broncos into the end zone with a minute to play. The Broncos scored the game-winning touchdown on the next play, and Perine had a clean pickup in pass protection.

Perine ranks third among NFL running backs in receiving yards this season.

Jaleel McLaughlin: D+ — McLaughlin wasn’t given much to work with, but he didn’t provide anything extra either. He caught a swing pass and picked up nine yards on the Broncos’ second offensive play, but his four other catches totaled five yards. And his only run was a one-yarder.

Wide Receivers

Courtland Sutton: A — Sutton made two great catches. One was the highlight-reel, game-wining touchdown in the corner of the end zone. The other was the 33-yard grab up the sideline while he was going to the ground. Sutton finished with four catches for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Jerry Jeudy: B — Jeudy finished with 58 yards on five catches. Jerry Jeudy: B — The pump fake is the play from Sunday that won’t be forgotten. Jeudy finished with 58 yards He could’ve had a touchdown but a defender reached in and pulled his arm off the ball. Jeudy broke up a pass that should have been intercepted and also had a surprise pump fake that picked up at least five extra yards.

Marvin Mims Jr.: D+ — This might be harsh. The Vikings never kicked to Mims, which was a smart decision, but it also limited his impact on the game. He caught passes for four and eight yards. He should’ve had a 28-yard catch-and-run but a penalty negated it. He also negated one of his catches by himself when he was called for a facemask, turning a 3^rd & Goal from the 5 into a 2^nd & Goal from the 23.

Mims was on the field for 26 pass and 5 runs. The Broncos’ 84% pass rate when he was on the field is the widest split in a game in his career. He played his second-most offensive snaps of the season.

Lil’Jordan Humphrey: B — This might be too high considering Humphrey didn’t have a catch despite having a chance at a honey hole shot on the Broncos’ touchdown drive. But his blocking was great. In the third quarter, he made a great block in space to spring a 15-yard run from Javonte and then another great block on a screen to Jerry Jeudy that gained 19 yards on the next play.

Tight Ends

Adam Trautman: B — Trautman’s catches came on back-to-back plays. The first was a 19-yarder up the seam before halftime that got the Broncos near midfield. The next was a 14-yarder. Trautman was solid as usual as a blocker.

Chris Manhertz: B — Manhertz had a solid day as a blocker, but wasn’t involved in the passing attack at all.

Nate Adkins: D — The rookie played eight snaps and one of them was a hold that negated a 28-yard run.

Offensive Linemen

Garett Bolles: C+ — Bolles played a great game other than two plays. The first was a sack that he allowed on the first drive. This one doesn’t hurt his grade much, since the running back got knocked back behind him and tripped him up. The other sack he allowed came off of a spin move on a third down in the fourth quarter.

Ben Powers: A — Powers was sharp on Sunday and was probably the Broncos’ top offensive lineman. He lacked highlight plays but was never the problem for the Broncos.

Lloyd Cushenberry III: B+ — Cushenberry drew an easier assignment in pass protection on Sunday because of Minnesota’s frequent three-man rushes. With defenders dropping out of the middle of the line, Cushenberry often had help from one of the guards. Regardless, he was perfect in pass protection. He also missed on block on the first run after halftime and doomed the play.

Quinn Meinerz: A- — The Broncos’ QB sneak behind Meinerz has turned into an almost indefensible play… except for the second time they ran it and were called for an illegal formation. Meinerz didn’t fill up the highlight reel on Sunday—his pancake early in the second quarter was inconsequential—but didn’t give much up either. He could have had a cleaner block on a linebacker on the fourth drive that would have probably been worth five more yards.

Mike McGlinchey: B — McGlinchey had a solid outing on Sunday and only had a couple of hiccups. He missed a block on a toss after the Vikings first touchdown and Danielle beat him with a spin move right before halftime, which forced Russell Wilson to throw the ball. His best block of the day was downfield in space on a 15-yard run after Josey Jewell’s fumble recovery.

Defense

Defensive Linemen

Zach Allen: A- — Allen wreaked havoc in the middle oft he field, but didn’t get enough help from the edges for that to matter. He drew a hilding and should have drawn another to start the Vikings’ second touchdown drive. At the end of the game, he stuffed a red zone run, contained a Josh Dobbs scramble and created a sack and was in pursuit when Dobbs was called for intentional grounding.

DJ Jones: A — Jones almost had an unbelievable day. On three separate occasions, Jones got into the backfield but wasn’t able to bring down the running back. The penetration helped to end all of those runs. He forced a fumble that likely took points off the board late in the third quarter and was crucial to closing out the game, including when he forced an intentional grounding on the final 3rd & 10.

Mike Purcell: B — Purcell had some good reps, like when he held his ground against a double-team in the red zone and set up a run stuff. He drew a hold. He penetrated on a few occasions. My favorite play was when he dropped to spy the quarterback and jumped into a passing lane, forcing an incompletion.

Jonathan Harris: C+ — Harris had a few run stuffs, including a red-zone tackle for loss in the second quarter.

Matt Henningsen: C — Henningsen had his moments, but they weren’t enough to come away with a positive grade. He had a good rush and hit on the third drive and came up with a run stuff in the red zone in the third quarter. 

Outside Linebackers

Jonathon Cooper: B+ — Cooper had an up-and-down day. He had Josh Dobbs in his arms on a third-down, but missed the tackle and allowed a touchdown. In the second quarter, he had a tackle for loss and sack on back-to-back plays. He didn’t provide a lot of pressure, but almost all of the Broncos’ pressure from the edge came from him. He also struggled to set the edge in the running game.

Baron Browning: B+ — The forced fumble at the start of the game does the heavy lifting here. Browning struggled to set the edge in the running game, including when a running back bounced by him for a 15-yard gain to start the Broncos’ second defensive series. He also got a zero-yard sack on the final drive of the game.

Nik Bonitto: D+ — The Broncos tried rushing Bonitto from the inside a couple of times again this week, but the results were disappointing. When they dropped him from the middle of the line to spy Dobbs, he came away with a hit on the quarterback. He probably deserves credit for flushing Dobbs from the pocket on two occasions. Bonitto gave up a short catch in coverage, which is no big deal, but couldn’t make the tackle and a five-yard gain turned to 22 yards.

Inside Linebackers

Josey Jewell: A+ — Josey Jewell had himself a game. He jumped on a fumble in the third. He beat the running back on a blitz and hit the quarterback to set up JA’Quan McMillian’s pick. He didn’t get credit for a tackle for loss, but he was the one who took out a blocker and bottled up a screen in the fourth quarter.

Alex Singleton: B — Singleton made 16 tackles on Sunday, the second-most in the NFL this week. His average depth of tackle on run downs—which typically hovers around league average for linebackers—was 1.7 yards more than his average on Sunday. He made a couple of mistakes, like when he took bad first steps on back-to-back plays on the Vikings second touchdown drive, but wound up making both tackles. He also missed a tackle on a spin move.

The good outweighs the bad, though. He drew a hold. He helped out with a TFL in the fourth and followed it up with a red zone run stuff. He had a good blitz off the edge, beating the running back and causing a throwaway that forced a field goal.

Cornerbacks

Pat Surtain II: B+ — If Surtain’s pass interference was an interception instead, this grade would look very different. He wasn’t perfect, giving up a third-down conversion to Jordan Addison in the second quarter, but he made up for his mistakes. Later on, he made a great play on a ball to Addison in the middle of the field to prevent a third-down conversion.

Fabian Moreau: A — The 29-year-old vet has now started four games for the Broncos… which is a big enough sample size to start believing the hype… and there’s a scary amount of hype. By Pro Football Reference’s count, Moreau has allowed a 71.2 passer rating when targeted. By Pro Football Focus’s count, Moreau has allowed a 56.8 rating. Either way, that’s a great mark.

Moreau gave up a six yards on a 2^nd & 7. He was playing off coverage and couldn’t get back to cover a speed out quickly enough. That was the only catch he allowed. He blanketed receivers the rest of the night.

I’m not ready to say anything crazy about a cornerback trio of Pat Surtain II, Fabian Moreau and Ja’Quan McMillian, but I’m getting close.

Ja’Quan McMillian: A+ — How does the ball keep finding Ja’Quan?

This week, McMillian had a fumble bounce into his hands on his first drive and he intercepted a pressured pass later on in the game. Both plays required teammates to set him up, but you can’t take McMillian’s capitalization on those plays for granted.

The second-year nickel had a couple of hiccups, like an illegal contact penalty that was declined, and he might have been responsible for the 19-yard gain on 3rd & 20 late in the game. (The Broncos were in an exotic coverage so I can’t pinpoint blame confidently.) But the two big plays and an otherwise solid day make this grade easy.

Riley Moss: B — A four-snap sample size usually isn’t worthy of a grade, but I wanted to mention Moss after the first defensive action of his career. On Pat Surtain’s temporary interception, Moss was in perfect coverage on the tight end.

Moss played in the slot when the Broncos went to dime. Previously, Fabian Moreau had moved to the slot and Damarri Mathis played the boundary. I’d imagine this new alignment will stick until something goes wrong.

Safeties

Justin Simmons: B+ — This is a tough grade.

Simmons made some great plays. His two pass breakups on the final drive were crucial in sealing the win. He timed a blitz perfectly and hit the quarterback. He almost got an interception on the second drive, but just contesting the pass was enough to force a punt.

But Simmons also got beat a couple times, most notably in man coverage against a tight end who ran a hitch and go, converting a third down with a 29-yard gain. Jordan Addison beat Simmons in man coverage on a deep out for 18 yards. Simmons sat back a little in man coverage against a tight end in the fourth quarter and gave up an 11-yard gain into the red zone in the fourth quarter.

The big plays outweigh the flaws, and this grade might still be a little low.

Kareem Jackson: C+ — Jackson’s hit on the first series stole the headlines, but his play throughout the game was solid. He helped with a red-zone stuff in the fourth quarter. He almost undercut and picked off a pass, but couldn’t reel the ball in and gave up an 11-yard gain. He probably should have gotten to the seam quicker when he was playing the deep middle in Cover 3. It was tough because receivers were running up both seams, but Justin Simmons had carries one of them.

Special Teams

Riley Dixon: B — Dixon booted his longest punt of the season, a 68-yarder. Unfortunately it bounced into the end zone. That was his only touchback in four attempts and he finished with a 54.3-yard average.

Wil Lutz: A+ — Five-for-five. Easy grade.