Throughout the entire 2020-21 season, DNVR will be giving you game grades from every Denver Broncos contest, evaluating all the starters and beyond to give you a better look at the team’s strengths and weaknesses on a game-by-game basis.

In a defensive carbon copy of the Broncos’ late comeback win against the Chargers earlier in the year, this time it was a more mature  LA team made just enough plays in the clutch to outlast Denver.

As always, here’s who stood out both good and bad.

Standouts 

Shelby Harris: A

Harris was an absolute force, getting progressively better as the game went on and playing a key role to force two consecutive three-and-outs in the fourth quarter. With two pass deflections, two more quarterback hits, and a team-high 1.5 run stuffs, Harris was huge in winning the battle at the point of attack for Denver, as the defense did more than enough to pull off the win.

Jeremiah Attaochu: A

Attaochu was Denver’s best and most consistent pass rusher, quickly racking up three quarterback hurries in key moments. With the Bolts only converting three third downs all game, No. 97 was great in making Herbert uncomfortable on those downs and still playing strong defense out on the edge.

Josey Jewell: A-

Jewell played a really good game and was in the right spots just about all day, as shown by two TFLs but also some timely plays in coverage. He batted a ball down for a crucial stop in the red zone on 3rd-and-3 and had another great deflection closing in on a laser over the middle to force a punt. He allowed just two grabs on five targets for 18 yards on the day. The only knock on his game was that one of those two receptions allowed was a TD.

Jerry Jeudy: F

Jeudy is the big story of the game as some key drops really impacted Denver’s ability to pull out the late victory. A pair of early drops could be excused as he and Lock just didn’t look on the same page but in winning time, dropping a TD first and then a game-altering 60-plus yard completion in the final minute cost the Broncos the game.

Despite a few nice grabs on third down to prolong drives, these grades are a measure of if a player contributed more to winning or losing and Jeudy’s devastating drops impacted the Broncos negatively more than any other individual performance in Week 16.

Defense

DeShawn Williams: C

Williams’ impact was felt most early on in the game where he was able to get into the opposing backfield on a QB hit. In 53-percent of the defensive snaps, his production was fairly limited though his presence was felt defending the run up the middle.

Dre’Mont Jones: B

Jones had his flashes including a key late sack in the red zone that forced LA to settle for a field goal, as he too played his best football late in 72-percent of the defensive snaps.

Alexander Johnson: B

Johnson played well against the run, matching Harris’ 1.5 run stuffs on the day and coming up with a big QB hurry on 3rd-and-6 to force an incompletion. He wasn’t super smooth recovering in coverage, allowing two grabs for 37 yards on as many targets but was solid overall.

Malik Reed: B+

Reed produced a massive sack to force the Chargers out of field goal range and end the half; first, rushing Herbert off his spot and then he running him down for the sack and forced fumble. He played well in all phases, standing out against the run and doing a good job the lone time he was tested in coverage. With a sack and a QB hurry his impact rushing the passer was there, though you’d like to see even more in 82 percent of the defensive snaps.

Michael Ojemudia: B-

Denver’s rookie cornerback played like a veteran, not allowing anything to get behind him and tackling well in space all while playing every single snap on defense. On four targets he allowed as many receptions for 60 yards in an outing with very few splash plays but where No. 23 didn’t allow anything big.

De’Vante Bausby: D+

Bausby’s struggles tackling in space and slow reactions to the ball got him benched for undrafted rookie Parnell Motley, who played significantly better. On the day Bausby allowed four receptions for 69 yards on five targets, while Motley came in and only allowed one grab on three targets.

Kareem Jackson: B

Jackson didn’t have any big plays but was sound in all phases as Denver held both the Chargers’ run and passing game in check.

Justin Simmons: B

Simmons was terrific in coverage only allowing one reception that went for positive yards, and while he did miss a tackle in space, he made up for it by hustling and still bringing his man down.

Other noteworthy defensive performances 

Will Parks was targeted a team-high six times, allowing four grabs for 29 yards while playing 68 percent of the snaps in a strong outing.

Offense

Garett Bolles: B

Bolles combined with Risner to allow a QB hit resulting in a flag for intentional grounding on Lock. Denver’s left tackle was strong in pass protection otherwise, even if against a beat-up Chargers line. Bolles was solid but far from dominant as a run blocker.

Dalton Risner: B+

Risner had a clean game beyond the aforementioned QB hit allowed and was strong as a run blocker leading the way in stretches and playing pretty effortlessly the entire outing.

Lloyd Cushenberry III: C

Cushenberry keeps improving though he did have his mistakes, like allowing penetration up the middle that flushed Lock out of the pocket, getting beat on a run stop, and flagged for an illegal block above the waist. In 77 snaps, outside of a handful of bad plays he was actually fairly clean.

Graham Glasgow: C

Glasgow was solid in pass protection but not the smoothes moving to the second level or on pull blocks where he was beaten to his spot on two separate run stops (a team-high).

Elijah Wilkinson: C-

Wilkinson played pretty well until the very end where he was beaten off the edge on the second to last drive, forcing his QB into a sack on the perimeter. He also got overpowered for a TFL and had issues blocking in the final drive.

Tim Patrick: C

Patrick didn’t see much of the ball as Jeudy got the overwhelming majority of targets in this one. His impact was thus limited beyond a nice 27-yard catch on fourth down.

K.J. Hamler: N/A

It was tough to see the diminutive speedy receiver get flattened early in the game and taken out as he tried to turn the corner on a screen. DaeSean Hamilton replaced the fellow Nittany Lion and had some key grabs for Denver in the second half.

Noah Fant: C+

Fant was efficient, a nice security blanket for his QB even if he didn’t make any game-breaking plays after the catch or in the end zone he was still solidly Lock’s most consistent target.

Melvin Gordon: B

Gordon played well, especially early where he was churning out extra yards and breaking tackles. There’s been a dynamic element to his game that’s been missing but Gordon has been a tough downhill runner who is regularly breaking or forcing missed tackles.

Drew Lock: C-

Lock certainly had his moments throwing on the run and avoiding pressure and beyond all that put his team in position to win on multiple occasions but couldn’t get his receivers to make a play for him. At the same time, he was tremendously inconsistent missing open receivers and looking shaky with his ball placement which certainly factored into all the drops.

While the loss cannot fall all on him given some key mistakes made by other teammates his brutal early red-zone sequence; missing Fant for a touchdown and then forcing a bad turnover the very next play, squandering three points in the process is kills his grade.

Special Teams: D 

Brandon McManus made a TD saving tackle on the opening kickoff which still went for a 53-yard return for the Chargers. Kickoff coverage, in general, had a few issues on the day as did McManus who missed a field goal attempt.

Sam Martin didn’t have a great day punting either, pinning the Chargers inside their own 20 just once.

Coaching: C

This one’s hard to grade for a multitude of reasons. First off, despite missing all its starting cornerbacks and two best edge rushers Vic Fangio‘s defense played very well and the game was managed fine.

Pat Shurmur‘s offensive plan wasn’t super innovative as Denver found themselves in a quick hole and stuck with three-receiver personnel almost exclusively.

The loss wasn’t on the coaches with some really bad execution on the player’s part but against a pretty poor Chargers team, that’s not much of a consolation.