Broncos Game Grades: Jaleel McLaughlin shines again in the Broncos' 31-21 loss to the New York Jets

DENVER, Colo. — Once again, the Broncos lost on Sunday.

The Denver Broncos hosted the New York Jets at Empower Field at Mile High. Despite leading for most of the first three quarters, the Broncos couldn’t pull out a win, falling 31-21. Denver is now 1-4 this season, while the Jets improve to 2-3.

Here’s how the Broncos graded out…

Offense

Quarterback

Russell Wilson: D — Sunday was the worst performance of the season from Wilson. 

He made some great throws, most notably his two third-down balls to Jerry Jeudy in the fourth quarter and his late post to Courtland Sutton. He also had a couple of great third-down runs. But he held onto the ball too long in general. This was especially true on the safety and the game-ending fumble. Those plays tank his grade.

Wilson finished with 20 completions on 31 attempts for 196 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He earned a 103.7 passer rating. He carried the ball seven times for 49 yards. The numbers aren’t bad, but the big mistake in the big moment was. 

Running Backs

Jaleel McLaughlin: A+ — With limited touches, McLaughlin provided massive production. He carried the ball nine times for 68 yards. He caught three passes for 21 yards and a touchdown. He hit creases quickly and changed angles on defenders. He maximized his opportunities. 

Samaje Perine: D — The first tough grade of the day. There’s a lot going on here. Perine’s 22 yards on six carries is a disappointing rate, but he ran strong and there wasn’t much more out there for him. He also picked up 73 yards on four catches, a great return on investment.

Here’s where it gets weird: he had a bad toss on a reverse that resulted in a turnover. He also probably gave up a sack on the final drive, when he helped in the wrong direction. But that might not be his fault, depending on the protection that was called.

Michael Burton: A+ — Once again, Burton starred in a limited role. He only played six snaps, but he had a great hit when a tight end missed a block on the edge on the Broncos’ second pass. He forced a fumble on a punt, but the Broncos couldn’t recover. And he converted a two-point attempt. 

Tight Ends

Adam Trautman: A — The touchdown is doing the heavy lifting here. Plus, Trautman was productive as a check down option when nothing was open deep. He finished with four catches for 26 yards. He had a couple great blocks, like when he pinned the edge on Jaleel McLaughlin’s 38-yard run and when he bodied Sauce Gardner deep downfield on Samaje Perine’s 25-yard run. He missed a couple of others, like the pin block on Jerry Jeudy’s jet sweep. 

Chris Manhertz: C- — A couple of mistakes in the passing game ding Manhertz’s grade. Michael Burton bailed him out on one and Russell Wilson used his legs to bail him out of another. In the end, there was no real harm. 

Nate Adkins: B — Adkins was quiet in his seven snaps, except for making one of the four key blocks on Jaleel McLaughlin’s 38-yard run. 

Wide Receivers

Courtland Sutton: D- — Sutton’s only catch was a 13-yard post. It came at a crucial time, but he was invisible for most of the game. 

Jerry Jeudy: C- — Jeudy, like Sutton, was quiet for most of the game. His two notable plays came in the fourth quarter when he converted a 3rd & 11 with a 23-yard crosser and a 3rd & 14 with a 20-yard post on the final drive. His three catches for 50 yards warrant a D+ or C- considering he played almost the entire game. I’m giving him the higher grade because his production came in crucial moments. 

Marvin Mims Jr.: F — This one stings, but there’s no other option. The rookie fumbled a punt and gifted the Jets the ball in the red zone. He couldn’t bring in a pitch on a reverse and the Jets recovered again. He wasn’t the primary factor in that fumble—it was a bad pitch—but he had an opportunity to grab it. He had a good block on a 21-yard Jaleel McLaughlin run, but he only had four yards from scrimmage. If the Broncos gave him more opportunities, he could have redeemed his mistakes. But they didn’t, and his impact on the game was far more negative than positive. 

Brandon Johnson: D — Johnson’s only catch was the first play of the final drive. The Jets were in off coverage and the Broncos got him the ball quickly for a free nine yards. He was on the field for about half of the offensive snaps. 

Lil’Jordan Humphrey: B- — Humphrey didn’t play much, but he made some good blocks. One helped spring Jaleel McLaughlin’s 21-yard run. 

Offensive Linemen

Garett Bolles: C — Bolles did a lot of things well, but he had a few too many mistakes to earn high marks. He didn’t get the linebacker cleanly on the first run of the game. He was knocked backward by a smaller defender on a 2nd & Goal toss to Jaleel McLaughlin, which doomed the play. His holding penalty on the first play after the long Breece Hall touchdown put his offense in a tough spot. That all sounds like a lot, but Bolles mostly did a great job on opposing pass rushers without much help.

Ben Powers: C — Powers missed the pickup on a twist in the first drive, but Russell Wilson scrambled to bail him out. He didn’t see a blitzer on the final drive, which resulted in a sack, but Samaje Perine may deserve more blame depending on how the protection was set up. 

Lloyd Cushenberry III: C- — The big question with Cushenberry is how you look at the Broncos’ safety. His man got to Russell Wilson and forced the intentional grounding, but Wilson held the ball too long and put his offensive line in a tough spot. I’m splitting the difference.

Cushenberry had his moments and, like usual, they primarily came when he was allowed to play in space. He had a great downfield lead block on Jaleel McLaughlin’s 38-yard run and again on Samaje Perine’s 25-yard screen. He was also key in the 21-yard McLaughlin run at the end of the half. 

Quinn Meinerz: A- — Meinerz was beaten for a pressure that led to an incompletion, and he missed a block at the second level that might have sprung a big run, but he was otherwise sharp. He had two great blocks on screens, the 25-yarder to Samaje Perine and the touchdown to Jaleel McLaughlin. 

Mike McGlinchey: D — McGlinchey had a great block on Jaleel McLaughlin’s 38-yard run, driving a linebacker to the boundary. But he didn’t do enough to make up for his struggles in the passing game. When three players got to Russell Wilson for a third-quarter sack, his man had the cleanest win. He gave up another sack in the fourth quarter and was beaten again a couple plays later when he couldn’t keep his anchor. 

Quinn Bailey: C- — Bailey earned some work as a sixth offensive lineman, but his most notable play was a missed block that resulted in a two-yard loss in the second quarter. 

Defense

Defensive Linemen

Zach Allen: B+ — The Broncos’ biggest defensive addition of the offseason made his presence felt on Sunday. He was in the backfield on Nik Bonitto’s sack and earned a third-down sack of his own two plays later. He had a run stuff on a 1st & Goal and had a pressure that led to an incompletion in the fourth quarter.

Like the rest of the Broncos’ defensive line, Allen was pushed off his spot too easily on Sunday, but he made enough plays to consider it a good game. 

DJ Jones: A- — On the first run of the game, Jones broke into the backfield. I thought the tackle was behind the line, but he didn’t earn the tackle for loss. It was his only tackle of the night. He played 12 snaps before his knee injury. 

Mike Purcell: D+ — The old adage for defensive linemen is “one man can’t block me and two men can’t move me.” Purcell was moved off his spot far too often on Sunday, occasionally by one blocker.

He had his moments—like when he got into the backfield on the first play after the fumbled punt, when he helped stuff a 2nd & Goal stuff, and when he drew a fourth-quarter hold—but the bad outweighs the good. He also batted a ball in the fourth quarter… that Jonathon Cooper probably would have picked off if he hadn’t. But we won’t hold that second part against the big man.

It’s worth noting that he missed the previous game with a rib injury and has been limited this week. He probably isn’t playing at 100%.

Jonathan Harris: D+ — Harris had his moments, like when he came free and chased the running back the other direction for a run stuff, or when he made a clean tackle on a fourth-quarter first down in the red zone. But in extended work due to DJ Jones’ absence, he wasn’t stout enough in the run game overall.

Matt Henningsen: D+ — Henningsen wasn’t very involved in his 8 snaps. He didn’t make the stat sheet and was pushed to the ground on a 19-yard run. 

Elijah Garcia: B+ — Garcia struggled to hold his ground in his 11 snaps. His grade could have been pretty rough, if not for a strip-sack. It was the first sack of his career.

Outside Linebackers

Nik Bonitto: A- — What do we do here? I think Bonitto was most to blame for the long Breece Hall run. He set the edge and he was probably supposed to work inside the blocker and spill the power run to the outside instead. He struggled at other points in the run game, too. But he had two sacks and also drew a holding call the play before one of them. That’s gotta be worth an A- at least.

Bonitto has been one of the bright spots for the Broncos this season. He’s currently tied for sixth in the NFL with 5.5 sacks. His eight tackles for loss tie for third.

Jonathon Cooper: C- — Cooper just needed to make one or two plays to make a massive improvement to his grade. He came close right before halftime when he was a couple of steps away from a pair of sacks. If Mike Purcell hadn’t batted a ball at the line of scrimmage, he was in perfect position for an interception later in the game. Instead, his grade is knocked down by a missed tackle on the edge that could have saved seven yards, and an offsides call. 

Ronnie Perkins: D+ — Perkins almost had his first career sack just before halftime but the quarterback slipped through his arms. He set the edge nicely to help bottle up a fourth-quarter run, but missed too many assignments to receive high marks. 

Inside Linebackers

Josey Jewell: C- — This is a tough grade. And it’s probably unfair in all honesty. Jewell was put in tough situations. He was left trying to cover for other players’ mistakes. Blockers who attacked him were given easy angles thanks to the mistakes of others. When he gave up a 37-yard catch on a double-move up the seam, it probably wasn’t his responsibility to drop in the Cover 3 defense. The safety playing too deep behind him meant that there was an acre of space between them. He was held when he tried to plug up a run on the third drive of the game, but the refs didn’t throw the flag. You could make the case that he deserves a much, much better grade, but the bottom line is that the Jets ran for 250 yards and he only had five tackles, and his only splash play came on the first run of the game. He was fighting an uphill battle, though.

Alex Singleton: C — Like Jewell, Singleton was put in tough positions for most of the game. He made a couple of plays—penetrating to help stop a run in the fourth quarter and a tackle short of the sticks on a third-down scramble a little later were the most notable. He also was beaten inside by a tight end on a 3rd & 4 for a 19-yard gain in man coverage, and I might be overweighting that play.

Cornerbacks

Pat Surtain II: A+ — Just a good clean game for Surtain. His interception prevented a late field goal and gave the offense a chance to tie or take the game. He did great work on Garrett Wilson, including on a ball to the back of the end zone. The only catch he allowed to Wilson was when the Jets caught him on a rub route and freed Wilson up on the boundary to convert a third down. 

Damarri Mathis: D+ — Mathis wasn’t horrible on Sunday, although his grade looks rough, but he didn’t make enough positive plays to balance out his mistakes. The positives were a good cover in the flat on 3rd & Goal and a potential touchdown saving tackle on the third drive of the game.

The mistakes were a missed tackle on the edge that turned a potential 3rd & short into a 16-yard gain, a 3rd & 1 completion at the sticks when he popped the receiver but couldn’t knock the ball out, a toe drag catch on the sideline for 12 yards into the red zone, and a deep crosser in the fourth quarter when he tried to lay out and undercut the route but couldn’t quite reach the ball. It’s tough to ask a cornerback to cover as long as Mathis had to on that play. This grade might be too harsh, but just a little more from Mathis would have gone a long way. 

Ja’Quan McMillian: A- — McMillian had a really solid, if quiet, day. He was the Broncos’ nickel cornerback and was on the field for the majority of the defensive snaps. He allowed two catches for 11 yards. He was second on the team in run stops, proving that the abilities in the box that he showed in Chicago were no fluke. 

Safeties

Justin Simmons: A- — It’s tough to find mistakes from Justin Simmons. He made five solo tackles without missing one. He didn’t give anything up in the passing game. He made a potential touchdown-saving tackle on a screen and another great tackle from the back side of a zone run to set up a third-quarter third down. 

Kareem Jackson: D — Jackson’s grade is tanked by the bad angle he took on the long Breece Hall touchdown. Instead of being a 72-yard score, Jackson should have bottled it up for 10 or 12 yards. Jackson has been an inconsistent tackler, but he was able to disrupt some plays even when he couldn’t get the ball-carrier to the ground on Sunday, like on a 3rd & 6 when he popped a running back at the line of scrimmage and support came in to clean the play up. Later in the game on a similar play, the support didn’t come and the missed tackle cost the Broncos 10 yards.

Overall, Jackson was productive when moving toward the line of scrimmage. He also bailed out Pat Surtain on a 2nd & Goal by crashing down in coverage when Surtain was caught in traffic on crossing routes. And he made the tackle in bounds at the end of the half that allowed the clock to run out. But the missed tackles and the bad angle on the Hall touchdown kill his grade, which might be too harsh. 

Special Teams

Wil Lutz: A — Lutz didn’t miss, nailing both extra points and a short field goal.

Riley Dixon: C — Dixon’s 45.3-yard average was still a little low, considering he never had to worry about kicking the ball into the end zone.

Tremon Smith: A — Another tough decision. Smith pressured a punt returner, setting him up to drop the punt, and then recovered the fumble. I’ll drop him to an A because he was a split second early to knock the ball out on another return, and drew a penalty.