Broncos Game Grades: Nik Bonitto and Denver’s pass rush show up late in 29-12 win over the Cleveland Browns

DENVER, Colo. — The win streak continues.

The Broncos won their fifth consecutive game on Sunday, beating the Cleveland Browns 29-12 at Empower Field. Denver is now 6-5 on the season with a three-game road swing up next.

Here’s how the Broncos graded out on Sunday…

Offense

Quarterbacks

Russell Wilson: C+ — This is a tough grade. Wilson missed some easy passes—two to Javonte Williams and a slant to Courtland Sutton—but all of them were catchable. His ball to Sutton in the corner of the end zone was placed like it was going to be a heavily contested grab, but Sutton had a little bit of space, and Wilson could have made his life easier. That ball, too, should have been caught anyway.

Wilson was sharp as a runner. The Broncos ran him on a handful of read options and saw great results. Wilson’s 19-yarder was the highlight, but he finished with 11 carries for 34 yards and a touchdown. He fumbled away one of his scrambles. He extended a couple of plays well with his legs, including his touchdown throw to Adam Trautman.

The big gainers in the passing game were on a pair of deep crossers to Courtland Sutton. He could’ve had another 22-yarder on the same route if he’d been given another quarter of a second. His deep balls up the sideline to Sutton both resulted in pass interference calls, one on Sutton and one on the defender.

Wilson finished with 13 completions on 22 carries for 134 yards and a touchdown. He only took one sack. The volume wasn’t great—and neither was the efficiency—but the Broncos didn’t ask much of their quarterback on Sunday.

Running Backs

Javonte Williams: C- — Williams had a couple of drops. Neither was a great throw, but both certainly should have been caught. A miss in pass protection was negated by a penalty.

As a runner, Williams was solid. His 65 yards on 18 carries is a decent rate, and I didn’t see any holes he missed.

Samaje Perine: A — Perine carried the rock seven times for 55 yards and a touchdown. He also had an 11-yard catch and a nice pickup in pass protection.

Michael Burton: D+ — A couple of tough plays ding Burton’s grade. He was hesitant on the first play of the game while lead-blocking for a toss and prevented a bigger gain. 

Tight Ends

Adam Trautman: A — Some catches on the boundary are skill. Some are luck. I think Trautman’s was pretty lucky, but he scored the touchdown, and that’s all that matters.

Trautman’s 61 snaps of offense were his most in a single game since 2021.

Chris Manhertz: C+ — Manhertz opened the game by cracking Myles Garrett on a toss. He was involved in the blocking game all night. His low point came in the fourth quarter when a defensive end knocked him back for a tackle for loss.

Wide Receivers

Courtland Sutton: B — Sutton’s touchdown streak ends at five games… but he had his chance to extend it. Russell Wilson threw a ball high and away in the back of the end zone (maybe a little too high and away) and Sutton got his hands on it but wasn’t able to hold on. He couldn’t hold on to a 10-yard slant that was a little too far in front of him, either. 

Sutton finished with three catches for 61 yards. He also drew a 34-yard pass interference on the first drive of the game. He caught a ball for 37 yards but was called for offensive pass interference, which negated the play. He was open 22 yards downfield before halftime but Russell Wilson couldn’t get a clean throw off. 

Two of Sutton’s catches (and 56 of his yards) came on deep crossers against man coverage. 

Jerry Jeudy: C- — This is probably the toughest grade of the day. One catch for 11 yards isn’t ideal. But Jeudy was also open on a couple of other occasions, including up the middle for what could have been a 22-yard touchdown with a handful of minutes left in the game.

Plus, Jeudy had the key block on Russell Wilson’s 19-yard run on the read option. Jeudy pinned a defensive back inside and didn’t let him out. It’s tough to give him low marks after seeing that, but I don’t have a choice.

Marvin Mims Jr.: B — Mims had a good day offensively with a 16-yard catch on 3rd & 7, an eight-yard grab and an 11-yard jet sweep. He couldn’t bring in a tough, contested catch 15 yards downfield on the first drive of the game.

He also made a couple of nice blocks downfield on the Broncos’ third-quarter field goal drive. More of those might be the key to getting more opportunities on offense. 

Lil’Jordan Humphrey: C — Humphrey’s best sequence came in the third quarter when he picked up 13 yards on a slant and then made a great block on the perimeter to help out a 15-yard run on the next play. A holding penalty knocks down his grade.

If there was a Pro Bowl spot for blocking receivers, Humphrey might take it. 

David Sills: B — David Sills can block. Maybe someday we’ll find out if he can catch, but he can certainly block.

Offensive Line

Garett Bolles: A — The Broncos gave Bolles plenty of help against Myles Garrett, but Bolles was stellar regardless. He only allowed one pressure all day. On the 34-yard pass to Courtland Sutton, he and Ben Powers passed off a stunt perfectly, which gave Russell Wilson time to make the throw. 

Bolles was a little slow to hit his mark on a pull block in the fourth quarter, but outside of that, he was sharp in the run game from start to finish. He made a good block in space on the toss on the first play of the game. 

Ben Powers: B — I’m canceling out Powers’ false start and the holding penalty he drew in the third quarter. He got knocked backward in pass protection on a couple of occasions, including once during the first drive of the game, but he never allowed a pressure. He missed a block at the second level on the first drive of the game that prevented a chunk of yards on a run. He also had a good pull to open up the lane for a 15-yarder.

Lloyd Cushenberry III: B- — Cushenberry and Russell Wilson fumbled an exchange, a rarity this season. His best block of the day sprang an 18-yard run, but the play was called back for holding. He also had a good double-team on Samaje Perine’s touchdown run.

Quinn Meinerz: A- — Meinerz gave up a hit on Russell Wilson that prevented a 22-yard completion to Courtland Sutton before halftime. Other than that play, he was pretty much flawless.

Meinerz had two dominating pull blocks on trap runs during the Broncos’ third drive of the game. The first opened up a lane for a six-yard gain and the second sprung a 15-yard run.

I counted two pancakes for Meinerz on Sunday, one with the help of Mike McGlinchey.

Mike McGlinchey: B — McGlinchey didn’t get as much help in the passing game as usual since Myles Garrett lined up on the other side of the field for most of the game. He held up well, outside of being driven back and forcing Russell Wilson to flush from the pocket inside the Cleveland 10-yard line.

McGlinchey had a good block on a QB sneak, collapsed the ride side of the line to open space for a second-half run, and made a strong block in space on a toss late in the game.

Defense

Defensive Linemen

Zach Allen: A+ — The safety cements the A+, but Allen would’ve gotten the A without it. He pushed around an interior offensive line that featured two Pro Bowlers all night. Most of his rushes involved knocking a blocker back a couple of steps and reaching up to contest the pass, but he never batted one down.

DJ Jones: A — Jones penetrated on a reverse, spooked the man receiving the pitch and jumped on the ball when it was dropped. It was a one-man turnover. He was pretty quiet the rest of the night. He separated and stuffed a run to set up a 3rd & 8 on the first drive after halftime.

Mike Purcell: A- — Mike Purcell’s fumble recovery wasn’t a game-changer. The Broncos would take over on downs even if the Browns had come up with the ball. But it’s always good to see the big man get in on the action.

Jonathan Harris: B — A tackle for loss on a blown up screen does the bulk of the work here. He was moved around a little but was generally pretty quiet.

Matt Henningsen: B — Every game, there’s a play or two when I see Henningsen out of the corner of my eye and think he’s Zach Allen. Tonight, they were a couple of bull rushes when he got his hand up to contest a pass. He also helped Jonathan Harris blow up a screen.

Tyler Lancaster: C- — Lancaster had a good rep controlling both gaps on the first drive after halftime but was pushed around a little too easily for most of the night. 

Outside Linebackers

Jonathon Cooper: C+ — Cooper had a couple of good rushes near the end of the game, including on the fourth-down incompletion. Up to that point, he had been quiet as a pass rusher.

In the running game, Cooper lost contain and cost 19 yards on an early run, but was mostly solid. He helped stuff a red-zone run that set up a 3rd & 7 in the third quarter. He finished with five tackles.

Baron Browning: D+ — Whether you agree with the call or not—I think it was a clean play—the 15-yard penalty hurts Browning’s grade.

Browning didn’t have much in terms of pass rush production room. He was unblocked on a red zone rush after halftime, but that was the closest he got to the quarterback all night. He missed a tackle attempting to strip the ball and was pancaked on a third-quarter play, but he might have been tripped.

Nik Bonitto: A+ — Through 45 minutes, Bonitto’s grade was not tracking to be a good one. He’d forced two throwaways, but both came on unblocked rushes. He had a good cover on Amari Cooper on a third down and forced a punt. But other than that, he’d been quiet in true pass-rush situations and was pushed around a bit too easily in the running game. 

A sack off of a spin move, another spin move that forced a throw away, a half-sack off a twist with Zach Allen that ended with a safety, a clean rush around the edge that almost resulted in a strip sack, and all of a sudden Bonitto has a career night. He also got pancakes late in the fourth quarter, but we won’t worry about that.

Drew Sanders: B+ — Sanders put together his best performance of the season on Sunday. If Josey Jewell hadn’t strip-sacked the quarterback, Sanders might have. He had another pressure, too. In the second quarter, he got off a block and made an important tackle against a Wildcat run. 

Inside Linebackers

Josey Jewell: A — Jewell held his own while fighting with the Browns’ Pro Bowl guards all afternoon. His strip-sack came on a blitz, but the Browns recovered the ball.

Alex Singleton: A- — Singleton’s fumble recovery might look like a “right place, right time” situation, and in some ways it was. But three blockers got hands on him on his way into the backfield, and none of them could stop him. If he hadn’t gotten in the ball, no other Bronco would have.

He could have made at least two more plays in pass coverage. Both came in the middle of the field zone coverage when a receiver split the difference between Singleton and the safety behind him and opened up after running halfway across the field. Singleton could have flowed with and made a play on the ball. He came close on the second but was still a few inches from the interception. Singleton also had a pass breakup on David Njoku on a fade in the end zone, so it’s tough to call Sunday a bad day in coverage.

A missed tackle on the sideline cost the Broncos about 20 yards before halftime. Singleton made a handful of good tackles, though, including two on the first drive when he chased the quarterback out of bounds on the first play of the game and when he wrestled Njoku out after a five-yard catch. 

For the eighth time in the last nine games, Singleton had double-digit tackles on Sunday. He ranks eighth in the NFL with 110 tackles this season, 47 more than any other Bronco.

Cornerbacks

Pat Surtain II: A — Surtain gave up two catches. One was an 11-yarder to Amari Cooper on 3rd & 8 before halftime. The other was a nine-yarder to start a desperation drive with four minutes left in the game. Outside of that, Surtain was stellar, although a bad throw may have bailed him out from giving up one more catch. 

Fabian Moreau: A- — The Browns tested Fabian Moreau on a pair of end-zone fades. Bad idea. The vet didn’t let his man anywhere near the ball. 

Moreau gave up a few short catches. The 10-yard hook on the second drive was probably the worst play on his part, and it wasn’t costly at all. 

I’m still not ready to make any proclamations about the 29-year-old. It would be crazy to say Moreau is deserving of a few Pro Bowl votes after a game against a fifth-round rookie, right? Keep it up through a road stretch against the prohibitive Rookie of the Year favorite, Justin Herbert and then Jared Goff, and we might be wondering about a Pro Bowl appearance.

Ja’Quan McMillian: C- — McMillian had his worst showing of the season on Sunday, but he was mostly nickeled and dimed. The big play he allowed came when he tried to undercut a corner route but didn’t get deep enough to make a play on the ball, allowing a 26-yard catch. He also gave up 18 yards on an out route to start the final drive before halftime.

Safeties

Justin Simmons: A- — Simmons almost got to a 17-yard pass in time to break it up in the third quarter. But not quite. He was solid as always but wasn’t involved in any splash plays.

PJ Locke: A — Locke’s strip-sack off of a blitz was a game-changer for the Broncos. 

He started off the game hot. On the second play, he hit a running back hard in the flat, then he made a good read on a third-down crossing route to hit Amari Cooper as the ball arrived and forced a three-and-out. He hit Cooper again on a third down after halftime, but Cooper dropped the ball before Locke got there. Even if Cooper had grabbed the ball initially, I doubt he would’ve held on through that hit. Locke was solid in coverage all night. 

The knock on Locke’s grade comes from a late hit in the red zone. The Broncos appeared to be getting off the field thanks to a third-down drop, before Locke’s late hit gave the Browns a free first down. Whether you agree with the call or not, it cost the Broncos four points. He also took a bad angle on a 19-yard run.

Special Teams

Wil Lutz: A — Two-for-two on field goals. Three-for-three on extra points.

Riley Dixon: B- — Dixon had one of his better games, averaging just over 45 yards per punt and never booting one into the end zone.