5 Up, 3 Down: Denver Broncos Defense Dominates LA Chargers in Win

The Denver defense dominated the LA Chargers on Sunday afternoon, saving the game and pushing the Broncos to the 23-17 win.

They set the tone when Talanoa Hufanga forced the fumble on LA's first drive that set up the Broncos first touchdown of the day. And a rare first quarter lead. Just before halftime, the defense held LA to zero yards on three plays, giving the offense plenty of time to score. But after a big pass interference penalty moved them basically into Wil Lutz's field goal range, Bo Nix fumbled and Denver went into the half up 10-3.

LA came out of the break determined and drove down the field with a purpose. They went 73 yards in 14 plays capped by Justin Herbert's touchdown pass to Hayden Rucci to tie it up 10-10.

After the defense forced another punt, Bo Nix stepped up in the pocket and fumbled on the first play of the drive. He looked like a backup trying to pretend he's a starter on the embarrassing play, handing the Chargers the ball at Denver's 42.

LA scored on the next play as Kimani Vidal bounced it outside left tackle, through five missed tackles and to the house.

At that moment, it looked like game over. There was still 57 seconds left on the clock in the third quarter, but the Broncos offense couldn't move the ball.

But it was the start of the fourth quarter after all. We all know Denver is a Second Half Team™️ and ultimately a Fourth Quarter Team™️.

Denver's defense turned up the pressure to 11; Nik Bonitto sacked Herbert to force a punt, Que Robinson stoned Herbert at the line on 4th down, Zach Allen record a sack-fumble and Brandon Jones picked the Chargers QB off to basically seal the win.

Each of those stops set the Broncos offense up with a chance for points; they missed the first field goal attempt, but Nix hit Courtland Sutton for his first touchdown of the year and Lutz made his final two kicks of the day to win 23-17.

On the Chargers final 18 plays of the game, all in the fourth quarter, they totaled a mere 19 yards.

And with that, here's your Denver Broncos stock report.

5 Up

1. Nik Bonitto

Bonitto, we've missed you.

To be honest, Bonitto has been playing good football, just not eye-popping great football we've become accustomed to. Not having the starter opposite him (Jonathon Cooper) has allowed offenses to focus on Bonitto and double team him. He had one sack his first four games, but racked up two sacks on Sunday against Herbert. Bonitto also had three tackles for a loss in the game.

He enjoyed a 74.1 grade from PFF and a 76.8 pass rush grade. How ever much stock you put into it.

2. Brandon Jones

Jones has been overshadowed by Hufanga a bit, but don't sleep on how great the other Broncos safety is playing.

He recovered the fumble Hufanga forced on the Chargers first drive. And he had the important fourth quarter pick of Herbert, plus two passes defended and four tackles on the day.

Jones' 35 tackles are second on the team to Alex Singleton (who also had a great game) with 54.

"Yeah, I think he’s savvy and has good football instincts and that’s a great trait
as a safety,” Payton said of Jones.

3. Justin Strnad

Strnad led the team in tackles with eight on the day, including one tackle for a loss. He also tallied a pass defended and his 76.8 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus was his best of the season. Only Jahdae Barron's 85.3 coverage grade was better on the team.

4. Evan Engram

Finally, Evan Engram had a breakout. It's likely no coincidence it came when Sean Payton retook over the play-calling. The tight end led all Broncos receivers with 4 catches for 55 yards including the explosive 34 yard catch and run to set up the team's first touchdown of the day.

Nix still struggled on Sunday, but if they can find ways to scheme Engram open, he could be a huge help to a quarterback fighting for his life back there.

5. J.K. Dobbins

Shoutout to Dobbins, who started the game slowly but gained momentum as it went on. He finished as the team's best runner with 18 carries for 68 yards and a touchdown, and he had some gashes as well.

Dobbins had a 14-yard run in the Broncos second-to-last drive that helped them get into field goal range, and then a 13-yard run to help run time off the clock before their final field goal.

"I thought the guys up front settled in," Sean Payton said after the win. "And again, when we needed it, there was some important runs.”

Just like with Engram, if this game can get Dobbins going, the Broncos offense will be all the better for it. The run game has been pathetic through five weeks, but it looks like they're progressing to a more positive place.

3 Down

1. 3rd Downs

The Broncos converted their first 3rd down attempt of the day and then went 0-12 after that. They went 1-12 on the game. That's laughably bad on the "money downs."

A lot of it has to do with Bo Nix, but let's give some of the blame here to Sean Payton and the play-calling, too.

"I think we converted one third down, so that’s not good enough,” Payton said after the win.

"There were some things that were good and then specifically staying on the field and just converting four or five more third downs...I've got to be a little bit better too, just with some of those calls relative to protection," he said later in the presser.

With that terrible performance, the Broncos fell to 27th on 3rd downs, converting only 33.8% on the season.

2. Bo Nix

Nix is a confusing and at times infuriating quarterback to watch. He started the game 8-9 — which is a positive for Sean Payton's script — and finished 8-18.

He looked lost multiple times. And that fumble just after half was a complete joke. Nix was running scared, stepped up, was hit and fell awkwardly, was never down and then had the ball ripped out of his hands.

That was his second fumble of the day, with Mike McGlinchey jumping on the first one in the 2-minute drill before halftime.

The good news from him was he went 5-8 in the fourth quarter, but it was also clear that Payton wanted to make sure he didn't turn the ball over and ruin the team's chances for winning on the final two drives. Nix had only one pass on the last 10 offensive plays from the Broncos.

His QBR was a terrible 27.6, with Herbert's being slightly worse at 26.6, and yet Nix's passer rating was around his season average at 82.8. His confidence seems shot right now and Payton has to get that back somehow.

“I would say this. I think the one area, I think obviously there's a lot been said about his feet, I think he's settling that down," Payton said. I'm not too sure about that.

Unfortunately they now play the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks on a short week when the Seahawks will be hungry after losing in a battle to the rival 49ers yesterday.

3. Missed Tackles

For all the flowers the defense deserves, they did miss 14 tackles. That's their highest number since Week 1 when they missed 24 tackles.

About half of those misses came on the Vidal 42-yard touchdown scamper in the third quarter.

It should be said that 1. Hufanga left the game early with an ankle injury and he is one of the team's best tacklers and 2. Nix fumbling the ball back to the Chargers meant the defense was tired when they gave up those misses.

Still, stick to the fundamentals, guys.

Honorable Mention: O-Line

The offensive line has been struggling like Nix this year.

They were called for three penalties on the day and Nix was pressured on 10 of his dropbacks, which was 34.5% per PFF.

"I think it's important from a protection standpoint, that early in games we provide that clean pocket so that clock doesn't get juiced up a little bit," Payton commented on the line after the win.

I don't understand why the line is struggling so much this season after sticking together the last three years, but they deserve some of the blame for this offense's lack ability to sustain drives to this point.

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Rich Kurtzman was born and raised in Denver Colorado and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins in the aughts. He's been a professional writer since 2011, covering Colorado State football and men's basketball, as well as the Denver Broncos, for many outlets. Current Denver Broncos work can be found on Mile High Sports. Previous credits include CBS Denver and The USA TODAY Sports Media Group.