How did this happen? How did the Broncos let an 0-5 injury ravaged Giants team come in to their house and kick their butts? Well, from the looks of things, somehow, someway, they weren’t ready to play. Even with an extra week of rest and preparation. The plays were all wrong. The players were bad. The hunger to win was gone. What happened to the fun offense they were running before? The game plan looked like something they were drawing up with sticks and rocks on the sideline.  I think that relying on Trevor Siemian to do too much when we have a great running game is counterintuitive and cancels out the strengths of this offense. I say, keep running the ball and make it work. The passing game can’t work without it. Also, Siemian has to improve his pocket awareness. I know this offensive line has more holes than a golf course but if he stepped up into the pocket rather than running away from it, I’d bet he’d have more downfield success with less defensive pressure. It’s terrible games like this make it really hard to trust him long term. His inconsistent play could very well be the downfall of this season.

Very, very good. The Broncos made a real effort this year to improve on last year’s 28th ranked run defense. The addition of nose tackle Domata Peko and the improved play of the inside linebackers Brandon Marshall and Todd Davis have led this team to an historic start. The 203 rushing yards allowed through four games is the best in Broncos history. As for the pass defense, it’s still a strong unit. They rank 10th in the league with 210 passing yards per game but have given up some big plays along with that. Most of this is a result of teams being forced to pass more with yards hard to come by on the ground. It also would be unfair to say that the loss of veteran leader TJ Ward hasn’t changed the swagger of the No-Fly Zone, but his replacement, Justin Stewart, is still young and has amazing potential. Superstar Von Miller has yet to be a force statistically this year, but he is still an incredible talent that demands double team attention regularly. Add to this the aggressive style of new Defensive Coordinator Joe Woods, and you have the makings of an elite defense. Grade: A

So far, so good. The Denver Broncos are 3-1 after four games, and are in second place in the AFC West, trailing the very good 5-0 Kansas City Chiefs by a game and a half. This success goes against all the early season prognosticators I heard. Most had Denver finishing in last place. Well, shows what they know. The offense has proven themselves to be infinitely better than they were last year. Trevor Siemien has shown glimpses of a strong arm and an ability to move outside the pocket a little. Who knew? Unfortunately though, he starts games strong but finishes them with a whimper. The addition of Jamaal Charles, along with a healthy CJ Anderson, has given new life to the run game that is ranked third in the league with an average of 143 yards per game. The offensive line, while certainly helping in the run department, has also struggled mightily in pass protection. According to Pro Football Focus, Trevor Siemian has been hit 24 times, sacked 13 times and has been under pressure 38.8 percent of his dropbacks. Wow!  Conversely, First-round draft pick Garett Bolles, is surprising coaches with his play at right tackle and is winning most of the one-on-one battles, allowing only a half a sack so far.  Finally, Mike McCoy is the master chef making all of these ingredients work together in a good rhythm with his adaptive approach to play-calling.  Grade: B

I guess to some people, a win is a win. Well, while that is true, some wins just feel better than others and this one didn’t feel so good.  A 16-10 win against Oakland was good, but it sure looked bad. Defensively,  this unit left it all out on the field and kept the Raiders out of the endzone most of the day and, once again, shut down a potent run game and forced Oakland to be one-dimensional. However, our offense sputtered again in the red zone, after moving the football between the 20’s all day, and we barely squeezed out 16 points in a game that I felt we controlled the whole time. Missed opportunities and a missed field goal kept this game too close for comfort, but a win is better than a loss, and that’s a fact I’ll have to accept today. It doesn’t mean I have to like it. No game next week with the New York football Giants on tap in two. Hopefully we can fix our offensive woes by then.

The NFL season is short. Every game counts. It’s just week 4 and it already feels like if we don’t win this game, the season could get away from us quickly. Obviously at 2-2, and a loss in division, it would be an uphill climb the rest of the year. The AFC West is too strong to give away home losses. Can’t do it!  But, if we win, that’ll be 3-1 and 2-0 in the division, and the trajectory of this season will be moving up. Must win? Probably not. Important win? Absolutely.

It seems like every time the Broncos have to play an early game in the Eastern time zone, they always play flat and all out of sorts. This time was no different. The Broncos lost 26-16 against the Bills. Denver had early opportunities in the game, the kind that they might take advantage of at home, but failed to capitalize on any of them on the road. They made several key mistakes that were not typical of the first six games that Vance Joseph coached. Penalties didn’t go there way, mental mistakes cost them turnovers and the play calling wasn’t fooling anybody. But hey, you cant win them all and this is still a good football team with a very young quarterback. The future of this season still looks bright, we just cant afford to give away any games at home. Oakland is here next week.