sadaraineTue, December 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM UTC·12 min readI have never felt quite so exhausted after watching a football game as I did Sunday night. I owe my apologies to my neighbors for the late-night emotions, frustrations, and exclamations of joy (Thank you for your tolerance of our family being football fans).
I did not expect a close game this week. I did not expect the most exciting game of the year on a cold night in Maryland.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementI have two big points to start off my review.
Look out for the Washington Commanders next year
No seriously.
That football team gave the Denver Broncos their best shot, and it was damn near enough to topple them.
What I saw from them was a love of the game, no quit, and lots of talent on their roster. They need their starter back, and they need to make some improvements in their secondary. Do that, and they are going to do some damage in the playoffs next season.
Also, a big hat tip to Marcus Mariota. What a great game from their backup quarterback. I’d take him as a backup any day of the week. He played with grit and talent. I did not feel safe, pretty much on any snap with how their offense was playing.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThat referee crew was abhorrently heinous
I can not for the life of me understand how this crew of “referees” got paid to officiate an NFL game. I stopped counting at 6 false starts by the Commander’s that were obvious and went uncalled. I stopped counting at 5 blatant holding calls in the 2nd quarter that went uncalled (in case you wondered why the Broncos’ pass rush wasn’t working, it largely had to do with their line being able to get away with murder). The Commanders scored a touchdown on an obvious OPI pick. Bonitto got flagged for unnecessary roughness just for moving a guy when he got shoved into the dirt (both were penalties for the record…both players should have been flagged). Nix had a helmet-to-helmet hit that was as clear as day, where if you watch it, the umpire was looking into the stands like a moron, which was why it didn’t get flagged (the other ref didn’t have an angle to see it clearly from what I could see).
Amazingly, in overtime, the Commanders won the toss and said, “We want to kick it that way.” And the refs let them get away with it. The winner gets to choose to receive the ball or defer, while the loser gets to choose the direction.
And their ineptitude did not only happen to our team. We got an intentional grounding call because screw the Commanders, I guess. Pat Surtain had a clear early hit on a pass breakup that went unflagged. Our team had 2 false starts that I saw go unflagged.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementI will affirm any and all calls of terrible officiating about this game by fans of either team without question. The only saving grace at all was that the game was bad both ways, so I guess that’s fair entertainment(?).
Offense
This was always going to be a game where the run game was shaky as they work on figuring things out with their less beefy running backs. I thought that aspect went well, and the team ran well enough to win. If they can keep popping some decent runs here and there, it will do the job of keeping defenses honest.
I think there is a clear opportunity for growth, though with more edge runs being mixed in. Both Harvey and McLaughlin can kill on runs wide if you can block it up well and get a good pull to lead block. I expect to see a bit more of that in the next couple of games.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementI loved how the offense mixed up the play calls at different levels of the field. It was largely dictated by the Commanders’ playing sound zone defense (this is no mystery with Dan Quinn coaching them). The Broncos threw every look at them, practically speaking, and got targets to 11 different receivers through the game.
Quarterbacks
If Bo Nix ever gets receivers who don’t drop balls that hit them in the hands or numbers, watch out. The drops cost this team probably two more scores and an extra 100 yards receiving easily. The throws were there. This was another pretty great accuracy game for Nix, with maybe two passes I thought were bad. One of those was obviously his interception, in which he stared down one receiver like a rookie and ignored the zone defender just in the way underneath.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhat I loved seeing from him throughout this game was the clear understanding of where the soft spots in the zone were and where to go with the ball to let his guys make plays. That wasn’t just dropping short passes to his outlets, either. He hit gaps at all levels of the field through this game, with some of them being completed against very sound coverage.
Let’s also say that his pass to Sutton for a touchdown as he was getting sacked was straight fire. You will not see a better throw from an NFL quarterback this season.
Line
This was a scrappy outing from the offensive line. They gave up only one sack. They opened up holes in the run game. They avoided getting flagged constantly for penalties (benefit of the doubt here, as covered above, this ref crew didn’t know their ass from their elbow).
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementI loved the constant effort of the linemen to help push their ball carriers forward. They were constantly hustling to the ball to help gain inches.
I also liked how well they protected, no matter where the rush was coming from. The blocking backs and line all adjusted superbly to overloads to either side. They get to block for a mobile quarterback that understands the art of rolling out of trouble to buy time, and it has helped this offense tremendously.
Running Backs
R.J. Harvey is getting some very precious carries at this point in the season. While I don’t see a lot of #1 RB potential, I love how capable he looks as a back that can catch out of the backfield. That’s not to say he sucked. His first run was up the middle for 11. I absolutely loved seeing him get some carries at the goal line. He got two crucial touchdowns for the Broncos and showed the line that if they block it, he will score it. Also, the dude gets a ton of love from me for his blitz pick up on the throw before his overtime touchdown.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdam Prentice got another fullback carry with a yard to go and got 3. I’m honestly curious why he doesn’t pick up more carries in short-yardage situations. He chipped in a catch for 11 yards as well. Having these kinds of players all over the roster that make big positive plays when only seeing 16 snaps is a real blessing.
Jaleel McLaughlin has jets, man. He had a great run late in the 4th quarter to rattle off 14 yards. When I talk about more plays to the edge, he’s the main guy I’m talking about.
Receivers
Evan Engram started the game slowly with multiple drops. He really started clicking as the game wore on and was a guy who really benefitted from the Commanders playing so many zone looks. He led the team, catching 6 of 9 targets for 79 yards. His overtime catch and run was one of the most impressive explosions of speed I’ve seen after a catch in quite some time.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementPat Bryant, thankfully, is getting more of the snaps and targets than Troy Franklin, though you could easily argue he had a rough game of it. He had two very bad drops that hit him squarely in the hands. When he got going, it was spades, though. He had a 3rd down catch with Bo scrambling right, where he leaped up into the air to high-point the ball and got leveled coming down. It got cancelled out by a penalty, but it was impressive to see him hang onto that ball. Bo wasn’t shy about giving him targets even after his drops.
Adam Trautman converted a 4th down on a crossing route that got him matched up on a corner. He hilariously sat the guy down with a push to his helmet and rumbled for 22 yards. I love seeing a solid blocking tight end have so much versatility in the receiving game. That’s yet another tool in the belt of Sean Payton to help create easy plays for this offense.
Defense
It seemed to be pretty tough sledding for the Bronco defense this week. The pass rush was being stymied by the Commander line, who protected well even when they weren’t holding.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhat I was most impressed with was how good the secondary looked with Pat Surtain back on the field. The team notched 9 pass defenses, which is rare to see.
What was head-scratching to me was how often Vance Joseph dialed up a blitz that had so little impact. Mariota took a page from Mahomme’s book and was getting rid of the ball as fast as possible to help nullify our defense.
Front 7
You can hold him. You can double-team him. You can chip the guy to keep him in check. But eventually, Nik Bonitto is going to make a play. He is inevitable. He was one of two players to get a sack (h/t to Dondrea Tillman). He made THE play of the game, batting down the final pass that was going to be an easy walk-in 2-point conversion had the ball gotten past him.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementI’m so excited to see Dre Greenlaw rounding into form at the linebacker position. I spoke this offseason about how his ability to cover was such a big plus to this team, and he showed why this week. He did a superb job dropping deep into coverage deep down the sideline, and making a pick.
Big props to Alex Singleton with a gargantuan pass defense late in the 4th quarter by punching the ball out on a deep pass to the middle of the field. He notched two pass defenses in the game. It was so cool to see all the love he got from the team, as well as see how much love this guy has for the game. This guy is going to get a big bag of cash next offseason, and it will be well deserved.
Secondary
Pat Surtain, II, was such a breath of fresh air to see take the field again. He got an early illegal contact penalty that was absolutely necessary – he was flat-footed and beat for a touchdown if he didn’t grab his guy. He battled McLauren quite a few times with ups and downs (McLauren is a freak, and you aren’t going to shut a guy like that down). Surtain’s pass defense in the end zone showed how extraordinary he is at catching up when a guy looks like he has a step.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementRiley Moss got tested on the Commander’s first drive, and he played it perfectly to defend the pass. The stat sheet is going to show he got a touchdown thrown on him, but there was not a damn thing he could have done better. He was in a great position, timed his leap well, and fell victim to a perfect pass and a superb one-handed catch. Another PBU on 2nd and 25 in the 4th quarter, perfectly timing his defense to knock the ball away. It was cool to see his change in technique, feeling his receiver instead of grabbing the guy. The guy put in good work this bye week, and it paid off.
Talanoa Hufanga was an unstoppable force in this game. He got a superb blitz up the A gap for a TFL. The guy is just a playmaker at every level. He led the team in tackles with 13. Don’t let the broadcasters fool you when they talk about safeties leading the tackle category being bad…Hufanga is at the line of scrimmage quite a bit, making these tackles out of positions a linebacker would come from. He does get a big minus for that pass interference in overtime. The game was won if he just timed his play to be when the ball got there, and he knew it right away.
Special Teams
We have to give Reece Taylor love for making one hell of a tackle by the shoestring on a return. He was fast, took a superb angle, and got the returner down immediately, pinning the Commanders deep.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementFinal Thoughts
There’s something special we are seeing each and every week from this team that has me absolutely geeked. They play for each other, cheer each other on, and fight every rep to win for the guys they play with. I’ve seen this kind of play many times over the years. Not only is it refreshing to see, but it is a trait that I see a lot from champions.
As much as we love to prognosticate, no one knows how this season will end. I just know that I know that I know this team can win it all. It is a true blessing to see this team grow over the past few years into what it is today. This is great football from top to bottom.
Keep doing what you are doing, Broncos, and good things will come.
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