Initial thoughts from the Broncos’ 34-18 win over the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5 at Empower Field at Mile High:
Talk your talk, Bo: A year ago, Russell Wilson just took it. Sean Payton was in his ear, chewing him out on prime-time national TV in Detroit, and the then-Broncos quarterback said virtually nothing. Fast forward to Sunday, and Bo Nix was having none of it. Confronted by the Denver coach after rookie wide receiver Troy Franklin dropped a tough, but catchable, deep ball in the end zone, Nix didn’t just stand his ground. He let Payton have imt. Then he went out and led back-to-back touchdown drives, sneaking one in and throwing another to Josh Reynolds from 9 yards out. Could it be that all the Broncos needed was someone to yell at Payton?
Rai-duh pride: One of the most frustrating aspects of the Broncos’ eight-game losing streak to the Raiders (now mercifully over). It’s the flippin’ Rai-duhs!!! A franchise with a well-earned reputation for consistently shooting itself in the foot!!! Like on Sunday, when Gardner Minshew floated a ball to Pat Surtain II on the Broncos goal line for a 100-yard pick-six. Or when Janarius Robinson committed a needless personal foul on Wil Lutz’s 59-yard field goal miss at the end of the first half. Ten points absolutely gift-wrapped by the Rai-duhs, and a 13-10 Denver lead it never should have had.
Take a Bow-ers: Get ready to hear this for the next decade: Brock Bowers could’ve been a Bronco. There for the taking at No. 12 in last spring’s NFL draft, the team’s brain trust opted to draft its next franchise QB (fingers crossed) instead. Thus, it came to be that on a day when third-year tight end Greg Dulcich was a healthy scratch, the Raiders rookie big bro’ed safety P.J. Locke on the fourth snap of the game for a 57-yard touchdown catch and generally ran roughshod in his Mile High debut. Get used to it, Broncos Country. This guy’s going to be around for a long time.
Spirit of ’77: Gotta hand it to the Broncos. They were committed to the bit with their celebration of the 1977 Orange Crush Broncos. The throwback uniforms, of course, were a given. We’d been waiting for those lovely duds for months. But everything else? The end zones? The sideline padding? The ’70s music? The Orange Crush font on the video boards? The game of “Pong” in the second quarter?!?!? If you’re a fan of branding, Empower Field was your Graceland on Sunday afternoon. And it was glorious.
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