Denver Broncos at Baltimore Ravens: The No Bull Review

Welcome back to Earth, Broncos Country. We were in the stratosphere for a while there as the team was picking up wins and looking a lot more competent than we'd seen them in ages.

The Baltimore Ravens were here to dispel the Denver Broncos' illusions of size of being a major team in the AFC this season.

But that's okay. If you've been on the No Bull ride with me all season, this loss wasn't a huge surprise. We may still get into the playoffs as a wild card team, but what you saw in that game was who this team is: young, lacking talent in many areas, and just beginning to seriously learn what it takes, to be winner.

We will forego detailed comments on this topic, Broncos Country. I don't find games that go so sideways to be particularly valuable. We'll be playing big and looking forward to next week's game, as will the team honestly.

attack

As the game got out of hand, the running game was abandoned. Our passing attack showed how much skill players lack at almost every level. The team competed against a zone that Nix still wants to beat consistently. As the score mounted, the playbook eluded Payton and we were forced to air it and hope for the best.

I have to admit that I hated that Sean Payton made it early on 4th-and-4. I think this is a field goal scenario 10 times out of 10, and I don't care that you're facing a hot offense. For me, the moral cost of having a young team is too high. In three years with a more experienced Bo Nix I might like the move a lot more, but in this game it was a mistake.

Other than that, I don't think there's much you can do on the offensive side of the ball to improve your chances of winning this game. I think these teams could play 100 times and the Broncos would honestly lose 100 of them regardless of what Payton does on offense.

Quarterbacks

Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

The best thing that happened in this game was that Bo Nix got more real reps against Cover-2. Honestly, he had some really good shots in this game, but most won't notice because of the lopsided score. For example, Nix made an impressive throw across his body to find Williams in the middle of the field on a 3rd-and-6 that ended up going 34 yards.

What I'm most excited about is Nix continuing to show great timing passes. These routes are an important key to tearing apart zone defenses and the windows for them are only open for a very short time. These timing routes (think slants, comebacks, curls and digs) require a high level of accuracy, which Nix has in abundance.

The only highlight we saw in this game was Nix catching a touchdown pass against a defender. It was a great ticking play and I was amazed at how Nix blocked his defender as he went up with the right timing to make the catch.

Recipient

Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images

Courtland Sutton showed that he is still a talented NFL wide receiver with a great game with 7 catches on 10 targets for 122 yards, 1 TD pass and several chain-moving catches. I don't think he's a true #1 WR, but this team would certainly be better if we only had a player like him on the roster.

The rest of the wide receiver group was just a huge disappointment in this game. There were dropped passes everywhere. The routes were poor and the guys failed to create separation or find the gaps in the zone defense they faced.

In particular, I want to point out that I'm honestly tired of the team throwing a high ball to Franklin once a game only to miss it. It's a missed opportunity. Nix brought him down in this game, but they just don't see eye to eye. I honestly think Franklin would be in a better situation on the practice squad.

defense

Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Vance Joseph was the main reason this game went so badly. I don't know what demon whispered in his ear and said that stopping the run against the Ravens was the key to victory, but he was dead wrong.

However, I will put your defenses to the test and see what they can do. This team would be better off if they were able to create more zones to catch teams off guard. You don't want Lamar Jackson rushing for 100 yards, so going into the zone makes sense.

But your team isn't good at it. That's not what they've done this season and you have a guy starting at safety who shouldn't even be on the NFL field.

Unlike the offense, I think the defense could probably give us 10 out of 100 wins if they had played their normal man-based defense.

Secondary

Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images

Devon Key had the worst excuse for a safety play in NFL football that I've probably ever seen in all my years of watching the game. I won't go into how bad it was because I didn't care after he was single-handedly responsible for three touchdowns.

Final thoughts

I have to say that I think the smelly pile of stool that was this game didn't need the extra layer of diarrhea mayonnaise, as the referees called the game. I thought it was amazing that they were able to negate Williams' first down early. On replay it wasn't clear and looked to me like a shadow under his knee until he reached the point where the ball was originally marked.

They gave us a completely stupid tripping call for a guy who was down with his leg out, and a defensive hold call for Surtain, who played great coverage and didn't move the receiver one iota. If the game had been close, I would have been tearing my hair out if the Ravens had consistently made so many holding plays on offense. Finally, the referees gave the Ravens a first down on a reach, which happened after the player's knee went down.

It was truly pathetic and almost looked like the NFL had handed the Broncos a loss this week, and Joseph decided to use the opportunity to work on his match zone concepts.

But enough of the tinfoil hat nonsense. Baltimore is a better team than the Broncos in every way. Honestly, this game isn't a big loss. If our team makes the playoffs (which they absolutely will, even if they lose next week), they probably won't attract much attention.

We are still playing with house money and building our young player base for the future. I still love the look of this team and think the future is very bright for them.