Broncos Player Grades from Historic Comeback Win Over Giants

This was McGlinchey's first great game this season. He was clean and consistent in the run game, working the edge of the Giants' defense, despite the lack of team success.

McGlinchey also performed well as a pass protector against edge rushers who typically attack areas where he struggles. 

Quarterback

Bo Nix | Grade: 57.4

There were a lot of issues around Nix, especially with five dropped passes on the day, three of which came on the first two drives. Besides that, he was also late with his reads and missed some open opportunities, taking bad hits or throwing it away. Nix needs to figure out the deep game, as he is consistently throwing over his targets. 

That said, Nix’s fourth quarter was exceptional, and in the final period alone, he posted a 91.4 grade, which would be his highest this season if it were for a full game. It's worth noting not only the comeback the Broncos pulled off, but also how much more they had the ball in the fourth quarter compared to the first three.

In fact, Denver had 10:58 of time of possession in the fourth quarter and 18:51 in the first three quarters combined. 

The Positive

Dre Greenlaw | LB | Grade: 76.9

It was great to see Greenlaw out on the field flying around. There were a couple of rough plays for him over the first few snaps he played, but he ended up making an impact in every element, including a big hit on Giants' quarterback Jaxson Dart. If it hadn't been for Strnad, Greenlaw would've been Denver's defensive MVP in his first game for the club.

It's unfortunate that the NFL handed down a one-game suspension to Greenlaw for chasing and "threatening" a referee after the final gun. He is appealing, but might be out for Week 8. That happened after the game, though.

Patrick Surtain II | CB | Grade: 75.2

The Broncos' star corner had an exceptional game, shutting down whoever he was facing off against. While the Giants didn’t have a top-tier threat, the Broncos still needed their shutdown corner to show up. 

Malcolm Roach | DL | Grade: 74.2

Getting Roach off injured reserve has been huge for the Broncos' defensive front, which has found more consistency. What's more, he's showing more consistency against the run than he did last year, significantly boosting the run defense. 

D.J. Jones | DL | Grade: 73.8

The Broncos' nose tackle has had an outstanding start to the season, consistently giving the Giants' offensive line issues. He has been a wall against the run with great consistency this season. 

Zach Allen | DL | Grade: 73.6

Allen has been inconsistent this season, but he is getting into a groove as a run defender and as a pass rusher. One of the best plays from Allen was him getting up in the air when his rush was stalled and batting a pass at the line of scrimmage. 

Garett Bolles | LT | Grade: 67.7

Bolles has been exceptional for the Broncos this year, and he continued to be a stalwart at left tackle against the Giants' edge rushers. After the best year of his career in 2024, Bolles has improved his play once again. 

Marvin Mims Jr. | WR | Grade: 66.9

Mims is once again settling into his role as a gadget player on offense, but for the first three quarters, he was the only one who showed up. He made two huge plays downfield as a receiver in the fourth quarter, delivering on that clutch gene.

Denver needs to continue developing plays and packages to help get more of that type of production out of Mims. 

Quinn Meinerz | RG | Grade: 63.2

Meinerz has been an issue for the Broncos for the first six games, but he played great football against the Giants. There are some issues with awareness on late rushers, stunts, and twists, but his physical dominance is once again showing. 

Tyler Badie | RB | Grade: 61.1

Whenever Denver calls upon Badie, he does well and has become a reliable player for the offense. He seems on the verge of overtaking RJ Harvey as the primary backup behind J.K. Dobbins.

Badie played three more snaps on offense than Harvey and replaced the rookie on kick returns after RJ botched a return by catching it on the boundary and stepping out of bounds inside the 5-yard line. 

The Negative

Adam Trautman | TE | Grade: 33.4

Trautman had a couple of good games for the Broncos, but he is losing snaps. With the trade deadline approaching, he could be a name to watch, either as a potential trade target or as a player Denver seeks to upgrade over. 

Evan Engram | TE | Grade: 39.6 

Engram's two drops in the game, along with his terrible blocking, were a plague for the Broncos. He slightly helped himself, catching five passes for over 40 yards, including one explosive play late during Nix's furious comeback, but Engram was brought in to be a playmaker, and it hasn’t happened yet. 

Troy Franklin | WR | Grade: 40.6

The blocking and route running from Franklin was terrible, and there were some moments of questionable effort. Now, he did have a few huge plays for the Broncos offense, including the team's first touchdown, which came off a tipped pass, boosting his grade from the mid-teens. 

Pat Bryant | WR | Grade: 41.7

The early drop from Bryant was not the way to start; even with a pass slightly high, it was very catchable. He did well as a blocker, though there were some rough moments. All in all, it wasn’t a good showing from the rookie who has become the Broncos' No. 3 receiver based on snap count.  

Ja’Quan McMillian | CB | Grade: 71.8

McMillian was the Broncos' best corner through the first six games, but the Giants targeted him after seemingly seeing something on tape, and they did it with success. Hopefully, this was a down game for McMillian, and he can bounce back next week. 

Brandon Jones | S | Grade: 43.7

There were a few plays in coverage where Jones seemed out of position, and at times, he was late working downhill. It seems unlikely that Jones was executing the wrong play, so when watching the game over, the Giants were doing things to force errors from the veteran safety. 

Nik Bonitto | OLB | Grade: 51.8

The issues Bonitto has as a run defender were exploited by the Giants, and he didn’t make up for it with big splash plays as a pass rusher. The Giants focused on keeping Bonitto from taking over the game and succeeded. 

Jonathon Cooper | OLB | Grade: 54.2

Denver had issues with its run defense off the edge, and the Giants did a great job of using the aggressive style of Bonitto and Cooper against them on the ground. Cooper had a bigger game as a pass rusher, but was surprisingly worse as a run defender than Bonitto. 

Other Noteworthy Grades

Riley Moss | CB | Grade: 63.7

Moss was a shutdown corner against the Giants and got called for a defensive pass interference, although it was a bad call by the officials. It was a great game, but the Giants don’t have the weapons to be a threat. So, this was a confidence game for Moss, and he needs it with the Dallas Cowboys coming up next.

Que Robinson | OLB | Grade: 61.3

The rookie did surprisingly well using his speed and quickness as a run defender and added two pressures in 14 pass-rushing snaps. It was a good game for the rookie who had to step up after Jonah Elliss was out with an injury. 

Courtland Sutton | WR | Grade: 56.3

There were times Denver looked to Sutton to make a play through the first three quarters, only for it to fall flat. Thankfully, he made a couple of huge catches in the fourth quarter that helped the Broncos complete the mind-boggling comeback. 

Alex Palczewski | LG | Grade: 53.4

It wasn’t a great showing, and there were issues with Palczewski's technique working from the left side that we didn’t see last year when he started at right tackle. However, he showed a lot of promise. Hopefully, it's a level of play Denver can build on moving forward with Palczewski as the starter.