The Denver Broncos dominated the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday Night Football, improving to 2-2 on the season. The offense was firing on all cylinders, and the defense looked like what we all expected. Denver gets their first primetime win this season and will look to keep the momentum rolling with a tough schedule ahead.
Broncos Offense Looked Great
This was by far the best offensive performance for the Broncos so far this season. JK Dobbins continues to dominate the ground game, becoming the first running back in Sean Payton’s tenure in Denver to have over 100 rushing yards in a single game. The last player to do it was Latavius Murray in Week 18, in the 2022 season. Rookie RB RJ Harvey also had a nice impact, rushing for 58 yards, 40 receiving yards and catching a touchdown.
Bo Nix played a great game today, throwing for over 300 yards and two touchdowns. Nix connected with what felt like every receiver on the roster tonight and carved up the Bengals’ defense. Nix made multiple throws into tight windows, and his best throw of the night came on
a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton. He looked comfortable in the pocket all night long and used his legs to get the first down when needed.
The play calling was also much improved, as establishing the run game early on helped them dominate. Payton relied on a lot of wide receiver screens and bootleg passes. He didn’t wait until the second half to be aggressive, opening up the playbook early, which is what everyone wanted to see throughout the first three weeks of the season.
Defense Shut It Down
The Bengals tried pushing the ball downfield early on, but the Broncos’ secondary held strong. Nik Bonitto was a one-man wrecking crew tonight, continuing to dominate anyone who gets in his way. Through four games, Bonitto has 4.5 sacks and is putting together another monstrous season. After Cincinnati drove down the field on its first drive, Denver shut them down entirely.
For the first time all season, they were able to stop the opposing running back, giving up just 40 yards to Chase Brown. Jake Browning threw for just 125 yards, and the Broncos’ secondary never let their foot off the gas.
Going into today, Denver needed to dominate all four quarters, and they did exactly what they needed to do, beating a Bengals team that might not win another game for multiple weeks.
The Broncos will have a short week coming up, as they’ll head to the East Coast to take on the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles in Lincoln Financial Field.