The former UIW quarterback Cam Ward loses his first NFL game, throwing for 112 yards but failing to throw a touchdown pass.
DENVER — The good teams don’t need their quarterback to play well to win.
Broncos’ quarterback Bo Nix didn’t play well, at least not in the first 2 1/2 quarters of the season opener here Sunday afternoon but his team won, anyway, beating the young and mistake-prone Tennessee Titans, 20-12 on a warm and most overcast early September afternoon before a gathering of 73,747 (only 2,173 no-shows) at Empower Field at Mile High.
The Broncos have a long way to go if they’re going to prove their head coach Sean Payton a prophet. Payton proclaimed during training camp this year’s Broncos have a chance to win a Super Bowl. He also made a head-scratching decision near the end of game, going for it on fourth and 8 from the Tennessee 36 yard line and 1:05 remaining. Nix threw a deep alley-oop towards Marvin Mims but it was incomplete.
Titans ball at their own 36. But Titans’ rookie Cam Ward threw three incompletions and was strip sacked by nickelback Ja’Quan McMillian on fourth down. Once again, Vance Joseph’s Denver D bailed out Sean Payton and Bo Nix’s offense.
It looked rough there for a while Sunday, yet like good teams do, the Broncos had enough to start their season 1-0 thanks to their stingy and pressure-packed defense and a late-in-the-first-half touchdown pass from Bo Nix to Courtland Sutton.
Early in the second half, Nix had committed three turnovers on two interceptions and lost fumble and his team was trailing the heavy underdog Titans, 12-10 on a warm, overcast early September Sunday afternoon before a gathering of 73,747 (only 2,173 no-shows) at Empower Field at Mile High.
A short Wil Lutz field goal with 4:17 left in the third quarter put the Broncos back up, 13-12.
Luckily for the Broncos, Titans head coach and play caller Brian Callahan, who had been overly cautious calling plays for rookie quarterback Cam Ward for the entire first half, suddenly became aggressive in an odd situation. With 47 seconds remaining in the half and the ball back inside his own 10, Callahan called three straight pass plays.
Two incompletes and a sack later, the Titans punted from deep in their own end zone and Broncos’ sublime punt returner Marvin Mims Jr. brought it back 17 yards to the Tennessee 38. A pass interference penalty on Tennessee’s Jarvin Brownlee moved Denver to the 22, from where Sutton ran a sideline-and-go and got a step free to haul in a perfectly thrown ball from Nix for a 10-6 lead with 16 seconds left.
Take three knees and the Titans are up 6-3 at the half.
However, the Titans’ Chimere Dike returned the kickoff 71 yards, setting up a field goal by Joe Slye, moving the Titans to within 10-9 at the half.
The teams exchanged field goals in the third quarter, leaving the Broncos up a point, 13-12. The game-deciding sequence occurred early in the fourth quarter. Mims muffed a punt deep in his own territory and the Titans recovered. With the ball at the Denver 22 yard line, Ward made two huge rookie mistakes, taking a 16-yard loss on a sack by Broncos outside linebacker Jonah Ellis and another 11-yard loss on a sack by Broncos’ defensive lineman Zach Allen.
The ball was back to near midfield and instead of a go-ahead field goal attempt, the Titans had to punt.
And on the Broncos’ first play, rookie running back RJ Harvey burst through the middle, cut left and sprinted for a 50-yard gain. The heavy run series ended with veteran running back J.K. Dobbins busted through left guard for a walk-in 19-yard rushing touchdown.
The Broncos were up 20-12 with 7:37 remaining.
Payton, the Broncos’ head coach got off to a rough start as an offensive play caller. When Nix called a timeout rather than take a second delay-of-game penalty during the Broncos’ first possession, he seemed to yell at Payton to get the play in quicker.
The Broncos’ offense seemed rushed, confused, even tardy before getting off a snap in the first quarter. After two full possessions, Payton had called 14 pass plays for Nix against just three running plays. So much for better balance.
It was 3-3 after the first quarter and Tennessee was in good shape after Nix threw an interception to Roger McCreary near the end of the quarter.
Denver’s defense picked up the offense, though, as safety Talanoa Hufanga, in his Broncos’ defense, smacked the ball loose from running back Tony Pollard and fellow safety Brandon Jones recovered at his own 32.
The Broncos and Titans exchanged field goals in the third quarter with Tennessee capitalizing off Nix’s second interception.
Nix was 25 of 40 for 176 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. Titans’ rookie Ward was only 12 of 28 for 112 yards.
Sutton as usual was the Broncos’ leading receiver with six catches for 61 yards and the touchdown. Troy Franklin added four catches for 45 yards.
Harvey was the Broncos’ leading rusher with 70 yards yards off six carries. Dobbins had 63 yards rushing off 16 carries. Almost all the Broncos’ rushing damage was done in the fourth quarter.
Bronco Bits
Tight end Evan Engram had three catches to reach 499 in his career but left the game in the third quarter with a calf injury. …
Hufanga led the Denver defense with 10 tackles, 9 coming in the first half. The Broncos sacked Ward six times with Nik Bonitto, Allen, Elliss, Justin Strnad, McMillian and Jonathon Cooper each getting one.