By Brandon Simmons
Can the Broncos Keep Coming Back to Comebacks?
The Denver Broncos secured their 2nd win of the season going back to their familiar ways. Sunday, the Broncos beat the Los Angeles Rams 30-26 in a game where all of their scoring came in the 2nd half. The Broncos entered halftime with a 16-0 deficit. Last week, Denver had a similar result against the Jacksonville Jaguars, when they were down 13-3 in the 3rd quarter but sealed the win with 17 straight points.
Last couple of years of the Broncos’ success has been marked by comeback victories, which can be a good and a bad thing. They had a league-best 11-2 record of one-score games. Their biggest win of this selection was overcoming a 25 point deficit against the New York Giants. Obviously the positive is the wins and showing the team they are never out of a game. However, the flip side is that none of that even matters. A slow start can turn into a slow finish just like their Week 1 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The slow starts have even drawn criticism to offensive coordinator Davis Webb these past few weeks, questioning if he’s actually getting things done. No team is going to come out the gates firing consistently, but the good ones don’t take long to get things going and establish solid, early leads. Those teams also know how to win and can finish those games.
Did the Ravens Beat Their 4th Quarter Troubles?
The Baltimore Ravens pulled off a last minute win on Sunday against heir opponent and their 4th quarter reputation. The Ravens beat the Dallas Cowboys on a field goal as time expired and avoided another late game defeat that has plagued them since last year. Coming into this game, they had the most losses since 2021 when leading games heading into the 4th quarter. That occurrence happened last week against the New Orleans Saints. This happened again with the Cowboys as the Ravens headed into the 4th quarter with a 3 point lead and traded scores with Dallas until the final play.
The Ravens pulled off some late game heroics even though things were looking real dicey. Baltimore drove the ball to the Dallas 4 yard line and was stopped on 4th and goal, which sparked a touchdown drive to put the Cowboys up 28 24. Batimore was able to take the lead at 31 -24, saw the score tie up at 31 then make that miraculous play to set up the field goal. Watching the game it literally looked like they were fighting against beating themselves in the 4th quarter. Going forward from this game, the best thing the Ravens can do is make sure they’re executing in the red zone. A touchdown would be obviously be great to extend the lead but a field goal can be sufficient.
Reaction to the J.J. McCarthy Trade
Monday, the Minnesota Vikings traded quarterback J.J. McCarthy to the New York Giants in exchange for a 2027 5th round pick. This marks the end of a short, turbulent McCarthy era for the Vikings, as they turn their attention the present that could include Vikings QB Kyler Murray. McCarthy finds himself in another QB room with an injured starting QB and a couple of castoffs but with the roles switched. Giants QB, and former 2025 first round pick, Jaxson Dart suffered a season-ending knee injury last Monday and QB Jameis Winston is now the starter.
For the Giants, this does nothing for them right now, but is everything for McCarthy. He’s coming from a team that has lost faith in him so early in his career and has to find a way to get things back on track. This situation is perfect for him to do that. New york lost Dart to a knee injury for the season so their season is still kind of up in the air. Unless Winston goes on a crazy run, the Giants are just going to play this year out for the most part and probably insert McCarthy when things go a little left or they feel he’s got a grasp on the offense.
The Vikings may have put a quick reset on their future with this move. A guy who was believed to the future of this franchise has now been sent from this organization. Minnesota is now left another former first round pick QB, who was actually taken number one overall. Murray was actually starter for this season but got a concussion in Week 1, missing the rest of that game and the following week. However, he did return his past Sunday and led the Vikings to a 23-16 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Murray is under 1 year deal with the Vikings, in a similar situation as McCarthy, a former first round QB trying to prove himself after leaving the team that drafted him. If it goes sour, then the Vikings can refocus their efforts on a QB for the future and vice versa if things go right.
Shoutouts/Shutouts
Shout out to Michael Penix, Jr. And the Falcons offense. The Atlanta Falcons QB from an knee injury that sidelined him last season and led his offense to a huge win that saw Falcons running Bijan Robinson and Falcons wide receiver Drake London each total 9ver 194 yards rushing and receiving, respectively.
Shut out to Phase 2 of the OBJ era with the New York Giants. The Giants released wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. It was a reunion that the fans were looking forward to when Beckham made the 53 man roster. However, he only got 1 target in just 3 games this season.
Week 4 is here with some teams trying to feed off the early season momentum. The Pittsburgh Steelers visit the Cleveland Browns in a classic AFC North matchup. Browns are coming off a win in their home opener where the fans actually cheered for Browns QB Deshaun Watson. The surprising game of the week will be between the Kansas City aChiefs and Las Vegas Raiders. Both teams are 3-0, with Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes regaining his form while Raiders QB Kirk Cousins is finding new success leading this undefeated Las Vegas team. On paper, this looks like a peculiar matchup to get excited about but things can become real interesting, real quick based on this rivalry. But until then…I’ll holla.
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