Parker Gabriel, Broncos beat reporter
OK, gents, welcome back to the roundtable. You just watched Josh McDaniels beat Denver for the third time in the past 12 months and the Raiders prevail for the seventh straight time in this series overall. Did the performance change your opinion of the 2023 rendition of the Broncos? If it did for me, it’s only ever so slightly. This was a team that had depth and speed questions from the day it showed up for the offseason program back in May. Those things maybe had a bigger impact than expected Week 1 — playing without Jerry Jeudy and losing Greg Dulcich hurt, but, again, depth issues aren’t new with this team — but overall they looked about as expected. They don’t have a ton of margin for error and they’re going to have to ground and pound their way to victories. Anything surprise you guys aside from the fact that, yeah, we all picked Denver to win?
Ryan McFadden, Broncos beat reporter
My opinion changes a bit. Denver didn’t have a single pass catcher record 50-plus receiving yards on Sunday and now tight end Greg Dulcich is expected to miss multiple weeks due to a hamstring injury. Sure, the run game looked promising but the Broncos do not have a vertical threat that worries opponents and that’s troublesome. If they don’t have someone who can make plays down the field, the passing game is going to look similar to Sunday. They will show a few good signs but ultimately struggle to make plays down the stretch. On the defensive side, I’m not ready to give up on cornerback Damarri Mathis just yet. But the pass rush is concerning. They have to do a better job at attacking the quarterback, especially when players like Patrick Mahomes and Tua Tagovailoa are looming over the horizon.
Sean Keeler, sports columnist
A ton. Sean Payton getting outcoached by Josh Freakin’ McDaniels, for starters. To land Payton and Russell Wilson, the Broncos gave up (checks notes) three first-round draft picks, three second-round draft picks, a fifth-round pick and three veterans. For all that, in a must-win Week 1 against a division rival purported to be more dysfunctional than you are, you scored (checks notes again) 16 points, threw for 166 yards and committed 10 penalties. At home. A wide-receiver room that was plenty overrated before Jerry Jeudy’s injury is a stinking money pit now. What shocked me was how similar it looked to where we left the Orange and Blue in early January. Look, I get it. Yes, Russ was efficient, even if he’s turned into a Checkdown Charlie. Yes, the Broncos were never going to be “fixed” overnight. But come on. THE RAIDUHS? JIMMY G? From the game-opening onside kick on down, if you’d have told me that was a Huggy Bear Hackett team and not a Payton one, I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.
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