Diving deep into victory over Seahawks
1. The Broncos’ defense started their sixsack, threetakeaway opener with a sack of Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson in 3.88 seconds. Safety Darian Stewart was assigned to cover tight end Nick Vannett. But when Vannett stayed in as part of a sevenman protection, Stewart rushed, beat Vannett and split the sack with Bradley Chubb.
2. The time in seconds for the Broncos’ final five sacks: 2.75 (Von Miller), 2.96 (Miller), 4.69 (Shaquill Barrett), 3.32 (Miller) and 3.57 (Chris Harris on a slot blitz). The Broncos rushed five or more players on nine of Wilson’s 42 dropbacks (21.4 percent). Miller took advantage of Seahawks right tackle Germain Ifedi’s tendency to lung at his opponent. Not a good move against an athletic rusher like Miller.
3. How does an offense gain 470 yards? Big plays. Using the commonly adopted standard of an explosive play being any rush that gains at least 12 yards and any pass that goes for at least 16 yards, the Broncos had 10 against Seattle. Rushes by Phillip Lindsay (19) and Royce Freeman (15 and 17 yards) and catches by Emmanuel Sanders (43 and 31 yards), Court land Sutton (20 and 25), Demaryius Thomas (23), Jake Butt (22) and Lindsay (29).
4. Seattle rushed four men on 41 of Case Keenum’s 47 dropbacks. They had six fiveman rushes. The sack was by defensive end Frank Clark in 2.84 seconds. Clark stunted inside and collided headon with center Matt Paradis, who appeared to be flatfooted. Coach Vance Joseph said Keenum should have thrown into the flat before pressure arrived.
5. We booked the Broncos for seven missed tackles — all in the first half: Two apiece for Chubb and safety Justin Simmons and one each Stewart and cornerbacks Bradley Roby and Adam Jones. Chubb, Simmons and Stewart all missed tackles on tight end Will Dissly’s 66yard catch.
6. The Broncos committed three turnovers and got away with three others. Keenum’s third pass of the game was behind Thomas, deflected by safety Earl Thomas and nearly intercepted by safety Bradley McDougald (who had two later). Later in the first quarter, Freeman fumbled after a threeyard gain. But Seahawks coach Pete Carroll’s red flag toss wasn’t noticed in time by the official. And two plays before taking a 2017 lead, Keenum tried to throw quick left to Sutton, but defensive end Dion Jordan (after dodging left tackle Garett Bolles’ cut block) deflected it and nearly intercepted.
7. Among offensive skill players, the leaders in playing time were Sanders (64 snaps), tight end Jeff Heuerman (60), Thomas (53), Sutton (44), Butt (36), Freeman (29) and Lindsay (26). On defense, Simmons, Chris Harris and Stewart played all 57 snaps, followed by Roby (54), Chubb (54), Miller (50) and linebacker Brandon Marshall (50). Interesting was rookie linebacker Josey Jewell playing seven snaps.
8. What might have happened on Tyler Lockett’s 61yard touchdown catch, which gave Seattle a 2420 lead with 14:46 remaining. Harris was tracking Lockett on a post route with outside leverage, perhaps guarding against a move that would take Lockett to the corner. Simmons appeared to be also thinking about Lockett switching to a corner route. When he didn’t, Harris looked like he passed Lockett off to Simmons, who was out of position and got turned around.
9. A short throw produced a large profit. Starting from his 2yard line, Keenum threw quick (1.26 seconds) to Thomas, who caught it behind the line of scrimmage. Butt and Heuerman were lined up with Thomas in a trips look and took off blocking at the throw, allowing Thomas to gain 23 yards.
10. Chubb was successfully challenged in coverage by Seattle, providing a blueprint for Oakland in Week 2. On the Seahawks’ first touchdown, Chubb was engaged with tight end Will Dissly. When Dissly released into a route, Chubb’s eyes were still in the backfield (15yard touchdown). Later, Chubb had decent coverage on Dissly, who caught Wilson’s pass 14 yards downfield. Chubb missed the tackle and Dissly had a 66yard gain when Stewart and Simmons also missed tackles.