The Denver Broncos are coming off back-to-back road wins over teams who had winning records heading into those games. The New York Jets were coming off a 24-3 dominating win before being stonewalled by Denver’s defense, while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers bounced back from their 26-7 beatdown by Denver last week to dominate the Philadelphia Eagles. Maybe the Broncos are good?

In this week’s power rankings, the consensus has begun to rank the Broncos all over the place. Some are still not believers, while others may be believing a little too much. Given the two extremes, it probably makes sense to peg them somewhere around 19th or 20th this week. Another win next week and we might start to see that shift into the top half. Besides, beating the Las Vegas Raiders is always a good thing and its something the Broncos haven’t done since 2019.

Here is where the Broncos are ranking around the NFL.

ESPN – 22nd

Week 4 ranking: 27
Biggest issue on offense: Consistency against the run

This is a bit of a nitpick, as the run defense has improved since allowing more than 140 rushing yards in each of Denver’s first two games. But compared to where the Broncos rank in other categories (they lead the NFL in sacks per pass attempt and are top four in red zone defense, total defense, passing defense and third-down defense), their No. 12 ranking in rush defense is something to work on. Vance Joseph’s unit has gotten better, surrendering only 155 rushing yards the past two weeks, but further improvement will make the Broncos even more stifling than they already are. — Jeff Legwold

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NY Times – 25th

Last week: 28
Surprise: Beat New York Jets 10-9

First-round quarterback Bo Nix had seven completions for minus-7 yards in the first half Sunday. And the Broncos won! Nix finished with 60 passing yards, becoming the first quarterback (with at least 20 pass attempts) to win with so few yards since Eli Manning in 2007, according to ESPN Sports & Info. The only player this season with fewer yards per pass attempt than Nix (4.8) is Bryce Young, who got benched. He’s 32nd in the league in EPA per dropback (minus-.30). Speedy fourth-round wide receiver Troy Franklin also is struggling (four catches, 9 yards).

CBS Sports – 17th

Sean Payton has this team 2-2 with a rookie quarterback. Why? The defense is playing outstanding right now and carrying this group.

ProFootballTalk – 15th

Broncos (No. 21; 2-2): If the offense ever catches up to the defense, they’ll be dangerous.

NFL.com – 20th

Style points are one thing, but at least in the case of Sunday’s game, the Broncos will take a second straight road win. The defense has now allowed 29 points over the past 12 quarters and held each of its past three opponents to 251 yards or fewer. The weather on Sunday might have helped keep the score down, as did the Jets’ rash of penalties, but there’s no denying this Denver defense has come out with hardhats on this season. The Broncos took Breece Hall and Garrett Wilson out of the game and sacked Aaron Rodgers five times with an aggressive, blitz-heavy approach. You’d like to see more from Bo Nix and his wide receivers, but they did just enough with two second-half scoring drives to (barely) finish it off. Is the AFC West open with the Chiefs and Chargers banged up? The chance to make a run is now, with three of the next four at home against a softer part of the schedule.

Yahoo Sports – 23rd

It’s hard for cornerbacks to win Defensive Player of the Year, but Pat Surtain II is playing at a special level. He’s shadowing No. 1 receivers and erasing them from games. The Broncos’ defense is playing very well and Surtain is the biggest reason.

Sporting News – 19th

The Broncos have gone from compressed, uninspiring offense with Bo Nix to getting more than enough with their defense overachieving for Sean Payton. They can make some division noise over the next two games before seeing Payton’s old team, the Saints.

USA Today – 18th

An offense struggling mightily with rookie QB Bo Nix seems to be garnering most of the attention. A second-ranked defense that’s been nearly airtight in the red zone deserves just as much.

Where do you think the Broncos should be ranked after tough back-to-back road wins? Share in the comments section below.

The 47th Denver Film Festival is moving all but one its red-carpet screenings to a new venue this year, alongside Colorado premieres of buzzy indies such as “The Piano Lesson” and “The Brutalist,” and in-person guests including Patricia Clarkson, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Jesse Tyler Ferguson.

The festival, Nov. 1-10 at multiple venues, will offer 185 narrative features, shorts, and documentaries, as well as parties, panels, workshops and a gala, according to nonprofit producer Denver Film.

Single tickets to screenings, plus special and gala presentations and Red Carpets, are on sale to Denver Film members on Thursday, Oct. 3, and the public on Friday, Oct. 4, at denverfilm.org/denverfilmfestival.

For the first time this year, the festival‘s opening and closing-night red carpet screenings will be at Museum of Contemporary Art Denver’s Holiday Theater, a historic building the museum restored in the Highland neighborhood that has lately hosted screenings, panels and musical performances. The Red Carpets are moving there from downtown’s Ellie Caulkins Opera House, a favored and prestigious venue that Denver Film has in recent years struggled to fill — even before the pandemic.

However, the Centerpiece presentation of “The Order” still will be at the Ellie. The film is an adaptation of a nonfiction book co-written by former Rocky Mountain News reporter and current Denver City Councilman Kevin Flynn, which looks at a violent, far-right group of neo-Nazis that operated in Washington in the 1980s. It stars Jude Law and Nicholas Holt and plays the Ellie on Nov. 8.

Bookending it are opening and closing-night red carpets at MCA’s Holiday Theater, with the first being the Nov. 1 screening of “The Piano Lesson.” The August Wilson adaptation stars Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington; writer Virgil Williams will appear in person to receive Denver Film’s Excellence in Writing award.

The festival will close with “September 5,” which stars Peter Sarsgaard and John Magaro in its dramatization of the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage crisis. It plays the MCA Holiday Theater on Nov. 9.

Several Denver premieres are also slated, including “The Brutalist,” “Better Man,” “The Room Next Door,” “Emilia Perez,” “Blitz,” “Oh, Canada,” “The Last Showgirl” and “Nightbitch” — that last one starring Colorado native Amy Adams.

Fest producers also said they’ll host celebs this year such as Patricia Clarkson (“Sharp Objects,” “Six Feet Under”), who will receive the Cassavetes Award at a screening of “Lilly” at MCA Denver Holiday Theater. Marianne Jean-Baptiste will receive Denver Film’s Excellence in Acting Award following a screening of “Hard Truths,” Denver Film said. Jesse Tyler Ferguson (“Modern Family”), will be on-hand for his CinemaQ LaBahn Ikon Film Award, following a screening of “All That We Love” and short film “It’s Okay.”

Directors RaMell Ross (“The Nickel Boys”), Jason Reitman (“Saturday Night”), Nnamdi Asomugha (“The Knife”), Cristiana Dell’Anna (“Cabrini”) and others will appear in person alongside their screenings.

Denver Film’s Sie FilmCenter will serve as the festival anchor, with additional screenings at the Ellie, Denver Botanic Gardens, AMC 9 + CO 10, and the MCA Holiday Theater.

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Alex Singleton’s season-ending knee injury had a trickle-down effect on several other Broncos inside linebackers Sunday against the New York Jets.

Cody Barton played every snap and relayed defensive calls from Vance Joseph, neither of which he’d done previously.

Justin Strnad started, played 57 snaps defensively — his first non-special teams action since 2021 — and logged his first career sack.

“I think it would be more Alex to Justin because Cody kind of stayed in the same position he’s been playing,” head coach Sean Payton said Monday of the role changes. “I mean Cody had the green dot, but other than that — those guys stepped up. It’s always difficult when you lose someone who’s been as productive and certainly one of the team leaders.

“I was proud of the way those young guys played.”

Another, Levelle Bailey, was elevated from the practice squad and made his NFL debut with 10 special teams snaps.

Who got more bang for their buck, though, than Kristian Welch?

The relative newcomer, signed after the preseason when he didn’t make Green Bay’s initial roster, did not play a defensive snap against Tampa Bay and then got just three against the Jets.

But boy, did he make the most of them.

Welch’s role actually didn’t even change all that much. He played 27 snaps in some mixed downs settings against Seattle and Pittsburgh, teams that are heavier personnel-wise than the Bucs and more apt to run the ball. Another part of his regular workload: Goal line defense.

And he played a central role in Denver coming up with one of its biggest stops of the afternoon against New York.

The Jets found themselves first-and-goal at the Denver 1-yard line late in the first quarter after a pass interference penalty on Riley Moss.

Defensive linemen John Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach stood firm at the point of attack on a first-down Breece Hall run, but Hall started to fall back toward the middle of the field and the goal line.

Welch was there to stuff him and make sure he dropped before getting across with help from Barton, who cleaned up at the end of the play.

On second down the Jets ran right at Welch out of the I-formation, with Rodgers again handing the ball to Hall.

Rookie outside linebacker Jonah Elliss violently knocked tight end Tyler Conklin back to disrupt the play from the start. Welch folded outside of Elliss and inside of safety P.J. Locke and thumped Hall, stopping him in his tracks for a short loss.

Then on third down, Rodgers rolled to the right on play action and looked for an opening. Welch started downhill but retreated and, along with Barton, covered just enough ground to keep Rodgers from throwing to Conklin in the back corner of the end zone. Franklin-Myers swam over a block attempt and ran past running back Braelon Allen, quickly chasing Rodgers into a throw-away.

That’s three snaps on the afternoon for Welch: Assisted tackle, tackle, coverage. Then a false start on fourth-and-goal from the 1 for the Jets forced coach Robert Saleh to put his field goal unit on the field.

Those points, of course, ended up being critical in a game that was within one score for all 60 minutes.

One small thing I liked: When the Broncos really needed a third-down conversion in the third quarter, Payton didn’t mess around. He went right to rookie QB Bo Nix’s comfort zone. He dialed up a dagger concept and Nix made his best throw of the day to Courtland Sutton for 29 yards on third-and-11. The Broncos were 0 of 8 on third down to that point but converted three times on their 87-yard touchdown drive.

It was also good that Payton acknowledged Monday the need to be able to branch out with Nix going forward.

“Like anything else, if you repeat something and you get more and more comfortable with it, then it becomes a play you like and then it becomes one of your favorites,” Payton said. “You get to it in a critical situation. That was a big drive, obviously. That was an important drive for us to kind of take it from our end and convert there and go on to score a touchdown.

“I think that confidence level will continue to grow and it’s important that it grows with other route combinations.”

One small thing I didn’t like: Seventh-round rookie WR Devaughn Vele did everything right during camp, made plays day after day, had eight catches in Week 1 (albeit for 39 yards) and then hurt his ribs. He was ruled out Week 2 because of the injury but the Broncos have called him a healthy scratch the past two weeks. Why?

Perhaps his role crosses over too much with Lil’Jordan Humphrey, who’s had a nice start to the season. But given the way Denver’s offense is likely to look for at least the next several weeks, it’s hard to argue that Troy Franklin is the better option right now.

Franklin’s got real speed, but also four catches (10 targets) for 9 yards so far. Nix hasn’t shown he can get the ball over the top to Franklin — he underthrew one deep attempt Sunday — and Vele so far has been a better option blocking and operating in the shallow parts of the field.

One trend to watch: This is not hyperbole: Zach Allen’s playing like one of the best defensive linemen in football through four weeks. He dominated Jets guard John Simpson and whoever else lined up across from him on Sunday.

Allen through four games has already racked up 21 quarterback pressures, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. His 15% pressure rate is comfortably top 20 among all players in the NFL and top 10 among defensive linemen. And on top of it he played every snap against the Jets to tick up to 95% play time for the season. That rate of production at that workload is not normal for his position.

It matters, too, even when the play doesn’t end in a sack. Allen might have saved a touchdown early in the fourth quarter when he looped around Roach and flashed in Rodgers’ face on second-and-11 from the Denver 24. Rodgers had already seen plenty of No. 99 on the day and when Allen flashed, Rodgers immediately flipped the ball out incomplete to the flat. That happened just as Garrett Wilson was breaking wide open up the seam. Assuming Rodgers sees it, it’s a likely touchdown and 13-7 Jets lead. Instead, New York settled for a field goal after — you guessed it — Allen chased down Rodgers and ran him out of bounds on third down.

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Originally Published: September 30, 2024 at 6:30 p.m.