Emmanuel Sanders is key to the Broncos’ offense

In this week’s podcast I recapped the Denver Broncos third preseason game and what there was to like and dislike about the fairly boring affair. In short, the starting defense looks like it could be something special, Emmanuel Sanders is a freak of nature and the offense is still lacking the ability to make explosive plays.

As we sit in our couches and reflect on a game that was 50% garbage time, most of us are probably most worried about the depth on both sides of the ball and the porous talent of the special teams. When we consider that the San Francisco 49ers, in the meantime, are pondering over Jimmy Garoppolo’s stat line of 1 for 6 for 0 total yards and an interception, we should count ourselves fortunate.

Our defense, led by Bradley Chubb and Shelby Harris - who both looked dominant - completely shut down the visitors in the first half of play. Isaac Yiadom benefited from a brilliant quarterback pressure by Chubb with a relatively easy interception and De’Vante Bausby should have had a pick-six of his own. Shelby Harris balled out and Chubb wrapped things up with a strip-sack with a power move that had NFL fans everywhere drooling.

Enough cannot be said about how dominant the starting defense was and the same goes for the electric return of Emmanuel Sanders.

Sanders suffered an injury late last season that people everywhere expected to sideline him for at least a few weeks into the 2019 season. The veteran spark plug receiver proved the entire world wrong and is back and looked possibly even better than ever he has in his illustrious career. I’ve been harsh in my words about the Broncos’ receiving corp this preseason, but if #10 is back to 100% this offense will take a major step forward. His presence will lift all boats and as I said in the podcast, he - in my mind - is the most important player on this offense. Period.

There is plenty that still needs to be fixed and the “death by inches” of Garett Bolles’ holding penalties and a bad special teams could sink this ship before it has a chance to reach its playoff destination but hopefully the coaching staff, which appears to be a stellar one, will have these things ironed out before Week 1 against the Raiders. If they can fix the little issues, add some depth at offensive line, wide receiver and inside linebacker and stay healthy this team could be sneaky good to start the regular season.