Broncos up-down drill: Highs and lows for Denver against the Giants

Up: Pregame tailgating. More than 3 hours earlier kickoff, grills were fired up and euphony was blaring passim the MetLife Stadium parking lots. The Giants hosted zero fans past year, a determination astir the NFL that continues to boggle the mind.

Down: Fans successful stadium. Did Giants fans hide determination was a crippled connected Sunday and it started astatine 4:25 section time? The stands were shocking bare arsenic kickoff approached.

Up: Saquon Barkley’s return. The Giants managed Barkley’s instrumentality from past year’s ACL wounded with caution, holding him retired the full preseason. He made his instrumentality against the Broncos, which was a affirmative show due to the fact that the NFL is amended erstwhile he’s healthy.

Down: Bradley Chubb’s health. Chubb’s ankle injury, sustained successful signifier earlier the preseason finale connected Aug. 28, kept him retired of the play opener. Why did helium play against the Rams? A projected breakout twelvemonth is disconnected to a atrocious start.

Up: Broncos’ jersey reps: Pre-game jersey rundown successful the stands: Von Miller, Bradley Chubb, Shelby Harris, Jerry Jeudy, Drew Lock, Pat Surtain II, Justin Simmons, Courtland Sutton and Noah Fant, and erstwhile players John Elway, Peyton Manning, DeMarcus Ware, Shannon Sharpe, Wes Welker and Phillip Lindsay.

Down: Andrew Beck’s deactivation. It was funny to marque Beck a steadfast scratch since helium was labeled a peculiar teams person by coordinator Tom McMahon during the preseason. Plus, helium is the lone subordinate who has immoderate acquisition lined up astatine fullback.

Up: Von Miller’s start. Is it excessively aboriginal to state the Vonster back? The Broncos’ superstar linebacker extinguished a promising opening thrust for the Giants with a tackle for nonaccomplishment connected Kadarius Toney’s pitchy sweep, past sacked QB Daniel Jones connected third-and-2 to extremity New York’s adjacent possession.

Down: Secondary slip-ups.  The Broncos’ much-ballyhooed secondary remodel got disconnected to an inauspicious commencement successful the archetypal half. Free-agent Kyle Fuller was bushed heavy by receiver Darius Slayton connected the Giants’ archetypal possession and first-round prime Pat Surtain II whiffed connected his tackle effort connected receiver Sterling Sheppard’s 37-yard touchdown. The bully news? The secondary was terrific successful the 2nd half.

Down: Review booth. Why discarded our clip with replay reviews if the extremity effect is the booth being unwilling to overturn weak-kneed calls connected the field? Anyone with 2 eyes saw Logan Ryan recovered Albert Okwuegbunam’s fumble with his genu retired of bounds astatine the Giants’ 4-yard line. Of course, the telephone went the different way.

Up: Riverboat Vic. Vic Fangio is coaching for his job. Some mightiness get blimpish nether those circumstances. Riverboat Vic is going successful the other direction. Three times the Broncos went for it connected 4th down. Each clip they converted, with the 2nd (4th-and-2 astatine Giants’ 49) and 3rd (4th-and-1 astatine Giants’ 4) starring to TDs.

Down: Risner vs. Williams. The Broncos’ 2nd thrust was blown up erstwhile they tried to tally down near defender Dalton Risner one-on-one against antiaircraft tackle Leonard Williams. The one-time Pro Bowler shed Risner and swallowed up Javonte Williams for a two-yard nonaccomplishment astatine the Giants’ 13. A Denver tract extremity soon followed.

Down: Injury bug bites. A twelvemonth ago, the Broncos mislaid Von Miller earlier a azygous regular-season snap, past mislaid Courtland Sutton little than 2 quarters into his archetypal crippled of the play (Week 2 astatine Pittsburgh). Jerry Jeudy’s ankle wounded successful the 3rd 4th looked similar it mightiness autumn successful the aforesaid season-ending category. We tin lone anticipation it isn’t.

Up: Redemption I. Today we spell redemption Okwuegbunam. After fumbling distant a imaginable scoring accidental astatine the Giants’ 3 earlier successful the game, Albert O made an unthinkable play connected 4-and-1 astatine the Giants’ 4, catching a dump-off walk and twisting his 6-5, 258-pound framework to the pylon to headdress a 16-play, 75-yard thrust to commencement the 2nd half.

Up: Redemption II. Tomorrow we spell redemption Kyle Fuller. The Broncos cornerback showed the intelligence toughness of a seasoned connected the Giants’ last-gasp thrust precocious successful the 4th quarter, responding to a walk interference emblem that enactment New York astatine the Broncos’ 7 with 2 walk break-ups, including one-on-one against Kenny Golladay connected 4th down.

Down: Teddy Haters. To those inactive disappointed successful Drew Lock taking a spot successful favour of Teddy Bridgewater: Could we involvement you successful 19-of-22 successful the archetypal half? How astir 3-for-3 connected 4th down, including a touchdown pass? Or possibly that clutch third-down scramble-and-throw successful the 3rd 4th is much your thing? Take your pick.

Up: Saubert springs Gordon. On a large time for the Broncos’ choky ends, it was a artifact from Eric Saubert that helped enactment the crippled connected crystal and outpouring Melvin Gordon for a 70-yard touchdown precocious successful the 4th quarter.

Down: Broncos’ adjacent 2 opponents. With rookie quarterbacks, Jacksonville (Trevor Lawrence) and the New York Jets (Zach Wilson) were outclassed successful roadworthy losses to Houston and Carolina, respectively. That’s bully quality for Denver.