Polumbus: Broncos lessons learned from Jacksonville

After escaping Jacksonville with an ugly 20-10 victory over the Jaguars, the Denver Broncos have checked off one victory on its tough road to the playoffs.

For a moment on Sunday, it looked like the Buffalo Bills were going to do Denver a favor and knock off the Oakland Raiders. But that didn’t happen, and now the road to the playoffs continues to not have much margin for error.

So where does that leave this team, and what did we learn from its trip to Jacksonville?

1. Paxton Lynch may still be a future franchise quarterback, but he looked like the rookie he is in his road debut as a starter. Going 1-of-12 on third down will leave fans scratching their heads and coaches leaning over Trevor Siemian’s shoulder looking for an update as he rehabs his sprained foot.

Lynch also led this offense to seven different 3-and-out drives. Unfortunately for him, he put to rest all the questions about whether he would provide a spark to this offense and Trevor Siemian will remain the immediate future of this position.

2. This Broncos defense can still score points like an offense, which is a fantastic trait to have. However, the rush defense continues to provide concern for fans.

Jacksonville only averaged 3.5 yards per carry, which is improvement. But Denver allowed 154 yards on the ground, meaning Jacksonville committed to trying to expose what they viewed as a weakness on this defense.

If they can keep teams to only 3.5 per carry or less moving forward, this defense will be in great shape. But they have some work to do before opposing offenses stop viewing the rushing game as an opportunity to expose this defense.

3. Although I have done my best to dispel the myth that the Gary Kubiak offense is outdated (it’s not, check Atlanta), he continues to receive a lot of flak from media and fans saying it’s not the players but rather the system that is the problem.

Good luck convincing Gary Kubiak that his overall team system is broken because he is the winningest coach in the NFL since the day the Broncos hired him. With 23 wins and four different starting quarterbacks since he took over, can we all just take a deep breath and be grateful?

4. The “No Fly Zone” will win games for this football team.

Chris Harris Jr. had a phenomenal performance and graded out as the best at his position in the NFL after Sunday’s game. Bradley Roby bounced back from a rough outing last week with a pick-six that really created this victory for the Broncos. Aqib Talib continues to be one of the most physical corners in the game forcing teams to actually attempt to throw at Harris. And lastly, Darian Stewart had a very solid game.

If Denver’s defense can take away the run and force teams to put the ball in the air, it is only a matter of time before one of these guys finds a way to score a touchdown from the defensive side of the ball.

These boys win football games.

The game was ugly and the boys know it, but Kubiak emphasized to this team that they are good enough to beat anyone, anywhere. They broke it down after the game with the full team screaming, “We can do it,” after Kubiak reminded them about how many times over the last couple seasons they have won ugly games.

The path to the playoffs is bumpy and filled with potholes ready to knock them off the road, but with a victory against Jacksonville the Broncos knocked one stop along the ride out of the way.

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