After disaster, only one Broncos unit gets acceptable grade

Sean Payton admitted that he thought about burning the Broncos game film.

“I debated whether we were gonna show it (the film) or not,” the Broncos head coach said Monday. “But I think we’d be remiss if we didn’t.

“We’ve gotta sit in here, and … as unpleasant as it’s gonna be, we’ve gotta get these things cleaned up. Look, we played a good offense, but we certainly didn’t help ourselves in any way, shape or form, in playing them.”

When you surrender more points than any other NFL team has allowed since before the first Super Bowl was played, it’s not just about your foe having things figured out on offense. It’s about you and your defense. And even your offense, too … because three turnovers led to three Miami touchdowns. Two of them resulted in short-field drives that led to Miami starting possession in goal-to-go.

“Typically speaking, when you see a score that high, you know the one thing that had to exist was turnovers,” Payton said. “All three of them led to points for Miami.”

Of course, there’s nothing typical about surrendering 70 points. Not when the NFL went over 12,000 games without seeing another team allow 70 points after the New York Giants did it in 1966 … until Sunday.

OFFENSE

OVERALL GRADE: C-minus

The Broncos’ second-half fade continues to be a concern; they have just one touchdown after halftime this season, and it was on a “Hail Mary” pass.

PASSING: C-minus

There were some positives here. Russell Wilson’s 38-yard strike to Marvin Mims Jr. was perfect — and came as he was crushed by Andrew Van Ginkel.

So, why so low? Three giveaways. Courtland Sutton’s fumbles were borne from extra effort, and the history of the sixth-year wide receiver says the bobbles will be an outlier. He had as many fumbles Sunday as he did in the first five years and two games of his career. But that doesn’t change the fact that the passing offense accounted for three giveaways, including two that set up the Dolphins in goal-to-go.

RUSHING: C-minus

Javonte Williams’ 16-yard burst was his most promising run today, but he rarely had space to operate. No Broncos player averaged even 4.0 yards per carry. Miami won too many matchups on the interior. Garett Bolles had a solid day in this area — probably his best of the season to date. But by and large, this aspect of the Broncos became irrelevant as the deficit built.

DEFENSE

OVERALL GRADE: Z

As in “zero,” which is the total number of defensive performances in Broncos history worse than this avalanche of points and yards. “F” isn’t enough. Twenty-four missed tackles allowed Miami’s skill-position players to run wild and free.

PASSING DEFENSE: T

As in “Terrible.” And, as in “Tua,” as well. Miami QB Tua Tagovailoa didn’t throw an incompletion until the third quarter. The Broncos didn’t break up a single pass. The pass rush was non-existent, as the Broncos had only one quarterback hit — by Nik Bonitto. Tyreek Hill’s 54-yard touchdown came on a bust by Delarrin Turner-Yell, who was drawn out of position, leaving Hill with an acreage to himself from which he caught the ball.

There were no winners in coverage. Everyone, including Pat Surtain II, took turns being on the business end of Tagovailoa’s strikes.

RUSHING DEFENSE: P

As in “porous.” Sixteen of the missed tackles came against the run as the Dolphins racked up an astonishing 364 rushing yards after contact. Miami’s offensive line fired off the snap and pushed Denver’s front downfield with impunity. Rarely has an NFL team looked so overmatched on the ground on a consistent basis.

SPECIAL TEAMS

OVERALL GRADE: A

Something went right, and it was here, with no play more notable than Mims’ 99-yard kickoff return.

“That was well blocked, but overall, we felt like we had won that aspect of the game,” Payton said. “That was the one bright spot.”

MMims Jr. now has explosive returns in back-to-back games. But as he emerges as an offensive threat, it’s fair to ask this question: How long will the Broncos keep him on returns? If they want to emphasize putting the football in the hands of a breakaway threat — no matter how that happens — they’ll continue to utilize him on returns. But if the risk-reward ratio drifts closer to the former than the latter, the Broncos will need to find another viable return option — perhaps No. 3 running back Jaleel McLaughlin.

Riley Dixon had generally strong hang times, too.

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