Upon Further Review

1. First drive too easy. Five plays into the game, Cleveland was in the lead for good. First play: OLB Malik Reed was late to react to WR Jarvis Landry (seven yards). Second play: Reed was shed by TE Austin Hooper, who turned a middle screen into 34 yards. Third play: No Broncos player could get away from their blocks and ILB Justin Strnad was out of position (D’Ernest Johnson 20 yards). Fourth play: Johnson gained 10 behind lead blocker Johnny Stanton. Fifth play: S Justin Simmons missed a tackle and Johnson scored a four-yard touchdown.

2. Better pass protection. Four days after allowing a season-high 22 disruptions to Las Vegas, the Broncos’ offensive line was booked for 10 disruptions (two sacks, three knockdowns and five pressures) by Cleveland. The sacks were split between RT Bobby Massie/LT Garett Bolles on a play that shouldn’t have counted because Massie (false start) and/or Clowney (neutral zone) moved early. The second sack was coverage-related (7.82 seconds) when Bridgewater was unable to scramble past the line of scrimmage.

3. Starting issues. The Broncos ran only 17 first-half plays. They gained six yards on third-and-7 on the opening drive. They couldn’t capitalize on WR Courtland Sutton’s one-handed 31-yard catch during the second drive (interception). A false start penalty on TE Noah Fant to start the third drive put the Broncos behind the sticks and they couldn’t convert on third-and-9. And their fourth drive was capped by two Bridgewater throwaways.

4. Pressuring Keenum. It was a quiet night for OLB Von Miller following his loud Tuesday news conference. Before exiting with a left ankle injury late in the first half, Miller had one quarterback knockdown. Overall, the Broncos rushed five or more on 12 of QB Case Keenum’s 36 drop-backs (33.3%) and he was 6-of-12 passing for 60 yards and one touchdown against extra rushers. The best rusher was rookie OLB Jonathon Cooper, who had three knockdowns and one pressure.

5. Third-down struggles. Cleveland was 9 of 15 on third down; the conversions were tied for the second-most of the Vic Fangio Era (the Raiders had 10 in the 2019 opener). The Browns had six third-and-1 plays and converted all of them. After a rare third-down stop was one of the game’s biggest plays: On fourth-and-3 from the Broncos’ 6, Keenum scrambled and made ILB Curtis Robinson miss at the 4 and Strnad miss at the 2. The Browns scored on the next play to take a 17-7 lead.

6. Surtain in coverage. Surtain missed a fourth-quarter tackle, but he was on-point in coverage. The Browns were 1 of 5 for 6 yards when challenging Surtain in man coverage (two pass break-ups). They were 3 of 3 for 17 yards against CB Bryce Callahan and 3 of 6 for 30 yards against CB Ronald Darby. Even Miller got involved when he was assigned to Landry (huh?), who caught an easy four-yard pass.

Four Key Numbers

36:51

Cleveland’s time of possession, the most by a Broncos opponent this year.

14/41

Rushing attempts and yards by the Broncos, their lowest of the year in both categories.

9

Snaps the Broncos’ defense played with four linemen on the field.

21

Games during coach Vic Fangio’s tenure in which the Broncos have failed to score 20 points (3-18 record).

Talking Points

Playing time breakdown. After playing 81 snaps against Las Vegas, the Broncos’ offense had only 50 snaps against Cleveland. WRs Tim Patrick and Courtland Sutton played 47 apiece, followed by TE Noah Fant (45), RB Melvin Gordon (29), WR Kendall Hinton (24) and TE Eric Saubert/RB Javonte Williams (21). OLB Malik Reed played 67 of 71 snaps defensively and rookies Curtis Robinson (ILB, 45) and Jonathon Cooper (OLB, 40) played more because of injuries to ILB Micah Kiser (nine) and OLB Von Miller (33), respectively.

Nothing doing downfield. Only three of QB Teddy Bridgewater’s 33 attempts traveled at least 16 “air” yards downfield — a 31-yard completion Sutton (one-handed catch, 27 “air” yards), an end zone interception by S John Johnson (31 “air” yards) and an incompletion to Patrick (27 “air” yards). In the last two games, Bridgewater is 3-of-10 passing for 83 yards on attempts of at least 16 “air” yards.

Tackling issues. The Broncos were booked for a season-high 12 missed tackles; they entered Thursday averaging 3.7 per game. The breakdown: S Kareem Jackson (three), Strnad and Robinson (two apiece) and one apiece by Reed, S Justin Simmons, CB Pat Surtain II, NT Mike Purcell and DE Dre’Mont Jones. The Broncos’ previous high was eight against Pittsburgh.

Extra points

Coach Vic Fangio improved to 4 of 11 in his career on replay challenges with his first win of 2021 on his third attempt. The Broncos challenged a 16-yard catch by Browns WR Jarvis Landry on third-and-7 in the fourth quarter that was overturned. … NT Mike Purcell drew his fourth holding penalty on an opponent in the last three games. … Two Broncos RBs caught touchdowns (Melvin Gordon/Javonte Williams) in the same game for the first time since November 2010 (Spencer Larsen/Knowshon Moreno). … WR Courtland Sutton has four penalties this year; his pass interference on Thursday was his second in as many games.