Broncos Beat Chargers: 3 Studs, 4 Duds

The Denver Broncos got the win but were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 17.

The Denver Broncos defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 16-9 on Sunday but were bounced from any hopes of the postseason with eight losses on the season. The win marked the first game that Russell Wilson did not start this season, and the offense did not perform any better. 

It was Jarrett Stidham at the helm against the AFC West rival on Sunday, but it was the defensive performance against an injury-riddled Chargers team that won the day. 

As we sift through the aftermath, let's break down the biggest studs and duds from the game.

Stud: Lil’Jordan Humphrey | WR

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The Broncos scored a single touchdown on the day and it was due to a tremendous effort by Humphrey (with some teammates giving a huge blocking effort downfield) on a catch and run to score. Humphrey took an intermediate pass and rumbled, stumbled, and broke tackles to hit pay-dirt on a catch that traveled 54 yards. 

He had two catches on the day for 69 yards (the leading receiver by yardage) and the touchdown. The huge yards after the catch for the score is the reason the Broncos emerged victorious.

Dud: Jerry Jeudy | WR

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After the quarterback change, there was a renewed interest in Jeudy. He has been lackluster this season, and many pointed the finger at Wilson. 

With Stidham under center and Courtland Sutton and Marvin Mims Jr. inactive due to injury, Jeudy was supposed to have a monster day. After all, it was Wilson who wouldn’t throw him the ball. 

Stidham was going to resurrect his season. However, Jeudy caught three balls for 54 yards, with his longest catch being a gift from an error by the Chargers. He was left so wide open that even Wilson could have completed the pass. 

Jeudy did have a 12-yard reception that was called back due to holding, but it still was a very quiet day for him when he was due for his best performance of the season.

Stud: Alex Singleton | LB

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A tackling machine, Singleton led the team in tackles again. It marked his 12th game with double-digit tackles (he tallied 11), with seven being solo. 

Singleton was a sure tackler against the Chargers and it did not appear that he had any missed tackles that had plagued him earlier in the season. The defense had a solid performance, and Singleton led the charge.

Dud: Garett Bolles | OT

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Bolles had a bit of a rough outing. He wasn’t awful, but he did get called for a false start and holding penalty that impacted the Broncos’ ability to score. He also missed a couple of key blocks that led to a loss of yardage on running plays. 

Bolles and his linemate Ben Powers struggled to open holes on that side of the line even though other teams have been able to churn out yards all season on the right side of the Chargers’ defense. Overall, it wasn’t a horrible performance, but definitely a decline from what Bolles has done this season.

Stud: Jaleel McLaughlin | RB

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The Broncos were hoping for a spark on offense and giving the ball to McLaughlin early provided a bit of what they were hoping for against the Chargers. He was the best running back on the field and his elusiveness really showed up. 

The rookie was not used as much later in the game, but his early performance was solid. He ran for 44 yards on only eight carries with a long of 11 and added three catches for another 18 yards. McLaughlin was a solid performer on offense, even if it may have been overlooked by the huge play from Humphrey.

Dud: Sean Payton | HC

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We were told that Sean Payton was an offensive genius, and he was going to make this Broncos offense perform well this season. That didn’t happen, and the evaluation was that he needed a quarterback who could run his system. 

Payton made the quarterback change to Stidham, his hand-picked offseason acquisition, and the Broncos' offense continued to sputter. In fact, the performance against the injury-riddled Chargers team was worse than it was only two weeks ago when L.A. had a better team. 

The quarterback was to blame all season, but maybe Payton’s offense doesn’t work as well without Drew Brees.

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