This Broncos loss started off 2021 on a rough note, but there were a lot of positive performances to focus on, that should give hope for next year. Also, although the loss came in an incredibly painful fashion, it will help the Broncos move inside the top 10 picks of this year’s draft.
In that spirit of focusing on the positives, and leaving behind the dumpster fire on top of a trainwreck that was 2020, let’s focus on the players that shined brightest in today’s game and improved their stock.
Stock Up
Tyrie Cleveland
With his performance today, Tyrie Cleveland exponentially improved his chances of being on the Broncos roster — or any other — next season.
His opportunities up until this point were incredibly limited. He entered the game with just 47 snaps on the season but saw a majority of the action against the Raiders after Tim Patrick was banged up early. Not only did he play, but he made a massive impact.
For his first reception, he came up with an impressive third-down conversion on the sideline. Then, on the next possession, he converted a 3rd-and-11 with another impressive catch. But he wasn’t done yet. He converted the Broncos’ very next third down on that same drive, and then on the next third down, caught the ball and managed to set up a 4th-and-1 opportunity.
Michael Ojemudia
Ojemudia has had an up-and-down season, to say the least, but he is definitely entering 2021 with an exclamation point.
Against the Raiders he came up with two massive forced fumbles. The first forced fumble came off an Ojemudia ‘peanut-punch’ and set the Broncos offense up in field goal range, though they were unable to capitalize. The second fumble set up a go-ahead Denver touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Agholor did get behind him early for one of Vegas’ biggest plays of the day but it was tough to decipher from the broadcast angle who exactly was responsible for the blown coverage, so it’s possible that mistake wasn’t even his.
Ojemudia’s performance today gives him mountains of positive momentum to carry into next season if such a thing is even possible.
Jerry Jeudy
The first-round receiver had a nightmarish day last week against the Chargers hauling in just six of his 15 targets and dropping another five. It was the kind of day that can haunt a player for weeks, if not longer.
Jeudy however was quick to bounceback and might have just turned in his best game in orange and blue.
He tied for the team lead in receptions with four and led the team in yards with 115. As an added bonus, he scored the potentially game-winning touchdown on a 92-yard beauty that will certainly be ranked among the five best Broncos plays of the season.
Before that massive play, Jeudy also had a nice two-point conversion, which he bobbled, but managed to haul in. Now the Broncos just have to hope Jeudy makes a similar second-year leap to what we saw from Courtland Sutton just last year.
