Denver Broncos: Winners, losers and one huge difference-maker from Week 6 win

Denver Broncos: Winners, losers and one huge difference-maker from Week 6 win originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Denver Broncos weren't aesthetically pleasing against the , but they got the win. 

In the end, that is all that matters, but fans and those in the media are going to be blasting the team's offense throughout the week, and rightfully so. The Broncos couldn't run the ball, they couldn't convert on third down and they made life much more difficult on themselves with several penalties. 

Thankfully for them, they have a great defense. 

The Denver defense announced itself as the best in the NFL on Sunday, something that was forecasted this offseason. The team was up around the top of the league in that category, but this performance made it clear. The defense won this game for the Broncos. 

It wasn't pretty. The Jets had a total of 82 yards on offense. Yes, total. They kicked three field goals and had a safety due to a penalty on the Broncos in their own end zone, and still had a chance to win the game on the final drive. It was shaping up to be the Broncos' third loss on a last-second field goal this season, but a great pass rush prevented that from happening. 

Denver Broncos Week 6 winners and losers

Winners

Pat Surtain II, CB

Pat Surtain could be listed as a winner for the team just about every game. He's the best cornerback in the NFL and he continues to prove that. Garrett Wilson came into the game leading the AFC in receptions, but in this game he was a total non-factor. He caught just three passes for 13 yards. 

Evan Engram, TE

The numbers aren't huge — five catches for 42 yards — but the Broncos are making a concerted effort to get him more involved. Four of his five receptions in this game gave the Broncos a first down, and he had a 12-yard catch on 2nd-and-10 on the team's go-ahead drive late in the game. 

Engram is a player trending upwards for the Broncos. 

Talanoa Hufanga, S

Some of the biggest plays in games don't show up in the box score, and Talanoa Hufanga is an example of that. He is all over the field for this team and is quickly becoming one of the best players on the entire roster. 

He had five tackles and a sack in this game, but he also had a key pass breakup against Garrett Wilson late in the game that would have put the Jets in position to win the game with a field goal at the end. 

Losers

Troy Franklin, WR

You could put the entire offense in the loser's circle for this game, but we'll just highlight a couple of players, starting with Troy Franklin. 

Franklin caught three passes for 19 yards in this game, but his first catch, on the team's opening drive, resulted in a fumble. Bo Nix made a great play just to get him the ball, which would have been a third-down conversion, but he had the ball popped out and the Jets recovered. That led to the Jets kicking a field goal to go up 3-0. 

Matt Peart, OL

It was a rough day for the Broncos' offensive line and hopefully that is not a trend that continues. With Ben Powers out of the lineup, the Broncos turned to Matt Peart to take over at guard. Peart was flagged for three penalties. He was called for one false start and two holding penalties. 

Please get Matt Peart off my team.

— Zack Kelberman (@KelbermanNFL) October 12, 2025

One of those holding calls came after a 24-yard pass from Nix to Franklin and likely took points off the board for Denver. The team will need to evaluate whether to have someone else, such as Alex Palczewski, start at guard next week. 

Huge difference-maker

This is an easy call. The Broncos' pass rush is dominant and is the reason they won this game. The Broncos sacked Justin Fields nine times in this game. Every time the Broncos needed a play from the defense, it got one and with the Jets inexplicably having a chance to win this game in the end, the team came up with one more sack on a 4th-and-8 play to seal it. 

Here is a breakdown of the sacks for the Broncos in this game:

Jonathon Cooper: 2
Justin Strnad: 1.5
Nin Bonitto: 1
Talanoa Hufanga: 1
Zach Allen: 1
Eyioma Uwazurike: 1
John Franklin-Myers: 1
Brandon Jones: 0.5

It was a collective effort for Vance Joseph's swarming unit, and that pass rush easily gets the game ball for this one.

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