NFL Week 8 grades: Broncos get an ‘A-‘ for saving their season in London, Bills get a ‘B’ for Sunday night win

Maybe the Broncos should consider moving all of their games to London. 

Through the first seven weeks of the season, the Broncos offense has mostly looked helpless, but that changed on Sunday in England. In a game against the Jaguars, Denver lit up the scoreboard with three touchdowns in a 21-17 win. Scoring three touchdowns doesn’t usually qualify as lighting up the scoreboard, but it does when you’re a Broncos team who went into this week’s game as the lowest-scoring offense in the NFL. 

So why was Denver finally able to find some success on offense? The biggest reason is that Russell Wilson finally started playing like the Russell Wilson the Broncos thought they were getting when they made a blockbuster trade for the QB back in March. 

Wilson’s ability to throw the ball accurately downfield is one reason why he’s been so successful in his career and he showed off that ability against the Jaguars. One of Wilson’s best throws of the day came in the third quarter when he hit Greg Dulcich with a 38-yard pass that traveled 30 yards in the air. 

That throw came on a 92-yard scoring drive where Wilson went 5 of 5 for 88 yards. Wilson seemed to have a great connection with Dulcich, who caught three of the passes on the drive for 78 yards. That touchdown put the Broncos ahead 14-10, but it was a lead they would lose late in the fourth quarter after a one-yard run by Travis Etienne with just 3:54 left to play. 

At that point, the Broncos went back out on the field and it felt like their season was on the line, but Wilson didn’t seem too bothered by the pressure. On the first play of the drive, Wilson arguably saved Denver’s season with 47-yard pass to K.J. Hamler. 

Six plays later, Latavius Murray would score the game-winning touchdown from one-yard out. 

Another reason why the Broncos offense was so good is because it was unstoppable in the red zone. Going into Week 8, Denver had the WORST red zone offense in the NFL, scoring a touchdown on just 23.5% of their red zone trips (To put that in perspective, every other team in the NFL was converting at least 35% of their red zone trips into touchdowns heading into Week 8).

In this game, the Broncos went a perfect 3-for-3 in the red zone and a big reason is because Nathaniel Hackett actually showed some creativity. Denver’s first touchdown of the game came on a six-yard catch by Jerry Jeudy that seemed to catch the…