In sports, a win is a win, whether it’s ugly, sensational, or somewhere in between. Although anticipation of the new season was at a mile high, the Denver Broncos got exactly what they invested the most in during the offseason - defense. The 20-12 Broncos’ victory lacked thunder from the offense, literally and figuratively.

The gray Arabian mascot horse, Thunder, was absent from the stadium for the opener, having called in sick. Touchdowns would not be celebrated as accustomed for Broncos Country. Meanwhile, the halftime show, featuring the Western Thunder Marching Band of the University of Wyoming, was all set to take the field, but was marched back inside due to a severe lightning warning, canceling their performance.

The threatening weather was close, but it turned away, much like the 13-12 fourth-quarter score that the visiting Tennessee Titans could not overcome. Given the chances created by the Broncos’ multiple turnovers, the defense earned its paychecks, holding the visitors to a net loss of 2 yards in the second half.

“It’s the best feeling when you have a great defense,” said second-year quarterback Bo Nix. “Just over and over, they kind of got us out of a jam and continued to do that throughout the game. The one that really sticks out is that they get the ball down to one, and we get two sacks, getting them out of field goal range. That’ll change the game in a hurry, and it changes the environment, gets guys back into the game. It was just awesome to see different players making big plays.”

With a Broncos’ one-point lead in the fourth quarter, Marvin Mims would muff a punt return at the 24-yard line, giving the Titans a short field and a prime opportunity to take the lead. The stout defense of the Broncos registered two consecutive sacks of -16 and -11 yards, taking the Titans out of field goal range.

The misstep by Mims was accompanied by three turnovers from Bo Nix, including two interceptions and a fumble. The Titans would only capitalize on three points from the turnovers. Nix would finish with 25 completions on 40 passes, with one touchdown on a 22-yard catch by Courtland Sutton. His passer rating was 60.0.

“You don’t ever want to throw interceptions, but when you do, as tough as it is, you just have to move on and respond with positive plays after that. Both times I thought I had decent vision, just was a 50-50 that didn’t go our way. [I] probably shouldn’t have thrown both of them. You live and you learn. Sometimes you can be a little too aggressive, and I was too aggressive. I just ultimately have to be smarter than that and take care of the football. Especially with our defense, as well as they’re going to play this year, I can’t put them in bad spots.”

Although the defense would not get any interceptions, they did get to rookie quarterback Cam Ward, the first overall pick in the NFL Draft, sacking him six times in his first game. All of the Titans scoring came on four field goals by kicker Joey Slye.

“I feel like week one, you never know how the game may vary,” Patrick Surtian II told the Denver Sports Report.  “Obviously, there are mistakes in Week 1. You may see, you know, certain tendencies throughout the game where there’s a lot of mistakes. That’s part of football at the end of the day. We just have to learn and correct from it. But it’s NFL football at the end of the day. It’s always going to be tough to go out there just get a secured victory. We have to go out there and give it our best and give our effort each and every play. I’m just glad we got to win and just keep on getting and improve.”

Broncos’ rookie running back RJ Harvey had a memorable first game in the NFL with a 50 yard run with 9:33 left in the game. That would set up a 19-yard touchdown run for JK Dobbins for his first touchdown as a Denver Bronco. The running attack for the Broncos finished with a total of 151 yards in the game.

Next up for the Broncos are the Indianapolis Colts on the road. The 1-0 Colts beat the Miami Dolphins 33-8 in their home opener at Lucas Oil Stadium last Sunday. See the Broncos-Titans Gameday photo Gallery at www.SportsReportNet.com.

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