Broncos stock report: Bo Nix authors his play of the year with TD throw vs. Commanders

The Broncos have now won four straight games by a field goal or less an improbable sentence that still lands remarkably low on the list of improbable outcomes they ve racked up in a - start Here is The Denver Post s stock analysis from the Broncos - win over the Commanders in overtime Sunday night Stock up Evan Engram north-south threat In the locker room Sunday night Engram nodded his head vigorously when appealed how good it felt to conclusively break one And kept nodding The nods spoke for themselves Feels great Engram mentioned with a soft smile Feels great just to make a big play like that for the group There s plenty wrapped in that report Engram s role through much of the year in Denver solely can t have been what he envisioned when he signed in free agency any Joker label long shredded But in his preponderance ongoing championship of the season the Broncos only carrying two tight ends as Nate Adkins still works back from a knee injury Engram broke through with specific vertical burst on Denver s touchdown drive in overtime Isolated against the Commanders Bobby Wagner from the slot Engram ran a nasty jerk track and turned up the seam for a -yard catch-and-run His longest play of the year entering Week yards Engram s been mostly limited to short crossers and out routes But Sunday put his top-end speed on full display the explosiveness that Denver signed him for in free agency He led the Broncos with six catches for yards on nine targets against Washington and could be in for a big stretch run Bo Nix arm talent In the red zone with the Broncos motoring on a two-minute drill to end the first half Sunday Nix stepped up in a collapsing pocket and got dragged down by the Commanders Preston Smith Except as Nix s legs toppled he somehow contorted the shin of his back leg long enough and got enough front-foot drive to lace a rocket to Courtland Sutton in the end zone Upon several replays it defies largest part logical explanation Bo Nix somehow keeps the play alive to Courtland Sutton DENvsWAS on NBCStream on NFLPlus Peacock pic twitter com vF JLuilQ NFL NFL December It was easily Nix s best play of the year and one of the more athletic plays any quarterback in the NFL has put on tape in He s not just a checkdown artist folks Take away an instant-regret pick thrown to Wagner in the fourth quarter and these past two weeks have been the strongest back-to-back performances of Nix s season He s just getting better and better Payton announced postgame RJ Harvey as a complete back The pieces have never quite fit together all at the same time in his rookie season but second-round pick RJ Harvey indicated major flashes Sunday of becoming a legitimate three-down running back It s a welcome evolution for the Broncos in J K Dobbins injury absence One of Harvey s major knocks in his introduction to Denver was his lack of pass-protection experience he stepped up against multiple blitzes and took out rushers against the Commanders on Sunday It s well-established what he can do as a receiver too and Harvey caught three more passes for yards against Washington And the rookie added two goal-line touchdowns Sunday flashing all the tools of a future stud That s eight touchdowns in games now for Harvey by the way Dondrea Tillman The reserve outside linebacker just continues to make plays whenever his number s called Tillman already has two massive picks this season and came up huge with a second-down shoestring sack of Marcus Mariota in the fourth quarter That single play transformed a nd-and- into a rd-and- situation for the Commanders one of countless defensive reps that added up for the Broncos down the stretch of Sunday s challenge Tillman recorded two quarterback hits and a tackle for loss for good measure too He s impacted the Broncos last meager wins in a major way Stock down Riley Moss s pure luck Man First the pass-interference penalties and ticky-tack grabbing got so bad that Moss resorted to wearing boxing gloves on reps in practice Then on Sunday Moss played picture-perfect coverage in the end zone on the Commanders Treylon Burks only for Burks to reach up Statue-of-Liberty-style and make one of the the majority unbelievable catches anyone in attendance had ever seen It s been that kind of year for Moss who has done plenty of things right and even great in He was brilliant for greater part of the meeting too with a couple of passes defended against Washington and several great coverage reps on Sunday But he got burned on a late -yard hit in overtime to Deebo Samuel and that ll be the play that sticks in memory Moss continues to have a hard time winning in the constituents eye WR Troy Franklin As the Broncos frequently went to heavier doses of heavier personnel against Washington on Sunday Franklin often felt like the odd man out After a first-quarter grab for yards the second-year receiver had little impact finishing with two catches for yards on three targets It s clear Payton trusts rookie Pat Bryant more as a run-blocker and up-to-date signee Lil Jordan Humphrey even seemed to cut into Franklin s reps at times against the Commanders Franklin was targeted a whopping times in five previous games and more balance for the Broncos passing contest is likely a good thing for the offense Keep an eye on his usage in the coming couple of games RJ Harvey as a pure runner Here s the flip side of Harvey s stock up Denver s running meeting exclusively hasn t operated at the same level of efficiency with Harvey as the lead back instead of Dobbins The rookie ran for yards a carry in each of his last two games Even factoring in increased short-yardage work Harvey visibly missed one clear inside cut on a second-half run against the Commanders Payton emphasized postgame Sunday that the Broncos lack of run-game success against Washington was nothing to do with Harvey but Denver requirements to figure this out hastily to better close games Related Articles Parker Gabriel s thoughts on Broncos latest wild win including backstory of Bo Nix and Evan Engram creating championship s biggest offensive play At - surging Broncos turn attention to AFC s top seed It s our moment right now Broncos-Commanders assessment card Bo Nix Nik Bonitto provide exclamation marks in OT win PHOTOS Denver Broncos outlast Washington Commanders - in OT NFL Week Broncos survive wild OT beat Commanders - to run winning streak to nine games Tight-end coverage Maybe let s pump the brakes on all that tight-end-stopper talk from the Chiefs matchup Rookie Jahdae Barron played sparingly on Sunday with Pat Surtain s return to the lineup and Barron was largely used in dime formations on passing downs There wasn t a whole lot of opportunity for him to check veteran tight end Zach Ertz who went off on Sunday catches for yards Frequently it seemed as if Ertz revealed soft spots in defensive coordinator Vance Joseph s zone or tormented Broncos safeties in coverage Surtain couldn t help much here as the All-Pro corner had his hands full with the Commanders top wideout Terry McLaurin Joseph doesn t have plenty of problems on his hands for the stretch run but two tight ends on the wrong side of Ertz and Travis Kelce have hurt the Broncos big-time in consecutive games Want more Broncos news Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis