Broncos stock report: Talanoa Hufanga, Zach Allen, Ja’Quan McMillian shine vs. Texans

As Bo Nix declared postgame the ugly wins are how the Broncos are doing it right now Denver sits at - after another fourth-quarter grind-it-out accomplishment over Houston on Sunday one in which several familiar issues sprang back up but were tamped down by more defensive excellence Here s The Denver Post s stock statement from the day Stock up Talanoa Hufanga Hats off to a Broncos free-agent acquisition who has become one of Denver s preponderance crucial pieces on defense Hufanga continues to smack opposing ball-carriers around with little regard for manners talk stuff at them after doing it and make plays on every inch of grass The safety s final line from the Texans win was a gem nine tackles two pressures two passes deflected and two catches allowed for yards on four targets in coverage That last point is particularly notable as Hufanga s been terrific in an increased dosage of man-to-man coverage in Denver targets and catches for yards allowed this season He s a huge piece in the Broncos plans without Pat Surtain II and he provided plenty of help over the top against the Texans in the absence of their star CB Ja Quan McMillian There s a reason that first-round pick Jahdae Barron hasn t won a starting job through nine weeks and his name is J-Mac McMillian is one of the quieter presences in Denver s locker room He put his head down in camp and reaffirmed his claim to his spot as the nickel in Vance Joseph s defense and has been nails since He was one of the more key pieces in Joseph s all-hands-on-deck plan to cover for Surtain s absence and allowed just three catches for yards on seven targets Sunday Quarterbacks have just a rating when targeting McMillian s assignment this year Zach Allen Let s just keep running through meeting balls for the defense Allen was a second-team All-Pro after a breakout and is playing his way into consideration there again For a sportsman who often thrives at opening up rush lanes for others Allen was constantly around the ball against Houston five tackles a sack and two passes deflected He sits first in the NFL in QB hits and the differential between him and No is greater than the differential between No and No That is not a typo Sean Payton gimmicks Why not keep it rolling A week ago the Broncos skill players chuckled when Denver stitched video of their collegiate fight songs over touchdown plays in Saturday night s film review This past week staff stitched video of players families cheering them on over touchdown reps from practice Rookie RB RJ Harvey caught a TD against the Texans on one of those same plays Maybe the Broncos head coach will figure out a way to tape himself from the future and splice it over Saturday s cut-ups at several point Stock down Second-down Bo Denver s offense stuck itself back in the mud on Sunday and had two drive-killing play-calls from Payton in part to thank for it A second-quarter second-and- screen to Tyler Badie went for a loss of yards A third-quarter third-and- end-around to Troy Franklin went for a loss of too The Broncos didn t help themselves in those situations whatsoever Nine games in Nix has thrown nearly a third of his passes on second downs with more than yards to gain He has a quarterback rating in such situations That s more than a large-enough sample size to be concerned and a point to the fact that Denver s offense functions best when it s humming on first down Evan Engram The Joker face paint has slowly worn off This isn t Engram s fault Nix had him wide open on two targets Sunday and comprehensively misfired both times including a first-quarter ball on a beautiful hitch-and-go track that would ve gone for an easy touchdown But Engram went for on his targets and has yet to show consistent chemistry with Nix in situations where he s not a primary read On the year Engram now has catches for yards and a touchdown in eight games That isn t the production that the Broncos paid million guaranteed for this offseason no matter whose shoulders the blame lies on Whoever the heck wasn t ready on special teams Payton is not upset with Darren Rizzi and thinks he s doing an outstanding job Allegedly Related Articles Sean Payton Broncos aren t looking to send a message at NFL transaction deadline Denver Summit FC will play inaugural home match at Empower Field with hopes of shattering NWSL attendance record Broncos Sean Payton clarifies special-teams frustration is with players not Darren Rizzi s coaching Parker Gabriel s Thoughts after Denver s walk-off win vs Houston including several serious special teams issues that must be resolved Keeler Broncos QB Bo Nix requirements to run more Broncos Country requirements to doubt him less Instead he clarified his special-teams frustration was directed at personnel In particular there seemed to be a poor chap who was late getting out to the field on kickoffs on Sunday That athlete that s supposed to be out there I ll find someone else to do his job Payton mentioned Monday Thursday night might reveal who landed themselves in Payton s doghouse The Nix-Sutton connection Yes Courtland Sutton authored perhaps the day s biggest play on offense with a -yard touchdown on a perfect ball from Nix in the second quarter But Nix and Sutton couldn t connect on five other targets and Sutton even proved a bit of frustration on a second-half third down that Nix threw behind him This isn t a major issue but a function of an out-of-sync contest from Nix overall Want more Broncos news Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis