DENVER (AP) — Bo Nix and the Denver Broncos finally justified their head coach’s talking them up all offseason.
Nix threw for two touchdowns and ran for another to atone for his end zone interception and the Broncos snapped a two-game skid by sending the Cincinnati Bengals to their second straight blowout loss, 28-3 Monday night.
The Bengals (2-2) never crossed midfield after an opening-drive field goal for a 3-0 lead as Denver’s defense limited Cincinnati to a mere 159 yards of offense — to the Broncos’ 512 — and two third-down conversions all night.
With 101 yards on 16 carries, J.K. Dobbins recorded Denver’s first 100-yard rushing game since Latavius Murray did it against the Chargers in the 2022 season finale, a span of 38 games, including the playoffs.
“Nobody can stop us if we keep doing what we did tonight,” Dobbins said.
Nix threw for 326 yards and the Broncos piled up 29 first downs to Cincinnati’s nine.
“We showed that we’re a tough team,” Dobbins said. “And we can be even tougher.”
The Bengals (2-2) lost their second straight game behind backup quarterback Jake Browning, who is filling in with star Joe Burrow recovering from toe surgery. They were coming off their biggest blowout in their history, a 48-10 drubbing at Minnesota, and this one wasn’t much better.
“The last two weeks just feels like never really had momentum,” Browning said, “haven’t really been explosive, have one or two good plays and then and then we’ll get into the first-and-20. And then you’re fighting a hard battle with one arm behind your back when you end up in longer situations, second-and-long, first-and-long, leading to third-and-long. Good offenses don’t do that, so we need to clean it up.”
The Broncos (2-2) still haven’t trailed in the fourth quarter and for the first time since the opener, the outcome wasn’t decided on a walk-off field goal as time expired.
Cincinnati went up 3-0 on Evan McPherson’s short field goal, but then gained just two first downs the rest of the first half and committed eight penalties, the franchise’s most before halftime in at least 15 years.
The Bengals punted on all eight possessions after their opening field goal, save for a kneel-down at halftime when the Broncos led 21-3.
Another flag negated the Bengals’ biggest play when PJ Jules snatched the ball from punt returner Marvin Mims Jr. at the Denver 15-yard line after a bobble. But because Mims had waved for a fair catch, the call was interference and Denver maintained possession.
After a three-and-out to start the game, during which Nix burned a timeout, the Broncos grabbed control with three touchdown drives. Nix ran it in from 6 yards out, Mims scored on a 16-yard end-around and Courtland Sutton hauled in a 20-yard scoring pass on the drive following Nix’s end zone interception.
“If you get into any trouble, just find me,” said Sutton, whose TD came with 8 seconds left in the first half.
Denver’s only major blemish was Nix throwing the ball right to linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. on fouth-and-1 from the Bengals 2.
Nix’s second touchdown throw went to rookie RJ Harvey, a 12-yarder in the fourth quarter. Harvey ran for 58 yards to go with his 40 receiving yards.
Browning threw for just 125 yards on 14 of 25 passing and his big targets had a quiet night — Tee Higgins had 32 yards on three receptions and Ja’Marr Chase managed just 23 yards on five catches.
The game plan on Chase?
“The game plan was Patrick Surtain,” Denver defensive back Ja’Quan McMillian said.
“Overall, the whole performance on offense was very poor and we left our defense out to dry. A lot,” Browning said. “On offense we’re all part of the problem and we all need to be a part of the solution.”
The Broncos still have plenty to clean up themselves, but this was their best game so far, especially on offense.
“It certainly was a step in the right direction,” coach Sean Payton said. “I would say there were a lot of things that we were able to do tonight that hopefully we can carry over. Now we change quickly to a team that just won the Super Bowl.”
Flag football
Among the bundle of flags were four on Broncos center Luke Wattenberg. The Broncos had seven accepted penalties for 72 yards and the Bengals had 11 accepted flags for 65 yards.
“It is a lack of discipline,” Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor said. “Pre-snap penalties, as a whole it’s not good enough. We’re a team that should not be having that problem. We have to get it corrected. We can’t just hand the other team five yards and put us behind the eight ball, especially dealing with some of the stuff that we got to deal with on the road. And so we got to get it cleaned up.”
Injuries
Bengals WR Charlie Jones sprained his right ankle in the second half.
Broncos WR Marvin Mims Jr. started after injuring a hip Saturday and being listed as questionable.
Up next
Bengals: Host the Detroit Lions on Sunday.
Broncos: Visit the unbeaten Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Pro Football Writer
