Though maybe I should have when Von Miller promised a Thursday Night Football beatdown earlier this week. It was great to see the Denver Broncos respond and give life to Miller’s proclamation Brian Dawkins Jersey , literally, in a 45-10 ass-kicking of the Arizona Cardinals in Phoenix. It was even better to see the Broncos offense show some creativity and get Case Keenum out of the pocket. But make no mistake about it – the Cardinals are a putrid football team, and that is underselling it. And while Denver looked great, it’s right to question how credible this win really is. Was this just a desert mirage giving us false hope that this team is finding its way out of a football wasteland? Nevertheless, at least the Broncos (3-4) ended their four-game losing streak and have a bit of confidence on their mini bye before the redux with the Kansas City Chiefs. Winners Emmanuel Sanders We know that Denver’s receiver is a playmaker, we just haven’t seen it with his arm. Kudos to the Broncos offensive coaches for the creativity on his 28-yard touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton. It was the first-career touchdown pass for Sanders, who also had a 64-yard touchdown reception. Sanders finished with six catches for 102 yards and a touchdown, and 1-for-1 passing for 28 yards and a touchdown. Sanders is the first Denver player since John Elway on Sept. 7, 1986, and the fourth in team history, to finish with a touchdown catch and pass in the same game. Sanders also is the first receiver in Broncos history to have a touchdown via catch, pass and run, and the ninth player overall.Courtland Sutton Denver’s rookie continues to impress. Not only did he catch Sanders’ first touchdown pass https://www.broncosfanstore.com/Demarcus-Ware-Jersey , he drew another pass interference penalty in the end zone. And had Keenum not underthrown Sutton on the Broncos’ sideline, he would have had another touchdown. Chris Harris Jr. Harris got his first pick-six since 2015, and it was the second of the game for Denver’s defense. It doesn’t matter that it was against a rookie quarterback and a terrible offense, the fact the Broncos created turnovers and returned them for touchdowns is a beautiful sight. Todd Davis Speaking of pick-sixes, Denver’s middle linebacker had the first of the game for the first touchdown of the game. It was Davis’ first career interception and touchdown. What was even better to see is him make a few tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Given how bad the run defense has been the last two weeks, it was good to see the Broncos do in fact have middle linebackers on the field.Phillip Lindsay There really is nothing left to say about this young man. It’s just fun to watch this play out like it is for the Broncos rookie and Colorado boy. What makes it even better is he’s doing it in Terrell Davis’ No. 30. Lindsay’s 28-yard touchdown run was the latest highlight-reel play ofhis rookie season. The defense Not only did the Denver defense create five turnovers and have six sacks, it held the Cardinals to under 100 yards rushing. Coming into the game, I simply wanted the Broncos to keep Arizona under 200. Von Miller He not only had two sacks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery, he stepped up as a leader should. For what it’s worth, no player has forced more fumbles (25) than Miller since he entered the NFL in 2011. For the 17th time in his career, he finished with two sacks or more in a game.The Broncos Miller put the onus on his team and it responded in a big way. After a do-or-die game, Denver’s players have some confidence heading into their trip to KC. Losers DaeSean Hamilton The reason the Broncos rookie receiver is here is because of his shitty luck. The hope is the injury isn’t as bad as it could be. Bill Musgrave Despite the fact his team won by 35 points Emmanuel Sanders Color Rush Jersey , Denver’s offensive coordinator just couldn’t help himself. He still found a way to call way more passing plays than he should have. When one speaks of false hope that this win could bring, Musgrave is why. Case KeenumI debated on this one, but even against a bad football team the Broncos quarterback still couldn’t play a clean game. Maybe it’s nitpicking, but play a damn clean game. There’s also the underthrow of Sutton I mentioned earlier. Larry Fitzgerald The Cardinals receiver is on this list because of the situation. He deserves better than this. My hope is Fitzgerald is traded to a contender before the trade deadline later this month and he’s able to finish his career with a team that can win. The fans who wanted change Those who wanted change to happen after this game will have to wait. Whether this win is a confidence builder or false hope, we’ll find out. The Denver Broncos (2-3) dropped their third-straight game, except this time they were not even really competitive. The New York Jets (2-3) ran roughshod over the Broncos defense and were able to pressure Case Keenum into maximum dink and dunk effort.After the loss, head coach Vance Joseph chose to keep upbeat on the 34-16 drubbing and focusing on the next game.“It’s not going to be difficult,” Joseph said of how hard it will be to keep the team motivated. “We’re not going to fall for the noise. We came into this game on a short week after an emotional loss on Monday. I told our guys, we can’t surrender to this — that’s what the public thinks, that’s what the perceptions are, but we have no excuses today. We played Monday night, it’s a Sunday game, we didn’t play good. We didn’t play good Gary Zimmerman Jersey , and it showed up. That team wanted it more than our football team today, and it obviously showed. But we have no excuses. None.”Did the Jets players want it more? Possibly. Or maybe the Jets coaching staff put together a far superior game plan that took advantage of the many limitations in the Broncos defensive scheme and how little Keenum has attacked down field after the first game of the season.How much truth in reality Joseph’s statement has is yet to be seen, with Derek Wolfe already lamenting the last two years has having some deeper problems than just ‘playing harder’.Even so, what else can Joseph do other than to remain positive and try to get the team to bounce back to face the best team in the NFL in the Los Angeles Rams. The best team with Wade Phillips calling the defense. “I told them we have to bounce back,” Joseph said. “We can’t surrender to the noise out there. It’s early in the season — you see those scores today? No one in this league is perfect. A lot of good teams are losing games right now early. So we have plenty of time, we have a big game on Sunday that I feel really good about. So we are going to fly back home, watch the tape, we are going to coach and play better, and we’ll see on Sunday. We’ll see on Sunday.”Joseph has to know his tenure as the Broncos Head Coach is rapidly coming to an end with each defeat. He needs a signature win and he needs it now.