• James Cook was benched for three drives: Cook fumbled the game's first offensive play and was benched for over a quarter. He redeemed himself by running five straight times for 69 yards on the Bills' final drive which gave Buffalo their first lead of the game.
• Marvin Mims Jr. sees increased snaps but not targets: Mims finally has a significant role in the Broncos offense, but he’s caught only two passes for 4 yards over his last five games after an excellent first four games in limited opportunities.
• Courtland Sutton makes the catch of the year: Sutton made a perfect catch in the end zone that looked like a throw-away. He barely got his toes in, but it helped Denver to an early two-score lead.
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Denver Broncos @ Buffalo Bills
- Courtland Sutton: 8 receptions, 53 yards, 1 touchdown
- Dalton Kincaid: 5 receptions, 51 yards, 1 touchdown
James Cook is temporarily benched: Cook lost a fumble on the first play of the game, which led to a Broncos field goal. Latavius Murray took over until the middle of the second quarter.
- Murray took 15 of the 16 offensive snaps over the following three drives, with third-string running back Ty Johnson taking the other snap. Murray ran four times for 37 yards and two first downs in Cook’s absence.
- Cook reentered the game again in the middle of the second quarter. Cook and Murray then resumed their usual roles.
- Cook took most of the snaps outside of short-yardage situations. As usual, the goal-line touches went to Murray, and he scored a touchdown late in the third quarter.
- Cooks should remain a relatively safe start, although the Bills added Leonard Fournette to the practice squad two weeks ago. They haven’t activated him for a game yet, but he will likely get at least some playing time once he’s on the roster.
Marvin Mims Jr. finally plays an increased role: Mims played over 50% of the offensive snaps for the first time in his NFL career.
- Mims was excellent at making big plays early in the season. He caught nine passes for 242 yards in his first four games.
- Those big plays didn’t impact his playing time, and he continued to play between 23% and 35% of the offensive snaps each week, mostly splitting playing time with Brandon Johnson.
- Johnson landed on injured reserve after Week 7. Mims received a slight boost in playing time in Week 8, but the Broncos also activated Tre’Quan Smith off the practice squad and spent most of that game in two-receiver sets rather than three-receiver sets.
- Smith was not activated this week. Instead, David Sills was brought up from the practice squad. Sills started his career with the Bills.
- Mims started a game for the first time since Week 5. Denver rotated wide receivers in and out more than usual.
- Mims played the majority of snaps out of 11 personnel for the first time all season and played significantly in two-receiver sets.
- This didn’t lead to any receptions for Mims, but he did run the ball once. Even without the touches, his increase in playing time is a big step in the right direction for his progression.
- Jerry Jeudy’s playing time has slowly but surely declined throughout the season. Mims’ increase in playing time meant more decline for Jeudy.
Denver makes changes at tight end: The changes could be good news for Greg Dulcich once he’s ready to return.
- In recent weeks, Adam Trautman and Chris Manhertz shared the tight end duties. They took almost all of the two-tight end sets, Trautman would play the majority of 11-personnel snaps and Manhertz took the majority of 21-personnel snaps.
- Nate Adkins had served as the Broncos’ third tight end with Dulcich out.
- He was a healthy inactive today, with Lucas Krull getting called up from the practice squad. Krull started his career with the Saints last season, where he played a total of 10 offensive snaps in one game.
- Krull became the primary tight end in 11 personnel, which meant less playing time for Trautman. Krull took significant snaps on both early downs and third downs.
- This opens the door for Dulcich to take over as the tight end in 11 personnel once he’s healthy.
- He is eligible to return in Week 12, and Sean Payton mentioned late last week that the team expects Dulcich to be back this season.
- Dulcich might not get enough playing time or be healthy enough to be fantasy-relevant, but if you’re looking for a high-risk, high-upside player to stash on your bench, Dulcich could be a good option.
Miscellaneous Notes
- Javonte Williams has been used more over the last three weeks than earlier in the season. He set a career-high in rushing attempts in the Broncos’ last game at 27, and his 21 attempts today was the third-most in his career.
- Dalton Kincaid has caught at least five passes for at least 50 yards in each of his last four games.
- Dawson Knox will be out for at least one more game on injured reserve. He is eligible to return in Week 12, but his initial reports suggested he was out indefinitely after having wrist surgery, and there have been no recent updates on his recovery.
Table Notes
• Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
• Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
• Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
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