The Takeaways, Week 12 Edition: Broncos over Washington

December 2, 2025

by Steve Thomas

Look, folks, at least the team looked more like a real franchise again, somewhat in the vein of the 2024 team.  Yes, the Broncos won in overtime by a score of 27 – 26, but at a minimum, this game was a moral victory in that the team played like they cared, put out a maximum effort, and participated in an entertaining contest.  It certainly wasn’t what we all wanted – at least not the group of fans who are rooting for victories and not draft status (to each their own; no criticism) – but it was a noticeable improvement over recent results.  Everyone can take comfort in the fact that Washington didn’t get blown out for what seems like the 29th week in a row.  So there’s that.  The Takeaways for this week are below.

Good defensive effort

The fact that Washington gave up 27 points in this game isn’t necessarily indicative of the amount of effort and effective execution the team pulled off.  Washington’s defense has looked like an absolute trainwreck in recent weeks, but they didn’t in this game.  At halftime, Denver only had 13 points and 185 net offensive yards.  Washington’s secondary didn’t let the Broncos get away with a bunch of essentially free plays thanks to busted coverages or bad interior run defense.  Shockingly enough considering the injury situation, the team more or less held their own against one of the NFL’s best teams.  Dan Quinn called a more aggressive game than Joe Whitt had been calling, and the zone defense in the secondary mostly worked.  That isn’t to ignore some busts; for example, Bobby Wagner’s busted coverage late in the game played a major role in the loss.  Regardless taking into account that they are missing 4 important starters on defense, in my view, this was definitely progress despite the loss.

. . . except for the lack of a pass rush

All of that having been said, Washington essentially got nearly zero pass rush for the entire game, with only 1 sack of Denver quarterback Bo Nix.  Nix continually had all day in the pocket to make plays, and the truth is that Washington got a little lucky that some of Denver’s short out passes into the flats and in the shallow secondary weren’t completed.  Recognizing that Washington is missing both of its starting defensive ends, the sort of results we saw in this game and that we’ve seen for much of the reason are not conducive to the development of a top-quality defense next season.  Whatever the front office’s plan is, it has to include something better than just Dorance Armstrong and . . . average at best.

Marcus Mariota looks like a starter

Mariota (who, as repeatedly demonstrated by Cris Collingsworth during the television broadcast, apparently pronounces his name with a hard letter “t”) went 28 for 50 in this game, which is a 56% completion percentage, 294 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception, for a quarterback rating of 78.2.  Those certainly aren’t great numbers, but on the other hand, Denver’s defense is one of the very best in the entire NFL.  Other than Mariota’s one interception, which was an absolutely terrible throw, I thought in this game he showed exactly why Washington elected to spend so much money on him to be the backup.  Mariota mostly made good decisions, made a few outstanding throws, and looked like the experienced veteran that he is.  Frankly, the way Jayden Daniels had been playing prior to his injury, I’m not sure that he’d have done much better.  I continue to maintain that Washington needs to make every effort to keep Mariota on the franchise for as long as possible.  He’s the perfect backup for a quarterback like Daniels.

Washington’s run game went better than expected

As a team, Washington had 33 carries for 143 yards, which is 4.3 yards per carry.  The three running backs – Chris Rodriguez, Jacory Croskey-Merritt, and Jeremy McNichols – combined for 21 carries for 91 yards, which is also 4.3 yards per carry.  Considering who they were playing, that isn’t terrible.  It’s certainly better than I was expecting.  One bit of criticism for the coaches: let Rodriguez take all or most of the carries for a game to see how he does.  In this game, he had 11, McNichols had 6, and Croskey-Merritt had 4.  I’d like to see Rodriguez get up in the range of 15 or 16 carries, because I think he’d get better as the game goes on.  Just food for thought, Dan Quinn.

Yes, the refs definitely stunk in this game

You’ll get no arguments from me that the officiating was terrible in this game.  They missed or blew numerous calls, the most prominent of which probably being the missed tripping of Marcus Mariota late in the game that erased a key first down and resulted in the ludicrous situation in which he was ruled down by contact on the basis of an illegal trip.  And that’s just one example; there were several others.  Look, NFL, first of all: do better.  Get some referees that know what the heck they are doing.  Also, though, instant replay ought to allow for review of absolutely everything on the field.  There’s no reason why the Mariota’s trip couldn’t have been called a penalty upon review.  The current policy is silly, stupid, harmful to the game, and seems to be designed only to protect the tender feelings and reputation of the referees.  Do better, NFL.  The last thing I’ll say on this topic is that I do not think that this game was evidence of some sort of anti-Washington, pro-Denver conspiracy.  It was just officials doing a poor job.  The end.

That’s it for this week.  I’ll be back after Washington’s battle with the Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota next Sunday.