👋 Good Morning!

I know that Anthony Edwards was out but what a statement performance from the Nuggets in Minnesota last night. And what an incredible start to the season from Jamal Murray.

— Justin Michael

RJ Harvey became the first Broncos running back to produce a three-touchdown game since Clinton Portis in 2002. Everyone remembers Portis going for five scores against Kansas City in December of 2003. What people often forget, though, is that one year earlier the rookie standout scored three times in a 31-24 win over the Chiefs as well.

Watching Harvey in Sunday’s blowout over the Cowboys, it felt a little bit like a vintage Portis performance. His ability to cut in the open field and then leave you in the dust is just not something you see out of everyone. And especially on Harvey’s first score, a 40-yard run where his vision, speed and lateral agility were all on display, it felt like we were back in the Shanahan era again.

I’m not saying that Harvey should be expected to go for 1,500 yards this fall like Portis did in his breakout campaign. But with five total touchdowns through the first eight games of his NFL career, funny enough, Harvey has matched the former Miami star’s scoring pace in year one.

Portis went on to score 12 more touchdowns over the second half of his rookie year, which feels like an unrealistic pace to expect Harvey to keep up with. That said, he does have the benefit of playing an extra regular season game. It will be fun to see what kind of damage Harvey can do over the final nine weeks, but this is the most hyped I’ve been about a rookie running back in Denver in quite some time.

Funny story — Portis was the first NFL jersey that I specifically sought out as a young Broncos fan — and after finally getting one for Christmas, Denver traded him to Washington three months later. I was so upset about the situation that I didn’t like Champ Bailey in his first few games with the Broncos. Obviously I came around pretty quickly though.

Pat Surtain will be out for a few weeks with a pec strain. Fortunately it doesn’t sound like it should be too serious of an ordeal after he sat out of the second half on Sunday.

READ: What PS2’s injury means for the Broncos

Jamal Murray dropped 32 points in the second half alone Monday night. Nikola Jokić casually gave us another triple-double as well with 25 points, 19 boards & 10 assists

In a hostile environment against a team that’s had Denver’s number the last two years, it was great to see the stars shine so bright.

READ: Jamal Murray delivers an early season masterclass with 43 points in Minnesota

DNVR Nuggets Postgame

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