The Denver Broncos Crumble Again In Week 3…

To clarify, the Broncos’ defense played a good game. They held Justin Herbert to 28/47 passing and allowed just one touchdown and one interception. That is a stat line that every team would take if they faced the Los Angeles Chargers.

They also sacked him five times and pressured him a lot more. So by no means was the defense bad, but boy did they play a stupid brand of football yesterday. Denver gave up 90 yards in penalties, and most of that chunk was given up on defense. It started racking up in the second half.

After the Broncos went up 17-10, Los Angeles had a rough start to their drive. Herbert, to begin the drive, threw two passes to the running backs in the flat that would have made it third and nine. On the second throw, however, there was illegal contact, so the drive resulted in a first down. The Chargers ended up going down and kicking a field goal, making it 17-13.

Had the defense not committed any penalty, the Los Angeles would have faced third and nine, and a quick three-and-out would have been trouble for them. The issues were especially present in the drive that tied the game at 20-20.

The Chargers had the ball and faced third and 10 on their own 24 with 4:18 remaining. Herbert threw a nice pass to Keenan Allen for 11 yards to keep the drive going. Talanoa Hufanga, the Broncos safety, decided to pick him up and throw him to the ground after the gain, resulting in a 15-yard penalty.

In one play, the Chargers got to midfield from their own 24 without having to do much. Hufanga’s mistake was egregious because it was a dead-ball foul. The play was over, so why do some extra-curricular activities?

I would have been less angry if it were pass interference because at least that meant the Broncos defender was trying to stop a big play from happening, but just got unlucky. These personal fouls that occur after a play are due to a lack of discipline and need to be addressed.

Even early in the game, Denver lined up offside on fourth and five, giving LA a first down. Another instance, Denver lined up on offsides on offense at one point too which was strange.

The defensive penalties were easy to catch because they directly cost Denver the game, but in reality, the entire team needs to be sharper with the small details.

The Offense Is All Over The Place

The Broncos’ offense was boom or bust yesterday. In their first four drives, the offense had 32 yards in total. To close out the half, though, they had a 72-yard touchdown drive that included a 52-yard touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton to make the game 7-10.

Then, coming out of the half, Denver scored in just three plays, going 66 yards. JK Dobbins accounted for all the yards and made a great play to score the touchdown to put them up 14-10. Just like that, the Broncos went from down 10 to up four.

Then, in their next two drives, the Broncos combined for just 7 yards before going on a 51-yard drive to go up 20-13. After that drive, the team’s final two drives combined for 9 yards.

The offense has no rhythm or flow. It is either a big play or getting stuffed for no yards. The consistency has to get better because Denver lost the time of possession game by 13 minutes, got out-gained 100+ yards, and that does no favors for your defense, especially late in games.

The offense also let three big game-changing plays slip. The first one was on a third down when the Broncos were down 3-0, and Bo Nix overthrew a wide-open Marvin Mims Jr. that would have resulted in a touchdown. The second one came after the Broncos were up 14-10 and recovered a Chargers fumble on their kickoff return attempt.

Nix once again overthrew Mims, who had a separation in the end zone once again. Denver going up 21-10 at the moment would have been huge. The final one came when the game was tied 20-20 and the Broncos faced a third down.

With just two minutes left, Nix threw a deep pass down the left sideline to Sutton on third and 10. Sutton had good separation, and if that pass had been completed, Denver would have been in a prime position to run out the clock and kick a game-winner.

Three passes were just inches too far out for the receivers to catch. If one of those plays had been made, we would be having a different discussion right now. For an offense that is boom or bust, the boom plays have to be made.

The offense is not consistent enough to overcome missed opportunities like that. Another missed opportunity example was when Denver was up 17-13 with first and goal at the LA five-yard line. They were in a prime position to go up 24-13, but because of a combination of poor play calling and penalties, they had to settle for going up 20-13.

The offense played with a lead for most of the fourth quarter and couldn’t do anything with it. They have to find a way to be less polarizing and be more on schedule.

End Of My Broncos Rant

One thing that was evident in this game is that Nix is not there yet. He does not yet embody what a franchise quarterback is. It was easy to notice that because of what Herbert did.

He struggled for most of the game, but when he needed to make plays down the stretch, he did. In the drive that tied the game 20-20, Herbert converted a third and 10 to get things started. Then, on second and six, at the Denver 20, Herbert evaded two rushers and threw a sensational pass while drifting left to a well-covered Allen to tie the game.

It was a play that screamed “franchise quarterback”. Nix, on the other hand, was not bad, but is still a product of his surroundings. If the offense is playing well, he plays well, but if the situation is dire, he can’t quite dig them out.

Denver fans are patiently waiting for Nix to dictate how the offense plays rather than the offense dictate how he plays. Another contrast was the end of game drives. When the Broncos needed to score with 2:37 left with a tied game, they got 0 total yards.

When the Chargers got the ball with the game tied 20-20, they drove down the field with ease. As a fan, I was terrified that Herbert would get the job done. I’m not sure Chargers fans felt that fear when Denver had the ball with 2:37 left.

This doesn’t mean Nix isn’t a good quarterback or anything, but it means he still has a lot of growing up to do for the Broncos to be contenders.