How Bad Have the Denver Broncos Been?
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So let me get this clear, right off the rip, the Broncos have been borderline un-watchable as a passionate fan who entered this season with playoff or bust expectations. I will dig into what has been bad, stats that support they have been bad, and dig into a few of the “excuses” that have been thrown around for their performance. I am a firm believer that excuses suck, but sometimes they fully explain the result. The cut and dry of it all, however, is that this team was built to win now, and they are a 2-5 football club with a bottom five offense, the lowest points scoring team in the league behind teams who have played one less game than them, and the offense seems so incapable that there doesn’t even seem to be hope.
Is there hope? Can they right the ship? What needs to happen this week to scrounge up any modicum of promise?
What Has Been Bad
Again, as a passionate fan, it has been really challenging to nail down what exactly has been bad for this team, as it seems like nothing goes right, so everything is bad. I’ll start at the top, Hackett has made his fair share of blunders… the 64-yard field goal to lose the game, the entire Texans game, the fourth down conversion to lose the games against the Jets and Colts in overtime, the lack of team discipline resulting in penalties, never running the ball on third and short or in the red zone… he’s earned his criticism.
Special teams have missed PATs (5/7 extra points), muffed overtime punts resulting in losses, four missed field goals for an offense incapable of scoring, has not had an electric kickoff or punt return despite investing a 5th round draft pick in a completely off the radar return specialist. Our Punter is about to set a record for punts and punt yards in a season that was previously owned by the punter from last season whom he replaced.
Defense is elite, no denying that, but the criticism would be a lack of turnovers, if the defense could help the offense out and get better field position, there is a case to be made that they could get out of a slump. Our defense has also missed the opportunity to win games, allowing the Colts to drive the field to tie the game and then get the first score in overtime. I think even the defense would say that their run defense leaves a lot to be desired, and they have an issue with securing tackles open field tackles.
Everyone knows the offense is bad. Quarter of a billion-dollar quarterback who’s simply not playing well enough. An offensive line that has been anything but good, sacks, penalties, and positional turnover. The worst part about the sacks, is that they seem to come at the most inopportune times, big third downs on the cusp of scoring position or in the red zone. Receivers aren’t making plays, dropping balls, and not winning 50/50 balls at a good percentage. Running backs can’t seem to break big runs. Screens never seem to work. There doesn’t appear to be a single threat on the offense, that breaks the game… you don’t have to double team Jerry Jeudy or Courtland Sutton to prevent them from ruining the game, so the defense just gets to choose on a play-by-play basis who they want to target and remove.
I don’t think any phase of the game is without blame for this teams struggles, but one thing we’d all love to see are steps in the right direction. This was never going to be an opening day juggernaut with all the newness and ramp up required, but the fact that this team was billed as a Super Bowl contender and thrown on five nationally televised games in the first seven weeks, just let the national media take a good hard shot at the team and put every aspect under a microscope. Expectations were high, this team was supposed to finally have a young offensive minded coach, coming off back-to-back MVP performances, with competent quarterback play after 8-years of that missing, and an elite defense. The future was mortgaged by trading players and draft capital for Russell Wilson, and the team should be in win now mode.
Instead, all we are hearing about Russell Wilson’s “Lets Ride” corniness, how unauthentic and phony he is, him doing high knees on the airplane to London for 4 hours… Now dealing with shoulder and hamstring issues, dealing with Wilson refusing to be a running quarterback despite that earning him career success, seeing what the Seahawks fans talked about all those years of complaining that he doesn’t process the field well and refuses to throw over the middle regardless of how open the player may be. We are seeing the flaws of the player instead of showcasing his talents with the deep ball placement and scrambling. Win games and the microscope goes away.
Stats That Support Them Being Bad
- Broncos have the 22nd ranked offense by total yards per game
- 2nd worse completion percentage in the league
- Fewest touchdown passes thrown in the NFL
- 5th worst passer rating in the NFL
- 8th fewest passing first downs in the NFL
- 6th most sacks given up in the league
- 2nd fewest rushing touchdowns in the league
- 0 rushes of 20+ yards
- 7th most fumbles by running backs in the NFL
- Tied for the fewest receiving touchdowns in the NFL
- Fewest touchdowns scored in the league
- Scored 4 less points than the Ram and 6 less points than the Texans who both didn’t play last week…
- 4th lowest kickoff return average in the NFL
- Negative turnover differential
- 2nd worse third down completion percentage in the NFL
- 2nd most penalty yards in the NFL
- Most penalties called against in the NFL
- 6th fewest first downs achieved
- Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton both rank in the top 10 for “Passes Not Caught” not necessarily dropped, but targets not caught
- Jerry Jeudy is tied for 11th with 3 dropped passes, and I swear those stats are misleading because 3 seems low.
“Excuses”
No fan wants to hear the excuses, at the end of the day they are just that… but explaining why things have been difficult also provides a glimpse into the reality for this team. I think there are three core excuses that I have heard:
- Injuries have been unexplainably bad, highest representation on the Injured Reserve via Salary figures in the NFL and it isn’t close
- Too much newness and these are growing pains. New ownership, new head coach, new coordinators, new offense, new quarterback, new everything it seems.
- Hard to create rhythm and cadence with all the schedule complexity this season, Thursday night games, Monday night games, Sunday night games, London Game this week… for a team trying to settle in, they have had nothing but inconsistency with preparation and routine.
Now, injuries are a serious problem. We are missing our star running back, our starting left and right tackles, Tim Patrick went out in training camp, our quarterback has missed a game now, our starting cornerback, Linebacker, edge rusher, and All Pro safety have been out serious amounts of time… injuries happen… when your best players are not on the field, you simply are not the same team. Despite this, the Broncos have not lost a game by more than a single possession, outside of the Raiders (9-point loss).
Injured reserve by Salary Cap – https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/injured-reserve/
An argument can certainly be made that the team should have won the Seahawks game if not for some bad fumbles on the goal line, the Chargers game if not for a bad muffed punt in OT, Jets game if the defense preserves the 9-6 lead heading into the final drive of regulation, they could have tied the Colts but chose to go for the Win and failed… this team could seriously be 5-1-1 with a single loss to the Raiders with 5 plays going differently. But teams are who they are, and all those plays happened… the Broncos are 2-5 and it sounds like regardless of the excuses, if they lose this weekend against the Jags, there could be a fire sale.
Newness is a weird one, because it is an excuse, but it’s now been a full offseason, training camp, pre-season, and more than a third of the way through the year. That being said, players are learning a new system, chemistry must be built and an identity must be developed. Russell Wilson played in Pete Carroll’s offense for his entire 10-year NFL career, and maybe he’s not a fast learner… It has been said that Carroll protected Russell from having to be a serious NFL quarterback by owning a run first system and a high caliber defense.
The Broncos were supposed to be a similar situation, but it seems injuries have derailed the running game, defense has held up their end of the bargain, we just have not been able to convert in the quarterback areas (third down and the red zone). I don’t really subscribe to the newness excuse all that much, because if it was going to be a problem, they should have optimized the pre-season and not rested all their starters for three additional games to get comfortable in the scheme. Either A, injuries were a problem and the team wanted to get through the regular season healthy (that didn’t happen) or B, the team needed the reps to develop comfortability in the new offense and create continuity, both can’t be true. I think them wanting to be healthy is a fair approach, but when injuries ransack the team during the regular season, and they look bad on offense, it seems they should have just played in the preseason.
Finally, the schedule has been brutal. Monday night on the road against the team that Russell Wilson scorned to come to Denver. Short week between Seattle and Houston, they looked bad but got a W. Then had a normal cadence between Houston, 49ers, and Raiders, despite the 49ers game being Sunday Night football, and went 2-1 in those three games. Then they get a Thursday night football game against the Colts, with their second short week, and yet another nationally televised game. Then 12 days between the Colts and Chargers game, on Monday night football, another nationally televised game, which they went to OT on the road, against a talented division rival, and should have won. Another short week between the Chargers and Jets game… Now this week they leave the State on Monday after the Jets game for the London game…
This is an insane schedule and really is a disadvantage, the Broncos travel the 3rd most miles for games in the NFL this season according to CBS Sports… Teams don’t get a say in their schedule, their Bye Week, their opponents record, what games they play on national prime time slots, so they can only show up and play the games they are told to play, but this really is not a schedule I’d bet any team wants to play. It is just another excuse, show up and play the games that you are told to play, if you can’t control it, you can’t complain about it. Injuries happen and the Broncos are being disproportionately impacted by them, the team is battling a ton of newness and what seems to be a steep learning curve, and their schedule does really suck, and it does suck on prime time, those are the circumstances of the team being bad this year.
Is There Room for Optimism
The Broncos have talent all over the field on both sides of the ball. Their Defense has been a top 3 defense in terms of points allowed per game. They have not been blown out of a single contest. Their intra-division games they have played so far have both been on the road, so they get the Raiders, Chargers and Chiefs at home still. Their special teams from a punting perspective has been immaculate, Corliss Waitman is a weapon. They have three seemingly winnable games in the next four weeks against the Jaguars, Bye Week, Titans, and at home against the Raiders to possibly claw back to being a .500 team. If they hit week 11, at 5-5, they have seven games to determine if they are a playoff squad or not and two against the Chiefs.
The team seems to be staying together under Nathaniel Hackett’s leadership according to the players and the George Paton who spoke to the media in London this week. I have heard everyone remain accountable for the losses, receivers know they need to make plays, Russ has taken blame for a loss and his poor play, Hackett has held himself accountable by accepting blame and hiring a coaching assistant, defense has spoken on the fact that they can be better and have contributed to at least one loss by not holding on to earn the W. I think starting with a victory in London this week, with a healthy starting quarterback, will go a long way in giving the fans hope. If the offense finally puts something exciting on the field, that would be a huge bonus, but winning the game would be a good step. This team has issues, they have excuses, the fans and national media have been mad at the product on the field and letting the players hear about it but turning it around is the only way to get out of the hole they dug, and stacking growth, wins and positivity are the keys to righting the ship.
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