NFLBy: Keith Richards
In week 3 for the Broncos, the song remains the same. Another week, another loss. At this point, I think it’s safe to call this season a lost cause. Certainly, I made an aggressive pick on the Full Monte Show when I picked the Broncos to go 9-7. I didn’t think I’d be this off though. In fairness to myself, I did pick them to lose this game. Still, we will look at the five takeaways from the week 3 loss and it’s really not all that bad.
Phillip Lindsay is Here
For weeks, the Mile High Review has been calling for Phillip Lindsay. To semiquote the great philosopher 50 Cent, we’ve been patiently waiting for a game for Lindsay to explode on. In week 3, the wish came true! It was easily Lindsay’s best game of the young season. Also, it came running the ball. Lindsay did have four receptions on five targets for 59 yards but that’s not the story here.
Running the ball, Lindsay has been dreadful so far this season. In truth, from an average standpoint, he still wasn’t that great. Still, the Broncos made an effort in week 3 to get the ball in Phillip’s hands. Linsday ran for 81 yards on 21 carries. Also, he ran for two touchdowns. The 3.9 yards per carry is not great but this could be the performance that kicks Lindsay in gear. At least, that’s the hope here in the Mile High City.
Pass as an Extension of the Run Update
In the week 3 preview, we called for the Broncos to ramp up the passes to the running backs. The offensive coaches must be NBS fans because they did exactly that. Of the 29 pass attempts of Joe Flacco, 10 of those went to the running backs. That accounts for 34.5% of his pass attempts. We stated that for the Broncos to have a chance to win, it would need to be 35-40%. So, that was pretty darn close. Honestly, the Broncos did have a puncher’s chance in this game but they just got beat by the better team. Slowly but surely, the offense is finding its identity. Still, there are other things they need to work on.
The Turnover Woes
This is equally an offense and defense issue. Firstly, we’ll start with the offense. Two of the longest scoring drives of the Packers were 51 yards. Both ended in field goals. The issue lies in giving the opposing team short fields. The lone long touchdown drive of the Packers came after opening kickoff, which went for 75 yards. The other two touchdown drives were five yards and 37 yards. Both came after turnovers. The offense must stop turning the ball over.
Secondly, let’s talk about defense. Where the offense is giving up short fields, the defense is not given them any short fields. In three weeks, the defense still has not recorded a turnover. It’s not a recipe to win football games. With the offense finally improving, it’s time for the defense to show up, which brings us to the next takeaway.
O Turnovers, Where Art Thou?
Going into the season, many thought this defense would be great under Fangio. It’s young and it’s talented. Yet, that really has not been the case thus far. According to total yards per game, the Broncos are actually a top 10 defense in the NFL at 314 yards per game. The No-Fly Zone still has pride as it ranks 6th in the league allowing only 204.7 yards per game. So, where’s the issue?
Turnovers. Without question, the issue with the defense is its inability to force turnovers. Denver ranks 31st in the league with a minus 4 turnover margin. That’s not even the worst thing. The worst thing is that the Broncos are the only NFL team with zero takeaways. Zilch! Nadda! ZERO! It’s unacceptable and it’s just not sustainable. The defense needs to force turnovers and give the offense shorter fields to work with.
Time of Possession
For the second week in a row, the Broncos won the time of possession battle. As stated above, the Packers really did not have many long touchdown drives. The defense deserves the lion’s share of the credit for that but some credit belongs to the offense as well. The offense did its part in keeping that bad man off the field. So, while the offense needs to stop giving the ball away, they are still giving the defense enough rest to be able to come out firing.
So, after all the pessimism, I guess the team could be much worse. They have winning recipes. They just need to execute them. Next week, they face the Jaguars. Maybe facing a rookie quarterback will light a fire under their butts. We shall see!
