The world of suck has spread to encompass yet more real estate in the hearts of Broncos fans.
They got the winning touchdown! Yes! The defense can do this! Until they can't! GAH!
I'm normally the cynic—yeah, it was a great first half, but they'll screw it up. Today I was a true believer, which proves yet again what faith is—pretending to know what you don't know—and what it isn't—enough.
I couldn't watch the game, but I listened to the KOA livestream and watched the ESPN gamecast. When the Bears/Vikings game was over, however, the last 2-or-so minutes of the Denver game popped on.
"You have to get this TD. You have to get this TD," I repeated to myself. AND THEY DID!
Then I saw the clock: 1:34 (or so) left in the game. "Shit," I said. "They're fucked."
This is a lesson I learned watching Tom Brady—you can't score that winning touchdown and give the other side time enough to take a massive dump on all your dreams right out on the field, then kick it through the uprights or toss it a flaming 60 yards to rub it in.
It was Deja-Vu. The Chubb roughing the passer call (I didn't know you weren't allowed to tackle the QB if they recover their own fumble, but maybe someone else can explain this to me) and accompanying 15 yards. Field goal in the final seconds.
You've got to be fucking kidding me.
The first half was so good. Flacco did what we've been begging him to do—he scored early. He passed downfield. He scored again. The defense broke their sacklessness and Miller got 2 of them. I recall 4 different Broncos sacking Mr. Mustachops. BAD. ASS.
How did things go so horribly wrong? Seriously—I don't know. I know the run defense was horrible; Fournette alone rushed 225 yards (with 20 more receiving). Inconceivable! Run offense wasn't any better. This is a position that is so deep, Khalfani Muhammad was punted to the practice squad. Total Denver rushing: 68 yards. But Jacksonville had no sacks? IN-CON-CEIVABLE!
I don't know if the difference in the 2nd half was the Broncos being unable to maintain what they revved up in the first half, or if Jacksonville corrected so well they hijacked the clock, the field, and the score. I can't get down on this defense when they played about 25 of those last 30 minutes. It is unsustainable. 10 minute drive, Broncos 3 & out, 7:30 more for a defense that just left the damn field, and on and on and over and out.
If the Broncos had improved their red zone play like they've improved their penalties (or, rather, lack thereof), they might have been more confident using up that clock to clinch the win. They weren't, and for good reason. I'm sure they're doing tons of red zone drills (do those exist?) in practice, but it isn't clicking yet. Again, I have no idea why. Are receivers not getting open? Is the pocket collapsing more/faster?
I'm reading about the need to BLOW UP THE TEAM and FIRE FANGIO and FIRE ELWAY and FIRE EVERYONE! Bench Flacco! Plan the 2020 draft already! I think everyone should STFU until we discuss what went bad, both this week and the whole of September, and what specific things they're doing to address it. Penalties the first two games were killing them, and they fixed it.
I am tired of the generic football talking points, the "we just gotta put all the pieces together" and "we just gotta play better" and "we gotta step it up." Yes...this is true...in fact it...is so pain...fully obvious that...the part of... my brain that processes...football...has be...come a cutter.
The only mention of the Broncos in 3 full hours of Good Morning Football was that they lost to Jacksonville—wait, no, sorry. They lost to Gardiner Minshew, of whom it was implied people aren't talking about enough. It sounds like Denver has been written off for the year, and I hear it in Broncos writers, too. The fact that who should get fired/benched was the dominant theme rather than the specifics needed to turn things around tells me that. Maybe it's simply frustration, anger, and despair, the most common climates in the world of suck.
Or maybe it's because the problems are so diffuse throughout the team that no more week-to-week practice or decisions can make a meaningful impact on their performance. I know that most of these games have been incredibly close—Denver hasn't been overwhelmed or outscored to knock them out definitively before the clock ran out. Half of these games were decided in the last seconds, even the evocation of a magical :01 seconds out of the seeming certainty of :00.
But the Broncos were incredibly close on several games last season, too, and it doesn't mean shit. What do we remember about those games now? That we lost, the end. It doesn't matter that we were leading the entire first half, that there was another questionable call against Chubb, or that so-and-so was injured. Part of being a successful team is going out there and scoring more points when you fall behind. Part of being a successful team is protecting the lead when you have it. Part of being a successful team is not allowing the opponent to dictate every moment of the half, or the quarter, or the drive. It's maximizing your opportunities. It's having the ability to do so.
Right now, the Broncos don't have the ability to capitalize on, exploit, or create opportunities. Without that fundamental, I might as well start decorating my basement hovel in Sucklandia for what could be an extended stay.
They got the winning touchdown! Yes! The defense can do this! Until they can't! GAH!
I'm normally the cynic—yeah, it was a great first half, but they'll screw it up. Today I was a true believer, which proves yet again what faith is—pretending to know what you don't know—and what it isn't—enough.
I couldn't watch the game, but I listened to the KOA livestream and watched the ESPN gamecast. When the Bears/Vikings game was over, however, the last 2-or-so minutes of the Denver game popped on.
"You have to get this TD. You have to get this TD," I repeated to myself. AND THEY DID!
Then I saw the clock: 1:34 (or so) left in the game. "Shit," I said. "They're fucked."
This is a lesson I learned watching Tom Brady—you can't score that winning touchdown and give the other side time enough to take a massive dump on all your dreams right out on the field, then kick it through the uprights or toss it a flaming 60 yards to rub it in.
It was Deja-Vu. The Chubb roughing the passer call (I didn't know you weren't allowed to tackle the QB if they recover their own fumble, but maybe someone else can explain this to me) and accompanying 15 yards. Field goal in the final seconds.
You've got to be fucking kidding me.
The first half was so good. Flacco did what we've been begging him to do—he scored early. He passed downfield. He scored again. The defense broke their sacklessness and Miller got 2 of them. I recall 4 different Broncos sacking Mr. Mustachops. BAD. ASS.
How did things go so horribly wrong? Seriously—I don't know. I know the run defense was horrible; Fournette alone rushed 225 yards (with 20 more receiving). Inconceivable! Run offense wasn't any better. This is a position that is so deep, Khalfani Muhammad was punted to the practice squad. Total Denver rushing: 68 yards. But Jacksonville had no sacks? IN-CON-CEIVABLE!
I don't know if the difference in the 2nd half was the Broncos being unable to maintain what they revved up in the first half, or if Jacksonville corrected so well they hijacked the clock, the field, and the score. I can't get down on this defense when they played about 25 of those last 30 minutes. It is unsustainable. 10 minute drive, Broncos 3 & out, 7:30 more for a defense that just left the damn field, and on and on and over and out.
If the Broncos had improved their red zone play like they've improved their penalties (or, rather, lack thereof), they might have been more confident using up that clock to clinch the win. They weren't, and for good reason. I'm sure they're doing tons of red zone drills (do those exist?) in practice, but it isn't clicking yet. Again, I have no idea why. Are receivers not getting open? Is the pocket collapsing more/faster?
I'm reading about the need to BLOW UP THE TEAM and FIRE FANGIO and FIRE ELWAY and FIRE EVERYONE! Bench Flacco! Plan the 2020 draft already! I think everyone should STFU until we discuss what went bad, both this week and the whole of September, and what specific things they're doing to address it. Penalties the first two games were killing them, and they fixed it.
I am tired of the generic football talking points, the "we just gotta put all the pieces together" and "we just gotta play better" and "we gotta step it up." Yes...this is true...in fact it...is so pain...fully obvious that...the part of... my brain that processes...football...has be...come a cutter.
The only mention of the Broncos in 3 full hours of Good Morning Football was that they lost to Jacksonville—wait, no, sorry. They lost to Gardiner Minshew, of whom it was implied people aren't talking about enough. It sounds like Denver has been written off for the year, and I hear it in Broncos writers, too. The fact that who should get fired/benched was the dominant theme rather than the specifics needed to turn things around tells me that. Maybe it's simply frustration, anger, and despair, the most common climates in the world of suck.
Or maybe it's because the problems are so diffuse throughout the team that no more week-to-week practice or decisions can make a meaningful impact on their performance. I know that most of these games have been incredibly close—Denver hasn't been overwhelmed or outscored to knock them out definitively before the clock ran out. Half of these games were decided in the last seconds, even the evocation of a magical :01 seconds out of the seeming certainty of :00.
But the Broncos were incredibly close on several games last season, too, and it doesn't mean shit. What do we remember about those games now? That we lost, the end. It doesn't matter that we were leading the entire first half, that there was another questionable call against Chubb, or that so-and-so was injured. Part of being a successful team is going out there and scoring more points when you fall behind. Part of being a successful team is protecting the lead when you have it. Part of being a successful team is not allowing the opponent to dictate every moment of the half, or the quarter, or the drive. It's maximizing your opportunities. It's having the ability to do so.
Right now, the Broncos don't have the ability to capitalize on, exploit, or create opportunities. Without that fundamental, I might as well start decorating my basement hovel in Sucklandia for what could be an extended stay.
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