Broncos play with fire, get burned by Raiders
Raiders get last minute touchdown to break the hearts of Bronco fans everywhere.
Ryan Clady gets a reception, then gets tackled hard. An illegal procedure call negated the play.
An extreme case of red-zone impotence has finally come back to bite the Broncos, costing them a game that they had in their back pocket. Problem is, there’s no little purple pill for this variety of dysfunction. The only remedy is touchdowns, touchdowns, and more touchdowns.
Now I’m not one to just go completely fan-boy when the team wins, then doom and gloom when they lose, but this game showcased some serious deficiencies. And for the first time in a long time, I don’t blame the defense. Yeah, they could have stuffed the Raiders on that last drive, and yeah, the pass interference penalty didn’t help things any. But this time, I have a problem not just with the offense, but with the play calling. How many times do you think a team can score when they start their drive at 2nd and 11? It happened – and it happened a lot. First down and 10, handoff to Moreno, stuffed at the line. At what point does McDaniels admit that the first down run just isn’t working. I’m starting to feel like I’m watching the Dan Reeves era Broncos, complete with Sammy Winder getting squashed on first down, only this time, we don’t have Elway to save the day. Let me make this clear – you cannot win games when your 2 main problems are first down yardage and red zone efficiency. You can’t. Even Jamarcus Russell can beat you when you leave the door wide open like that. One touchdown, four field goals – including 2 figgies on impressive opening drives. They could have taken the heart right out of the chests of the Raiders in the first 10 minutes, instead they left hope. It’s the opposite problem of last year, when you couldn’t possible expect the offense to overcome the deficits the defense left them in. This time, you can’t possibly expect the defense to be playing at such a high level all the time and carry the weight of a powerless offense.
I bought into the McDaniels system, complete with Orton at the helm, and I did so early on. I remained on board through the 5 game skid, and felt vindicated over Thanksgiving weekend. Now, as much as I want to stay on board and see out the season, I’m surveying the softest place to jump. There is no reason to think this team will make the playoffs. I’m already looking ahead to 2010, and there is some serious work to be done before next season. I have a feeling McDaniels knows this, and had better be formulating some plans in the back of his head. The Denver faithful will not be patient.
While it wasn’t a completely horrible game, anything the Broncos did well was washed away by the heart wrenching loss to the despised Oakland Raiders. This one will be hard to get over.
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