Today’s matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers was a pivotal matchup for the Denver Broncos in order to keep pace in the AFC West. The game was a hard-fought battle that delivered a lot of big hits. When the clock struck zero, the Broncos found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard losing yet another one score game 23-20. Here are some instant reactions and miscellaneous musings from today’s game.
The Broncos are still in pursuit of a sustainable and efficient offense
Everyone knew going
into today’s matchup that the Chargers had one of the best defenses in the National Football League. Led by Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter, they are extremely well-coached and do a fantastic job of limiting big plays and keeping the ball in front of them. That played out in the first half with one exception.
The Broncos couldn’t get anything done on the ground in the first half. They had only 8 carries for 11 yards. If not for Bo Nix’s touchdown bomb on fourth down to Courtland Sutton late in the second quarter, Denver would have had less than 60 total yards on offense through two quarters and only a few first downs. That’s simply not a recipe for success.
They started off the second half hot with a touchdown drive featuring J.K. Dobbins to give them the lead after seventeen unanswered points. They ran the ball a lot better. Unfortunately, they soon became their own worst enemies. One area they really need to clean up their mistakes is the penalties. Far too many drives during the game failed to launch or were stalled due to them.
Even worse? 2-of-13 in a key metric. That’s how the Broncos performed on offense today on third down. That’s abysmal and puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on the defense. They need to start getting better in that facet of the game quickly if the hope to save their season before it slips away from them.
An uptick and turnovers and a fierce pass rush weren’t enough to save the day
Most all of us at Mile High Report wrote something this week talking about how important it was for the Broncos’ defense to rebound. After an atrocious outing against the Indianapolis Colts, fans across Broncos Country were hoping their defense could show some aspect of dominance against Los Angeles.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has been tremendous to start off the season, but Denver’s defensive front seven caused a lot of havoc and disrupted the rhythm of their passing offense. A variety of players got into the mix with sacks, but fourth-year edge rusher brought his best on Sunday and was able to notch multiple sacks going head-to-head against left tackle Joe Alt. He looked phenomenal.
Overall, the Broncos had five sacks on Herbert and forced two turnovers. I thought that would be one of the biggest keys to the game in order to secure a victory. Alas, it wasn’t enough. One major reason why the Chargers were able to follow through with a comeback were too many penalties on the defense and Herbert’s penchant for being able to gut out amazing throws under duress. Credit to the Chargers for being able to find a way to win even with the heat dialed up against them.
Is it too early to talk about Luke Wattenberg?
While the Broncos’ offensive line usually rates highly in metrics, I thought today was a bit of a struggle for them. Bo Nix was often flushed from the pocket and was running around far too much for my liking. One player I thought struggled a lot was center Luke Wattenberg. He gave up a lot of pressures and was the culprit in a lot of busted plays on offense. I’m not sure the Broncos will consider pivoting to Alex Forsyth any time in the near future, but Wattenberg has regressed as a pass protector to start the season which is a cause for concern.
Other thoughts and musings:
- After being shut down against the Colts, veteran wide receiver Courtland Sutton had a rebound game against the Chargers. Even though it was in a loss, he has six receptions on eight targets for 118 yards and 1 touchdown. Hopefully we can see more of the Nix-to-Sutton connection flourish over the next few weeks.
- Bo Nix finished the game going 14-of-25 for 153 yards and 1 touchdown. He had just a 56-percent completion rate. Quite simply, Nix is going to have to play a lot better moving forward, work on setting his feet, and actually hit concepts over the middle of the field.
- Sitting at 1-2, the Broncos have a lot of soul searching to do. They can’t afford to let this heartbreaking loss linger and need to be at their best next week and defeat a Cincinatti Bengals squad without Joe Burrow. If they can’t, I’m not sure what to make of their playoff odds the rest of the season. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but the team is now 2-8 in one score games during Head Coach Sean Payton’s tenure. That’s significantly alarming.
