Good morning, Broncos Country.
Monday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs was a gut punch for the Denver Broncos. Losses to division rivals always sting, but how badly they were defeated still sticks in my craw. That wasn’t something I—or most any of you—expected at all.
How the Broncos respond this weekend against the Jacksonville Jaguars remains to be seen. A sign of a great team is being able to bounce back after adversity. On Sunday, we will have a better idea of what kind of team this year’s Broncos are. Later today, I’ll have a few
articles discussing the upcoming matchup against the Jaguars.
For this morning, I thought I’d offer up some reflection and random thoughts I had after trying to digest the manner in which the Broncos lost. Feel free to let me know what you think about these questions in the comments section.
How much is Denver’s defense missing Jonathan Franklin-Myers and Jonathon Cooper?
Denver’s defensive performance against the Chiefs on Monday Night Football was concerning to say the least. They were outclassed and outmatched by Andy Reid and his staff who were able to concoct a great offensive gameplan.
It’s hard to single out any particular player or reason for their rough evening. Most everyone on that side of the ball had some issues. I still can’t comprehend how the tackling that bad. But that got me thinking even more—would things have been different if Franklin-Myers and Jonathon Cooper had been starting?
The lack of execution was across the board, but I honestly felt like their presence was missing a great deal. Sure, it’s only one game. Though without those two, the run defense seemed to struggle immensely and the pressure on Mahomes—even with short throws—just wasn’t consistent.
I think it’s safe to say there is a pretty big dropoff from the aforementioned to the players Denver has trying to replace them. I’ll be keeping my eye on this as the next few games transpire to see if it was just an aberration, or something that could be an ongoing issue for the team moving forward.
How long will it take for the Broncos’ offense to get better?
There is no doubt Denver is a much-improved franchise now before Head Coach Sean Payton and his staff took over. It’s been a terrific turnaround even with the stench of the loss to the Chiefs still lingering. However, slow starts have been a common theme for the Broncos in that timeframe.
This past Monday was emblematic of the early season offensive struggles over the past few seasons. There wasn’t enough emphasis on the run and too much of a burden put on Bo Nix’s shoulders. I’m still bullish on Nix’s potential and think he has a great shot at taking a leap in Year 3. Nevertheless, his outing versus Kansas City was one of the worst games of his career.
Though I’ll say the offensive line didn’t look that impressive and contributed to some of his lackluster play. I felt that the interior combination of Ben Powers and Luke Wattenberg struggled when confronting Steve Spagnuolo’s interior and blitz pressure packages. At right tackle, I was underwhelmed with Mike McGlinchey who seemed to have issues holding his own one-on-one in pass protection against the Chiefs’ edge rushers.
The Broncos’ offensive line has performed well the past two years. Even so, a part of me wonders if defensive coordinators across the league now have a bit of a blueprint to attack some of their weaknesses. There’s no doubt Denver’s linemen have to perform better on Sunday versus the Jaguars to give Denver an honest chance at winning.
As always, thank you for reading. Here is today’s slate of articles for Horse Tracks.
