Good morning, Broncos Country!
The Denver Broncos are still looking for a clean and complete game.
The Broncos (1-2) have been close through the first three games, but they’ve failed to execute. That helps explain the consecutive last-second losses to the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Chargers.
From players to coaches, Denver is looking to execute in all three phases of the game. Next up is a depleted Cincinnati Bengals (2-1) squad sans star quarterback Joe Burrow.
“I think we’re very close,” Broncos defensive coordinator Vance
Joseph said to the media on Friday. “I go back to this: We have to play cleaner and smarter football. We are definitely close to being where we want to be. It’s early, obviously. In the first month of the season, you always have to figure out what you’re good at, what your new pieces …
“Everyone is figuring that out. The first month, that’s what you want to fix. It’s a long season. It’s early. We’ve played two really good football teams, two measuring sticks for us. I feel good about where we are. My focus all week has been to coach and teach a smarter and cleaner brand of football. That’s our focus right now. If we can do that, we’ll be fine.”
For Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, it’s all about execution. That’s especially true when it comes to Bo Nix and his offensive teammates getting into a rhythm.
“It’s all razor-thin in this league, and we’re close on so many of these plays on the early downs,” Lombardi said to the media. “Just keep working, keep executing. We know we’re just inches away from getting to that rhythm that you’re talking about. (We) had a little bit against Indianapolis. Obviously, this last game was rough with all the three-and-outs, but we’re close. Looking at the players we have and the way we’re practicing, we feel confident that it’s a small sample size. I think by the end of the year we’ll be happy.”
That’s especially true when it comes to success on early downs for Nix and Denver’s offense. About the only consistency we’ve seen from the Broncos offense is being in third-and-longs. This goes without saying, but that’s not a winning strategy (thanks, John Madden).
“If you have a good run and a good pass, then (the) run-pass sequence looks pretty good,” Lombardi said. “Seeing what happened on first down and then what situation you’re in on second down, it’s easy to say, ‘We’re going to go run-run here.’ If you’re second-and-11, you might want to get back on track with a high-percentage completion. So there’s a lot that goes into it.
“When plays are working, you feel like you’re in a good rhythm, and when they’re not … I don’t think there’s a secret to the sequencing or it’s just playing well and making the plays and game planning the right stuff. Once you get that rhythm and things start working, you feel good about it. Hindsight’s always 20-20, like, ‘We did this, and it worked. Let’s do it again.’ Defense is different every play, so there’s a lot that goes into it.”
It comes down to execution for Denver to finally come away with a clean and complete game. Even on special teams, Nik Bonitto was flagged for a crucial neutral zone infraction penalty against the Chargers.
Eliminate those mistakes, and the Broncos will put themselves in a better situation to win games.
“It’s an emphasis,” Broncos special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Darren Rizzi said to the media. We watch plays from around the league every week that are plays like that that can really swing the field position or swing the momentum of the game. I know (head coach) Sean (Payton) talked about that being a turnover.
“Anytime you have them in fourth down, whether it’s a field goal or punt, you want to make sure the next play is you’re ending up with the ball or you’re kicking an extra point. So that’s really, really important. So emphasis. We haven’t been a highly penalized team, but the couple of penalties that we have had have been crucial. So we have to make sure we’re disciplined like the other phases.”
