The Denver Broncos crept back into the playoff hunt with an ugly victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, as they were able to scrape together a win without starting quarterback Trevor Siemian, who sat out with a foot injury.
Not surprisingly, the Broncos offense struggled to do much, and it was up to the defense to come up with multiple stops and even generate a few points themselves.
This isn’t anything new.
The offense has been struggling for consistency since 2014, much to the chagrin of Broncos fans everywhere. And as we look at the current landscape of the NFL playoff picture, it’s easy to say that the Broncos will struggle to even make the postseason, because of their inability to generate consistent offense.
Not so fast.
Let’s take a closer look at the situation.
Currently the Denver Broncos are 8-4 and are sitting in third place in the AFC West. They are averaging nearly 24 points per game and have committed 16 turnovers.
Compare that to the team that won the Super Bowl just one year ago.
The 2015 Broncos scored just 22 points per game, yet also turned the ball over 31 times. Unless this team commits four turnovers in each of their final games, they aren’t going to touch that mark.
So why is this team struggling so much every single week?
Sure, the running game has been a lesson in mediocrity. Through 12 games, Broncos runners are averaging just over 100 yards per game. That is five yards less per game than the team from last year.
And the offensive line has once again proven to be the weak link of this team. In addition to the poor ground game, Denver quarterbacks have been sacked 33 times.That puts them on track to break last season’s mark of 39 by seasons end.
But if you would like to see the biggest glaring difference in this team compared to a year ago, it is actually the defense that has changed.
Last season the Orange Crush defense was allowing just 83 yards per game on the ground, and 18.5 points per game.
Compare that to this season, wherehen the defense is allowing nearly 123 yards rushing per game.
Look back over the season and the trend of running on this defense is pretty alarming.
In Week 3, it was the Bengals’ Jeremy Hill running for 97 yards and two touchdowns. But that was just the beginning.
San Diego running back Melvin Gordon totaled 205 yards in his two games, and the Broncos split the series with the Chargers, who are currently 5-7.
The Raiders ran roughshod over Denver in Week 9, compiling 218 yards on 43 carries, for a five-yard average.
And on Sunday, the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars struggled to score many points, but they still notched 154 rushing yards.
It isn’t that the rushing yards are necessarily turning into huge points.
This unit is still holding opponents to just 19 points per game.
But the defense is wearing out, and allowing big drives late in games when they would usually shine the brightest.
The Carolina Panthers put together what could have been a game winning drive in the Broncos home opener, only to see their kicker miss a game winning field goal.
Drew Brees led the New Orleans Saints on a 75-yard drive, with less than two minutes to go for a touchdown that was forgotten when the extra point was blocked and returned for a two-point score.
And of course, the Kansas City Chiefs ripped a victory from us two weeks ago, when they went the length of the field and scored a touchdown and two-point conversion, to send the game into overtime.
The Broncos offense is going to continue to struggle with their below average offensive line, but that won’t doom this team’s chances. We saw last year that they can still win despite a floundering offense.
We all know that this team will only go as far as their defense takes them, and if the run defense doesn’t improve, that might not even be as far as the postseason.
