The gameplan was supposed to be simple for the Denver Broncos as they traveled to Buffalo to take on the Bills: stop LeSean McCoy, effectively halting the Bills’ offense.
Unfortunately, the Broncos were only able to stop McCoy as the rest of the game seemed to fall further and further out of control. One of the best backs in the NFL, the Bills have relied heavily on McCoy to power their offense in recent seasons, while quarterback Tyrod Taylor finished drives when needed.
In Sunday 26-16 Buffalo win, the Bills’ roles were reversed. The Broncos’ defense stood tall and held McCoy to only 21 yards on 14 carries, for an average of only 1.5 yards per carry.
Instead, it was Taylor who did the most damage to the Broncos’ defense, finishing the game with 213 passing yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Taylor was wildly efficient, completing 20 passes on 26 attempts for a gaudy 77.8 completion percentage.
Taylor routinely threw to open receivers throughout the game, consistently finding holes in the Broncos’ usually air-tight secondary. It wasn’t just his arm that gave the Broncos trouble, but just as lethal was Taylor’s ability to scramble and extend plays when the Broncos seemingly had the answer. He scrambled for only 13 yards on eight rushes, but his ability to escape the incoming pass rush and extend plays led to pass completions and conversions that the Broncos weren’t able to prevent.
Taylor’s rushing ability certainly earned the respect of starting safety Justin Simmons, who spoke highly of Taylor after the game. “He just extends plays with his legs. There was that third down at the end of the fourth quarter, and it was a clear sack — it would have kicked them out of field-goal range, and he just escaped the pocket. He escaped, and we tried to chase him down before he hit the marker and he got it — he’s just an explosive player.”
Even though the Broncos’ front seven was able to corral McCoy in the backfield, Taylor still found ways to get the ball to his dynamic playmaker, as McCoy chipped in for 48 receiving yards on seven catches.
Taylor’s natural scrambling ability all but put the game out of reach for the Broncos, running for a third-down conversion deep in Broncos’ territory with precious seconds ticking off the clock. Ultimately, as Trevor Siemian struggled for the Broncos, finishing 24-for-40 for 259 yards and two interceptions, Taylor was the better quarterback on the field Sunday.
The Broncos have vastly improved their run defense in the offseason, but their defense as a whole struggled while dealing with the Bills’ dual-threat quarterback.
One game, let alone a game in Week Three, does not predetermine the outcome of a team’s season. The Broncos entered the game as the more-highly regarded team, and they stuck to their gameplan, only to lose to a team that simply played the game better. The Broncos can show the NFL that they are still a playoff-caliber team with a strong performance next week. Next week, the team will face the division rival Raiders and their talented franchise quarterback, Derek Carr. That game will truly test the Broncos’ defense as a whole. One loss can be an anomaly. Two in a row becomes an alarming trend.