Dud. No 2 – Max Garcia
There are usually two ways to find yourself on national television as an offensive lineman: Lay a massive pancake block that stops a pass rusher or opens a huge hole for your running back, or get flagged for a penalty that’s going to have your quarterback playing on his heels.
Max Garcia, in his very limited time on the field on Sunday night, got his 15 seconds of fame for the latter of those two reasons.
The Broncos had just surrendered their first score of the game (see Dud. No 3 – Bruton, David), and the offense was starting to move the ball to answer. On second-and-10 just inside Green Bay territory, Garcia was flagged for holding. On the very next play, the refs rung him up for illegal use of hands. The net gain on those two non-plays was minus 20 yards and a very ticked off Peyton Manning.
Garcia was subbed out immediately and C.J. Anderson was stopped for a loss of one on the very next play, setting up third-and-31. Needless to say, the Broncos eventually punted.
The offensive line made some big strides on Sunday night, but Garcia showed that he’s still not 100 percent ready to step in and be a 1:1 replacement for Evan Mathis, who continues to fight a hamstring injury.
Garcia can get it corrected with more reps, but he can’t continue to derail drives in key moments. Thankfully, our No. 2 studs on the night set a much better tone for the rest of the o-line.
