There isn’t much more that the Denver Broncos’ defense can do.
The knock on the Broncos’ defense early on in the season was that they weren’t creating enough turnovers. They created three during Sunday’s game against the Miami Dolphins, and the Broncos still managed to lose their eighth-straight game of the season, 35-9.
The reports were that a flu bug bit the Broncos’ locker room in the week prior to traveling to play the Dolphins, and that bug reportedly tore through the defensive side of the ball. On top of that, the Broncos were without Derek Wolfe, Domata Peko and Aqib Talib, but the depleted unit still managed to outscore the Broncos’ offense on Sunday.
Four of the Dolphins’ 35 points came on two separate safeties. The first came on a play in which quarterback Trevor Siemian had to toss the ball out of the back of the end zone after a first-quarter snap went over his head. The second safety came in the fourth quarter, after Isaiah McKenzie jumped on his own fumble in his own end zone. Six more of the Dolphins points came on Xavien Howard’s interception return in the second quarter.
When it was all said and done, the Broncos’ defense mustered up six points on Justin Simmons’ pick-six, and the Broncos’ offense was only able to muster up three.
What else can the Broncos defense do?
“Everything is tough right now. Everything,” linebacker Von Miller said after Sunday’s game. “What is Bronco football? We’ve got to find that. We’ve got to grind and get back to whatever it is. You can’t say Bronco football is what we did in 2015. That’s two years ago.”
The Dolphins’ three offensive touchdowns came on drives of 75, 61 and 23 yards. While it’s fair to assume that two of those drives could’ve been stopped, the Broncos’ defense isn’t assembled of super heroes. Teams are going to put drives together in the NFL.
There is plenty of blame to go around when a team loses eight games in a row, but Sunday’s loss certainly wasn’t on the defense.
There’s only been so much they could do in 2017.