Not only is the shine of the 7-0 start to the season quickly fading from the mind of Broncos fans, but the players are facing a reality check, too. At 10-4, this is no longer the elite team we may have once pegged them to be; they’re good, but they need a lot of improving.
Before, when the Broncos stumbled over the Colts and Chiefs, at least they could use the excuse of Peyton Manning‘s health. Even against the Raiders, the defense could hold their head high and say they did their job.
But after collapsing to the Steelers on Sunday, there’s nobody to blame but themselves, and that goes for every single man on that roster.
From Gary Kubiak to Brock Osweiler to Chris Harris, the Broncos understand that they’re not going to accomplish their goals (winning the Super Bowl) if they don’t take some major steps forward in these next two weeks. On Monday, they said as much.
Let’s read between the lines and analyze what the Broncos had to say following their fourth loss of the season.
Gary Kubiak on Vernon Davis‘ drop:
“You’re going to get hit in this business every time you catch the ball. You have to make great plays to be successful. We made a lot of great plays in the game. Brock was trying to fit a ball in there. It would be a great throw—it was a great throw. It would be a great catch. That’s part of football. We have other plays that we need to make, too. There are a lot of positive plays that we need to hang on to. A lot of positive things going on that we need to build from and not try to attack some negative here or there. We’re going to stay focused on the positive and move forward.”
Yesterday, Mike Pritchard came on Mile High Sports Radio and condemned Davis’ fourth-quarter drop, questioning whether he had any allegiance to the Denver Broncos. He even went so far as to wonder whether his lack of effort could lose him the support of the locker room.
Based on Kubiak’s comments, I think he may be right.
It’s not often that a coach comes out and publicly criticizes a player for not making a play, but that’s exactly what Kubiak did, and he’s absolutely right. Nobody wants to ever question a player’s effort, but that drop, if you want to call it that, was so egregiously embarrassing that Kubiak, Pritchard and the fans couldn’t let it slip, especially when you take into account that his teammate, David Bruton, was playing with a broken leg.
Really, the only thing Kubiak was wrong about was that, “It would be a great catch.” Nope. Actually, it would have been a fairly routine reception on an outstanding throw by Brock Osweiler.
My guess is that we’re going to start seeing a whole lot less of Vernon Davis on the football field in the coming weeks.
Kubiak on the starting quarterback this week:
“We’re starting over—starting from scratch. It’s no different from last week. We’ll be dealing with Brock and see how he’s doing physically. I’ll visit with [QB] Peyton [Manning]. Greek and I will work through that. We’ll have a plan in place when we get to Wednesday, but right now my thoughts are with the team and trying to get through the corrections and move forward.”
Is their a quarterback situation? Yes. Is it a controversy? No, not yet.
Ian Rapoport may have reported last weekend that Peyton Manning isn’t okay with backing up Brock Osweiler, but the fact of the matter is that that is a moot point until the moment Manning is cleared to play. Until then, he’s injured, Osweiler is the quarterback and the fans have to just ride the wave.
More importantly, and the reason why Kubiak is probably getting increasingly frustrated at these sorts of questions, the quarterback position is the least of the Broncos’ problems. In Kubiak’s mind, getting the offensive line to play like a competent unit for four consecutive quarters is much more important that deciding who’s standing behind them.
Likewise, if Demaryius Thomas and Vernon Davis caught a few more passes these last two weeks, the team may still be in a tight race for the No. 1 seed.
A decision on the Broncos starting quarterback will come eventually, but until that day, it’s far from the top priority.
David Bruton on playing with a broken leg:
“Honestly, I thought it was a bruise. Us being down already and me missing last game and knowing how important this game was, there is no way I was going to come out. I’d have to have something very, very serious—well obviously this is serious—but something that kept me out of the game right then and there immediately. That’s the only way I would have stayed out. I gave 110 percent. I basically gave a leg for my guys, literally. Just a tribute to the fact that I love the team and love being a part of it.”
You cannot say enough about David Bruton and what he means for this team. To play a snap with a broken fibula is one thing, to lead the team in defensive plays is a different beast.
My only hope is that the rest of this team, defense and offense, can take a page out of Bruton’s book and learn what it truly means to, as John Elway would say, “Go out kicking and screaming.” As far as I’m concerned, Bruton exemplified that to a greater extent than I ever thought possible.
Bruton knew the defense was thin in the secondary coming into the game, and he knew that losing him for even a series would put the Broncos in an even tougher position against one of the league’s most explosive passing attacks. And so he stayed in the game and played his heart out with a broken leg.
The Denver Broncos need a whole lot more David Brutons on their roster.
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[adrotate banner=”10″]Chris Harris on being left one-on-one with Antonio Brown:
“I mean [Defensive Coordinator] Coach Wade [Phillips] trusts us. He trusts me to go out there and play man-to-man the whole game. That’s what I’ve got to do. Whatever it is, that’s what we’ve been doing the whole season. We can’t just change—what week is it? We can’t just change at the end. It happens. When you play straight man-to-man like that against a top receiver in the league, he won the day.”
Here’s what I respect about Chris Harris: While he, and the rest of the Broncos secondary, may talk a little too much, he’s more than willing to take the blame when he struggles. Whereas many of the league’s elite corners would remain silent or find an excuse, Harris simply stood up and said, “This one is on me.”
That said, I do question Wade Phillips’ decision to leave Harris on an island with Brown all day. I understand that the defense “can’t just change at the end,” but it was pretty apparent that whatever they were doing was not working. Now, the fact that their safeties were either missing entirely or playing with a broken leg didn’t help, but a little creativity could have gone a long way.
Either way, Harris simply got beat. And that’s going to happen when you play a guy like Antonio Brown, someone Kubiak called the NFL’s MVP.