On third-down routes coming short of the sticks:
“Usually when you run routes, there are people at different depths. There’s various levels of pass routes that you run. We’re trying to get first downs. I can promise you that.”
I wish I could just let my Twitter feed speak for this one, because everyone in Broncos Country seems to blow a gasket or two when Denver throws a 3-yard pass on third and 7, but I’ll do my best to make sense of it.
Yes, of course the Broncos are running routes at multiple levels. Nobody believes every wideout is stopping 2 yards short of the sticks just to drive the fans mad. We know you’re trying to get first downs.
The issue, though, is that no matter how many receivers have actually run their routes past the the first-down line, the ball seems to always end up in the hands of the one guy who’s short of the marker. Why?
Well, because it’s the safe pass. It’s the pass the defense is allowing, and if you can get your receiver to just break one tackle, it’s a first down.
More importantly, it’s the pass the Broncos coaching staff trusts Siemian to make. And therein lies the problem: Siemian. Again, we can point to a multitude of factors — the line, the run game, the receivers, the play calling– but at the end of the day, it falls on the quarterback to convert on third down, and the Broncos don’t have a good quarterback behind center.
