Dud No. 1 – The Pass Catchers
We can’t confine this list to the wide receivers, as C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman both had breadbasket passes fall to the turf, but the trend of drops by pass catchers continued again Sunday to an alarming degree.
At final count there were upwards of seven dropped passes by Denver wide receivers, tight ends and running backs, and just about everyone was to blame. Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, Bennie Fowler and Jordan Norwood all dropped passes (in addition to Anderson and Hillman). Only Virgil Green and Cody Latimer were perfect on targets on the day, each going two-for-two.
Peyton Manning ended the day 21-of-37 for 222 yards – not great and certainly not terrible. None of those drops or misses resulted in interceptions (although a couple very nearly did), so Denver avoided the critical mistakes. But they also could have turned the tide in their favor by converting on even half of those drops, several of which came on third down.
Mistakes like that will not fly against the Patriots. As Denver learned in their first meeting this year with Tom Brady, they’re going to have to put the ball in the end zone. That’s going to mean the receivers have to convert.
