If the vaunted Denver Broncos defense – the one that delivered a third world championship back to Colorado – is to have a special place in history (and it absolutely should), it’s going to be a small place. Their chapter will be a short one.
Not all is well in Broncos Country. Today specifically, we’ll hear how the defense was dominated at the line of scrimmage. We’ll scrutinize the performance that allowed Oakland to put up 30 points and rush for 218 yards last night. We’ll talk about the lack of discipline – all those pass interference and defensive holding penalties.
As great as the Broncos D was last year, and has been this year, go ahead and tell it goodbye.
But before we do, let’s get a few things clear, though. Nobody’s “figured out” Wade Philips or Von Miller. The No Fly Zone still has an unbelievably low amount of traffic. Malik Jackson and Danny Trevathan might be better players than their replacements, but the difference is negligible – not enough to knock this defense from its lofty perch.
All that is true, but so is this: The once mighty defense of the Denver Broncos is going, going, gone.
Want to have a historically great defense?
Have a passably competent offense.
The mantra in Denver has been that this defense is “Super Bowl Caliber” – i.e. – by itself, the D can pave the road to repeat. The best part? You don’t have to have a great offense. In fact, a Super Bowl can be won with an O that’s somewhere south of mediocre. The Broncos themselves proved that in February.
Here in November, they seem hellbent on testing the limits of that theory. How bad can one’s offense be before winning a championship is no longer feasible? Last night’s game against the Raiders felt like a gallant effort to find out.
Denver’s offense has one job: Don’t screw it up.
No turnovers. No big risks. Nothing fancy – and that’s good, because Trevor Siemian is anything but fancy. He doesn’t take risks either. Unfortunately, he’s not immune to turnovers.
This isn’t a “who should be quarterback” gripe, though. Any couch potato can see that Siemian doesn’t have the goods. What we can’t see is exactly why Paxton Lynch, who’s supposedly waiting in the wings with all kinds of talent, can’t find his way to the field.
“Anything is better than this,” we all said last night, but that’s beside the point.
The point is that the Broncos are not only squandering a historically great defense, they’re actually destroying it.
Derek Wolfe departing the field in the third quarter (with what’s since been classified as a hairline fracture to his elbow) was not only symbolic, it was symptomatic. It was salt in the wound to be sure, but was also inevitable. It’s what happens when a team asks too much of its defense.
Here’s what else happens:
Brandon Marshall, hamstring.
Aqib Talib, back.
Kayvon Webster, hamstring.
Early in the game, when the Raiders were handed excellent field position as the result of Denver’s inability to move the ball offensively (the Broncos first three drives resulted in a total of 9 yards!), the Denver D bent, but it didn’t break. A score of 6-0 was all the Raiders had to show for their dominant first quarter.
The more something bends, the more likely it is to eventually break. And last night, the Broncos D finally broke. It was a culmination of injuries and fatigue, or fatigue that ultimately leads to injuries. It was three pass interference penalties in a span of 11 seconds, which resulted in three first downs inside the five yard line and a touchdown that proved to be insurmountable.
You could see it coming from a mile away.
Forget the score. How about 30 first downs compared to 13? How about losing the time of possession battle 41:28 to 18:32. How about 11 rushing first downs compared to one, or 218 yards on the ground compared to 33?
What we saw last night was the greatest Broncos defense we’ve ever seen too tired and too banged up to be great. They were beaten, physically, mentally, emotionally.
It’s often said that the Broncos have a great locker room, a place where no finger pointing takes place, where it’s one man for another no matter the situation.
But at some point, human nature has to come into play. Every human being who watched or participated in Denver’s debacle in Oakland should come to the same conclusion: If the Broncos offense can’t carry more of the load, the teams historically great defense will be nothing more than a small piece of history.
