It starts small, with something hardly noticeable.
For the Denver Broncos on Sunday, their night began with a three-and-out that lasted all of 56 seconds. Following a drive that ended in a New York Giants’ field goal, the Broncos’ offense put up another three-and-out.
That was just the beginning of their problems. One bad drive becomes two, and before the Broncos knew it, the snowball had already begun.
Anything that could’ve gone wrong for the Broncos on Sunday night did, and the winless Giants walked out of Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium with their first win of the season, leaving the Cleveland Browns and the San Francisco 49ers as the only two teams in the NFL without a win.
You name it. Turnovers, missed kicks, injuries. The Broncos experienced it all on Sunday night.
When the Broncos’ offense was finally able to get something going, kicker Brandon McManus’ 35-yard field goal attempt — that would’ve tied the game at three — went wide right. Eli Manning then led the Giants on an 84-yard drive that ended in a touchdown pass to Evan Engram to give the Giants a 10-0 lead.
Just as the Broncos were beginning to threaten on the ensuing drive, Trevor Siemian bounced a pass at the feet of a wide-open Jamaal Charles. The play turned out to be the next snowball in what became an avalanche that consumed the Broncos.
Siemian threw an interception on the following play.
From there, the snowball had already started to barrel down the mountain, the small mistakes began to pile up and the makings of an upset began to take place.
After hitting his second field goal of the night, McManus’ third field goal was blocked.
The Broncos significantly-improved run defense was thrashed by Orleans Darkwa, who finished the night with 117 yards; becoming the first running back to go over one hundred yards against the Broncos this season.
To cap a poor first half, the Giants returned Trevor Siemian’s second interception of the night for a touchdown.
There was plenty that went wrong on Sunday that the Broncos could’ve controlled, but there was also plenty that they couldn’t as well, and the latter came in the form of injuries.
Demaryius Thomas played a majority of the game with a noticeable limp, while Emmanuel Sanders and Isaiah McKenzie both went down with ankle injuries in the second half.
In an attempt to put a stop to the ever-growing snowball, the Broncos blocked a Giants’ field goal attempt with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter, but the ensuing drive resulted in a Demaryius Thomas fumble, the Broncos’ third and final turnover of the evening.
The hits just kept coming.
The running game, which has been the key to the Broncos’ success through the first month of the season, only totaled 45 yards on the evening. Their red zone problems continued Sunday, when running back C.J. Anderson was stuffed at the goal line on fourth down, essentially putting the cap on a game the Broncos would like to forget.
Tight end Jeff Heuerman scored the Broncos’ only touchdown on Sunday night, but the series of small problems had already become too big to solve, and the Broncos wound up on the wrong end of a 23-10 Giants’ victory.
The Broncos certainly didn’t get off to the start they would’ve liked on Sunday night, but they had plenty of opportunities to get the game back on track. Their seemingly small mistakes began to mount up, and before they knew it, they had a problem that became too big to handle.
As the Broncos pick up the pieces following this loss, they are faced with what could be the beginning of the next big snowball if they don’t pick up a win next week. Aside from the 1972 Miami Dolphins, every team loses in the NFL. The Broncos took down the Oakland Raiders after dropping a game to the Buffalo Bills the week prior, and they’ll have to defeat the Los Angeles Chargers next week to put a stop to the next snowball in the making.
