Last night was a lot of fun, but did we really learn anything?
I get that the Broncos won, clinched a playoff spot and now hold the right to a first-round bye in their own hands, but is this week really any different than last week? Last week, the Broncos played two outstanding quarters and two dreadful quarters; this week, the Broncos played two dreadful quarters and two outstanding quarters. Seems like the same thing to me.
Really, the only difference is that the Broncos were able to get the close win against the Bengals and they weren’t against the Steelers; either way, when you can only play two quarters of good football each week, you’re going to be left clawing your way towards any victory.
The fact remains: The Denver Broncos need to figure out how to play four solid quarters in a row.
This team has been so bi-polar over the last four weeks that I don’t think any of us can accurately predict how they’ll perform next week against the Chargers or in the postseason. I mean, if we got the team from the first half of the Pittsburgh game and the second half of the Cincinnati game, we’d be looking at a Super Bowl favorite. But if we get the team from the second half of the Steelers game and the first half of the Bengals game, the Broncos aren’t going anywhere of importance.
Here are three things the Broncos have to do to play four quarters of winning football:
Pick up the tempo
Here’s a fact about the Denver Broncos that is not going to change: The offensive line is miserable. Starting with Michael Schofield on down, the five guys on the Broncos’ front line may be the worst unit in football, and it’s only getting worse.
Left one-on-one, they’re doomed, especially Schofield. Simply put, he shouldn’t be on the field. Unfortunately, the Broncos really don’t have another option.
So, what do they do? They speed up the tempo.
We saw it coming out of halftime: Gary Kubiak went into their two-minute offense, they forced the Bengals to keep their base package on the field and they wore them down. From that point on, Brock Osweiler looked like a different man, with more time and space to set his feet and get an accurate pass out to his receivers.
Even when the Broncos were attempting to burn clock at the end of the game, they were able to do it within a no-huddle offense.
And as far as I can tell, that’s Denver’s only option. They just can’t afford to let their opponents reload their defensive line after each play; the only way the Broncos offensive line is going to win enough battles to take home a victory is if they’re playing against a gassed defense.
It’s not just for Brock’s sake, though. Picking up the tempo makes a big difference in the run game, too. As those defensive lineman start putting their hand in the dirt for the fifth, sixth, seventh straight play, the Broncos’ backs gain the advantage, and it showed last night with C.J. Anderson‘s 39-yard touchdown run.
