The Broncos aren’t strangers to winning despite their offense; they did it all last season. But that doesn’t make it any more comfortable.
Denver’s defense has been asked to carry an immeasurable load over the last season and a half, and for the most part, they’ve been up to the task — just ask the Carolina Panthers. It’s a dangerous road to travel, though. A one-dimensional team is a flawed team, no matter how great that “one dimension” is.
On Sunday, the Broncos offense was as anemic as we’ve ever seen, with 14 of their 27 points coming directly as a result of defensive turnovers.
The run game looked broken, the offensive line was as porous as ever and Trevor Siemian had three or four sure-fire interceptions dropped by the Chargers defense; they looked to be on the verge of collapse all game.
But, once again, the defense bailed Denver out, and the team walked away with their sixth victory of the season.
That doesn’t mean their shortcomings should be forgotten, though. The offense knows they have to improve. The issue is figuring out how.
Here’s what the team had to say following the game:
Gary Kubiak on the running game
“It was nonexistent. We come out and go right down the field and look like a good, sharp football team and then we couldn’t get out of our way about the next three or four series. I’m disappointed. I know that we were missing C.J. today, but that’s a done deal. We have to improve. Losing [RB Devontae] Booker for a few series was a factor in the game. Now we’re down to one back and trying to play [RB] Juwan [Thompson] at two spots. I’m proud of the fact that we mustered up a couple of big drives in the second half, but we turned the ball over in the red zone. We were 2-for-6 and still won the game. That usually doesn’t happen.”
Kubiak on his level of concern with the offense
“Well I’m concerned. I’m concerned with penalties, I don’t have a number. I know we had some big holding calls and some third and longs. We have to find a way to find some consistency. We’re young in the backfield. The quarterback, fullback and halfback. They’re all first time players. It is what it is. We have to find a way to be consistent with that group.”
Kubiak on why the run game took a step back
“I have to go figure it out, I know that. We came out throwing, but we did last week, too. It’s when you balance yourself up and all of a sudden I think we were four runs and 16 passes and just totally out of whack in what we were trying to do. I have to go take a look. I know [FB] Andy [Janovich] played with a club today. I have to go see if that was a factor. We have to go put all those things together and find out.”
Trevor Siemian on winning despite offensive struggles
“Obviously getting the win, whatever it takes. It’s our job to win games. We had a lot of help from the defense so we found a way to get it done. There were a lot of inconsistencies across the board and I think that I have a lot of room to get better. We found a way to win, which is nice.”
Siemian on missing C.J. Anderson
“We missed him a lot in the run game and in protections, but I think [RBs Devontae Booker and Kapri Bibbs] did a good job stepping up. Obviously, there’s a little bit of a drop off when you don’t have C.J. in there but those guys were really impressive with the way they handled things. I think obviously they’d tell you that they’d like to have more yards on the ground, but everybody played well out there.”
Virgil Green on their red-zone struggles
“You know, I’d have to check the film. I know for me, down in the red area, I wasn’t impressed with my blocking in the run game. I know for me, I can definitely improve on that.”
Demaryius Thomas on consistency
“The group of 11 guys on the field has got to figure out how to get the ball into the end zone. Whatever the coaches call, we’ve got to execute it.”
Juwan Thompson on the running backs stepping up in C.J.’s absence
“I mean we’ve still got to get better as a unit. One guy goes down doesn’t mean the team doesn’t go down. We’ve just got to keep pushing and figure out what our flaws lay.”
