Can someone please scrub the Broncos from primetime! The Denver Broncos have disappointed in primetime again as they have lost to their divisional rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, 19-16 in overtime on MNF.
It is almost getting comical at this point with the Broncos being put in the primetime spot. Has any team in the past twenty years, with so many primetime placements, played as awfully as the Broncos have during said games? The NBC, ABC, and Amazon executives must be kicking themselves for picking such a horrifyingly inept team to broadcast to a national audience week after week.
In fact, the Broncos have been so inept that their offense has only managed to score a grand total of one touchdown/game they’ve played in the primetime spot, except for that game against the Colts two weeks ago in which they didn’t even manage that measly stat.
And this game was no different.
Surprisingly, the Denver offense actually looked really good to start off this game as Russell Wilson went 10/10 and had two huge throws to Jerry Judy that went for 30+ yards and then another to rookie Greg Dulcich, which he ran into the endzone for an early Broncos TD.
I was shocked by how good Wilson looked in the 1st Quarter as he was actually scrambling out of the pocket, looking down field, and consistently finding the open receiver. Yes, I know that sounds rudimentary, but Wilson wasn’t even able to manage that against the Seahawks, 49ers, and Colts in his other primetime games.
It really looked like the Broncos offense had finally gotten out of their slump and discovered a mojo to work with…until the 2nd Quarter hit.
After that 1st Quarter, Russell Wilson (15/28, 188 yards, 1 TD) and the offense looked as bad as we’ve seen them as he went 5/18 on the rest of his throws in regulation and OT. It’ a good thing they have Brandon McManus, who drilled three field goals for them, or else they would never get into double digit points.
Oh, the Denver defense still looks great too as they racked up 2 sacks (Baron Browing and Matt Henningsen each had one), LB Alex Singleton had 19 total tackles, while Browning also had a pick.
If it wasn’t for this defense playing lights out every game, the Broncos would be 0-6 right now. That’s how good they have been all year.
As for the Chargers, they were just as disappointing as the Broncos. I don’t know how Brandon Staley still a job has as whenever I watch a Chargers’ game, this guy makes at least one huge clock management mistake.
In this game, it was the Chargers not being more aggressive in the final two minutes when they had all three timeouts, Justin Herbert as their QB, and they only needed to reach the 30ish yard line of Denver for a game-winning field goal.
Even though he had Herbert throw 37/57, 238 yards, and 1 INT, I still feel like he’s holding his young QB back. Justin Herbert is one of, if not the, most talented QBs under 25 in the league today. Plus, he has an All-Pro caliber receiver in Keenan Allen and a Pro-Bowl caliber RB in Austin Ekeler to target, but he still underachieves in terms of winning.
In the three years he’s been the starter of the Chargers, he’s yet to have a double-digit winning season and it looks like that record will continue.
Anyway, the play that sealed the Broncos fate did not happen because of the offense, but rather the special teams. During a punt, Broncos blocker P.J. Locke III inexplicably stood right in front of the return man, Montrell Washington, as the ball came looping back down.
Even though Washington called for a fair catch, which prohibits the Chargers special teamers from tackling him, there’s no rule that prohibits the Chargers from pushing Locke into his own returner. And that’s exactly what they did as they ball came bouncing off Washington as he was toppled over by Locke, which allowed the Chargers to recover the ball and set up Dustin Hopkins for a 39-yard game winning field goal.
Honestly, both these teams are probably going to miss the playoffs given how awful they played tonight, even though the Chargers are now 4-2. There are just way too many better and more consistent teams in the AFC, such as the Ravens, Bengals, Patriots, Colts and Dolphins for either team to sneak into the 5-7 Wild Card places.
What I’m more worried about is how many times the Denver Broncos will be on primetime again. I can’t take another boring, 1 TD, overtime affair that drags on and on and on with Russell Wilson looking like a shell of his former self and Nathaniel Hackett giving the Waltons yet another reason to fire him before Christmas.
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