After living on the edge Broncos finally pushed off

Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News

Published September 24, 2007 at midnight

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Reality bit the Broncos.

Consider the era of good feelings, quality mojo, momentum and whatever else that came with the Broncos' two last-play escapes in the season's opening two weeks to be gone in the dust. The Broncos could only look back, left wondering how to stop the Jaguars running game.

Sunday, there was only the cold reality of a 23-14 loss to Jacksonville at Invesco Field at Mile High and what awaits the Broncos on their calendar during the next month.

"Sometimes that's football," Broncos cornerback Dré Bly said. "You deal with it and you move on."

Move on to the teeth of the schedule. Indianapolis, San Diego, Pittsburgh and Green Bay, those are the Broncos' next four opponents, sitting this morning a combined 10-2. Three of those games are at home, with a bye week in the mix.

"We can't ignore what's gone wrong," Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil said. "You look at it and you go to work and try to get better. I don't know what else you can do."

They will have plenty to look at in the six days between what happened against the Jaguars and facing the Colts on Sunday in the climate-controlled offensive palace that is the RCA Dome.

One of the first stops on the review likely will be the run defense, a problem that appears to be growing with each passing running back.

There were the 112 rushing yards allowed to the Bills. It will get better, the Broncos said.

There were the 200 rushing yards allowed to the Raiders. It will get better, the Broncos said.

And there were the 186 rushing yards allowed to the Jaguars. It has to get better, the Broncos said.

"They ran the ball well," linebacker D.J. Williams said. "Quarterback sneaks, things like that. We were in position a lot of times, and a lot of times we didn't wrap up. We made contact with the guys, and they went 3 or 4 yards forward, and that can't happen. We need people going backwards."

Numbers often can be moved around the page to make whatever picture might be needed. But there is no hiding the numbers that said it all Sunday.

The Jaguars' first scoring drive went 18 plays. For 80 yards. In 11 minutes, 44 seconds.

That wasn't just a 7-0 lead the Jaguars had when that was said and done. It was an opening statement the Broncos had no answer for by the time the day was done.

"I challenged the offensive line to knock the little guys out of the way to give room to me, Maurice (Jones-Drew) and Greg (Jones)," Jaguars running back Fred Taylor said.

And it will be tough for the Broncos to find a four-leaf clover in that.

Grab and hold

Tackling continues to be the heart of the issue with the Broncos troubles against the run thus far.

Their pass defense ranking certainly won't take much of a hit after holding the Jaguars' quarterback David Garrard to 154 yards in the air. However, the Broncos are getting to a point where some offensive coordinators will simply decide not to throw until the Broncos make them.

"They broke some tackles,'' Dumervil said. "We just have to handle the film and get better on that part . . . It is an issue, we can't ignore it. We've just go to tackle better. We had guys there and those guys were breaking a lot of tackles. Two-yard gains were turned into eight-yard gains. We've just got to really, really tackle.''

Taylor finished with 84 yards rushing while Garrard finished with 52 and the Jaguars got 11 first downs by running the football.

"That just can't be,'' Williams said.

A tight spot

With the Colts ready to line up tight end Dallas Clark all over the formation on the Broncos, it's clear the Jaguars made the decision to press the Broncos linebackers as much as they could in pass coverage.

Eight of Garrard's 14 pass completions Sunday either went to running backs or tight ends, with Marcedes Lewis leading the way with three receptions. Jones-Drew had two, George Wrightster had two and Greg Estandia had one.

The four accounted for 96 of Garrard's 154 passing yards as the Broncos spent much of the day in their base 4-3 defense.

"I know I still have a lot of growing to do,'' said Williams, who is in his first season at middle linebacker for the Broncos. "A lot of things I need to look at.''

Not this time

Despite all of the things the Broncos will pick through this week they still had a third chance in as many games to wiggle their way out of trouble.

On a first-and-goal from the Broncos 1-yard line with 6:15 left in the game, the Jaguars ran Jones-Drew on a rather innocent looking run into the middle of the line. However, as Jones-Drew tried to spin out of traffic, he fell fumbling as his elbow hit the ground first.

The fumble was recovered by safety Curome Cox at the Broncos 4-yard line, with Denver trailing 20-14 at the time.

"Without a doubt, there was no question in anybody's mind we were going down to score,'' Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley said.

However, the Broncos ran just four plays, including going for it on fourth-and-5 from their own 9-yard line with over four minutes to play. Jay Cutler hit tight end Daniel Graham down the middle of the field for what would have been a first down, but Graham did not hang on.

A play, with the way the day was unfolding, that didn't seem to place much confidence in the Broncos defense to be able to hold after a punt.

"I have to come up with that ball, that's a catch I have to make,'' Graham said.

Number that counts

47 rushing attempts for the Jaguars in the game. That number is all people need to know about the way things went for the Broncos Sunday. While the Broncos rushed for just 47 yards in the game. Also the Broncos 21:18 time of possession was their lowest in a game since Sept. 20, 1992, when they had a 20:42 showing against Philadelphia.

Hold it now

Since the start of the 2006 season the Broncos have surrendered 15 scoring drives of at least 11 plays. Ten of those have now come in losses.

In the losses:

**2006**
Opponent	Drive (plays, yards, time of possession)	Result

St. Louis	15 plays, 69 yards, 7:46	Field goal

St. Louis	11 plays 82 yards, 5:36	Field goal

Indianapolis	14 plays, 56 yards, 8:08	Field goal

Indianapolis	11 plays, 60 yards, 6:06	Field goal

San Diego	11 plays, 99 yards, 6:19	Touchdown

Kansas City	13 plays, 88 yards, 7:41	Touchdown

Kansas City	11 plays, 49 yards, 6:25	Field goal

San Diego	13 plays, 80 yards, 6:19	Touchdown

San Francisco	12 plays, 76 yards, 7:08	Touchdown