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Sam Adams' Open Mic: Who will the Broncos stop?

By Sam Adams, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 29, 2008 at 10:27 a.m.
Updated September 29, 2008 at 10:27 a.m.

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Now we know the Broncos aren’t good enough to win on the road scoring less than 20 points with four turnovers. Not even against a winless team with a plodding offense like the Kansas City Chiefs.

Good news: The Broncos lead the AFC West with a 3-1 record despite Sunday’s 33-19 loss at Arrowhead Stadium. Bad news: The Broncos defense showed little resistance against an inept Kansas City offense that had produced just 32 points in the first three games of the season.

Chiefs running back Larry Johnson posted

198 yards — the fifth-best rushing total against a Broncos defense. That included a 65-yard run on the game’s second play from scrimmage — tied for the third-longest nonscoring run against a Denver defense.

Johnson’s run was the sixth offensive play totaling 40 yards or more allowed this season by Denver’s defense. The Broncos allowed nine gains of 40 yards or more in 2007.

The Broncos offense didn’t help by committing four turnovers. Kansas City won the turnover margin (plus-3) — its 19th consecutive home win when coming out ahead in the category. It will go unnoticed, but the Broncos offensive line did handle the noisy atmosphere rather well — allowing one sack and committing just two penalties.

Two Denver fumbles led to 10 points for the Chiefs. Jay Cutler’s two interceptions didn’t result in points for the opposition, but the miscues ended possessions on yet another day when the Broncos offense showed it could move up and down the field with some ease.

Unlike the first three weeks, the Broncos’ touchdown machine was reduced to kicking field goals — four, including Matt Prater’s 56-yarder, which matched the franchise’s third-longest kick in a regular-season game.

But Denver’s defense allowed an opponent to score 30 points for the third consecutive game — a first since the 1986 season. The blitzing Broncos got pressure on Chiefs quarterback Damon Huard. K.C.’s running game was an effective counter against a Denver defense playing without injured defensive tackles Dewayne Robertson and Josh Shaw.

Denver’s offense is going to have some off games. For the defense, off games have become the headline act.

Click here to join the discussion about this story on Sam Adams' Open Mic blog.

Comments

  • September 29, 2008

    12:07 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Kingfish writes:

    Once again it comes down to time of possesion. In the first three weeks we scored so quickly that our defense was on the field all day. Not to mention we dont even try to run the ball and wear the other team down.

    Yesterday it was turnovers; once again leaving our defense on the field all friggin day. I am very upset with what looks like we dont even have safeties out there. Why Is Jack Williams on Dwayne Bowe by himself? WHY? Its not because the safeties were on the line of scrimmage stopping the run. So WHY?

    And once again I am not very happy with the play calling. I saw Scheffler wide open on many occasions and the ball being forced into Marshall; we dont even attempt to run the ball so the opposition just sits back all day. We got so caught up in the hype of two rookie corners on Mashall and Royal its as if that was our entire game plan-feed those two. Especially on a day when it was obvious Cutler was struggling....Im glad it happened to a team that isnt going anywhere so maybe the Broncos will come back down to earth and recognize we cant expect Cutler to do it by himself, even against less then mediocre competition.

    RUN THE BALL PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

  • September 29, 2008

    1:10 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    tsarliquid writes:

    I'm not impressed with OC play calling, it look like it reverted back to Plummer QB day's. Naked Boot leg option, not the best option with so many weapons? Cutler look better in a spread WR formation, they moved the ball in the 4th. Webster is a joke, it's cool shanny gave him a chance but time to move on. Safeties also, need to move on, Mcree & Manuel? Temporary at best! Gonzales TD, where was the Safety? No way it should have been a TD on a lob pass 25 yds out. There is hope, but also a lot of work to be done! Go Broncos.

  • September 29, 2008

    1:50 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    El_Braino writes:

    Cutler might as well have had Marshall out there by himself. He stared at him throughout the entire routes and the Chiefs Defense read it like a pop up book. Cutler needs to look at his other options because I did see the Tight Ends open and Cutler still followed Marshall through his route, trying to sqeeze the ball in double-coverage.

  • September 29, 2008

    3:39 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    OPETH72 writes:

    We can moan about the offense all day, but the truth is that is the best thing we have going. Yeah, they had an "off" day, but I think everyone knew that was coming at some point. That is why the concern over defense (and special teams as well) has been so prominent the past 2 weeks. Our defense seems to be trying to make stars out of every set of players it meets. Where is Winborn now? He and his "I don't care if they score 100, as long as we score 101" position. Guess what Winnie? You only had to give up 33. And speaking of 33, you also gave up that plus 165 to Johnson. I tried to hope they would improve. And I thought for sure that playing such a lame duck offense in KC would at least make them APPEAR good for a week. I am not sure what they can do to fix this at this point. And for the offense, this was a perfect example of how our running game lacks that hardcore back. Yeah, our guys are good rotating in and out while Cutler works over the defense, but when he has a bad day, there is not one there to help out. No defense, no special teams, and no solid running back that can take over a game when needed. We saw how that works yesterday. Larry made the point loud and clear. He wanted the ball, and they finally gave it to him. And he ran with it........and ran with it..........and ran with it. I hope Torain can be that guy here. The fact is Cutler will have bad days. That is what pushed the Elway years over that hump. Getting a back that could change a game when the quarterback was off. I realize guys like TD don't just come along every day, but we need to get closer to that end of the spectrum than where we are. We will make it through the season with what we have, but every game seems likely to be decided on whether or not Cutler has a good day or a bad day. It really is not fair to this young star-to-be. I hope the entire team gets it through their heads that without a total team effort, they will be putting it all on one guy to handle. And anyone on this team OK with that needs to be on another team somewhere else. They tried to sedate us with all the "who cares as long as we win" talk. Some of us, however, saw the inevitable doom. And it came even sooner than we thought. Get it together Broncos. This team can go far if the D and special teams just plays at an NFL level. I heard Shannon Sharpe on Sirius a few days ago, and he said the D only needs to be middle of the pack. He repeated that yesterday on TV. And he is right. The D just has to be good. They could have won that game for us yesterday. Too bad they just sat back and hoped Cutler would just do what he has been doing.

  • September 29, 2008

    4:06 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    blysucks writes:

    No doubt the offense has some blame for yesterday. But it is laughable to hang the loss on them. Nearly everyone on the offense is a 2nd or 3rd year starter. They are gonna have some growning pains and even an offense full of 10 year vets couldn't overcome the wet kleenex that is the Broncos d. If your offense knows they have to score 30 pts every game, that is alot of pressure. To any fan who thinks the offense is the problem here, let's go to the numbers, Denver is averaging 33.3 pts per game, we're giving up 28.3 per game.(counting the 33 we gave up to one of the worst offenses the NFL has ever seen, or as I refer to them, Kansas City High) Even the average beer guzzling, moronic "fan" in Denver should be able to do the math and see the problem with this team.

  • September 29, 2008

    4:50 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Caleb2001 writes:

    Defense wins championships. This team is going nowhere. While the offense will be nice to watch, this isn't the AFL, you have to play well on both sides of the ball. Until this team gets a pass rush and a linebacking corp that can stop the run, sorry another year without playoffs.

  • September 29, 2008

    10:59 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    deezBroncs1127 writes:

    I agree with you R_U_SHTN me...D-Line is soft & Selvin Young or Andre Hall needs to get more than 10 touches a game. I look at other teams defenses and they actually look like they are trying to get the QB. Our D-line just takes up space thinking they are getting the QB. Could you imagine if we actually got 3 to 4 sacks a game, pressured the QB 8-10 times a game. Champ & the Crew would get the chance to intercept some balls and make plays.

    As far as the running game, its taking a back seat to our passing game right now, which is OK if we get points on the board early, but when that doesn't happen, WE ARE IN TROUBLE !!!