Don’t Listen to Those People Ricky
November 23rd, 2009 | by bpdouglass |I think it is time for Josh to bring in a motivational speaker. Might I suggest Mr. Reese Bobby?
(I’m on a Talladega Nights kick today… admit it, you could use a good laugh.)
I had the pleasure of taking in today’s “game” with my good friend Shawn, a diehard with the most immaculate television I have ever seen. He is the faithful fanatic, I am (supposedly) the objective voice of reason… and I feel safe in suggesting my anger in today’s performance would, by any measure, triumph over his.
Understand I do not claim title as a professional football mind. Those folks are employed by the National Football League, and as such I find it rather difficult to criticize Josh. I will admit bias as a fan and a man that wants to believe… the resume is impressive and I would submit Pat Bowlen’s decision to lay faith in his hands as my primary justification for hope. The most conflicted fan, even after today’s loss against the hated San Diego Chargers, would readily rank Bowlen as one of the most admirable owners in professional sports. His track record speaks for itself.
With that said, I have three key observations from today’s loss I wish to submit as the resulting source of frustration.
- Know thy self, know thy enemy.
Last season the following teams registered as members of the top 10 in yards lost in penalties for the defense: Vikings, 49ers, Giants, Falcons, Bears, Cardinals, Steelers, Ravens, Bengals, Browns. Turn to the same list on offense and you can add Packers, Cowboys, Titans, Bucs, Raiders, Jags, and Saints. Of those 17 teams only seven made the playoffs, half of them on the power of an offense ranked among the top 10 in the NFL. In other words, if you play with a lack of discipline you will find the chase for success can be challenging.
The Broncos don’t own a top-rated offense and we have yet to see signs to suggest that will change, and as such you cannot commit nine penalties to give the Chargers 65 free yards. Understand it is not a progressive trend and it is not an indication of growing concern. The Broncos committed just three penalties against the Steelers for 25 yards with four more against Washington for 45. That is well within reason. In fact, the only game you might add to the list of disciplinary failures would be the Week 4 win over Dallas (10 penalties, 81 yards).
However, in this particular game, the penalties were troublesome. Three of those penalties either killed Denver drives in the making or extended a San Diego drive set to die. Two others (both for unsportsmanlike conduct) tacked 15 yards onto an already-troubled field position to start drives.
It is one thing to commit 10 penalties for 81 yards when you are enjoying a health Kyle Orton throwing for 243 yards in the game. It is another to commit nine penalties for 65 yards when you are asking Chris Simms and a hobbled Orton to put in work.
- If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon.
A review of the Broncos’ first drive of the series….
1st and 10 at the Denver 26
Moreno runs right for 9 yards (negated by face mask penalty, 15 yards).
1st and 10 at the 50
Moreno runs right for 8 yards.
2nd and 2 at the San Diego 42
Buckhalter runs right for 8 yards.
1st and 10 at the San Diego 34
Buckhalter runs left for 4 yards.
2nd and 6 at the San Diegoe 30
Moreno runs right for 3 yards.
3rd and 3 at the San Diego 27
Moreno runs right for 8 yards.
1st and 10 at the San Diego 19
Buckhalter runs up the middle for 2 yards.
2nd and 8 at the San Diego 17
Simms sacked at the San Diego 28, fumble, recovered by San Diego.
There is nothing about that drive, the first possession of the game, to suggest the Broncos couldn’t continue to pile numbers on the league’s worst-rated rush defense. Every play but the last, the turnover, was a run. Every play brought positive yards.
That drive was built on seven runs… and the Broncos would run a total of 10 times more over the course of the 55 minutes of play.
This is no longer a trend. It is an undeniable fact. The Josh McDaniels offense does not intend to progress the football via the run. 22 rush attempts against Baltimore last week, 14 against Pittsburgh the week before, 19 against Baltimore the week before that… those numbers do not lie.
That first drive ate nearly five minutes off the clock. The Broncos found 10 additional possessions with the following times used (respectively): three minutes, one minute, two minutes, 23 seconds, four minutes (a drive with five rushing attempts, half of the remaining attempts made after that first drive), three minutes, 40 seconds, three minutes, 30 seconds, 30 seconds.
The Arizona Cardinals own the most lopsided offense in the NFL, touting just 199 rush attempts coming into Week 11. They ran the ball 30 times against the St. Louis Rams. Indianapolis was close behind with 201 rush attempts coming into this week, and they found room for 25 carries against the Baltimore Ravens (one of the best rushing defenses in the land). Chicago and Philly come next in the run from the bottom of the rush attempt barrel and both made concerted efforts to run against each other this week (30 carries for Philly, 20 for Chicago).
The Broncos were facing a scenario that all but begged for an emphasis on the run and Josh showed no interest… and if you want to find a source of blame for a tired defense that allowed 19 points in the second half, you can certainly start here.
- I can’t have my cake and eat it too.
Consider this.
The Chargers nearly DOUBLED the Broncos in time of possession today (37:52 for SD, 22:08 for Denver). They left with a +3 give/take as Denver offered up two fumbles and an interception while failing to pull a single turnover from the SD (and for those counting, that puts Denver at -7 over the four losses, coughing up four fumbles and five interceptions through this stretch of horror). Chris Simms was a whopping 2-of-4 for 10 yards from behind center in the first half and Kyle Orton struggled to improve on that effort in the second half (15-of-29 for 171). Knowshon Moreno earned 8.0 yards per carry, Correll Buckhalter went for 5.0, but the two combined for just 17 rushing attempts on the day.
Can anyone on the planet inform us of a scenario that unfolds like this… yet the team earning ALL of that advantage needs the final 20 minutes to solidify the win?
I can… and that scenario would be one led by Norv Turner.
I have been watching this game, both on the professional and collegiate level, for the bulk of three decades and I cannot recall a time when one team earned such a profound advantage in time of possession, turnovers, AND overall box-score production while managing to translate those gifts into an underwhelming sense of command on the scoreboard.
The momentum took a definitive turn for the worse on Knowshon’s fumble at the goal line (at the time, I accepted this as the second sign of the apocalypse and started to listen for the locusts), but in truth, San Diego did not seize control of this game until LaDainian pushed the score to 20-3 with 6:47 left in the third quarter, and that score was in large part due to the ill-fated onsides kick that left the Bolts just 41 yards shy of the endzone.
I thought I had momentarily transported to an alternate universe of horror and mayhem… that play was a complete and total debacle.
The Broncos were coming off the first (and only) three points posted on the day and the Chargers were still well within reach (13-3). They were struggling to run the football, the Denver defensive backfielders were in the midst of a strong bend-but-don’t-break effort against Rivers, and the crowd was starting to sense the wave of hope that followed… and they killed that potential shift in momentum just as quickly as it was earned. After multiple reviews I am convinced there were members of the effort that had no idea this play was coming. Several members of the push were in position to make a play on the football and the bulk were found running well past the 10-yard mark Matt Prater so cunningly hit.
It was an atrocious gamble made at an atrocious time with an apparently atrocious sense of preparation, and that’s a mistake we put on Josh McDaniels.
This is why I have to pass on a bite of that cake. I don’t get to point to Norv Turner as the hurdle the Chargers were lucky to overcome (and he was) only to point to this play as the foundation of my anger. In the preview offered early this morning we stated, “If Josh McDaniels and the Denver Broncos can play smart, I am confident Norv Turner and the San Diego Chargers will not.”
As predicted, Norv did not… unfortunately, neither did Josh.
Thanks for stopping in.
