ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) -The Denver Broncos aren’t holding onto the ball or stuffing the run, the two things that kept them out of the playoffs the past two years and are threatening to derail their quest to return to the postseason.
The high-octane scoring machine that started the season with three straight slugfests has sputtered to a halt. The defense that couldn’t stop anybody still can’t.
“It’s not time to panic,” wide receiver Brandon Marshall said in the afterglow of New England’s 41-7 rout of Denver on Monday night. “But it’s definitely time to worry.”
-About their careless manner with the football.
-About their undisciplined defense that makes backups look like stars.
-About their growing list of injuries to their best players.
-About their missed assignments and tackles.
“We have to decide what kind of team we want to be,” quarterback Jay Cutler said.
n or the one that’s left itself embarrassed of late.
The Broncos (4-3) are still in first place in the middling AFC West, but three losses in their past four games show they’re only there by default, having failed to take advantage of the San Diego Chargers’ erosion.
The Broncos turned the ball over six times to the Patriots, and backup running back Andre Hall ignited the rout by fumbling the ball on his only two carries, killing promising early drives along with Denver’s chances. This, after coach Mike Shanahan harped for days about taking care of the football and Marshall even spent the week toting one under his arm.
“It was embarrassing,” Hall said.
Shanahan’s face wasn’t blushed but was red with rage, and Hall got no more handoffs the rest of the night.
Denver has a dozen turnovers in its three losses. Marshall said he’s not going to talk about it anymore, and Cutler, who was picked off twice by the Patriots, is at a loss for a fix.
“I don’t know. You tell me,” he said. “It seems to be happening a lot. It’s a mental thing. It’s a physical thing. It’s a lot of things. Sometimes it’s bad luck.”
layers who will spend this upcoming bye week recuperating instead of relaxing.
Denver allowed the Patriots to rush for 257 yards even though Laurence Maroney was placed on injured reserve before the game, LaMont Jordan was out with a calf injury and Sammy Morris missed the second half with a knee injury after rushing for a career-best 138 yards. Rookie BenJarvus Green-Ellis rushed for 65 yards and his first touchdown.
Champ Bailey, who pulled up lame with a groin injury in the first half and watched the rest from the sideline, didn’t like what he saw or heard from there.
“I always have a nasty attitude when I play,” he said. “But it’s not rubbing off on some people and I don’t like it.”
So far, the Broncos are no better under Bob Slowik, their third defensive boss in three years, than they were last year under Jim Bates, who had replaced Larry Coyer after the 2006 season.
They’ve introduced a 3-4 defense that capitalizes on their deep group of linebackers while concealing their deficient pass rush, but their secondary remains a first-rate problem.
The Broncos waived Hamza Abdullah, traded Domonique Foxworth and granted John Lynch his release, but Marquand Manuel, Marlon McCree and Calvin Lowry haven’t shown they’re the solution, either.
Denver’s defensive line finally brought pressure on the passer Monday night, collecting five first-half sacks but it hardly mattered.
t for Daniel Graham’s 10-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter from Cutler, who banged his throwing hand on a defender’s helmet on the first play of the game, the Broncos would have suffered their first shutout in 235 games under Shanahan.
The Broncos feared Cutler’s finger was broken and they sent in his backup, Patrick Ramsey, in the second quarter, but X-rays at halftime were negative and Cutler returned to the game.
“He should be OK,” Shanahan said.
But what about the Broncos?
About this time last year, following a 41-3 loss to San Diego on the eve of their bye week, Shanahan made radical changes on defense, ditching Bates’ philosophies of eight men in the box and lean linemen in favor of Slowik’s beefier tackles and simpler playbook.
The hybrid defense didn’t get them to the playoffs, and in the offseason Bates rejected a reassignment and left the team. Slowik got a promotion, becoming the new man on Shanahan’s hot seat.
Slowik has already begun tinkering with the lineup, replacing McCree with Lowry and deactivating defensive end John Engelberger Monday night.
Besides schemes and personnel, Champ Bailey suggested an attitude adjustment might help.
“We just need to play better and play harder,” he said. “We need to get a better attitude because our attitude stinks out there.”
Add A Comment