The uphill battle continues for the Denver Broncos as they shot themselves in the foot yet again during Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, racking up 14 penalties and making countless mistakes throughout the game in all areas, resulting in a 51-23 rout. This loss, however, was the Broncos fourth consecutive one since their bye week back in September.
Is the Denver Broncos Hope for Success Gone?
When the Broncos made the executive decision to sit Trevor Siemian, there was a slight sense of hope that Brock Osweiler could be the man that goes from zero-to-hero and turn things around for the team and be the guy to put their offense back on the map as a force to be reckoned with. After all, he’s played there before, he knows the system and learned from arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game – Peyton Manning. But whatever hope Denver fans had going into Sunday’s game was quickly swept away by the Eagles defense and dominating offense.
After the devastating defeat, the Broncos agreed that changing quarterbacks, in fact, didn’t help repair their already badly damaged offense. Needless to say, this team’s got a lot of problems to fix. With the New England Patriots on their schedule for the upcoming week, things will likely be the same for the 3-5 Broncos team.
“We didn’t play well, period,” said Broncos linebacker Von Miller in a postgame interview. “51 points is tough.”
Throughout the game, the Eagles defense held the Broncos to just 35 yards on the ground – an all-time low this season. To make matters worse, the Denver Broncos missed key blocks, dropped countless passes, and finished the game with a bunch of unnecessary penalties.
Head coach Vance Joseph told press members after the game, “It starts with me,” implying that the Broncos have some major issues they need to address and fast, starting with the quarterback situation and working their way down the pyramid. “I’m the head coach here,” he said, “I’ve got to fix this.”
As of now, it’s clear that the offensive players have very little confidence moving forward. They don’t have a solid quarterback, their coaching staff can’t provide a solution, and the team continues to put whoever is under center in harm’s way.
The Broncos defense early on established themselves as the best-run defense in the league. But on Sunday it was clear, if the Broncos defense didn’t hold up their end of the bargain early on in the season, things for this team would have quickly gone from bad to worse.
That being said, the Eagles showed no mercy to the league’s best defense. They finished the game with 197 rushing yards and found their way into the end zone more than once. Jay Ajayi, – who’s only been an Eagle for about a week now – also found his way into the end zone as he scored a 46-yard touchdown within a minute of being put in the game.
Reality Check
In short, the Broncos have to face the harsh reality and come up with a plan to overcome this embarrassing loss. Six years ago, the Detroit Lions nailed the Broncos to the wall with a 45-10 win in Denver under Tim Tebow, which left them scratching their heads as they tried to figure out their next move. Could this be a similar situation in Broncos history? Are the coaches to blame? Or is it the general managers John Elway‘s fault, since his job is to hire great coaches and negotiate deals with sports agents to get the best player on the team?
For Broncos fans: Jim Schwartz was the Lions head coach that cold October afternoon, and he currently works the Eagles as their defensive coordinator, which means he’s officially a problem for the Broncos when his name is on their schedule.
To lighten the mood, however, it’s clear that this isn’t just a Siemian issue, it’s a Broncos issue. The Broncos need their coaching staff to step up now more than ever and come up with a solution. Sieman took most of the blame early on in the season, but with him sitting out this game and Osweiler doing no better, at what point does it become the coach’s responsibility? Only time will tell as the Broncos continue to fall short of victories.
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