The Patriots came to Denver on Sunday night and did what they had to do in shellacking the Broncos 41-16. The loss was Denver's fifth straight loss and the Broncos fall to 3-6. It was more of the same for the Broncos. The same issues that have buried the Broncos week after week came up again last night. Turnovers, penalties, awful mistakes, and no coaching adjustments were all on display in this game, and when that happens against the Patriots, you have no chance at all of winning the game. The Broncos have now fallen flat and their season is really spiraling out of control. I'll get into all of that in my "Five Points" regarding the Broncos listless defeat at the hands of the Pats....
1) The Broncos once again started off by committing turnovers and put themselves in a hole. After a NE three and out, the Broncos forced a punt, and Isaiah McKenzie muffed the punt and the Pats recovered. A few plays later, Tom Brady hit Rex Burkhead for a TD and the Broncos are already down 7-0. After a Broncos field goal, the Broncos kicked it to Dion Lewis and he went 103 yards to make it 14-3. Later in the half, the Broncos had a punt blocked, which led to a field goal to make it 20-6. They had a hat trick of special teams mistakes in the first half, and it absolutely killed the Broncos.
2) The Broncos added Vance Joseph as the new head coach, promoted Joe Woods to defensive coordinator, and made Brock Olivo the new special teams coach. All three looked liked they were completely outmatched in this game. Olivo's special teams units are so bad and made critical mistakes. Woods made no adjustments on defense, and VJ looks like he might be in over his head as a head coach in the NFL. There was a time when they only had 10 players on the field when the Pats scored a TD in the third quarter, and they had 12 men on the field when the Pats punted in the 4th quarter, and it kept the NE drive alive and the Pats scored another touchdown. THAT CAN'T HAPPEN! It looks really bad with the moves that the Broncos made regarding their coaches.
3) The Broncos defense can't cover any quality TE or any good back out of the backfield. It has been a problem for two years in a row, and this year it has killed them. All the Pats did was go to work in that area. Tom Brady didn't even challenge Chris Harris and Aqib Talib, and he just carved up the Broncos underneath with the TEs and RBs matched up on their LBs and Safeties. There was nothing the Broncos could do. They also couldn't get any pressure on Brady, and even when the Broncos somehow stabilized the game, the defense would give it right back to the Pats offense-including right before the half.
4) Brock Osweiler wasn't awful in this game. This loss was not on him. Also, Emmanuel Sanders played great and looked like he was one of the few guys to give a shit about this game. They just can't score TDs in the redzone. The Broncos know it, their fans know it, and the other team knows it. They drove the ball effectively on their first three drives but settled for field goals all three times. This offense isn't good enough to score touchdowns and in this game they needed touchdowns instead of field goals to keep this game close and that didn't happen.
5) The Broncos are heading into some uncharted territory as a franchise during this 2017 season. They have lost five in a row for the first time since 2010 (Josh McDaniels era). This was the largest margin of defeat at home since 2011. They have lost all five of these games by scores of 23-10, 21-0, 29-19, 51-23, and 41-16. They have given up 92 points in back-to-back weeks and that is the most points given up in two straight games since 1988. They are also second to last turnover ratio in the NFL. They are poorly coached, they have a terrible QB situation, their defense is not the same as the last two years, and they are basically non-competitive. It is hard to lose five straight games in the NFL and not be competitive in any of these games. They have only lead once the last five weeks and that was when they lead the Eagles 3-0 after the first drive two weeks ago. This is the worst Broncos team since that 4-12 2010 team, and it is one of the worst stretches of Broncos football in my lifetime. This was all on display in this debacle on SNF. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady absolutely toyed with the Broncos and embarrassed them. The sad part is that the Broncos fans now expect this to happen each week and the home crowd didn't seem to care. This season has just spiraled out of control and I think it is fare to question the Vance Joseph hire and it is time to look forward to 2018.
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