Last night was a lot of fun, but did we really learn anything?
I get that the Broncos won, clinched a playoff spot and now hold the right to a first-round bye in their own hands, but is this week really any different than last week? Last week, the Broncos played two outstanding quarters and two dreadful quarters; this week, the Broncos played two dreadful quarters and two outstanding quarters. Seems like the same thing to me.
Really, the only difference is that the Broncos were able to get the close win against the Bengals and they weren’t against the Steelers; either way, when you can only play two quarters of good football each week, you’re going to be left clawing your way towards any victory.
The fact remains: The Denver Broncos need to figure out how to play four solid quarters in a row.
This team has been so bi-polar over the last four weeks that I don’t think any of us can accurately predict how they’ll perform next week against the Chargers or in the postseason. I mean, if we got the team from the first half of the Pittsburgh game and the second half of the Cincinnati game, we’d be looking at a Super Bowl favorite. But if we get the team from the second half of the Steelers game and the first half of the Bengals game, the Broncos aren’t going anywhere of importance.
Here are three things the Broncos have to do to play four quarters of winning football:
Pick up the tempo
Here’s a fact about the Denver Broncos that is not going to change: The offensive line is miserable. Starting with Michael Schofield on down, the five guys on the Broncos’ front line may be the worst unit in football, and it’s only getting worse.
Left one-on-one, they’re doomed, especially Schofield. Simply put, he shouldn’t be on the field. Unfortunately, the Broncos really don’t have another option.
So, what do they do? They speed up the tempo.
We saw it coming out of halftime: Gary Kubiak went into their two-minute offense, they forced the Bengals to keep their base package on the field and they wore them down. From that point on, Brock Osweiler looked like a different man, with more time and space to set his feet and get an accurate pass out to his receivers.
Even when the Broncos were attempting to burn clock at the end of the game, they were able to do it within a no-huddle offense.
And as far as I can tell, that’s Denver’s only option. They just can’t afford to let their opponents reload their defensive line after each play; the only way the Broncos offensive line is going to win enough battles to take home a victory is if they’re playing against a gassed defense.
It’s not just for Brock’s sake, though. Picking up the tempo makes a big difference in the run game, too. As those defensive lineman start putting their hand in the dirt for the fifth, sixth, seventh straight play, the Broncos’ backs gain the advantage, and it showed last night with C.J. Anderson‘s 39-yard touchdown run.
Aggressive defense
It’s fair to say the offense didn’t have a great first half last night, but the bigger problem was that they didn’t have the ball. The Bengals completely dominated the time of possession through the first two quarters, limiting the Broncos offense to just three drives in the game’s first 30 minutes; that falls on the defense.
Through those first two quarters, Denver just couldn’t stop the Bengals, allowing AJ McCarron to eat them up on third down like he was Tom Brady. They started off the game with a seven-minute drive and followed that up with five- and six-minute drives to close out the first half. The Broncos defense that had dominated the NFL for the majority of the season suddenly looked like the passive, play-it-safe defense we witnessed with Jack Del Rio over the last few seasons.
It wasn’t until the second half that Wade Phillips turned up the heat, bringing another man into the box and letting his Pro Bowl corners hold their own on the outside.
Through the first half, Denver could hardly get a finger on McCarron, giving him all the time in the world to fit the ball into A.J. Green or any number of the other Bengals wideouts; in the second half, they forced him off his spot over and over again, and the Bengals offense sputtered to a halt.
This defense is at its best when they’re setting the tempo; the Broncos’ front seven needs to be set free from the get go, and if the offense wants to make them pay, they’ll have to go against Denver’s all-world secondary.
And if the Aqib Talib or Chris Harris gets burned for a long reception in one-on-one coverage, so be it. Honestly, a quick score is much better than a seven-minute, energy-draining touchdown drive; the Broncos offense is fully capable of generating a scoring drive, but they’ve proven that they need several opportunities to do so.
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[adrotate banner=”10″]Short and methodical play selection
When Brock Osweiler falters, it’s because he’s running an all-or-nothing offense, much like Peyton Manning ran in the playoffs against Indy last year and earlier this season; even if it’s first down, Osweiler’s first look is 10-15 yards down the field.
Part of that’s on him, and part of that is on the play calling; either way, it’s not a recipe for success.
For one, it puts the offense at an immediate disadvantage if that ball falls incomplete; this has placed the Broncos in a lot of second- and third-and-longs, a down and distance not friendly to young quarterbacks. Second, it forces Osweiler to hold onto the ball, which is not a good thing when his offensive line may be the worst in football.
If the Broncos are going to succeed on offense, it’s because they’ve used a short and methodical gameplan, inching their way down the field and getting Osweiler into convertible third down situations.
After being missing all year, the Demaryius Thomas bubble screen finally made an appearance last night, and it worked — as it always has! They also started getting the ball to Ronnie Hillman out of the backfield and to Owen Daniels across the middle; safe, easy throws that move the ball and puts the offense in position to eventually move the chains.
If Gary Kubiak wants to mask the deficiencies of the offensive line, he needs to limit their impact; the easiest way to do that is to get the ball out quick.
That doesn’t mean Osweiler shouldn’t test his arm, but it does mean he shouldn’t test it on first-and-10; second-and-5 is a much better situation for the Broncos to take a shot down field, and it allows them to still have a convertible third down if they miss.