The Broncos have a passing-game problem

It’s going to take more than just one solid performance to excise the stench from the defensive production of the Broncos to this point in the 2023 season.

But on Thursday, the Broncos’ problems expanded to include quarterback Russell Wilson. Four days after posting the third-worst ESPN QBR of his Broncos career, he went lower, notching the second-worst such game.

82

The Broncos’ net-passing yardage total on Thursday night — accounting for 95 gross passing yards from Russell Wilson and the 13 yards lost on four sacks.

It was the Broncos’ lowest passing-yardage figure since a game they literally played without a quarterback — the Nov. 29, 2020 game against the Payton-led New Orleans team. Phillip Lindsay started, while Kendall Hinton handled the bulk of the QB chores, and the Broncos infused the the day with 12 net passing yards on 9 attempts and one sack absorbed.

Thursday’s passing-yardage figure was the Broncos’ fifth-worst in the last 30 years. And the other four had some extenuating circumstances.

• Nov. 29, 2020 vs. New Orleans: 12 yards; team played without a QB
• Nov. 24, 2019 at Buffalo: 49 yards; Brandon Allen made his final Broncos start and struggled to throw the ball in winds that gusted up to 33 miles per hour
• Jan. 1, 2012 vs. Kansas City: 50 yards; Tim Tebow started the game
• Nov. 13, 2011 at Kansas City: Tebow started the game

That’s it.

The best part of this Tebow practice flutter-ball video that @RyanCBS4 shared? The voice saying “What is that?” pic.twitter.com/z8Z7s4UBnJ

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) July 18, 2020

It was also the fourth-lowest team-passing-yardage output for a game in which Wilson started. The Seahawks had 71 net passing yards on Dec. 17, 2017. They mustered just 60 the following week. Just under year later, they had another 60-yard game against the Minnesota Vikings on Dec. 10, 2018.

The Seahawks won two of those three games. The Broncos had no such luck at Arrowhead Stadium.

33

Points per game allowed by the Broncos so far this season — well, 33.3, to be exact. It is second the highest per-game average ever conceded by the Broncos through 6 games. Only 1964 (206 points, 34.6 points per game) was worse than the 200 total points allowed by the Broncos so far this campaign.

But wait, there’s more.

Since the AFL-NFL merger, Denver is the 28th team to allow at least 32.0 spoints per game. None of the previous 27 made the playoffs.

Just one of them — the 2022 Detroit Lions — rallied to have a winning season; they eked over the finish line at 9-8.

Those Lions were — and are — helmed by Sean Payton’s protege, Dan Campbell. And like this year’s Broncos, they started 1-5.

56

Years it has been since Denver opened with a point differential through six games as bad as the minus-71 number the Broncos lug into their mini-bye.

The team had worse point differentials at this point in the season three times: 1964 (minus-113), 1966 (minus-103) and 1967 (minus-79).

And while the Miami debacle accounted for most of it, Denver still has two other double-digit defeats. This is the 12th time in Broncos history they’ve had at least 3 losses by 10 or more points in their first six games. In each of the previous 11 instances, the team failed to finish with a winning record — most recently 2017.

But here’s a potential positive: Two of the last three times the Broncos had a trio of double-digit losses in their first six games, they were in the Super Bowl two years later. This happened in 1975 and 1995; the Broncos were Super Bowl teams in 1977 and 1997, respectively. (The other time in that span was in 2017.)

A rose can blossom from the manure, even though things appear grimy now.

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