Lammey: Red zone woes mar Broncos win over rival Raiders

Despite winning an important divisional game against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, 16-10, the Denver Broncos offense lacked rhythm and struggled when they got near pay dirt.

They made it to the red zone four times against the Raiders and came away with not only no touchdowns but zero points, which drew the ire of head coach Vance Joseph after the game.

“It wasn’t very good,” Joseph said of his team’s red zone efficiency.

The Broncos get a break in Week 5 with a bye, though during the time off coaches will likely be drawing up ways to get improve in the red zone.

Broncos hurt themselves

Quarterback Trevor Siemian started off the game hot, with 115 passing yards in the first quarter alone, but simmered after, passing for only 64 more yards for the entire game to end with 179 total yards.

The Raiders played Siemian differently after the first quarter, and the team certainly struggled to move the ball when they got near the end zone.

“I think we’re hurting ourselves down there,” Siemian said after the game.

“I’ve got to watch everything, but we have to find a way to get touchdowns instead of field goals. I thought the first week we did a good job of that. We’ll figure it out, clean it up on the bye, and be ready to go.”

Playmakers have to make plays

Running back C.J. Anderson had another big day for the Broncos with 20 carries for 95 yards. It’s the third time in four games this year in which Anderson had more than 20 carries.

Despite the success on the ground, however, the Broncos didn’t make it into the end zone within the 20s, which Anderson said could be rectified by players making more plays.

“We just have to make plays, us as playmakers (have to) make plays,” Anderson said.

He did a lot to help this team to victory, but Anderson admits he could’ve done more ­— especially in the red zone.

“I can call one for me, particularly if I catch the ball clean, who knows what happens. I kind of bobbled on the catch,” said Anderson, describing a red zone effort in which the stumble cost him more potential yardage.

“We have to go watch the tape, but maybe we get the ball out quicker. We have a bye week so we’ll definitely get a chance to look that over, be better and be ready for the Giants in two weeks,” Anderson said.

Denver must fix things quickly

Joseph seemed dismayed about the Broncos red zone woes on Sunday, which he brought up more than once — sometimes unprompted — during his postgame press conference.

When asked about his thoughts on the red zone offense Sunday, Joseph echoed Siemian.

“Again, it’s really self-inflicted wounds. It’s a false start and there’s a holding penalty, and we can’t do that,” Joseph said. “We’ve got to score points down there and score touchdowns down there and we had a missed field goal.”

And fixing the red zone woes seems to be an issue of urgency for Joseph and the Broncos.

“That part of our offense we have to fix quickly,” he said.

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