The Denver Broncos are running out of time. With two games left in the regular season, and with only eight wins, the team needs to find a way to get into the tournament called the NFL playoffs.
They failed at home against the New England Patriots on Sunday, falling by a score of 16-3 in Week 15. They now have to win out in order to hit 10 wins on the season, and even that doesn’t guarantee they’ll get to the dance. In order to get in, the Broncos need help from other teams vying for playoff positions.
Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak said after the game that the loss to the Patriots “hurts” in terms of impacting his team’s playoff shot.
“I don’t know what the scenarios are. I know one thing: We need to win. Losing this game hurts, and there are a lot of people crowded at the top. I can’t sit here and tell you what all the scenarios are, but if we don’t find a way to win 10 games, we’re not going to have an opportunity,” Kubiak said.
“We all understand that. We’ve all understood that from the get-go.”
Here are the three biggest takeaways from the loss on Sunday:
Broncos defense plays well
If you can hold Tom Brady to just 16 points, your team has a great chance to win. Brady only completed 50 percent of his passes on Sunday, and he finished the game with only 188 yards through the air.
This yardage total is Brady’s lowest of the season, and it’s less than half of what he had in Week 14 against the Baltimore Ravens (406 yards).
Broncos safety T.J. Ward said the defense was about to shake up Brady a little bit, even without hitting him much.
“We were sticking to guys, making him inaccurate with his throws and showing different looks. I don’t even think we hit him much in the first half, but we rattled him a little bit just by our looks and disguises,” Ward said. “He was just off a little bit today.”
Cornerback Aqib Talib said Denver didn’t come in afraid of Brady and treated him like any quarterback they would face.
“We don’t fear Brady. We aren’t scared of Brady at all, so we’re going to line up and play just like he’s any other quarterback,” Talib said. “That’s what I feel like we did today.”
The defense certainly did their part — again — but the offense did not. Some feel there is a growing sense of frustration between the two sides as the regular season winds down.
Talib said after the game it’s up to the veterans to keep both sides in harmony.
“It’s up to the leaders on the team. The leaders on the team have got to keep the morale good in the locker room. Most of the people follow what we do, so I’ll make sure we’re straight,” Talib said.
Trevor Siemian can’t turn the ball over
The team was driving near the end of the first quarter with the score tied at 3-3, and it looked like they were going to put the ball in the end zone. Instead, quarterback Trevor Siemian threw an interception to Patriots safety Logan Ryan on the first play of the second quarter.
Siemian owned up to the mistake after the game.
“Yeah, I can’t make that mistake; it just hurts us. Moving the ball really well, and don’t get any points to show for it and just give (the ball) to them,” Siemian said.
“Emmanuel ran a good route, I left it behind him. The guy made a good play from New England.”
The Broncos have a conservative offense that can struggle to score points. They cannot have these types of mistakes if they want to get back — and stay — on the winning track.
Not enough Justin Forsett
In just his second game with the team, running back Justin Forsett got his biggest workload of the season. He started the game over rookie Devontae Booker, and things looked good as Forsett was regularly gashing the Patriots on the ground.
Even on shorter carries, Forsett was doing enough to help keep the chains moving. At the end of the first quarter, Forsett had 26 yards on only 5 rushing attempts.
Even though he had early success, the team went away from him in the second half. Forsett had 12 touches over the first two quarters (8 runs, 4 receptions) but finished the game with just 2 more touches (both runs). The 14 touches on offense led all running backs, but getting Forsett 20 or more touches might have been a better recipe for success.
Kubiak did not clarify after the game why the decision was made to go away from the veteran running back.
“I have to go look at it, but we moved the ball extremely well in the first half and if we catch a ball in the second half, I think we move the ball some more,” Kubiak said. “… We had some big drops in the game that could have been the difference in us continuing to move the ball late in the second quarter and the third quarter. We didn’t make them” Kubiak said.
Forsett said after the game that believes in the offense around him.
“The pieces are there. We just have to get it together. We have to get on the same page, but the talent is there,” Forsett said.
“I’ve been on a lot of teams in the league, (and) we have what we need. We just have to execute.”
On the road against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 16, we’ll see if the offense uses more of Forsett to get a win on Christmas.
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