(Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports)
Peyton Manning’s struggles have been analyzed in recent weeks to the point it became ridiculous when some people thought he is not capable of winning in the cold weather. What people keep forgetting is the Broncos defense has become a liability all season long, and that could be the reason the Broncos don’t win a championship this season.
The Broncos defense was why the Chargers dealt the Broncos a 27-20 loss last night at Sports Authority Field at Mile High. This game featured more follies from this beleaguered defense. What was alarming was these guys didn’t know how to tackle. To quote Bart Scott, they could not stop a nosebleed.
Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers carved up the Broncos secondary whenever he wanted, and he ran for first downs often. It’s no wonder he was smirking and yapping his mouth all night long.
Not only the Broncos could not do anything to shut Rivers up, but they could not do anything to stop Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen and Chargers running back Ryan Matthews.
In the second quarter, Rivers threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to wide-open Allen, who jumped over Broncos rookie cornerback Kayvon Webster and ran through Broncos safety Mike Adams to get to the end zone that helped the Chargers tied the game at 10. It happened again in the same quarter when the Chargers rookie wide receiver caught a 10-yard touchdown pass to give the Chargers a 17-10 lead.
When Matthews broke through a 23-yard touchdown run with no one attempting to tackle him in the third quarter, the Broncos appeared defeated and frustrated after trailing 24-10.
The Broncos offense could not bail out the defense on this night. Not when the Chargers showed the Broncos how it’s done in playing defense by sacking Peyton Manning along with intercepting him once.
This shows that as great as the Broncos offense is, they can only do so much. Defense has to bail the offense out at times this season. An offense can be shut down on a given day as a result of a great defensive effort by the other team, and the Broncos learned that the hard way last night.
This isn’t the first time the Broncos defense has been awful. It has been happening often this season. It’s not a sample size when the defense has given up big plays after big plays for the entire season. Prior to last night’s game, the Broncos allowed 26.5 games per contest. That’s not a stat to shrug off.
It’s clear now the Broncos are predicated by their offense. If the offense can’t come through, it’s going to be a long day for the team. The team can get by with lousy defense in the regular season, but this is not conducive to postseason success. The Patriots can attest to that after being denied of a championship in recent years as a result of poor defense. In fact, their perfect season was denied in the 2007-2008 season after their defense struggle to make plays in the postseason.
No wonder angst is within Broncos fans right now. They know it’s hard to win postseason games with a bend but don’t break defense. It’s an issue John Fox, Jack Del Rio and John Elway are concerned about behind the scenes.
Think about how frustrated Fox is. His expertise has always been on defense from his days in Pittsburgh, San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland and New York. He has always produced good defensive players. He knows full well teams win in January through great defense. He knows a good defense when he sees one, and this isn’t it.
There’s nothing Fox and Del Rio can do now. There are no new players coming to save the Broncos this month and next month. This is the unit they have to work with.
What they can do is work on creating new schemes and finding the right matchup that can put the defensive players in a position to succeed. That’s not easy as it looks, but that’s why they are getting paid the big bucks to figure it out.
Maybe the defensive guys can get hot at the right time in January. That’s the only thing Broncos can hope at this point.
It’s not a good situation where the offense has to do most of the work for the Broncos to win games. It takes a toll on that unit after awhile.
After watching poor defensive performances week after week, it’s clear the Broncos are nothing more than a one-trick pony.
Good luck to the Broncos winning a championship with no defense in January.
Contact or follow Leslie Monteiro at @LightRodWriter
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Leslie Monteiro
Leslie is a contributor for Lightning Rod Sports. He covered high school sports in Bergen County out in North Jersey, and has written op-ed columns on sports such as Bleacher Report and NY Sports Digest.
