BRONCOS COACH STAYS QUIET ON ANY CHANGES
Those looking for Broncos coach Vance Joseph to sound the bugles and pound the drums after practice Wednesday were disappointed.
Nobody was demoted or benched, much less fired or released.
Joseph wasn’t revealing any details about how the Broncos will go about fixing their woes stopping the run (323 yards by the New York Jets on Sunday) and scoring touchdowns in the red zone (27th in the NFL).
And, two days after saying changes needed to be made, one was: They started practice 15 minutes early (12:05 p.m. instead of 12:20 p.m.). The new schedule included more latemorning time for meetings.
What Joseph did say: “I believe in our guys.”
What Joseph didn’t say: Just about everything else.
“I’m not,” he said when asked if he was willing to reveal any changes. “I’ll tell you what: When you’re not winning football games, you have to do something different. How we meet, how we look at game plans, how we
call games — all of that is being looked at. When I say changes, we have to make changes to win games. Things are happening. I can’t share those things.”
So Joseph is not taking over the defensive playcalling from Joe Woods?
“Joe’s the coordinator, so he’s calling the plays,” Joseph said.
So maligned cornerback Bradley Roby remains a starter?
“Right now, he is the starter,” Joseph said.
But the reeling Broncos (23) are expected to have some new wrinkles, especially on defense, when they host the surging Los Angeles Rams (50) on Sunday.
“We can’t really talk too much about it,” cornerback Chris Harris said. “We’re working on it. I think it’s going to be a little different, but I think we’re ready for it.”
The Broncos need to be ready to end their threegame losing streak because, as Harris said, times are “critical right now.”
The Broncos play two consecutive road games (at Arizona next Thursday and at Kansas City on Oct. 28) after hosting the Rams.
“We’re 23 so we have to get better,” receiver Emmanuel Sanders said. “Either we have to change something up or we have to hit our stride to go on a run or the season won’t go like we want it to. The schedule definitely doesn’t favor us.”
Said Harris: “The Chiefs are running away with the division. We have to make up some ground. If there’s not urgency right now, then you’re pretty lost in this game.”
The Broncos were pretty lost allaround in the 3416 stinker against the New York Jets.
On Monday, the defense had their regular meeting (players and coaches) before the players met without the coaches. The Broncos had a lot to talk about. It seems like forever ago that they were 20 after a thrilling comeback against Oakland.
“I think it was really productive,” defensive lineman Zach Kerr said. “The coaches coach, but we have to police ourselves as players as far as what we do on the field.”
Joseph’s nonrevealing approach only allows for guessing. One change could be figuring out a way to get linebacker Von Miller going. He has one sack in the last four games, and that came in Week 2.
“When you’re playing big games like Sunday, your best players have to make plays and he understands that,” Joseph said. “When he’s oneonone, he has to win. We’ll have a plan to get him more attempts oneonone, but he has to play well for us to win and he understands that.”
In the same comment about Miller, Joseph also mentioned quarterback Case Keenum, whose 78.1 passer rating is 18th among the 21 quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts.
“I’m getting tired of saying that we’re close because we’ve got to be better,” Keenum said. “It starts with me. It really does.”