What a kick!
● Broncos block late field-goal attempt to hang on in opener ● Vance Joseph’s timeout key as he wins in coaching debut
When Vance Joseph was hired in January and stood before a crowd of reporters and players and coaches to announce his arrival as Broncos coach, he spelled out his simple mission statement. He wanted his offense to be “attacking.” He wanted it to score early and he wanted it to score often and even though he didn’t know then who his quarterback would be, Joseph knew how he wanted him to play: with swagger.
“If an offense was conservative, I loved it because I can be the attacker, but if the offense was attacking, with multiple personnel groups and all types of formations, that is what I want them to look like,” he said.
Message received. For three quarters, anyway.
In their season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday night, the Broncos, led by quarterback Trevor Siemian, came out firing, then survived a wild fourth quarter in a 24-21 nail-biting win.
The Broncos nearly blew a 24-7 fourth-quarter lead, turning the ball over twice as L.A. scored two touchdowns in just over a minute. But, Shelby Harris blocked Younghoe Koo’s 44-yard field goal attempt in the final seconds to save the day — Koo first made a kick, but Joseph had wisely iced him with a timeout.
“The game was in firm control for about three quarters there, and we felt good,” Joseph said. “But when you turn the ball over twice on the short side of the 50, it’s going to be a problem with (Los Angeles quarterback) Philip Rivers, and that was the deal.
“It wasn’t clean, but it’s good to win. It’s a hard league and every week is going to be a challenge. A win’s a win. We’ll take it.”
With the win, Siemian became the sixth Broncos quarterback in history to notch victories in his first two Week 1 starts. He finished 17-of-28 with 219 passing yards, a rushing touchdown, two passing touchdowns (both to Bennie
Fowler), one pick and a passer rating of 94.1.
But he took four sacks and watched his impressive first half completely unravel in the final quarter.
“Trevor, he played very well outside of the turnover in the fourth quarter,” Joseph said. “He was poised. He was smart at the line of scrimmage for us tonight, accurate with the football. So I was pleased with Trevor’s performance outside of the interception.”
The good started something like this: After punting on their first possession, Siemian led the Broncos on a 13-play, 70-yard scoring drive on their next to take an early lead. Siemian was thrown back nearly 5 yards on a hit by the Chargers’ Melvin Ingram, then stood and threaded the needle for a 20-yard completion to tight end Jeff Heuerman. A pass to Fowler converted a third down and helped set up the 5yard scoring pass to Fowler on the subsequent third down.
Last season the Broncos ranked last in the NFL with only 40 first-quarter points. One flaw, so far, improved.
But the opener was littered with costly errors, especially late when Siemian was intercepted and Jamaal Charles fumbled, allowing the Chargers to creep within three and have a shot at the victory.
The were errors early too, none bigger than the 40-yard pass-interference penalty on Bradley Roby that resulted in a game-tying score for Los Angeles in the second quarter. And Denver’s retooled offensive line still had two glaring weaknesses on the edges.
Rookie Garett Bolles and vet- eran Menelik Watson both struggled blocking Ingram and Joey Bosa, leading to four sacks, two of which were on back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter, pushing the Broncos to a long field attempt which Brandon McManus missed. Right guard Ron Leary left the game early with a concussion and was replaced by second-year lineman Connor McGovern.
The run offense did show improvement, grinding out 140 yards.
“Our goal from the spring was develop the run game,” Joseph said. “Very pleased with the run game. Very pleased.”
The bright spots were aplenty and unveiled Joseph’s vision for an attacking offense, and showed Siemian’s year-over-year improvement as a starter.
Midway through the second quarter, rookie Isaiah McKenzie flashed his speed and quickness on a 31-yard punt return that set up a one-yard rushing touchdown by Siemian, the first of his career. The nine-play scoring drive included three runs for 36 total yards, and a 9-yard pass up the middle to tight end A.J. Derby on a third-and-7.
The Broncos’ trio of tight ends accounted for five catches and 98 yards, a drastic improvement from the 36 yards Broncos tight ends averaged per game last season.
The Broncos opened the year with a goal of leading the league in pass defense for the third-consecutive season and improving a run defense that fell to 28th in the NFL in 2016. Rivers was picked off once, by Roby, who quickly sought to avenge his earlier interference call. Roby’s interception set up the Broncos’ third touchdown of the night as Siemian engineered a 48-yard drive and found Fowler up the middle for a 6-yard strike.
The defense, playing without starters Jared Crick (back) and Shane Ray (injured reserve, wrist), seemed to have little trouble pressuring Rivers — and from all angles, through three quarters. Six defenders each had a quarterback hit, and Shaquil Barrett, starting in place of Ray, notched a sack. No hit was bigger or more significant than Todd Davis’ punishing tackle of Melvin Gordon for a loss of two yards on a Chargers fourth-and-1 when the Broncos led by 17, and no play bigger than Harris’ game-ending blocked field goal.
But the lingering weaknesses masked some of the high points.
A win was part of Joseph’s vision. The path there? Maybe not.