OFFENSIVE FAILURES PILING UP PRESSURE ON DENVER’S DEFENSE
Struggling offense unable to provide help for Broncos
CARSON, CALIF.» There would be no happy dance for Von Miller.
The sack of a quarterback is meant to be a joyous occasion for a pass rusher like the Broncos’ No. 58, who endures 60 minutes of frustrating double-team and chip blocks for the chance to bring a quarterback to the ground.
But when Miller dropped Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers late in the fourth quarter Sunday, his second sack of the game, he didn’t strut or high step or bust a move. He simply jogged briskly to the sideline, removed his helmet and found his seat on the bench.
A 21-0 loss offered no reason for celebration.
“It’s tough when you don’t put up any points,” said Miller, who insisted that the blame for the Broncos’ first shutout loss in 25 years was to be shared by the entire team. “It’s terrible as an organization when you look at the scoreboard and it’s a big goose egg. It’s terrible.”
The Broncos’ defense gave up just 242 yards Sunday, well below their league-leading average of 261.8 yards per game. The unit gave up 14 points, limited the Chargers to 3-of-12 on third down, forced eight punts, sacked Rivers three times and limited him to only 5.6 yards per pass attempt.
The Broncos checked nearly all the boxes of another sterling defensive performance. Yet, really good wasn’t nearly good enough to make up for an offense that has been stuck in reverse with the gas pedal pressed to the floor the past month.
“We didn’t come out on top and I’m mad and I’m frustrated,” said nose tackle Domata Peko, who notched his first sack with the Broncos on Sunday. “At the same time, I just want to look in the mirror and see how I can improve myself. That’s how we’re going to get better. It’s not about pointing fingers at one another. It’s about how can you get better individually?”
Miller, Peko and other members of the Broncos’ defense crammed inside the sardine can of a visitors locker room at the StubHub Center insisted they are not hurling blame at the other side of the ball.
“We’re all brothers in there,” Miller said. “We’re not going to point fingers. We could have bailed them out. We could have got a turnover. Aqib Talib is a pick-six machine. I’m a sack machine. Chris Harris — we’ve got guys over there who create turnovers. We’re just not doing it. I figure that if we can do that, we can relieve some of the tension from the offense.”
Takeaways have been the one glaring absence on the résumé of this season’s Denver defense. The unit has yet to recover a fumble and has just four interceptions through six games. After turning the ball over three more times Sunday and not forcing any turnovers for the second straight game, Denver has a minus-8 turnover differential, among the worst marks in the NFL.
“The problem is a tough problem to solve,” Miller said. “There’s so many different ways to get turnovers and we’re not getting any of them. We obviously have to get turnovers and create a short field for our offense. We’ve got to make plays. We have playmakers all over the field.”
Teams are now using the Broncos’ inefficiency on offense as another weapon for their own offenses. Rivers and the Chargers on Sunday felt no need to take risks, offensively. There’s nothing wrong with a punt, they figured, when the team you are handing the ball back to can’t move it. Giants quarterback Eli Manning operated the same way one week earlier.
“Once they were up up, they just played super safe, and it’s hard for us to be at what we’re good at,” Broncos linebacker Shaquil Barrett. “We’re good at getting turnovers, sacking the quarterback, so we can’t do any of that if they’re playing safe.”
Asking a defense to not only stifle opponents — as the Broncos did nearly the entire game Sunday before wearing down on a late fourth-quarter touchdown drive — but also be the catalyst for its own struggling offense is a heavy burden to bear.
The defense did its part to set the tone for the game Sunday when it came up with a goal-line stand on the Chargers’ first possession. Los Angeles had a short field following tight end A.J. Derby’s lost fumble on the third play of the game, and the Chargers quickly moved to the 1-yard line.
The Broncos then stuffed running back Melvin Gordon on four straight carries from that spot. Four attempts, zero yards. But after another short Broncos drive and a low punt from Riley Dixon, Chargers returner Travis Benjamin darted 65 yards into the end zone.
The Chargers were up 7-0. Even perfection from the Broncos’ defense from that point wouldn’t have been enough.