Broncos find no spark, and continue to spiral against the Raiders

It was supposed to be the triumphant entrance of the first round pick. The Denver Broncos were supposed to put an end to their long losing streak riding the wave of Paxton Lynch fever. There was supposed to be a glimmer of hope as the offense immediately clicked under a new offensive coordinator in Bill Musgrave.

None of that happened. Not even a little bit. Instead, the Denver Broncos slid to 3-8, and took a firm grip on last place in the AFC West. As Ian St. Clair and I discussed on the MHR Radio podcast, the Broncos loss to the Oakland Raiders was filled with disappointments.

The biggest disappointment had to be Paxton Lynch. That seems unfair, but he was not even close to ready to play. And the play calling did nothing to help him. Lynch was the Broncos leading rusher with two attempts for 20 yards. This is not a recipe for success in any scenario.

The “Deer in Headlights” moniker seems to have attached itself to Lynch, but that isn’t what I saw. Lynch actually had some good moments. His touch pass to Devontae Booker that looked like a touchdown was a great pass. It was unfortunate Booker didn’t get into the end zone. The end result of that drive was that fluke interception off the Virgil Green Drop.

Lynch did almost everything right on that drive. Even the throw to Green was the right throw, except Green can’t catch. If Lynch had remembered that, he might have thrown that ball into the seats. As it turned out, Green dropped it, and the ball fell into the arms of NaVorro Bowman. Oakland promptly marched down the field and scored a touchdown. The game was over.

The excitement had started early, as Aqib Talib seemed to forget about his teammates and play out a selfish rivalry with Michael Crabtree. His continuation of this pointless beef turned into the ejection of the two players, but proved he stands up for his teammates.

Unfortunately, the brawl looked like a continuation of pointless beef between Crabtree and Talib. Watching him snatch Crabtree’s chain again was funny, but seemed selfish at first. While it was good to see him stick up for his teammate, the best way to help his team is to be on the field. It was an unfortunate decision on Talib’s part.

The Denver Broncos looked like a team in disarray. The defense was undisciplined. The offense was conservative, but refused to run the ball. That seems like an oxymoron, but the only moron on the field was Vance Joseph.

Joseph has lost control of his team. The Broncos played like a team without an identity. Even with all the struggles, the defense only gave up three scores. Unfortunately, the offense could only muster two scores. Trevor Siemian was a bit of a bright spot on the offense, but this should do little to raise the hopes of Broncos Country.

Garbage time touchdowns lead to a prettier scoreboard, but they don’t translate to wins. Who knows what will come of the Broncos in the next few days? At this point it is abundantly clear that this is a floundering organization from the top down. The lack of leadership from the owners, John Elway, Vance Joseph, the players on the field, has become increasingly apparent.

If you weren’t embracing the idea of tanking, or at least the understanding that it is time to rebuild, the Broncos loss to the Raiders should have put you over the edge. If you are still holding out hope, let go. The 2018 season will depend on the Denver Broncos letting go, so you should too.

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