FanPost

Morale

Morale is funny thing. It hinges on so many subjective and objective concepts it’s both difficult to quantify and even more difficult to get back when it’s gone.

The Broncos Defense is perilously close to losing their morale and in that moment the season is going to be effectively over for 2022. There’s so many good reasons for Hackett to change up the Offense to an up tempo, pass happy, go for broke unit that it’s easier to say why NOT to do that then list the innumerable reasons to do it.

The sole reason NOT to is because the Defense has been good to great and was only getting better. Other then the first half of game one and most of the first half of game two the coaching, play and performance of the D has been stellar. Even the Raider loss I don’t see as a fail as much as I think the Raiders are a better team then their record and the D played their asses off with a tough opponent fighting for their lives and got little help from the Offense.

If Hackett goes for a traditional "run to set up the pass" or his play calling is a traditional 50/50 or 55/45 Pass/Run affair then we’re basically back to a Fangio led Offense which says " hey the Offense is gonna try not to screw this up so lets play solid D and win games 17-16". That’s a great approach if it’s 1970. It’s not and we won’t consistently win that way. We know we won’t because we’ve all read that scprit the last six years and know how it ends.

It’s the modern NFL and to win you need to score.

https://www.ajc.com/sports/football/super-bowl-champions-have-certain-statistical-indicators/cLOjXXg1anpPighqSL5IcP/

"35 of 52 SB winners had a top 10 scoring Offense". Denver will not achieve that with 29 and 32 year old RB’s leading a balanced or run heavy attack. the Denver running game needs to be a 20-30% complimentary piece of the overall Offense. That’s it. Full stop.

We all know good leaders make adjustments on the fly and live or die by those adjustments. Sometimes circumstances dictate a 180 degree turnaround from your original course. NFL coaches make adjustments during the game and at Halftime. This is Hackett’s chance to show us and every other doubter that he belongs in that leadership role. The adjustment he needs is radical, with a short week and takes balls. Lots O’ balls.

Take this to the bank: The Denver D is watching. They’re watching and they are pissed. After years of Fangio and an inept offense they listened to the Wilson cheerleading and bought in. They listened to the "Hackett is an Offensive genius" commentary and bought in. But believe me, they’re watching to see what Hackett does. They listened to the "one QB away from being a contender" narrative and bought in. THEY showed up to play. And every coach, player and person in the personal department knows it.

My guess is that the Denver D would rather go down watching their Offense ball out and fight then watch a bunch of three and outs. Putting on an Air raid clinic with a no huddle Offense will inspire the Defense even if we lose. Nothing and I mean nothing will destroy their morale faster then a Dog with no fight. When their morale is gone, it won’t come back.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.