Broncos vs Raiders: The No Bull Review

With every game that goes by, writing about this team becomes more and more mind-numbing. The constant thread of what I talk about with other Denver Broncos fans is always, “what else is there to say that hasn’t already been said?”

This team sucks.

They have a losing culture from top to bottom. It isn’t just the head coach. It isn’t just the QB. It isn’t the pathetic drafting before George Paton took over. It isn’t some of the head-scratching moves Paton has decided to make.

It is all of it stirred up, mashed together, and plopped on our plates every Sunday like a wet turd for us to enjoy as fans of this team.

I’m sick and tired of flaccid offense, empty coach-speak, and talk about how close this team is (all their games have been 1-score, dontchaknow!).

Defense

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images

We laud the Broncos’ defense all season long for their great play (and you can in all seriousness argue that they did a solid job this week). But at the end of the game needing to step up big, this defense fell apart.

They weren’t ready for the big pass over the middle.

Our future all-pro corner wasn’t ready for a deep corner move by the Raider’s only real offensive receiving threat.

Offense

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

I liked the play-calling change this week. The only shining positive from this game was that the offense really did look and feel more productive and consistent.

That being said, the players and coaches had so many plays where they could have put the game away and they didn’t.

They play scared from top to bottom and they lack any level of “go for the throat” mentality that you like to see in winning NFL offensive football.

• Kendall Hinton deserves a more consistent role in this offense. He’s a baller and all he does is make plays
• Melvin Gordon III has finally been let go and it is at least half a year too late. Bringing him back at his lackluster production level was a mistake. That it took this many fumbles in big situations to cut him loose speaks volumes about the poor decisions up the chain from the players.
• Cortland Sutton has a lot of work to do. He’s good for a drop every game that hits him in the hand and I’m really starting to wonder just how fleeced we got from his contract extension when we haven’t seen any semblance of game-changing plays from our supposed #1 WR.

Special Teams

Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images

The Special Teams units were mind-bogglingly bad in this game. Our return game was absolutely pathetic with at least 3 guys missing easy blocks every time the Las Vegas Raiders kicked off.

Brandon McManus kicked one of the shortest field goal attempts ever and kept the ball low where it could be easily blocked for some stupid reason.

Final Thoughts

I guess the Broncos got rid of one of their problems on the roster. That’s a step forward at some level.

But when I look at this team from the 20,000 foot view, I see charred, smoldering rubble. This team is broken. The Head Coach is a dead man walking and all the Melvin Gordon move did was kick the can down the road another week.

We’ve seen enough of this pathetic effort week in and week out. Is this product what we should expect from the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group? Why even sell the franchise if this team is not going to hold any semblance of accountability to anyone for the garbage effort and results that they keep trotting out?