Broncos at Rams: The No Bull Review

The Broncos have (hopefully) finally hit rock bottom as a franchise after a 51-14 thrashing on prime time.

Per usual for the Denver Broncos in the 2022 NFL season, the team lost. The only difference in this game was that the defense finally caved as well. Add in a sprinkle of a meltdown between the O-line and our backup QB with a dash of Randy Gregory deciding a suspension would be better than actually having to play next week, and you get a giant turd sandwich.

Merry Christmas, Broncos Country.

And a special Merry Christmas to Nathaniel Hackett. Don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya, my dude.

Offense

I don’t know what this offense was doing (normal for this year). There was no rhyme or reason for what was happening. Like most other analysts that I’ve appreciated this season that reviewed the game tape of the Broncos, Tony Romo was pointing out where the ball should have been going and noting that Russell Wilson was completely oblivious to it.

Honestly, Wilson looked like a joke on the field. As a fan, it was bad enough that if you asked me today about it, I’d say cut him, eat the cap hit, and move forward with someone who actually wants to play NFL QB.

The run game once again wasn’t being leaned on early, and our $250 million QB was locking onto single reads like the second coming of Drew Lock.

For some reason, even though Jerry Jeudy showed last week that he was likely the best WR on the team, Wilson was choosing Courtland Sutton as his go-to guy when Sutton hasn’t even looked like the 2nd best WR on the team at any point of the season.

Let’s also just say it: this offensive line is terrible. I want them to hold onto Quinn Meinerz (with Garrett Bolles being fine on IR). Outside of that, all these losers should be job searching next year. They should be ashamed of the body of work they put out there this season.

This brings us to coaching. It looks to me like in many ways (play calling, run blocking schemes, pass blocking schemes, passing route combinations, etc), this offense was basically just lining up and slinging poo at the wall. That may be an excuse for any and all of the offensive players (even the O-line), but that isn’t something we can really call for sure outside of the locker room.

Defense

I honestly don’t know what to say about this defensive “performance.” Everything sucked in every way at every level. Baker Mayfield may have just played his way into another starting gig next season (though if it were me, I’d chill in L.A. with the Rams as it is probably his best long-term move).

Both of our Inside Linebackers should be looked at for an upgrade after this game. I hate saying that because I’ve been such a fan of what Josey Jewell has done in his career with the Broncos. Looking at just this one game, though, something wasn’t right there.

Our line up front was in all ways underwhelming. Gone are the days when I think Randy Gregory or Baron Browning are the pass rushers that we need.

Our secondary has some nice pieces to it, but their scheme got absolutely shredded by the Rams. Even with the mighty Justin Simmons and Patrick Surtain II, the Bronco defense couldn’t do anything to lock down the passing game of the Rams.

Final Thoughts

I’m hoping to catch some semblance of enjoyment from the last two games of the season in looking for the players who are interested in playing football. Throw winning out the window; it doesn’t matter. This team was lost when they bought what Hackett was selling in the offseason.

Now we get to start hoping again as the Broncos begin yet another head coaching search. The maddening thing is that at this point, what do they have that looks enticing to any potential head coach? We don’t have a franchise QB and our offensive roster isn’t nearly as good-looking as it was last offseason.