Here’s your official welcome to the Broncos bye week.
As mandated by the NFL, the players are not allowed inside Dove Valley except to receive medical treatment. They are off Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before returning to work on Monday.
In the past, John Fox would give his teams Friday-Sunday off, they would practice on Monday, have Tuesday off like a normal week, and continue practicing on Wednesday.
The thing that Fox is most concerned about having that extra day off is it throwing the offense off.
“We’re going to practice on Monday to get our timing and rhythm back, in particularly in the passing game,” Fox said. “That’s the area that I think with an extended time off, can suffer some sometimes.”
The Broncos passing offense is currently ranked 27th, so suffer is a relative term.
In three of the four games that the Broncos have lost, they have lost by 5 points or less. That speaks volumes if the team can limit just a few of their own mistakes, turnover wise and penalty wise.
“A lot of our issues have been more self-inflicted than the other team just beating us,” Fox said. “At the end of the day, we gave them some help along the way.”
The Broncos are ranked 27th in the league in turnover differential with -5. As far as penalties go, they have kept those to a minimum compared to other teams. The Broncos have been penalized 25 times while the league leader in penalties, the Oakland Raiders, have 50 penalty infractions.
As the players and coaching staff regroup, self-evaluate, and look for ways to improve, Broncos fans can rest assured that the Broncos team that showed up for their first five games are not going to be the same team that finishes out the season.
“We’re not a finished product. We’re just getting out of the blocks,” Fox said.
Make sure to follow Predominantly Orange on Facebook and on Twitter.