Broncos’ Offense, Defense Were Missing In Loss To Lions

It doesn’t matter how you spin it. Losing by 30 points at home screams that the Broncos are in trouble.

The Detroit Lions put the Broncos away right after halftime when the score was 31-3. There was no good. It was all bad and ugly.

“I think we just basically got whipped,” John Fox said. “We got out coached and outplayed. We’ve got a lot of work to do. I think that’s very evident.”

The Broncos put up 10 points all day and Tim Tebow converted just 46.2% of his passes. That was the Lions’ game plan. They played a lot of high single safety and dared Tebow to throw while throwing heavy pressure at him up front. The Broncos went three and out nine straight times and turned the ball over three times.

“This is going to test us, test our integrity and out character,” Tebow said of the loss.

Players and coaches alike have said that you can’t put all of the blame on one person.

“As a group offensively, we haven’t done enough to move the chains, to get some momentum going, to get some rhythm,” Eric Decker said. “We need to figure out a way where we can be confident in ourselves to make plays and to know that we can go down on anybody and score.”

It didn’t matter that the offense couldn’t get anything going on their side of the ball. Denver’s defense gave up 31 points (two turnovers went for Detroit touchdowns).

“We’ve got a lot of work to do and it’s showing up against these good teams,” Champ Bailey said. “You’ve got to be on your game when you play teams like this.”

The Lions came in ranked 27th in rushing and 11th in passing. Passing and running combined, they averaged 6.1 yards per play with Matt Stafford passing for three touchdowns.

“Our job responsibility is one thing and that’s to get off the football field,” Brian Dawkins said of the defense. “Go three and out and give the ball back to the offense.”

Neither side of the ball could have won the game for the Broncos yesterday, but good play by one side at least gives them a fighting chance.

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