Denver Broncos: Week 6 against the Las Vegas Raiders, 25 or Under?

Coming off of the first road loss of the season, and their second in a row, the Denver Broncos look to bounce back in a must-win game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

In an unexpected loss against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Denver Broncos looked more flat than the earth that Kyrie Irving lives on. Opening the game with a delay of game of their very first offensive snap, the Broncos seemed doomed from the beginning.

Things never really got going for this offense until the back end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter Sunday. Running just 22 total plays in the first half, for a wimpy 97 total yards, the Broncos offense could find any rhythm.

Having the ball for just 10:17 in a half will never result in anything good unless you’re just hitting on a magnitude of big plays. That isn’t the Denver Broncos motto, nor do they have the bravado to even flex that potential.

Denver Broncos: 25 or under vs. the Las Vegas Raiders

49 yards out of the 97 came on Javonte Williams’ big run to set up one of their field goals in the first half. Teddy Bridgewater and the offense found themselves in 3rd-and-not-so-manageable, which in no surprise, they could not convert.

If this offense continues to dig themselves in these sort of holes through check downs, horrific play-calling, and the inability to move the line of scrimmage, this season is going to be a huge disappointment for Broncos Country.

What hurts even more than the offense looking unprepared was the falling of what was supposed to be a top-tier defense coming into the season. If there is one sore spot that hurts more than any other, it is the play of Kyle Fuller.

Coming into the season, the Denver Broncos secondary was expected to be elite, but they haven’t been anywhere close to that. Fuller has by far been the biggest leak in this Broncos’ secondary and he is driving Broncos Country mad.

It is now a fair question to ask whether Kyle Fuller has lost a step. Fuller is now 29 years old and is approaching the daunting big 30 that terrorizes cornerbacks in the NFL. Fuller’s play right now reminds me of a player who thinks he still has the ability three to four years ago, when he was in peak physical condition.

Has he reached the point in his career where his play has started falling off? Is that the reason Fuller is getting beat in just about every one-on-one situation, because he thinks he can still run like he used to?

That is what it looks like to me.

Head Coach Vic Fangio harped in his presser about the value of technique and players not using the appropriate technique. He basically called Kyle Fuller out without calling Kyle Fuller out. It just looks like he maybe is used to getting away with some of these slips in technique when he was in his prime, but maybe that is coming back to bite him in the rear-end.

Regardless of the reason, I think Fuller should slide down the depth chart this week. This team can not afford another game-opening touchdown drive due to the inept ability of Fuller and him being a step behind. This team has to get off to a great start, not just Sunday, but in every game.

This is how this team is built. It isn’t built to mount immaculate comebacks, but to stay on top of teams and beat them down until they surrender.

Much like the offense, the defensive play-calling and execution were abysmal. One play in particular stood out, and I’m sure you all have seen it a million times, Von Miller lining up across from Chase Claypool. Some pondered if this was zone or man coverage, but Vic Fangio said it was zone.

When you re-watch the tape, you see just about every defender across the field mirroring the receiver across from them. You see Alexander Johnson and Von Miller cross the face of one another, you see Patrick Surtain II mirror his receiver all the way across the field.

There were not really any defenders outside of Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson that looked like they were covering a zone. No one fell off of their man, no defender passed their receiver off, they all just mirror the man they picked up.

This is concerning whether they were in man or zone. If they were in man, Fangio should have burned a timeout. If they were truly in zone running out of their base personnel, Fangio still should have called a timeout. That is literally what those nifty little things are for.

Breakdown or bad play call, I lost my mind and have yet to find it after that play.

Along with getting burnt for an immense amount of YAC, the Denver Broncos defense couldn’t stop rookie running back, Najee Harris. There wasn’t much blowback from the defensive line, Kyle Fuller wasn’t run filling well at all, and the Denver Broncos just looked straight up gassed.

I’m sure they were indeed gassed, they played two-thirds of the first half. Najee Harris was ripping off five and six yard runs just about every time he touched the ball. Basically, the Pittsburgh Steelers were able to do literally any and everything that they wanted to in Sunday’s match up with the Denver Broncos.

How do the Denver Broncos bounce back and prevent this sort of defeat from happening for the third week in a row? Starting with the offense, they need to score points and control time of possession early on. Teddy Bridgewater and the offense need to get back to being efficient, having third and shorts, and most importantly, scoring more than 25 points.