The Denver Broncos started what is supposed to be a promising 2022 season with a terrible loss against the Seattle Seahawks.
Broncos fans were eager to get the Russell Wilson era started out with a bang and the excitement was at the kind of high we haven’t seen since Peyton Manning joined the team. But instead, the team laid a major egg at Lumen Field.
This is not to take anything away from the Seahawks, because they played a great game, specifically their quarterback Geno Smith. But the Broncos had way too many errors to beat any team on this night and that could be cause for concern going forward.
I will save the obvious for last here, but here are some major concerns that Broncos Country has to have coming out of this defeat.
Broncos had way too many penalties
The Broncos hurt themselves on numerous occasions in this game, backing themselves up with false start penalties due to the crowd noise and also having multiple delay of game calls (more on that later).
In total, the Broncos were penalized 12 times for 106 yards in this game. That makes it difficult to win any week.
This is something the Broncos are going to have to clean up. Despite having Wilson, it is a young team with a young coaching staff. But some discipline must be instilled going forward to avoid a penalty fest such as this one, particularly on the road in a tough environment.
The Broncos will learn from this loss but not committing so many self-inflicted wounds will have to be the first lesson.
Broncos defense was way too soft
Though the defense did play much better in the second half, it gave up way too many plays in the first half. No offense to Smith, but he hasn’t been considered a starting quarterback since his early days with the New York Jets and he looked like a Pro Bowler in this one.
Smith completed 23-of-28 passes but it wasn’t just his efficiency, he was able to elude Denver’s pass rushers for the entire first half and make plays with his feet.
The Broncos were missing tackles and if you still don’t think the lack of a solid inside linebacking group is a problem, I’m not sure what to say. Alex Singleton looked absolutely lost for much of this contest.
The defense did step up in the second half and it was great to see Bradley Chubb make some plays. In fact, his two quarterback sacks may be the most encouraging takeaway for Broncos fans in this game.
But the defense is going to have to be much better than that because the truth is, that is one of the worst offenses the team is going to face this season.
The overall execution was just bad
Wilson just didn’t look completely comfortable in this game, perhaps a bit jittery due to his return to Seattle, and unfriendly welcome by his former fans.
But some of his throws were way off, including one just before halftime that was an interception that the Seahawks dropped in the end zone which was as bad of a throw that you’ll see him make.
But watching the game, Russ had the play clock running down to zero on many offensive snaps. He was called for delay of game twice and at least one other time, it should have been a penalty.
The Broncos also fumbled the ball twice at the goal line, once by Melvin Gordon and once by Javonte Williams. Speaking of which, lining up in shotgun when you are on the 1-yard line is something that just needs to come out of the playbook. It’s bad football, even if it has become a trend around the league.
In general, the execution offensively was just not up to par. Wilson is a legendary quarterback and he needs to be better as does the entire unit. He still played a good game, but there were way too many mistakes and though it seemed like a good move at the time, not playing any of the starters in the preseason can certainly be called into question.
The Broncos are going to have to be much, much better than this if they want to find a lot of success this season.
Clock management was terrible
Of course, the final sequence in this game will be talked about for some time, but the overall management of this game by the Broncos just wasn’t good. The play clock running out a couple of times and nearly running out on several others when the offense just didn’t look ready, is of concern.
But the end of this game was just ridiculous.
Trailing by one point and facing 3rd-and-14 from their own 45-yard line, Wilson dumped it off to Javonte Williams who made some good moves to turn it into a 9-yard gain. There was 1:04 left when that play ended, but the Broncos get up slowly, work into a huddle and the clock is just casually ticking down.
Every fan in Broncos Country had to be screaming to call a time out at the top of their lungs, but instead of doing that, they let the clock run all the way down to 20 seconds and then called a time out.
Brandon McManus comes out for a 64-yard field goal attempt. What? Yes, that’s right.
To his credit, McManus very nearly made it. But Hackett’s decision to allow the clock to run and then make that move was bad, and that’s being very nice.
Why is that? Because you traded for Russell Wilson this offseason and then gave him a huge contract. You didn’t give him all of that money so that McManus can try to win the game with what would be the second-longest field goal in league history.
It was just one game and the Broncos will have some time to collect themselves, lick their wounds and learn from this loss.
But that was bad. Really, really bad.