After the Denver Broncos 17-16 loss against the Seattle Seahawks, what must they improve on if they want to beat the Houston Texans? Yes, Nathaniel Hackett burned the Denver Broncos’ last two timeouts when the Seattle Seahawks were in victory formation, but they were a lost cause at that point. Hoping for a botched snap at that point was a bigger dream than the prayer of a 64-yard field goal that the Denver Broncos attempted.
As the 12th man went absolutely bananas, the play clock for the Denver Broncos offense continued to bleed. This happened so much that the Broncos’ offense actually drew multiple delays of game penalties, and escaped a couple more.
There was one that was a bit trigger-happy from the officials Monday Night, but there were plenty more that were pushing the envelope. On the plays that Russell Wilson was able to get off just in time, the plays came rushed, which caused an immense amount of confusion.
Denver Broncos should have made better use of timeouts in the 4th quarter
This confusion led to what may have been the biggest blunder from the Denver Broncos, Javonte Williams’ fumble when the Denver Broncos had 3rd & goal from the one-yard line. Graham Glasgow said he did not hear that the Denver Broncos checked into a run and that he was setting up in pass-pro.
In turn, Graham Glasgow ended up three yards in the backfield, ultimately crashing into Javonte Williams before he could even get going. With the play clock bleeding down like it was, that gives an advantage to the defensive line that they did not have before in jumping the snap.
Instead of the Denver Broncos rushing into this play, a timeout could have been used. If you have the option of trading a timeout in for a touchdown, you make that trade 100% of the time. Now, that is not to say it would have guaranteed a touchdown, but at that point in the time, scoring one should have been the number one priority.
Instead, no timeout was caused. There was confusion and disarray from the offensive line, which caused Javonte Williams to get hit before he could protect himself or the football. Which ended up in the Denver Broncos fumbling on a play that started from inside the one-yard line, again.
Timeouts can be used for several things, stopping the clock at the end of the half, giving your team a breather, making sure everyone is on the same page, etc. One thing I hope Head Coach Nathaniel Hackett learned from his first game as a Head Coach is that timeouts can be lifelines.
Utilize your lifelines.
Next time, use the timeout. Protect the points, protect the football, and put the offense in the best position to succeed by making sure everyone is on the same page.