Offense in a funk

[bloodsunday]

This offense does not look anything like it did the first three weeks of the season. In fact, its starting to look more like the 2007 version. We now have 3 consecutive weeks of sub-20 points and only 4 TDs in those games combined. Worse, 2 of those games were at home and the other was against an awful KC team.

Cutler has been okay, but its pretty clear that teams have figured out a plan to stop us. What do we need to do to get it back on track? (We know we can't count on the D!)

[extralife]

Reign Jay in a bit, get him outside of the pocket instead of in the gun where he doesn't have to dissect the entire field. Right now his decision making is causing his arm and athleticism to hurt us almost as much as they're helping us. We gave him a little too much to digest too early this season, I think. Last season he was great out of the pocket, and play action bootlegs and misdirection have long been a part of what we do on offense. We need to get back to that kind of stuff.

[azbroncfan]

Offense is struggling because Jay struggles against Cover 2 zone defenses and those are the types of defenses he has faced lately. As Jay goes the offense goes and they aren't as good as they are hyped to be especially when missing 2 pieces at the WR/TE position.

[Doggcow]

Give Jay Sheffler, thats +1 TD that Jackson dropped at least, and we're fine.

[bloodsunday]

Jackson didn't drop that TD -- Jay missed him. He could have made a spectacular catch, but Jay had a lot to do with that outcome.

[broncofan2438]

Jay missed all day, everyone was off!

[bloodsunday]

Reign Jay in a bit, get him outside of the pocket instead of in the gun where he doesn't have to dissect the entire field. Right now his decision making is causing his arm and athleticism to hurt us almost as much as they're helping us.

After the New Orleans game I was a little concerned that Cutler was locking onto Marshall too much. He looked like a much better QB against Oakland when he didn't have his woobie! I mean that half-heartedly, but he seems to have WAY too much confidence in Marshall. Reminds me of Rob Ryan's comment about throwing a tomato through a battleship.

[extralife]

Man, he was so excellent in that Oakland game I wrote the most ridiculous slobbering post on my fantasy football front page that you've ever seen.

COME BACK TO US SUPER JAY

[Doggcow]

Jackson didn't drop that TD -- Jay missed him. He could have made a spectacular catch, but Jay had a lot to do with that outcome.

Sorry, I believe if you can touch it with your hands you should catch it. The pass was a little high, however Nate Jackson gives up 2 inches to Sheffler, thats around 4 or 5 inches of reach towards the ball. Sheffler would have caught that (end of argument, you lose).

[bloodsunday]

Nate Jackson gives up 2 inches to Sheffler, thats around 4 or 5 inches of reach towards the ball. Sheffler would have caught that (end of argument, you lose).

How do you argue with that? I guess we should sign up Nene and Kenyon Martin so that Jay doesn't miss another pass all year!

[bronco militia]

no scheffler, royal, or young and then add stokely and martinez during this game.....

yeah, the offense might be a little ouf of sync

[bloodsunday]

no scheffler, royal, or young and then add stoakley and martinez during this game.....

yeah, the offense might be a little ouf of sync

But Jacksonville's D was just as beat up. Nate Jackson and Darrell Jackson are not garbage. We should have performed much better than that.

[bronco militia]

But Jacksonville's D was just as beat up. Nate Jackson and Darrell Jackson are not garbage. We should have performed much better than that.

too bad nate jackson and d-jax were garbage today

but so was jay cutler and the defense.

[uplink]

To me there doesn't seem to be a lot of open receivers lately. Seems even the completions are tough throws with defenders nearby. Maybe teams have learned how to defend the Denver passing game.

[BroncoMan4ever]

The first few weeks of the season no one expected us to become a passing team, so it worked, but now defenses are waiting for it, leaving less men in the box and dropping more into coverage.

what would turn the offense around would be a really dominant rushing performance.

We need a game or 2 where we just run the ball down a defenses throat combined with Play action passing, low risk passes, mixed a little with the wide open passing game we have had lately. get the rest of our schedule having to worry about the possibility of us deciding to run instead of pass.

to sum it up we need the running game to step up and bring defenders down and Jay will take care of the rest.

[Popps]

We need a game or 2 where we just run the ball down a defenses throat combined with Play action passing, low risk passes, mixed a little with the wide open passing game we have had lately. get the rest of our schedule having to worry about the possibility of us deciding to run instead of pass.

to sum it up we need the running game to step up and bring defenders down and Jay will take care of the rest.

You know, I'd agree with this... but Pittman ran well today. Even some smash-mouth running. I think he had over 100 yards, and we had a lot of 3rd and makable situations that the offense just couldn't convert.

The passing game looked great on the first couple of series, and then we just looked off. No other way to put it. I got the feeling that guys weren't open much today, but when they were... Jay missed a few key throws.

It happens. Again, you just hope this is growing pains. I think we'll remain a pass-first team, so let's hope the rhythm returns.

[Broncojef]

The offense is fine. Practice holding onto the ball and we're set. Marshall's fumble on the 5 was terrible. He takes a knee or goes down without fumbling, we bang it home and its a 14-3 lead instead of 10-7. i thought the game came down to that turnover.

[Atwater His Ass]

The offense is fine. Practice holding onto the ball and we're set. Marshall's fumble on the 5 was terrible. He takes a knee or goes down without fumbling, we bang it home and its a 14-3 lead instead of 10-7. i thought the game came down to that turnover.

It was huge, no doubt. But we went something like fumble, INT, fumble, turnover on downs, punt, FG, punt.

That just won't get it done at this level. And with our defense unable to bail us out going up against a patchwork of 3rd string OL, it just puts more of the spotlight and pressure on the offense.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

If Jackson jumped for that pass, he's got the smallest vertical on the team. He got all of 6 inches off the ground when he went for that ball.

The offense is inconsistent because it's so young. It was going to experience growing pains this year at some point. Even after starting 3-0, this was never the year. A stretch like this was going to happen. It also hurts that Jay was missing targets 2-4 after Stokley went down.

[Sassy]

Team Statistics
Broncos Opponents
TOTAL FIRST DOWNS 136 121
FIRST DOWNS (Rushing-passing-by penalty) 42 - 81 - 13 37 - 79 - 5
THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS 33/72 32/76
FOURTH DOWN CONVERSIONS 1/2 3/5
TOTAL OFFENSIVE YARDS 2398 2358
OFFENSE (Plays-Average Yards) 384 - 6.2 378 - 6.2
TOTAL RUSHING YARDS 722 825
RUSHING (Plays-Average Yards) 153 - 4.7 162 - 5.1
TOTAL PASSING YARDS 1676 1533
PASSING (Comp-Att-Int-Avg) 146 - 229 - 5 - 7.4 149 - 205 - 2 - 7.8
SACKS 11 2
FIELD GOALS 13/14 11/14
TOUCHDOWNS 18 17
(Rushing-Passing-Returns-Defensive) 5 - 12 - 0 - 1 7 - 9 - 1 - 0
TIME OF POSSESSION 28:52 31:07
TURNOVER RATIO -4

[Sassy]

You know, I'd agree with this... but Pittman ran well today. Even some smash-mouth running. I think he had over 100 yards, and we had a lot of 3rd and makable situations that the offense just couldn't convert.

The passing game looked great on the first couple of series, and then we just looked off. No other way to put it. I got the feeling that guys weren't open much today, but when they were... Jay missed a few key throws.

It happens. Again, you just hope this is growing pains. I think we'll remain a pass-first team, so let's hope the rhythm returns.


Pittman had 20 carries for 109 yards...avg. 5.5 a carry.

[Popps]

Pittman had 20 carries for 109 yards...avg. 5.5 a carry.

Tough to ask him to do much more than that. I was a little surprised we never gave Hall any carries. Did anyone else carry the football today?

Still, I thought the running game was sufficient enough to keep the defense honest. We just had trouble converting... and you also have to give some credit to Jax. That's a solid defense.

[BlaK-Argentina]

Even after starting 3-0, this was never the year.

Holy crap people, this was just ONE game... and most of us believed it was going to be a loss when we saw the schedule. We were in it till the end even AFTER losing the ball almost every time we had it. Stupid mistakes killed us but that can be fixed and we can still make some noise in the playoffs.

[Sassy]

I don't think they did...
TODAY'S RUSHING LEADERS:

1. C. Portis, WAS, 129
2. M. Jones-Drew, JAC, 125
3. W. Dunn, TB, 115
4. A. Peterson, MIN, 111
5. M. Pittman, DEN, 109

[nickademus]

I dont think that teams are starting to game plan us at all. IMHO we really like to shoot ourselves in the foot. We fumble more than any other team in the league and we are second in the league in dropped passes. I have to give the Jags credit it wasnt like the SD fumble where Jay did it all by himself these actually had contact associated with them but other than that they really didnt do anything our Offence had a whole lot of trouble with. We just Missed alot today.

[cutthemdown]

Give Jay Sheffler, thats +1 TD that Jackson dropped at least, and we're fine.

Has Sheff ever not gotten injured in a yr? Seems like he's always injured or nicked up. I'm starting to see him as that type of a player.

[elsid13]

It now is the start of the 2 QTR of the season and DCs have game film on the team. And are actively scheming to take away Denver strength.

This was bad loss because Denver had chance to put them away but fumble thier chances away. But they move up and down the field on good desperate team. I expect the offense to get back on track

[BroncoInferno]

The problem the last three weeks is largely turnovers. We are still moving the ball just fine, but 8 TOs in three weeks tends to put a hamper on scoring. If we can get that in check, we will be OK.

[Beantown Bronco]

I dont think that teams are starting to game plan us at all.

This has to be one of the more insane things I've ever read here.

[TonyR]

The problem the last three weeks is largely turnovers. We are still moving the ball just fine, but 8 TOs in three weeks tends to put a hamper on scoring. If we can get that in check, we will be OK.

Turnovers are a large part of the problem but far from the whole problem. That 3rd and 1 at the end of the first half, for example, was a complete team offensive failure not caused by a turnover (although Jay almost got picked)...

[elsid13]

Turnovers are a large part of the problem but far from the whole problem. That 3rd and 1 at the end of the first half, for example, was a complete team offensive failure not caused by a turnover (although Jay almost got picked)...

The other team gets paid too.

[ScottXray]

I was at the game and to my view there was a major problem with our Pass/run ratio again.

We are throwing WAY too much.
1st down...5-6 yard run
2nd down..pass incomplete.

3rd down...pass incomplete too many times.

They need to mix the run in more, and keep a back in on the shot gun some,
instead of empty backfield all the time, let him drift out late or use shuffle pass , toss pitches more. Keep the defense more honest and guessing.

Intensity of the fans was VERY high, especially on D.

[Garcia Bronco]

Jay Cutler isn't always finding the open man. It's just that simple, and he's super cocky with that arm of his.

[BroncoInferno]

Jay Cutler isn't always finding the open man. It's just that simple, and he's super cocky with that arm of his.

The announcers didn't mention this, but on one incompletion where he threw to Marshall in double coverage Daniel Graham was WIDE open running down the middle of the field. Cutler is still a bit of "looker".