DENVER — Their bid for another epic victory over
Tom Brady and the
New England Patriots, and possibly their chance to defend a
Super Bowl
championship, ended with a whimper Sunday afternoon in front of 76,893
chilled and dejected fans at Sports Authority Field. Then, immediately
following a 16-3 defeat to their formidable AFC rivals, the Broncos’
frustrations boiled over, as a seemingly ho-hum attempt at postgame
unity began
and ended with a bang.
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
When the beaten Broncos spilled into the locker room, before the door
was opened to reporters and other outsiders, coach Gary Kubiak gathered
his players and asked if anyone wanted to address the team. Veteran
left tackle Russell Okung, who signed with the Broncos last March,
stepped forward to speak, and cornerback
Aqib Talib
strongly objected. According to several witnesses, that set off a
spirited shouting match between the team’s defensive backs and offensive
linemen — one which Kubiak had to diffuse before it turned ugly.
where to buy cheapest sports jerseys with free shipping
“Pretty much your classic offense vs. defense divide,” as one Denver player described it.
It wasn’t the Broncos’ finest hour, but the timing of the outburst
was certainly understandable. The defeat left Denver (8-6), which has
remaining games against AFC West rivals Kansas City (10-4) andOakland
(11-3), needing a pair of victories
and some help to have a
chance of sneaking into the playoffs as a wild-card team. And it
underscored a chasm between the two units that dates back to last
season, when the Broncos highlighted the adage
Defense Wins Championships in one of its most extreme manifestations in recent memory.
where to buy cheapest sports jerseys with free shipping
The disparity was especially evident against the Patriots (12-2) on
Sunday, which is why Okung — despite essentially being shouted down by
Talib, cornerback Chris Harris Jr. and some of the team’s other
defensive backs, who weren’t interested in hearing the words of someone
representing the underperforming offense — expressed sympathy with their
perspective as he left the locker room.
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
“I definitely understand their frustration,” Okung told me. “They
played well enough to win, and they held that team to 16 points, which a
lot of teams don’t do. We’re an emotional team; that’s what makes us so
good. To me, that’s part of who we are.
“When our defense is out there, they’re an emotional group, and they
hold themselves to a high standard. As an offense, we need to do the
same. So, I think [their frustration] is warranted. We’ve got to be
better.”
The Broncos are running out of chances, at least for 2016. It is now
glaringly apparent that the model which worked for them a year ago —
keep games close with a low-risk offense, rely on an aggressive defense
to dominate
and make game-turning plays — isn’t necessarily sustainable over the long haul.
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
To put it another way: When you hold one of the greatest quarterbacks
of all time — who, at 39, seems to be closing in on a third MVP award —
to
zero completions in the first quarter, you might want to see your offense put up more than a field goal in response.
“We
are an emotional group,” T.J. Ward told me after I shared
the details of my conversation with Okung. “That’s why we play as well
as we do. What happened wasn’t even anything major — just a little
frustration. We’re all trying to win.”
Last year, the Broncos twice defeated the Patriots in Denver, pulling out a 30-24 victory in late November with
Brock Osweiler
at quarterback, and holding on for a 20-18 triumph in the AFC
Championship Game following the unlikely return of fading legend Peyton
Manning.
where to buy cheapest sports jerseys with free shipping
After Manning retired and Osweiler bolted in March, signing a four-year, $72-million free-agent deal with the
Houston Texans
(who, incidentally, benched him in the first half of Sunday’s victory
over the Jacksonville Jaguars), Denver general manager John Elway
contemplated trading for disgruntled49ers quarterback
Colin Kaepernick before charting a more conservative course.
Trevor Siemian,
a seventh-round draft pick in 2015, ended up beating out veteran Mark
Sanchez in a training-camp competition, with first-round rookie
Paxton Lynch as the heir apparent.
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
During training camp, Elway told me he felt that despite the
“emphasis that people put on quarterbacking, sometimes [it] is not the
key thing. Obviously, if you look at the way we won the championship
that year … you don’t necessarily need a
Tom Brady
to win a championship. It makes it a little easier for you ’cause
you’ve got that guy you can build around, but by no means is it any
guarantee.”
Four months later, however, it sure seems like the 2015
Broncos were an anomaly, rather than the start of a new trend. As receiver
Demaryius ThomasDemaryius Thomas told me while he prepared to leave the locker room, “That’s a one-year thing.”
Though Siemian has shown flashes of promise, especially in the latter
part of the season, Denver’s lack of offensive punch was glaring on
Sunday.
Siemian (25 of 40, 282 yards) made a massive mistake on the first
play of the second quarter, with the score tied at 3, throwing a
third-and-3 pass toward
Emmanuel Sanders
that Pats cornerback Logan Ryan jumped at his own 8-yard-line and
returned 46 yards. That set up the afternoon’s lone touchdown drive, on
which the Denver defense forced a pair of fumbles — both recovered by
the Patriots — and still succumbed on
LeGarrette BlountLeGarrette Blount‘s 1-yard blast up the middle.
The rest of the half unfolded with some disturbingly conservative
decision-making by Kubiak, who passed up a 55-yard field goal attempt in
high altitude to punt the ball back to New England with 5:15 remaining —
this from the same coach who had Brandon McManus attempt a 62-yarder
late in an overtime defeat to the Chiefs three weeks ago. Then, after
the Broncos forced a fourth down near midfield with 1:15 remaining and
the clock running, Kubiak declined to use any of his three timeouts and
killed the rest of the half on a handoff to halfback Justin Forsett.
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
“It’s about being aggressive,” Thomas said. “Especially in the
situation we’re in as a team — we’re on our last legs, so why not go
after it?”
cheap sports jerseys
Thomas, to be fair, was merely answering a question, and he had
plenty of criticism to go around, including a scathing critique of his
own effort. “I could have made a big play on that one ball down the
sideline,” he said, referring to a long pass that seemed to be within
his grasp with 4:44 left in the third quarter — part of a frustrating
streak of five consecutive three-and-outs to start the second half. “And
that fourth-down pass (with 6:04 left in the game) that got knocked out
of my hands? That’s on me, too.
“I’m beating myself up, still. I could’ve made a play. I’m the captain of the offense. I put it on myself.”
where to buy cheapest sports jerseys with free shipping
Like Okung, Thomas said he understood the postgame frustration of the
Broncos’ defensive backs, though he wasn’t necessarily thrilled with
the delivery: “It’s tough to see your blood brothers, guys you go to
work with every day, get frustrated and air it out like that. You wish
it wasn’t that way. But being as great a defense as they are, I can see
why they’re frustrated. As an offensive player, you’ve gotta be
frustrated, too — but then, at a certain point, it’s hard to be
frustrated. … You see the same thing for 14 weeks — we move the ball,
move the ball, then get in the red area and we just fold. At some point,
you just throw up your hands.”
Or, in the case of Talib and other
Broncos defenders, you throw a mini-fit. Suffice it to say that Sunday’s performance didn’t fly with the No Fly Zone.
cheap sports jerseys
“We did dominate them,” Ward said of the Patriots, “but when they don’t have to pass,
No Fly
kinda gets eradicated, so we’ve got to try to make plays in other areas
… strip the ball, whatever. But it’s tough when they don’t have to pass
the ball.
“You’ve got to be in a position to make plays, but teams don’t even
have to throw the ball on us. If they’re not in a position to throw,
it’s hard to get an interception. And even when they run, their running
backs have two hands on the ball, so it’s hard to make plays [against]
the run.”
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
Harris echoed Ward’s sentiments, saying, “Any time we hold Brady to
16 points, we expect to win. Even last year, we never held him to 16.
And he didn’t complete any passes in the first quarter. We have to do
better.”
where to buy cheapest sports jerseys with free shipping
Added cornerback Kayvon Webster: “I can’t believe that s—. We held Brady to 16 and still lose? Has that ever happened?
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
“We’ve got a big-time defense. We always make plays. But if we can’t
get in position to make ’em, how are we gonna win? I mean, our options
were limited today. It was crazy. We can’t get five three-and-outs in a
row [on offense]. We just can’t do that.”
cheap sports jerseys
So yes, Okung’s desire to speak served as a convenient catalyst for
Talib and others Broncosdefenders to voice their frustration. At least
one Broncos offensive player bristled at the incident, telling me, “If
those guys are so upset, they should be looking at themselves … do more.
Work harder. Do extra. Find a way to make those plays. ‘Cause trust me,
nobody on offense is happy about all this.”
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
Thomas, for one, isn’t inclined to conceal his unhappiness. He voiced
his frustrations with the team’s offensive approach when I spoke to him
three months ago, and he picked up right where he left off after
Sunday’s game.
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
“Early in the season, my frustrations were with my offensive guys,
because we weren’t putting up points,” Thomas said. “And every time
someone mentioned the Broncos, it was, ‘They’ve got a great defense, but
the offense isn’t pulling its weight.’ That gets old. I’m sick of
hearing that. I’m still hearing that. We need to find a way to do
better.”
The Broncos, who were mathematically eliminated from division-title
contention, are obviously running out of chances. They currently trail
Kansas City (10-4) and Miami (9-5) in the wild-card race and are tied
with Baltimore (8-6) and Tennessee (8-6), the team that defeated them
last Sunday. Obviously, theBroncos need to win a pair of games (against
opponents to whom they’ve previously lost this season), and they’ll also
need some help.
“We need a crazy scenario to go on,” Talib said. “But we did [crazy
things] last year. We’ll see what the football gods give us.”
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
Said Ward: “You can say we need help. We need to help
ourselves, by winning. ‘Cause all the help in the world ain’t gonna matter if we don’t help ourselves.”
cheap sports jerseys
On Sunday, the Broncos couldn’t help airing out their frustrations.
Whether it bonds them closer together or tears them further apart
remains to be seen.
where to buy cheap sports jerseys from china
