Kubiak says "A lot of people" missed chances to make plays "Not just the quarterback"

The Denver Broncos melted down in the second half for the second straight week, squandering a 14 point lead to take a 34-27 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After going 14-of-18 for 218 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, Brock Osweiler was just 7-of-22 for 82 yards and an interception in the second, but head coach Gary Kubiak made it clear that there was plenty of blame to go around.

“I think there were some plays we should have made by a lot of people, not just the quarterback,” Kubiak explained. “I think that we executed really well in the first half… I just don’t think we executed the same way in the second half. Obviously, we ran the ball pretty well in the first half. The second half on two of our first three runs, we got holding penalties. Like I said, we hurt ourselves.”

Kubiak said repeatedly that the team left a lot of opportunities on the field. From dropped passes by Demaryius Thomas and Vernon Davis, to missed throws from Osweiler, to missed blocks, to holding calls bringing back big plays he’s not wrong.

“We walked out of the locker room and got a nice first down, after that, I think we had four holding calls in the next nine plays,” the coach remembered. “Nobody has a chance when you do that to yourself. It was penalties and lack of execution.”

Even the defense, the backbone of the team, struggled in the second half, but Kubiak blamed some of that on the offense.

“We just weren’t doing anything [on offense],” he told. “So [the defense]  just kept going back out there, and I’m sure they were worn out. We just couldn’t put anything together.”

In the end, where you point the finger is irrelevant, what’s absolute is that this is the second “L” in two weeks for the Broncos that should have been a “W.” The plays that were necessary to win the game were not made. The question now is how much will these losses haunt them? We’ll find out the answer in the next two weeks.