Broncos Roundtable: Has Joe Flacco lived up to your expectations?

 

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos and Chiefs couldn’t have had more opposite starts to the season.

After losing their first four games of the season, the Broncos are riding into Thursday night’s game on a two-game win streak on the back of their defense.

On the other hand, after a predictable 4-0 start to the season, the Chiefs have shockingly dropped their past two games as their offense has hit a road bump—compared to what Patrick Mahomes’ offense typically does, of course.

Despite being two games behind Kansas City in the standings, will Denver be able to ride their recent momentum to pull off the upset?

The DNVR Broncos Crew breaks it down.

IS IT GOOD OR BAD TO FACE THE CHIEFS AFTER TWO-STRAIGHT LOSSES?

Ryan

Fantastic — If they had lost because they weren’t prepared or they overlooked their opponents, I might have a different tune, but they’ve lost because they are injured, they can’t protect Mahomes, and they can’t stop the run.

Oh, and Mahomes isn’t 100 percent, either.

The Broncos, with the momentum of their two wins, could not be catching the Chiefs at a better time.

Zac

Bad, bad, bad — It’s hard enough to contain Patrick Mahomes for one game. It’s a miracle to do it for two-straight games. That’s why the Broncos are in need of divine intervention in order to hold him back for a third-straight game.

Mahomes coming back to earth over the past two games has still equated to four touchdowns to only one interception and nearly 300 passing yards per game. He’s due for a breakout game, say one of the first three games of the season when he went for at least three touchdowns, no interceptions and 374-plus yards in each game.

After suffering through the Peyton Manning years, Andy Reid has not held back on Denver of recent, including throwing a touchdown pass with a 346-pound Dontari Poe on Christmas night in 2016.

Riding a two-game losing streak, Mahomes and Reid won’t hold anything back. Especially against Denver. Especially on primetime.

Mase

Good — The old cliche’ about the wounded animal being the most dangerous applies here, especially when that animal has spent the last three and a half seasons finding ways to wiggle out of trouble in this particular series.

But the injury hit absorbed by the Chiefs is particularly damaging. They’ll be without their most consistent pass rusher (Chris Jones, who leads the team in quarterback pressures), their No. 2 wide receiver (Sammy Watkins) and the entire left side of their offensive line. Cornerback Kendall Fuller will not play, and fellow cornerback Bashaud Breeland may not play.

It’s hard to conceive of a better situation for the Broncos unless Mahomes himself was unavailable.

HAS JOE FLACCO LIVED UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS?

Ryan

Unfortunately, yes — I don’t know how many times we said it in the offseason, “Get ready for a boring offense.” Weirdly enough, part of the Broncos design is to have a boring offense, and adding Joe Flacco was part of that design.

Just listen to what Rich Scangarello said this week.

“I’ve never called a game like a coordinator trying to rack up stats,” he explained. “I’ve always called a game to win the game and that’s it.”

Punt is a good play in the Broncos playbook and Joe Flacco understands that. He’s going to take what the defense gives him on 99 percent of plays. It’s what we’ve always known about him.

Zac

Almost to a T — Has Joe Flacco been great? Nope. Has he been exciting? Certainly not. Has he played below expectations? If you’re a realist, then absolutely not.

Joe’s simply been Joe, as has been said by the coaching staff a number of times since the Broncos acquired him this offseason.

Simply put, Joe has been nearly the exact guy—personality, teammate and player—that Denver traded for in February.

Flacco’s currently on pace for 3,827 passing yards, 16 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. In today’s standards, those are underwhelming as can be. But that would be his fourth-most passing yards ever.

Over his career, he’s averaged 12.4 interceptions per year, so the five he has through six games is no surprise. The only aspect that’s a bit off is his touchdown pace is slightly worse than his career average of 19.3, but he’s not too far off.

Additionally, as John Elway stated at Flacco’s introductory presser, the team brought Joe in to help guide the offense late in the fourth quarter. Although Denver’s defense blew it, Flacco led two go-ahead drives late in the fourth quarter against the Bears and Jacksonville.

Six games into the season, however, the team’s 2-4 record, coupled with their underwhelming offensive output, indicate they just simply need more than Joe can offer.

But don’t point the finger at him, he’s been exactly the player Denver traded for.

Mase

Exactly — Flacco has been precisely what he was in Baltimore the last four seasons — a mid-tier starting quarterback who can settle an offense, but not one who can single-handedly rescue it from its collective miscues. For the Broncos, this represents an upgrade.

But if they are to join the 1992 Chargers as the only teams to turn an 0-4 start into a playoff appearance, Flacco must be more than he has been to this point.

Can he do that? He’s usually a bit better down the stretch than early in the season; in Baltimore his career passer rating in the first six regular-season games was 82.1; in regular-season games 7 through 16 it was 85.6. So far this season, his rating is 87.4; that places him 22nd of 30 quarterbacks with at least 100 attempts.

It’s good enough if the defense’s performance of the last two weeks is reflective of its true level. It won’t be if the defense regresses to somewhere in between its Weeks 5 and 6 form and its work in Weeks 1-4.

RESULT VS. CHIEFS (-3.5)

Ryan

Broncos 24, Chiefs 21 — Yep, I’m calling it.

The Chiefs are without their best defensive player, their best corner, the entire left side of their line and their No. 2 wide receiver. For reference, that’s the Broncos being without Von Miller, Chris Harris Jr., Dalton Risner, Garett Bolles and Courtland Sutton.

If that was the case, we’d be predicting the Broncos to get blown out in any game. Now, the Chiefs have a lot more offensive talent to survive that blow, and they have Patrick Mahomes, but Mahomes isn’t right.

The Broncos are a team that believes they can win this game and they can. They make a statement on Thursday night football.

Zac

Chiefs 27, Broncos 20 — The Broncos haven’t beat the Chiefs since the team’s first matchup in 2015 back in the Peyton Manning days. Since then, it’s been all Kansas City, all the time as they’ve won the past seven games between the two teams.

Unfortunately, the closest player to Peyton Manning is on the Chiefs.

While Kansas City has dropped their past two, Mahomes still looks incredible. On the flip side, Joe Flacco looks like, well, Joe Flacco.

Even with a great defensive performance from Vic Fangio’s crew, the Broncos will still have to put up points, something they’ve really struggled to do.

For Denver to have any chance, Rich Scangarello’s group will have to score in the upper 20s at the minimum. That will prove to be too tough a task.

Mase

Chiefs 20, Broncos 17 — It’s clear what the Broncos need to do:

• Pressure Mahomes to make him unsettled.
• Force at least one takeaway.
• Cobble together long drives that keep Mahomes and the Kansas City attack off the field.

The last two games have shown that the Broncos can take care of the first two items. It’s the third that could be a problem, and could doom their chances of an upset.

Will Parks noted Tuesday that this was like a big college rivalry, where you get pumped for a chance to knock the top dog off of its pedestal. The Broncos’ motivation will be boundless. But after a two-game losing streak, expect Kansas City to bring plenty of vim and vigor, too, even with all of the injuries.

The Chiefs will put their hopes squarely on Mahomes’ big-play capability. Unfortunately for the Broncos, I think he’ll do enough to be the difference. The great ones often do.