ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — After the Denver Broncos suffered an extremely frustrating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday night, the sun came up on Tuesday morning. When it did, Vance Joseph was already in the Denver Broncos facility, reviewing the tape as he attempted to diagnose what went wrong for his team in the game.
A few hours later, Joseph met with the media to share some of that diagnosis.
Here are a few of our biggest takeaways from that meeting.
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Vance Joseph says Royce Freeman “needs more opportunities.”
Full quote
“Royce the last two week is hitting his stride. He is playing at a high level. To watch him last night, obviously we’re blocking well up front, but he turned nothing into something. That’s Royce. That’s what he was in college. I’m looking forward to getting him more touches. He played about 16 or 17 plays last night, but he needs more opportunities because he is playing good football.”
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I asked this question to Vance by saying, “With the way he was running the ball, do you wish you could’ve gotten Royce Freeman more involved?” And while he’s predictably catching flack for the not-entirely-direct answer, I thought he answered it as well as he could without putting anybody on blast.
Here’s the thing, Vance Joseph doesn’t call the plays (Bill Musgrave does) and he isn’t in charge of the running back rotation (Curtis Modkins is), so he couldn’t exactly stand up there and say, “Yes, I should have gotten more carries for Royce in the game.” He answered the question as well as he could without putting any of his assistants on blast in the media, something that would be unnecessary even if he’s done so behind closed doors.
The translation of his answer was: “Yes.”
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Joseph says right tackle Jared Veldheer is being “evaluated for a knee.”
Full quote
“We had one injury from the football game. [T] Jared Veldheer is still being evaluated for a knee. We should know more today or tomorrow, so I’ll keep you guys informed on that issue.”
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Coming into the season, I would have said this is a potential back-breaking injury, as Veldheer was fantastic in the preseason and the Broncos’ offensive line depth looked questionable at best.
That’s all changed over the first four games of the season as swing tackle Billy Turner has been nothing short of fantastic in relief of Veldheer on two different occasions, the latest being on Monday night.
Turner was a stable bookend on the right side of the line and was the only Broncos’ lineman on the night to not give up a sack, run stop or register a penalty. He was so good, in fact, that even if Veldheer’s injury isn’t serious, there should probably be some discussions about whether or not the line could improve with some combination that includes Turner and not Garett Bolles.
That likely won’t happen, but it’s a conversation worth having, in my opinion.
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Joseph says, “I think this league is about playing your best football late, and I think we’re heading that way.”
Full quote (asked if it will be tough to motivate the team after a loss like that)
“No, I don’t think so. Our team is different. We have a lot of guys on this team that have put a lot of work in, even after the game last night. We’re all disappointed we didn’t win that football game because they played their hearts out. The facts are that we’ve been in four tough football games and we’re 2-2. It’s the first quarter, we have a lot of football left. Last year, we were 3-1 and really happy and we didn’t finish well. I think this league is about playing your best football late, and I think we’re heading that way. You watched us play those last two games here, and it’s two good football teams—at Baltimore and obviously the Chiefs here. We played good football, but we have to make more plays in these games. We have to be more detailed and we have to obviously coach better—help our team win these close games. That’s the bottom line. Our guys are fighting. I have no issue with how we practice, how we prep or how we fight on Sundays. But, to win these big games, it comes down to being very detailed, being great coaches when we have to be, and obviously making plays. Our big-time players have to make plays in these kinds of games to win these games. We have to make more plays.”
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I know it’s frustrating to watch your team lose a game like that, but, to an extent, I’m actually with Vance on this one. I think Monday’s game was the best football I’ve seen the Broncos play in over a year. For 40 minutes, they executed a very strong game plan and looked like an all-around competent football team.
Yes, it was two steps forward and one step back as the wheels completely fell off in the last 10 minutes, but that’s still a net of one step forward.
Now, I think Vance is getting a little ahead of himself by saying they’re on track to play their best football late, it’s still early for that, but if they can continue to make improvements like they did for most of the game last night, they’ll take care of the teams they are supposed to and have a chance to pull off some upsets, as well.
