ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It hasn’t taken long for the Broncos’ hopes to disintegrate during the last three weeks of their current four-game losing streak.
In each of the last three games, opponents have gashed Denver’s defense for a first-series touchdown. Drives of 85, 75 and 75 yards have ensured that the Broncos never led in any of those games; in fact, they’ve now played the last 220 minutes and 24 seconds of game time without being in front on the scoreboard — and more than half of that time — 122 minutes and 27 seconds — has been spent trailing by double digits.
This isn’t just a recent problem, either. In the last two seasons, Denver’s defense has allowed nine first-possession touchdowns — tied with four other teams for the most in the NFL in that span.
“Every first drive for sure has a story, right? There are always the what-ifs,” said safety Justin Simmons. “If we get this one play stopped, now it’s 2nd-and-10 instead of 2nd-and-3. The whole drive changes. Within every first drive, there’s a story. There’s also the [point of] we just didn’t play nearly as good enough as we have in the past on those first drives, or for that matter the rest of the game — alluding to the Jacksonville game.”
Against Jacksonville, Simmons and the defense tightened up and held the Jaguars’ offense scoreless, although they did have two Josh Lambo field-goal attempts that miss. Still, it was the kind of recovery that the defense showed early and has failed to muster in recent weeks.
“We need to match the sense of urgency, and maybe the sense of urgency isn’t there,” Simmons said. “ Guys need to be comfortable in whatever the case may be. That needs to be addressed. Those are some of the things I was talking about behind closed doors that we’re talking about, and we need to figure out. Obviously, everyone knows that that’s been a problem, so those are the things that we need to get corrected.”
Meanwhile, the Broncos’ early-game woes on offense also remain profound. With an average of just 5.0 points per first half in the last four weeks, no team has been less effective at scoring before halftime. They’re better in the second half — 11.0 points per half in the last four weeks — but they’re tied for 19th in second-half points in that span, not nearly enough for them to overcome their early difficulties.
“Games are all played differently,” Shurmur said. “Sometimes there’s not much scoring in the first half of games and then all of a sudden halftime comes along and both teams score a lot. I don’t know why that is. I doubt it’s the halftime speeches, but things just get going. You get a better feel for things. Maybe adjustments that you were prepared for going in settle in a little better. That’s why there’s 60 minutes and you have to try to utilize all of them.”
Making matters worse is the fact that the Broncos have failed to score even 7 first-half points eight times in the last two seasons. Only the Jets and Giants are worse.
But for Week 8, there is the expectation of improvement and a better start overall. There are two reasons for this, both tied to Washington’s form:
1. The only defense worse than Denver’s at preventing first-possession touchdowns this year belongs to Washington.
The Football Team’s defense has allowed a league-worst five first-series touchdowns this season, and with a field goal conceded to Atlanta on its opening drive in Week 4, has allowed some kind of score in all but one game.
Yes, the Broncos’ slow-starting offense has been as culpable as their defense in the team falling behind early in games. However. the unit did stop a streak of 24 consecutive games without a first-possession touchdown in Week 6 against Las Vegas before opening with a three-and-out at Cleveland four days later.
Facing the league’s worst defense at allowing first-possession touchdowns should help Denver’s cause.
2. Washington’s offense has just one first-possession touchdown this season —- as many as the Broncos have — and over the last two seasons, the Football Team has scored just two first-series touchdowns.
With a first-drive touchdown percentage of just 8.7 percent since the start of the 2020 season, only the Broncos are worse in that span.
On both offense and defense, when it comes to first possessions, Sunday’s game is very much a case of the resistible force meeting the movable object. Whichever one wins the day early could set the tone for what is to come on a day when both clubs enter desperate to revive their fading hopes.
