DENVER — On paper, the Denver Broncos’ pass defense is as good as it gets.
The NFL’s highest-paid secondary has a $10-million cornerback on one side, a top-10 pick on the other, one of the league’s best slot corners in the middle and one of the best safety duos in the league backing them all up. It’s so good, in fact, on Sunday against the Raiders, they had a $9-million former All-Pro on the bench.
Oh, on top of all of that, Denver has Von Miller and, when healthy, Bradley Chubb, attacking the quarterback.
On paper, it’s a dream.
The past three weeks, however, that dream has merely been a dream.
In fact, in Vic Fangio’s eyes, the Broncos’ greatest strength, on paper, was a main reason why they were embarrassed by the Raiders at home by the tune of 34-24 on Sunday.
“I think it came down to the deep balls on both sides of the ball,” the head coach said, explaining the loss. “We had our chances to make some, particularly in the first half, and then we didn’t. We came close. When they had their chances to make them, they made them. We’ll work hard to get that rectified.”
Oh, Derek Carr certainly capitalized on his chances taking shots on Denver’s pass defense.
In fact, he didn’t have to wait long. On Las Vegas’ opening drive, Carr looked, and hit, deep on the seventh play of the game.
On 3rd-and-2 from Denver’s 48-yard line, Carr connected on a bomb to Henry Ruggs III over Ronald Darby—making his first start since Week 1 due to an injury—for the Raiders’ first opening-drive touchdown in 12 games.
“That’s a third-down play. If I make that play, we’re off the field and the coach has confidence,” Darby said after the game. “The DBs are going to get called for some aggressive plays and we have to step up.”
Unfortunately for Denver, being beat on long touchdown passes to start a game isn’t new. In Week 2, Trevor Lawrence connected with Marvin Jones for a 25-yard touchdown on their first drive. Kyle Fuller was in coverage.
Against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5, same story. This time, however, Fuller was beat for a 50-yard touchdown on Pittsburgh’s opening drive. That, along with a few other plays, had Fuller on the bench to start Sunday’s game against the Raiders.
But that didn’t impact Carr’s ability to go deep. Instead, the veteran Pro Bowl quarterback looked at his replacement, Darby.
“All three of them that you’re talking about—the first drive of the game—have all been pretty much the same,” Fangio said, explaining the opening-drive deep-touchdown passes his defense has allowed. “We just have to get our depth and show up back there in the deep middle a little bit better.”
Unfortunately for Denver, again, this issue isn’t just isolated to the opening drive. On Sunday, the Broncos were beat on deep passes time and time again. Seven times to be exact.
Derek Carr completed a whopping seven passes for at least 25 yards against Denver’s defense. Two of them went for touchdowns. Potentially the most concerning part is Carr connected on these seven passes to six different receivers.
On those seven passes, Carr racked up a whopping 257 yards. In seven passes. Fuller, Darby and even Bryce Callahan were beat deep.
“Well it has to be fixable,” Fangio said, when asked if giving up long plays on defense can be fixed. “I think that was maybe a point in the game when things were down the field, deep. They made the plays on both sides of the ball. Their defense—we didn’t make them on offense when we had our opportunities. They made them with their offense when they had their opportunities. I think that was a big part of the game.”
Fangio is right, it was a huge part of the game. Over 60 percent of the Raiders’ 426 yards came on those seven deep passes.
“Especially with me, we got to finish the play and finish on the ball,” Darby stated after the game, expressing confidence that Denver’s pass defense can turn it around.
But, much like the opening drive touchdowns, the Broncos’ pass defense woes weren’t limited to Sunday. In the previous two weeks, Denver’s defense was getting thrown on left and right.
Against the Ravens, Lamar Jackson looked like a pure pocket passer as he had his second-career 300-yard passing game to date.
The following week, the Broncos allowed Ben Roethlisberger to find the fountain of youth as he had the best game of his season, throwing for 253 yards and an incredible 120.9 passer rating.
On Sunday, Derek Carr finished 18-of-27 for 341 yards, two touchdowns and a 134.4 passer rating.
Unsurprisingly, the Broncos have gone 0-3 in these games.
“Yeah, it can definitely be fixed,” Justin Simmons said, about the secondary’s poor communication and technique. “The things that happened today can be fixed. My thing is—I feel like I’ve said that almost every week. At a certain point you can’t just say it. It has to be fixed.”
From the moment Sunday’s embarrassment ended, the Broncos had 96 hours to figure out their defensive woes in the pass game until they kick off against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night.
What was once Denver’s greatest strength on paper is now playing a major role in their three-game slide.
