"I look at myself": Broncos' offensive issues start with the head coach

The Denver Broncos offense has been performed at historically-low levels the past two weeks, and with their season on life support, the Broncos are desperately trying to fix things. After a miserable three-point performance at home against the New England Patriots lead to an argument between the

After a miserable three-point performance at home against the New England Patriots lead to an argument between the offense and defense, everyone things cannot continue this way.

“We are struggling, but we’ve been different offensively,” explained head coach Gary Kubiak. “We’ve tried some two-back [and] we lost some of that. We’ve been at one-back, and we’ve had some things going on, but there are no excuses. I have to do a better job with them. The guys are battling. I think Trevor [Siemian] is getting better. He is becoming a good football player. Emmanuel [Sanders] and ‘D.T.’ [Demaryius Thomas] are making their plays. They’re both in the top ten receivers in the league, but we need more consistency in what we’re doing. I look at myself. I have to do a better job for them.”

Kubiak’s defense of his passing game, and particularly his quarterback, was a constant throughout but he did point to many factors that have affected the attack’s ineptitude to score, looking inward first and foremost.

Sanders shared similar thoughts.

“You go back and watch the game, and we didn’t make the necessary plays,” he explained. “We didn’t execute, we didn’t catch the ball well, and we didn’t protect well. We’re just not doing well, but we have to fix it. Are we capable of fixing it, I think so. Obviously these next two games [are] that one word that I started this interview with is ‘accountability.’ Don’t worry about anybody else’s job; just do your job, and we’ll be fine.”

One issue that’s been particularly worrying has been a lack of balance, with the running game being an afterthought as of late, as their quarterback has dropped back to pass at an average of 45 times per contest in the last two losses. That simply won’t cut it.

“We had four three-and-outs,” explained Kubiak speaking on the lack of balance from the second half on. “On the first drive of the second half, we dropped a big third down play. When you don’t stay on the field, it’s hard to do those types of things. The second drive, we had a 10-yard run, but we got a holding call, so we had 2nd-and-17 or 18. We don’t make that third down. We had four three-and-outs. When you do that, you are probably not going to have balance. That’s the disappointing thing. We went no-huddle yesterday, which I thought helped our football team and gave us some good tempo. We were OK running the ball. Most of our big plays were still throwing the ball, but we were OK. Once we went with four three-and-outs, we were in trouble. We were down two scores and trying to get ourselves back in the game.”

It all boils down to what Kubiak just touched on, simple execution. It seems that for every step forward they make, the Broncos regress immediately by shooting themselves in the foot. Costly turnovers, unreliable protections, dropped passes, and untimely penalties have all cost them dearly.  At some point, Denver’s attack has to play a full 60 minutes of complete football.

As they attempt to do that, Kubiak and his staff are trying everything they can.

“Everybody is playing, I can tell you that,” said the head coach. “Everybody is getting a chance to contribute for us offensively that are suiting up. We just have to keep going. We as coaches need to do a better job getting those guys in position to make plays and just keep battling for them right now.”

One such personnel addition was inserting guard Billy Turner in the game in spot duty of Micheal Schofield, a move that was “encouraging” for Kubiak. Another tweak has been the use of the no-huddle offense in which Siemian has performed efficiently.

“He has been doing a good job with it when we asked him to do it throughout the course of the year,” said Kubiak about Siemian. “But I think that he is comfortable with it. He learned a lot from Peyton [Manning] doing it. Is our package maybe as expanded as it has been in the past, no, but I think we can get there if he continues to progress the way that he is doing.”

As the offense and offensive line are being kept accountable for subpar performances the Broncos offense is in need of things to click and go their way. For so many reasons, a jolt in the offense is necessary, Christmas in Kansas City will be their biggest test.