Multiple Broncos say their back-breaking loss can be pinned directly on one unit

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — On Sunday, the Denver Broncos did something they hadn’t done in 301 days.

On Dec. 2, 2018, the Broncos eclipsed 20 points against the Bengals. It wasn’t until Sunday, with 1:32 seconds left in the game against the Jaguars, that they accomplished that feat again.

That also happened to be the last time the Broncos won a game.

Actually, forget 20 points, it was the first time the Broncos scored more than 16 points since that same game in Week 13. The two games before that win against the Bengals, the Broncos also put up over 20 points, and the results were the same—wins.

The result, however, did not follow that similar pattern on Sunday.

“Offense did enough for us to win. Defense, we got to find a way to close the game out,” Von Miller said dejectedly after the team fell to the Jaguars 26-24 to remain winless on the season. “That’s the second time this season that’s happened to us.”

While Joe Flacco threw a “very” critical interception right before halftime, in the words of Vic Fangio, he and the offense did everything the team asks of them. The offense got the early lead—which has been a crucial point of emphasis from John Elway on down—and he led what could, and should have been a game-winning touchdown drive with less than two minutes left in the game.

In fact, the Broncos 6.9 yards per play on offense is the most they’ve had in a single game since they beat down the Packers in the 2015 season. Yes, that’s dating all the way back to the Peyton Manning era.

So, as Von said, the offense did enough.

“We were up 17-3. You have to win that game. The offense shouldn’t have to put another point on the board,” Justin Simmons stated, backing No. 58’s assessment.

But the defense, the supposed vaunted Broncos’ defense with Vic, Von and Bradley Chubb, didn’t live up to their end of the bargain. After an impressive first half, where the defense allowed just six points, in the words of Fangio, “you’re going to have to look long and hard” to find positives in the second half.

“We just got whipped there. I can never remember being in a game like that where they might have had 300 yards rushing. I don’t know,” Fangio said, lost for words when talking about the run defense, specifically in the second half.

The Broncos allowed a whopping 269 rushing yards to the Jaguars on 7.1 yards per carry. Denver’s defense helped Leonard Fournette look like the top-five pick that he is, as he went for a career-high 225 yards on the ground by himself.

“They were pushing us around, and he’s a big back. He broke tackles and moved the pile, and we got whipped,” Fangio said, stating again how Denver got whipped on the ground. “He’s a really good big back. He took it to us, and their line did.”

Up until Sunday, Fournette hadn’t looked like a top-five running back. In fact, his last 100-yard game was during his rookie season in 2017. The LSU product more than doubled that 101-yard rushing performance on Sunday.

Despite a new defensive leader in Fangio, this wasn’t a new phenomenon. In fact, in the last three seasons, four running backs have rushed for more than 200 yards in a single game. Three of those—Todd Gurley, Isaiah Crowell, and Fournette—were against the Broncos.

But as bad as the run defense was, it wasn’t all their fault.

“We had a poor time with the quarterback, too,” Fangio said, referring to the craze sweeping the nation known as Gardner Minshew. “The whole personality of the game changed when we couldn’t get that quarterback tackled when we had guys around him in the pocket on a couple critical third downs.”

Although Denver ended their sack drought, they needed more than the five they had on the day to get their first win on the season.

When building this team in the offseason, Fangio stated tackling was a “non-negotiable” trait for his defensive players.

“Non-existent” fit Sunday’s profile better.

After having no problems taking the Jaguars down in the first half, it appeared Minshew and Fournette greased up at halftime as they slid right through Broncos defenders time and time again. All of the missed tackles made Fangio “very” crazy on the sideline.

According to the players, the reasoning was simple.

“We just played shitty,” Adam Gotsis said when asked what changed in the second half.

“We just got beat, couldn’t stop the run. Couldn’t tackle the quarterback and that creates a hard game to win,” Von echoed. “A tough day for us.”

A tough half. A tough day. A tough first quarter of the season. But on Sunday, it couldn’t be blamed on the offense.