The Denver Broncos lost their second preseason game last night 27-13 to the Seattle Seahawks, dropping the team to 0-2 in pretend games so far this year.
Kyle Orton was better yesterday than he was in the first game. That’s not saying much. He completed 18 of 26 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown, and also threw an interception in the end zone. Let’s discuss that pick and the series of events leading to it because it is emblematic, I fear, of what Denver’s season could look like.
The Broncos got the ball on their own 13 yard line and, thanks largely to a series of complete passes, moved into scoring position. (Check the play-by-play here; it’s the drive that started with 10:33 left in the second.) After a short pass to Eddie Royal, the Broncos get first-and-goal on the four. LaMont Jordan runs three yards to the one. So it’s second-and-goal on the one or, in other words, the Broncos had three chances to move the ball one yard.
Well, here’s a team with a proud history of running the ball, and with a ton of RBs to evaluate on the roster. Surely ONE of the downs will go to a run. Instead, it’s three straight passing plays. The first two were incomplete passes to Jabar Gaffney, and I think one of them was that laser Orton threw over Gaffney’s head when he was standing wide open in the back of the end zone. Whenever that opportunity came, Orton blew it badly. But he didn’t call three straight pass plays. On fourth down, Orton ran away from pressure, switched the ball to his left hand (huh?), and lofted an absolute rainbow in the middle of about eighteen Seattle defenders which, predictably, was picked off. You know, it’s the kind of idiot play you make when you know you have absolute job security. (Chris Simms was 5-for-7, but Orton started the second half this time and Tom Brandstater came in later, so I guess Simms is the secret weapon this year.)
Again, though, why weren’t we running it? I get that Shanahan isn’t the coach here anymore, but it’s not like the conventional wisdom suggests it’s easy to throw with only one yard and an end zone to work with. And Shanahan HAS thrown in those situations, though often with bootlegs or play action or some other “set up the pass with the run” scheming. The fourth-down pick was awful. The sycophantic local announcers excused it since it was fourth down and everything, but as my brother pointed out, doesn’t the field position mean something? Since the Seahawks got a touchback, the interception, though not as costly as some, gave the Seahawks nineteen yards we didn’t have to give them, plus valuable breathing room on dropbacks, etc.
Look, it’s one thing when your team doesn’t win, but plays hard. It’s one thing when your team is young, and doesn’t quite know what it’s doing yet, but is still exciting and tough. But when your team is young, a little short on talent, and making horrible decisions on the sideline and on the field, it makes for a terrible year.
Comments
I was sorely disappointed in the sycophantic coverage of the game in the local media on two points. First, the local media blamed Gaffney for the incompletion in the end zone, calling it a "drop." I am not sure which game they were watching; Orton fired it in way too hard and way too high for the conditions. Second, the local media tried to play up Orton's one touchdown pass. But the prior play was a horribly underthrown fade to Tony Scheffter that richocheted off the defender's hands and should have been intercepted. So Orton just as easily should have had a 2-pick game.
This is going to be a long season.