Week 6 GDT: Denver Broncos (3-2) vs Las Vegas Raiders (3-2)

[lomaxgrUK]

46 minutes ago, big_palooka said:

I've not seen this lifeless of a performance by a Denver team in a long time. I was questioning what was up with Von Miller, so glad to see you comment on this. He went up against one of the worst RTs in the game and did nothing all day. 

Sutton's effort on that interception was also egregious. Seeing that, I wouldn't want the guy on my team. 

Fangio has got to go obviously. The players don't seem to be responding. He's making terrible calls and desperation challenges. It's really something to watch. 

He's hoping you guys can get it right.

I am going to wait until the All 22 before slating Von too much, as I know he got chipped a fair bit on Sunday and it doesn't help that the rest of our pass rush is abysmal. That said, I saw enough plays where his effort was suspect enough for me to be massively concerned.

As for Sutton - I know what you mean, but this is a guy who tore his ACL chasing down an INT last season. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if he's been instructed not to do anything stupid in the same scenario.

21 minutes ago, DawgX said:

Don't worry guys, you're about to right the ship on Thursday night.

I know you mean well bro, but honestly - we just got pummeled by an above average team without a Head Coach at home yesterday. That was a 3 score deficit in reality.

There isn't a single significant positive on this team right now and I mean that.

I imagine the bookies will reflect this in their over/under soon enough.

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by lomaxgrUK

[champ11]

Well, I was hopeful and positive that the team would be competitive this season. That ship sailed last weekend for me, but this was a pretty fierce nail in the coffin. Obviously the coaching staff needs a clean house whether it is next week or end of the season. Obviously injuries had an impact, but that is three lifeless performances and just the Broncos of old. Disappointing, but not really surprising. Just was hoping for more with a better roster headed into the season. 

[Broncofan]

1 hour ago, DawgX said:

Don't worry guys, you're about to right the ship on Thursday night.

If Chubb (iffy) and more importantly Landry & both T’s return I’d be ok with your teams chances at home.  
 

The Browns secondary has its issues but we don’t have the speed to threaten the weaknesses.   And our OL can’t deal with the pass rush Garrett & co. provide.  
 

On D our pass rush is all Von.  Double him and no one else can take advantage.    The big change this week - we lost Alexander Johnson and already have lost Josey Jewell.  Plus 2 of our top 3 backups left the game.   We literally have no ILB’s.   That showed up in the 2H and why LV pulled away with the run & middle of field  pass game.    Your RB & Landry / TE should abuse that deficiency with an intact OL.    Finally our secondary has 2 key starters showing decline - Kareem Jackson and Kyle Fuller.    Peoples-Jones, Landry and even OBJ (who I know has his issues with Baker) combined with the TE’s should be able to take advantage.   
 

I know K-Hunt is out.   But even if Chubb misses the game I think the Browns bounce back in a big way.   If the T’s and Landry are out then it’s a different story. 

Edited October 18, 2021 by Broncofan

[AnAngryAmerican]

Allbright is pretty well connected and if he thinks the staff is starting to lose the locker room, in mid-October!, then Ellis/Elway/Paton need to make a coaching change. 

There are two reasons to make a coaching change mid-season - a scandal (Gruden emails, McSpyGate, etc.) or if the coaches have lost the locker room. 

[jsthomp2007]

44 minutes ago, champ11 said:

Well, I was hopeful and positive that the team would be competitive this season. That ship sailed last weekend for me, but this was a pretty fierce nail in the coffin. Obviously the coaching staff needs a clean house whether it is next week or end of the season. Obviously injuries had an impact, but that is three lifeless performances and just the Broncos of old. Disappointing, but not really surprising. Just was hoping for more with a better roster headed into the season. 

Every team deals with injuries, especially in today's NFL where it seems like players get injured more often then back in my day when guys would play through sprained ankles, separate shoulders, etc. However, do you think a team like the Chiefs, or the Ravens (the Raven lost all of their RBs in the span of a week), and they are probably the best, or 2nd best team to the Bills in the AFC right now. They just take the next guy up and move right along with their plans. We need that mentality.  

I think Azzanni seems like that kind of guy.  I'd at least promote him to OC if they want to promote within.  He has taken Tim Patrick, and Kendall Hinton and has gotten the best out of them since Sutton went down, and Jeudy went down.  I bet someone like Seth Williams could step in and be relevant.  

[Broncofan]

With the TNF game someone else needs to start the GD thread.   Nothing fancy needed but @lomaxgrUK @bMiller031 & I are out.  

[Joe_is_the_best]

Well that was disheartening. I thought it was premature to say we need to clean house and start over, but it seems like that's what we need to do. We can start with Shurmur. I know we're dealing with injuries, but he sucked from the beginning. Our offense is in the stone age. Why do we keep doing this? No misdirection, no creativity, nothing.

Fangio is next but we need to dump Shurmur ASAP so maybe a star QB will actually want to come here.

[BayRaider]

I was shocked we won so decisively here. You guys have a great roster. Just QB, OL, and maybe parts of the secondary need addressing. I was surprised you guys didn’t take Fields. Also, Vic is not the answer. Good guy, hard working coach, but just not a good Head Coach. 

Anyways, you guys will bounce back next year. Maybe even this year if you can figure some things out like QB. I’d just give Lock one last chance at this point. Much more talented than Bridgewater. And his decision making can’t be much worse than Teddy at this point. 

[lomaxgrUK]

Few quick hits from the 1st quarter All 22:

* Although Fant is so bad with the ball in hand and should've done more to convert that 3rd down (4th down attempt was an INT), the throw was behind him which slowed him down. Bad ball from Teddy. A good one gets a 1st down.
That said - instinctively, Fant should know that if he's having to stop for the ball, he should just try and stop entirely and get the Defender to overrun him in space. He just has absolutely no instincts as a ball carrier at all

* The throw before that from Teddy was a bad ball too, but for a different reason. It was the one where he tried to throw deep to Sutton in between two Defenders on the deep crosser, where Courtland laid out but couldn't get there.
Firstly, props to Littleton (Raiders LB) for spotting the play develop, and running full pelt towards Sutton to make it a tough throw. 
That said - it's actually the exact same instance we had on our 1st drive, if you remember, where Littleton was flagged for PI because he had his back to the QB, and the ball was massively underthrown due to Teddy taking a hit. It's a smart throw, because there isn't a way Littleton can pick it.
This time, Teddy overthrows the ball when an underthrow gets us another PI.

* The 4th down throw is just a bad one. Right decision, just too high.

* Few mishaps in pass pro. Bolles had one vs Crosby where he got beat inside, Cushenberry got beat lightning quick by Square on that incomplete to Sutton I referenced above, and Risner got beat by Square as well.

* Run blocking has been excellent thus far. Good timing on the peel blocks to the 2nd level and we've ran the ball well in the Quarter. Saubert is banging too at TE, that's for sure.

* Defensively, Purcell has missed two tackles in the backfield that resulted in an additional 11 yards combined for the Raiders. Those are big opportunities missed

* In their 2 drives, we've just not put the Raiders in 3rd and long, thus negating Von entirely almost. D Williams, Malik Reed and Strnad in particular struggling against the run in my opinion

* The TD throw is so good from Carr. James Lofton called it perfectly in commentary about how Simmons was late coming over, as he's trying to play it off as 2 man shell as opposed to the single high look that it was. 
When it comes to Ruggs, you can't disguise like that if you're giving him a free release. Darby is in decent coverage, in that he purposely plays outside technique to move Ruggs towards Simmons.
Simmons is inches from breaking it up, but it's poor from him and a perfect throw from Carr.

Edited October 20, 2021 by lomaxgrUK

[lomaxgrUK]

Few quick hits from 2nd Q:

* Darby playing RCB, Surtain LCB

* That whiffed block by Fant ... I had to record my screen to show you all this one ...

 

WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAN ... That is Gordon breaking free into the backfield for a huge gain, maybe a score if he makes the Safety miss. All Fant needed to do was get in the way of the 185lbs CB. I've honestly no clue what he's doing here

* Baddddd miss by Teddy for the deep ball to Courtland. He's so open. We're just not a good enough team to miss those chances. I must say - it's a joke that Surtain got called for illegal contact on that 1st drive against Ruggs, and Hayward isn't called for committing the exact same offence on this play

* Raiders just ran an RPO, interior OL are 3 yards downfield when Carr threw it. Excellent officiating again. D Williams with a very quick win to force pressure and incompletion

* I actually think Kendall Hinton deserved more targets. He ran some really nice routes out of the slot, including an in route that Teddy should've moved to as his #2 read when Patrick was locked up, and Teddy took a Crosby sack

* Henry Ruggs is so quick, man. Raiders need to target him way more often

* Biggest play on the Raiders 2 min drill TD was the floater Carr got to Waller for 33 yards. We send a 5 man blitz with Cover 1 man behind it, it doesn't get close to impacting the play, and Carr can just loft it across the middle to Waller as Callahan just doesn't have a chance in man coverage in that much space.
It's a very good call vs our coverage, as Waller's route is taking him away from the side of the field the single high Safety is shading towards, thus Jackson (the Safety) can't impact the play.
5 man blitz vs 5 man protection - all blocked up, no wins for us

* The TD is a beautiful play design vs man coverage when the LB isn't good in man coverage. Johnson just doesn't have the speed to deal with Drake on a wheel route. Von is chipped, and there's no wins again in the 1v1s across the board. Reed gets a semi-decent bull rush but not enough to impact the throw at all 

[Broncofan]

22 minutes ago, lomaxgrUK said:

 

 

* I actually think Kendall Hinton deserved more targets. He ran some really nice routes out of the slot, including an in route that Teddy should've moved to as his #2 read when Patrick was locked up, and Teddy took a Crosby sack

 

* The TD is a beautiful play design vs man coverage when the LB isn't good in man coverage. Johnson just doesn't have the speed to deal with Drake on a wheel route. Von is chipped, and there's no wins again in the 1v1s across the board. Reed gets a semi-decent bull rush but not enough to impact the throw at all

Re: Hinton's he's probably no better than a 4th WR on a good team right now, but he shows he belongs on a 53 man roster.     I do like the elusiveness he brings and he's tightening up some of his cuts and patterns (he looped too many, and didn't attack the ball enough last year).   He's got some wiggle and obviously is a smart guy being a former QB.     Out of all the guys on our current backup WR stable, he's probably got the most room for growth.    His raw tools give something to work with, and the progress he's shown is encouraging.    If Jeudy's sitting out the TNF game (which I think is both likely and advisable), wouldn't surprise me to see them go his way 6+ targets again, given he'll be in the slot.

 

Re: Von, we're seeing this way more the last 3 weeks - as teams realize that no one else can win, Von's double/chip rate is almost pretty much every pass play that isn't a bubble screen / screen.     If he was paired with a good 2nd pass rusher, I think we'd see that same elite production.    Sadly, that doesn't seem likely to be us anytime soon.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Broncofan