Week 6 MNF: Broncos @ Chargers

[broncos67]

11 hours ago, ronjon1990 said:

Next week:

Broncos Head Coach Nathaniel Hackett says QB Russell Wilson suffered a bruised ego tonight.

At least he didn't say Let's Ride in the presser.

[ET80]

11 hours ago, RaidersAreOne said:

 

Is it bad to say Justin Herbert might be overrated? He’s a plenty good QB, but he has a lot to prove before I consider him a top 5 QB. Heck, he might be on the outside of 10 if I sat down and really thought about it (11/12ish).

[Duluther]

1 minute ago, ET80 said:

Is it bad to say Justin Herbert might be overrated? He’s a plenty good QB, but he has a lot to prove before I consider him a top 5 QB. Heck, he might be on the outside of 10 if I sat down and really thought about it (11/12ish).

Hard to say due to the scheme of his offense. His tools are off the charts and he's tough. His accuracy can be spotty. But much like Denver... I just can't get past their coaching. How are the Chargers not optimizing Herbert? What's with all these pocket passes with short routes as the primaries? Even with conservative Mike Zimmer and mayo Kirk Cousins running the Kubiak 90's scheme, Minnesota's primary reads were most often the deep routes first. 

[big_palooka]

39 minutes ago, BroncoSojia said:

He's probably going to the team we played last night.

Spanos is cheap. He doesn't pay good coaches. 

[Xenos]

14 hours ago, 7DnBrnc53 said:

Chargers deserved to lose more, but they got away with a garbage fumble recovery by pushing a player into the return man, as well as some bad PI calls. 

Pushing the player was a great heads up play. Also perfectly legal.

[Xenos]

14 hours ago, Oregon Ducks said:

We won a game because of special teams?!

And defense 👀

[Xenos]

14 hours ago, Oregon Ducks said:

When are his analytics going to tell him to fire his OC?

At the end of the year if they don’t make the playoffs. Part of the issue is Herbert’s injury and not having Linsley.

[showtime]

It's insane to me how bad Russell Wilson has been playing. Most shocking thing by far this season.

[Magnifico]

1 hour ago, ET80 said:

Is it bad to say Justin Herbert might be overrated? He’s a plenty good QB, but he has a lot to prove before I consider him a top 5 QB. Heck, he might be on the outside of 10 if I sat down and really thought about it (11/12ish).

His OC/Play caller is god awful. He has whatever injury to his ribs. No way he's outside of the Top 10.

Allen, Mahomes, Lamar, Brady, Rodgers are the only QB's going ahead of him currently. Burrow could be argued for also. That's about it.

[Xenos]

15 hours ago, Jakuvious said:

The Chargers are like this though. I've been saying it since late last year, that when you watch the Chargers on offense, it never feels bad. It seems like they're doing just fine. Then you look at the scoreboard and it's like wait, how few points do they have?

Like, Wilson was sacked 4 times, barely completed over 50% of his passes. Herbert was only sacked twice, and was at about 65% completion. The latter feels less incompetent. It feels like a lot of straight up failed plays for the former. Until you realize 13 completions were to RBs and Herbert went for 4.2 yards per attempt. Pass attempt, to be clear. LAC's offensive struggles are just more subtle.

We’re going with quicker shorter passes to protect Herbert. We also don’t have the quick twitch speed guy on offense at WR to get separation. This team is missing a Tyreek Hill.

[ET80]

28 minutes ago, Magnifico said:

His OC/Play caller is god awful. He has whatever injury to his ribs. No way he's outside of the Top 10.

Allen, Mahomes, Lamar, Brady, Rodgers are the only QB's going ahead of him currently. Burrow could be argued for also. That's about it.

Yeah I thought about it - between play calling and the rib injury, he's running uphill. He's still not top 5 though, but top 10 is fair.

[Blackstar12]

Got injured trying to avoid hitting the sideline equipment worker that sucks.

[Xenos]

15 hours ago, Yin-Yang said:

Brandon Staley: “thank the lord, on three”

Yeah, because it takes an act of god for you to win football games, my guy…

Staley didn’t say that. And believe it or not, that’s what some players believe.

[Xenos]

14 hours ago, RaidersAreOne said:

Was JC Jackson benched?

Yes. Michael Davis took over in the 2nd half and the defensive miscues disappeared. 

[Xenos]

14 hours ago, Broncofan said:

As for the Chargers, a few observations:

OFFENSE

-OMG OC Joe Lombardi's scheme is such a horrible fit for Justin Herbert.   They run, or throw the ball short on 1st / 2nd down - which fits Drew Brees to a T.   It does NOT fit what Justin Herbert does best.    It's ridiculous how much the scheme limits Herbert's ceiling.

-Having said the above, Herbert was not his best tonight.  First 2 drives, sailed throws he should have had.   And then a couple of bad reads on the key 4th down play (DeAndre Carter was blanketed, not open), and on the OT 3rd and 1 (Everett was open, but didn't pull the trigger).    He also failed to pull the trigger on an open Ekeler (when he was stuck on 4 catches and I got nervous about my bets lol) and nearly got Ekeler killed later on.    This was NOT his A+ self tonight.

-The OL play losing their star C, and DJ Jones and Dre'mont Jones giving the IOL fits, was a problem - but it's one that's likely temporary.   When they have All-Pro C Corey Linsley  back, it will be better.   Frankly, to have lost him unexpectedly today, they'll be so happy to get the W.

-I don't understand the fascination with Sony Michel.  I get Austin Ekeler needs a break, but honestly, Shawn Kelly is a better runner.   If it's for pass pro, OK, I get it.   But it's a minus to use Michel so much.  I can see why they drafted Isiah Spiller (next year impact).

-The TE's and Ekeler gave our ILB's fits (no surprises).   It's no coincidence Herbert had more trouble when Parham left the game.   If he's re-concussed, that's a massive L.  He's such a mismatch.  I think he's a better receiving weapon than Everett TBH.   Fingers crossed it's not a 2nd concussion after that scary knockout on TNF last year.

 

_____________

DEFENSE

-On D, gotta say they came up huge.   Their run D only gave up maybe 3 chunk run plays of over 5 yards.   Big improvement.  Joseph-Day really stood out in run D.

-The pass rush and blitz calls gave the OL fits all 2H and in OT.   Great play calling there.  Drue Tranquill had a great game.

-The big minus was JC Jackson.  I know he's still recovering from his surgery, and catching up on the new scheme, but he was responsible for 3 of the 4 biggest plays the DEN pass O created.   It was no coincidence Michael Davis coming in helped shore up the pass D.   There's plenty of time for JC to get caught up and start playing like his old self, but right now, he's a liability.

_________________

SPECIAL TEAMS

-Hands down the K Dustin Hopkins HAS to win ST player of the week.  That was a gutty performance to kick all the FG's on one good leg.   He literally gets the first game ball.

 

To be clear - Chargers can't use the same game plan vs. SEA next week.   ARI did a carbon copy of run and short passes early - and didn't get anywhere.   The Chargers can use the RB/TE (and Keenan Allen coming back would be massive), but they have to be MORE aggressive.   Still, if they win that one at home, they then enter the bye week 5-2, and are right there with KC.  Given how bad things looked after Week 3 - they'll no doubt take it.   They just need OC Lombardi to open things up.  Staley needs to own that part.    If they do, the sky's the limit for their O (and yes, Allen returning helps a ton).   But until then, expect more game like tonight, where a talented O really under-delivers (and yes, I know that's the pot calling the kettle black being a DEN fan, but I've been brutally frank with their issues too lol).  Still, at 4-2 there's time to fix things.   Just it needs to happen if they want to be a true contender and go far in January.

Kelly got injured early on, that’s why Michel was the main backup in the game.

I think Lombardi gets too much grief for games like this one. There were deep shots called, but Herbert ended up taking the check downs and passes that were short of the sticks instead. It’s probably due to the OL issues with Linsley out and Pipkins still trying to play with an MCL sprain. Those two OL injuries also affected our rushing attack which in term affects any vertical shots down field. We also don’t have a speedy receiver that can easily separate ans hit the home run on the team currently.