3 Hard Takeaways From Broncos' 48-19 Loss to Bills
After handling the Carolina Panthers last week, things were starting to trend in the right direction for the Denver Broncos but on Saturday, reality came crashing down with a devastating haymaker to the jaw. In eye-opening fashion, the Buffalo Bills curb stomped the Broncos 48-19.
Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen continued his meteoric ascension to the league’s elite as he and wideout Stefon Diggs shredded the Broncos’ depleted defense as a national audience looked on.
Once again, the Broncos offense was completely inefficient, unable to sustain drives, and lacked execution within the scheme. It’s been a theme for the past several seasons, so it came as no surprise to anyone in Broncos Country.
But this time, we truly saw the massive ravage of injuries effect the Broncos defense in a palpable and obvious way. Losing a handful of cornerbacks, including three starters, rang the death toll for Vic Fangio’s bend-but-don't-break defensive front.
Not only were the Bills able to move the ball at will in the passing game, they finished 7-of-9 drives with scores, five of which were touchdowns.
And now, the Broncos are in unprecedented territory.
For the first time since the late 1960s, the Broncos have endured three-straight losing seasons. Super Bowl 50 seems like a hundred years ago, especially considering the fact that the Broncos are the first team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl and then miss the playoffs for the next five years.
If nothing anything, this game might highlight more questions than answers as frustrations are mount to a boiling point across Broncos Country.
What did we learn?
Fangio's Best-Laid Plans Finally Succumb to Injury Holes
It was easy to see coming, yet completely unavoidable. Losing five cornerbacks over the last two weeks put the Broncos defense in an incredibly difficult situation.
There was no way the Broncos could cover Diggs, Cole Beasley, and Dawson Knox, and Allen knew it. He exploited the mismatches, dictated the tempo of the game, and took advantage of one of the weakest secondaries he has seen this year.
And when the Broncos secondary did manage to win its one-on-one matchups, Allen used his legs to his advantage. He went 28-of-40 for 359 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for two more scores as the Bills sliced and diced their way to a blow out victory.
Buffalo had its way with Fangio's defense, and for the first time in a long time, Denver caved when its opponent got into the red zone. Don't let those last couple of possessions where Buffalo settled for a field goal fool you; those were garbage-time drives, and the Bills could have gotten way more.
Denver ran into a buzz saw on Saturday. And there was no stopping it thanks to the injury bug.
Lock Regresses Back to the Mean
After having a career day against the Panthers last week, Lock was his usual self against a Bills defense that keyed on the Broncos' tendencies.
And once again, Lock got careless with his decision making and ball security.
His inability to process post-snap led to him forcing a pair of throws on the boundary that should have been intercepted. Lock's indecisiveness in the pocket led to a pair of sacks as he tried to escape, one of which was scooped up and returned for a touchdown by Jerry Hughes.
Lock made few really nice throws, like his second-quarter touchdown pass to Noah Fant where he showed perfect touch in tight coverage as the tight end was breaking to the sideline. But once again, the negative decision making outshined Lock's positive flashes.
Lock still has a pair of games to show whether he can be the guy, but another poor showing isn't helping his case.
Situational Coaching a Problem... Again
A head coach's responsibility is to manage the game on the field. Critical decision-making with foresight towards the final outcome of the game can be crucial in a team's success.
It can be as simple as challenging the spot of the football or as complex as keeping your coordinator in check with his play calls. Fangio, for as good as he is as a defensive mind, is not doing a good job in managing the football game.
There were a couple of times that Buffalo got a generous spot of the football, including a play in which Diggs was evidently short of the sticks on third down. Rather than challenge the spot and force a punt, Fangio chose to place trust in his defense. That decision led to Allen's first rushing touchdown of the game.
But it doesn't only end on the defensive side of the football. Nor does it end with clock management or challenging plays.
When will Fangio step in and dictate what happens with the offense? Why is Lock throwing twice while standing in his own end zone? Why is the Broncos offense running back-to-back screen plays while backed up deep in their own territory?
Being a head coach means managing everything that happens during the game. It's not just being the head coach of the defense. You call that a defensive coordinator.
We've seen that way too often this year from Fangio. I love the growth of the team and the Broncos' competitive fire, but the situational coaching decisions that put them in poor situations has been prevalent throughout the course of Fangio's first two seasons as head coach.
For a coaching career spanning four decades in this league, it's unacceptable. Fangio has to get better at managing the game as a whole and it's alarming that I have to write this in Week 15, regardless of the injury obstacles.
Follow Lance on Twitter @SandersonMHH and @MileHighHuddle.
