Bridgewater Says it's 'Almost Time' to Hit Panic Button (But not Yet)
The Denver Broncos don't know which way is up. This team couldn't tell you if it's on foot or horseback.
Confusion breeds chaos and that has played out in living color on gamedays for the Broncos. What this team needs are its leaders to step up and provide some clarity and order to the madness.
Thus we set the stage for quarterback Teddy Bridgewater's Wednesday press conference. On the heels of the last two games in which he was responsible for a whopping five giveaways, Bridgewater stepped up to the podium and said something that I don't think a Broncos fan has ever heard the team's starting quarterback utter.
“It’s definitely a locker room that’s still together,” Bridgewater said. “And you can sense, there’s no panic — I said this to the guys yesterday, I’m like, man we’ve got to have a sense of urgency. It's not time to panic but it almost is because this thing can go in the wrong direction fast."
*winces*
Maybe that's the message this team's leaders are communicating to the troops behind closed doors. If so, I'd still quite highly question the wisdom of it.
But to admit publicly that you, as the starting quarterback and team captain, are "almost" ready to hit the panic button... yeesh. It's just more bad optics for a team consumed by such of late.
Teddy tried to walk it back somewhat by turning the page to urgency. The Broncos have seriously lacked such attributes and have played with a glaring lack of intensity after starting the season 3-0.
"I think if we have that sense of urgency and we go out there with the right mindset, it starts in practice, though," Bridgewater said. "We have to practice with the right mindset, we make this a competitive environment, we can turn this thing around."
Call the curtains, Broncos Country.
This team sounds like it's about to give up the ghost and then promptly curl up and die. If the Broncos can snap this four-game losing streak on Sunday and beat a sub-.500 Washington Football Team, it could keep those fumes circulating in the gas tank for at least another week.
Lose to Washington, and even though the bye week would still two more weeks out, I can't imagine that first-year GM George Paton would countenance a five-game skid without heads rolling. Then again, I've been wrong before.
Like human beings, I guess some teams are a glutton for punishment.
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