Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Justin Simmons Shoulders Blame on Behalf of Broncos Defense: 'We Had to Win Defensively'
The Denver Broncos went into Week 11's road tilt vs. the Minnesota Vikings intent on not letting running back phenom Dalvin Cook beat them. The focus on stopping Minnesota's rushing attacked worked and with the Broncos' offense putting up 20 first-half points, the rout was on.
Cook was held to just 26 rushing yards on 11 carries, while chipping in 31 yards on five receptions.
However, in the second half, the Vikings adjusted. Kirk Cousins and company abandoned the huddle, getting to the ball on each snap in a hurry, which put the onus on the Broncos' defense to get their play-call in quickly and communicate with alacrity.
Unfortunately, as safety Justin Simmons elucidated after the game, the Vikings' ploy of desperation worked and even though the Broncos recognized what their opponent was doing, they failed to counter-adjust well enough and fast enough. Denver ultimately collapsed, falling to Minnesota 27-23.
"It is exactly how we saw it, we played really well in the first half," Simmons said post-game. "We were on a lot of what they did, but then they came out in the second half with a little bit of tempo. However, after the first series we knew they had a tempo game, we had to be on top of our adjustments, and we just didn’t do that. Communication wasn’t as well taken care of as it was in the first half, as it showed. You can’t win a game like that. We would have been bailed out in the end if our offense would have scored in the end, but we can’t win all games like that."
Brandon Allen and the Broncos' offense had three opportunities from the 4-yard line at 10 seconds and under before the final buzzer to punch the ball into the end zone and emerge victorious. But three consecutive incompletions saw the Broncos snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as time ran out.
Simmons knows that in this case, even though the offense came up short in the clutch, it was a defensive collapse that was most complicit in the Broncos' seventh loss of the season. It was Denver's fourth loss this year when leading to open the fourth quarter, but the previous three losses came on last-second field goals.
"This one hurts the most," Simmons said. "Obviously, a game-winning kick hurts, but we had a high chance of winning. However, defensively we didn’t execute. That is what hurts the most knowing that my side of the ball is what let the team down."
When NFL offenses run the no-huddle/hurry-up, sometimes fans take for granted how difficult it makes life for the defense. But there's a reason why teams do it and it's not just for the sake of speeding up the clock or trying to play catch-up. Just ask Peyton Manning.
It puts undue pressure on the defense, especially communicating the play-calls from the sideline to each and every player. The defensive front can get away with not having its communication down pat. If the back-end coverage isn't on the same page, however, it can lead to big gash plays, as the Vikings' 54-yard strike to Stefon Diggs and the go-ahead 32-yard touchdown to Kyle Rudolph made evident.
"They just said we are going to play hurry up football and that’s all they did," Simmons said. "They tried to hurry us up and scramble us. We got a little discombobulated and communication lacked right there."
The Broncos dropped to 3-7 on the season. The next opponent is another 7-3 team — the Buffalo Bills. Once again, the Broncos will have to go on the road — this time, though, all the way to the East Coast to Upstate New York.
It could be Brandon Allen's last stand as the starting QB and his last audition to persuade the coaches to stave off the rise of rookie second-rounder Drew Lock. Hopefully, the Broncos defense comes ready to play a full 60 minutes, and all the wiser after being so complicit in arguably the biggest second-half collapse in the NFL since 2014.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
