Broncos HC Explains Melvin Gordon's Benching in Week 6
The Denver Broncos sent a message to Melvin Gordon on Monday night and it would seem the veteran running back heard it loud and clear. With an active Latavius Murray available, the Broncos did not want to give Gordon the ball in the fourth quarter of a close game.
In fact, blink and you would have missed Gordon in the second half, with the exception of the television cameras panning to the sideline to see him looking none too happy. After the Broncos fell to the Los Angeles Chargers in overtime, 19-16, Gordon made his frustrations at being benched known.
"I'm solid... I don't know why I wasn't out there, you and me are both kind of clueless about that," Gordon told Clayton Holloway.
On Tuesday, head coach Nathaniel Hackett shared his version of events.
“The first quarter—he was in on the second quarter, and in the third quarter, we didn’t have a lot of football plays," Hackett said. "We were going three and out. Our plan was to get into manageable third-down situations to be able to move the ball and control clock. We did and we just didn’t convert on third down. When you are 29 percent on third-down, that’s a hard recipe for success. When it comes to the running back play, we need to look at that and sit there and say—if somebody’s doing a really good job, and I think Latavius was doing a fine job, he had the opportunity to go another series. Then we just didn’t have a lot of plays.”
Translation: We kept going three-and-out but by some miracle, we were still in the game (thanks to our defense), and there was no way we were going to risk fumbling it away by handing the ball to Gordon in the clutch. No way, no, sir, no how.
Meanwhile, Gordon has thrown a passive/aggressive tantrum of sorts on social media by liking tweets advocating for the Broncos to trade the veteran back. This is par for the course on Gordon.
It's a big reason why he's developed the reputation of not only being a fumbler, but of being a 'me' guy. It's unfortunate that Javonte Williams is on season-ending injured reserve, but Murray played well, toting the ball 15 times for 66 yards in a tight game.
Murray finished with 27 offensive snaps. Gordon got nine, culminating in three carries for eight yards.
The Broncos could trade Gordon but more likely, if he keeps up his antics, he'll just be cut. It turns out that running backs on the doorstep of 30 who can't hold onto the ball don't have much value on the trade block.
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