Broncos Fans Shouldn't Hit Panic Button: 5 Reasons Why

While Denver Broncos fans were understandably unhappy with head coach Nathaniel Hackett’s decision to attempt a 64-yard field goal in the final seconds of Monday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks, there were a few who went overboard with their reactions.

At least one person in my social media mentions wanted Hackett fired. That’s an overreaction to the situation.

Furthermore, one must be careful about jumping to conclusions about how Hackett will do this season, simply based on one bad decision in his first game as head coach.

It’s true that the Broncos have had some bad coaching decision-makers from their last two head coaches, Vance Joseph and Vic Fangio. However, that doesn’t mean that Hackett is destined to be as bad as those two, simply because he made a bad coaching decision in his debut.

More importantly, Joseph and Fangio weren’t simply fired because of poor coaching decisions during games. There were multiple reasons for their dismissals, which were evident over a large body of work, not one game that existed in a vacuum by itself.

Hackett’s coaching performance in the season opener shouldn’t be used to define his entire coaching career when it’s barely gotten underway. Doing so is jumping to conclusions about his performance.

This is not a defense of his decision, which he later admitted was wrong. You are free to criticize the decision, but you judge his coaching career based on a larger sample size, and we have just one regular-season game to judge.

There are other situations from Monday’s game where it’s worth asking whether or not fans should be jumping to conclusions. Sometimes you can determine how a season will go based on what happens in the opener, but mostly, you cannot. And the only way to know for sure is to see how things unfold during the season.

Let’s cover a few other notable items from Monday’s game — both good and bad — and ask ourselves if this is really going to be the norm or not.

Multiple Goal Line Fumbles

Melvin Gordon and Javonte Williams both fumbled the ball at the goal line, each recovered by the Seahawks. Both cost the Broncos a chance at a touchdown.

However, this doesn’t mean it’s going to be the norm for these running backs. Gordon had three fumbles last year, which came at inopportune moments, but he also came through in other crucial situations. With Gordon, I think it has too much to do with people fixating on when he fumbled, rather than how often.

As for Williams, remember that he had a goal-line fumble last year, too, though the Broncos had the lead at that point. However, he had just two last year, so it shouldn’t be the norm for him, either. It was frustrating to see that happen Monday, but I don’t expect this to become a major issue.

What happens next for the Broncos? Don't miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second and sign up for our FREE newsletter and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!

10-Plus Penalties

The Broncos had 12 penalties for 106 yards, with multiple defensive penalties that extended drives for the Seahawks. That’s another reason the Broncos lost the game.

Some of it might be chalked up to players getting caught up in the buildup to the game. Russell Wilson was facing his former team, so players may have been thinking a lot about winning this game for him, and thus weren’t as focused.

I’m optimistic that the coaching staff can get this fixed — while penalties aren’t always attributable to coaching, getting players to focus on the task at hand is attributable. Thus, the question is how the coaching staff holds players accountable for penalties that can go back to a lack of focus.

Bradley Chubb's Two Sacks

On a positive note, Chubb got things going in the second half, sacking Geno Smith twice and once stripping him of the ball. Though the Seahawks recovered the fumble, it was good to see Chubb back in form.

I wouldn’t expect Chubb to have two sacks every game, because that would give him 34 for the season — much higher than the 22.5 sacks Michael Strahan had to set the single-season record in 2001.

However, I still believe Chubb could post double-digit sacks for the season, and his performance against the Seahawks puts him on that path. He might not come out with a sack right away in each game, but as long as the defense improves throughout games, Chubb should get more opportunities to get to the quarterback.

Jerry Jeudy Gets 100 Yards

Jeudy had his first 100-yard receiving game of the season and scored a touchdown. He ran a good route on his 67-yard touchdown reception, broke away from a defender, then outran another for the end zone.

Context is needed, of course, because he got 67 yards on one play. However, he was targeted seven times and caught four passes, though he had one drop.

It seems likely that Wilson will distribute the ball to a lot of players — he attempted 42 passes and targeted 10 different players. Therefore, I don’t think Jeudy will have a lot of 100-yard games this season, but getting four to five receptions per game is doable.

Broncos Dominate Time of Possession

A problem the Broncos have had in past seasons was letting too many opponents control the time of possession. That wasn’t an issue Monday, with the Broncos' time of possession at 33:39 with the Seahawks at 26:21.

Of course, the issue was the Broncos didn’t finish enough drives. That, too, has been a problem for the Broncos in past seasons and must be fixed.

With that said, I would expect the Broncos to do better with time of possession now that they have Russell Wilson under center. Against weaker opponents, they should be able to control the ball, and against stronger opponents, they should be able to keep it close.

Follow Bob on Twitter @BobMorrisSports.

Follow Mile High Huddle on Twitter and Facebook.

Subscribe to Mile High Huddle on YouTube for daily Broncos live-stream podcasts!