Von Miller Castigates Broncos for Not Stepping up For Lock at Arrowhead
The Denver Broncos went into Arrowhead Stadium hopeful that this matchup would bring an end to their eight-game losing streak to the Kansas City Chiefs. Alas, despite the spark Drew Lock gave the team in the previous two games, the Broncos were unable to harness it in a third-straight game and were completely out-classed once again by their bitter Division foes.
Patrick Mahomes was able to dissect the Broncos secondary, playing pitch-and-catch with wide-open receivers all day long and scoring on the Chiefs' first five possessions. Vic Fangio's depleted defense had no answer for Andy Reid's aerial assault in the snow.
Offensively, Lock received next-to-no help from his supporting cast. The Broncos offensive line relinquished constant pressure on the young, embattled signal-caller, leading to multiple sacks and double-digit hits on the rookie. To make matters worse, the Broncos receivers suddenly developed a case of 'the dropsies' on the road.
While it's easy to point to the weather as the culprit for the drops, the snowy and wet conditions didn't seem to bother the Chiefs receivers and tight ends. Bottom line, Fangio and company were out-coached and out-classed once again.
In the wake of the loss, some fans were quick to criticize Lock, as the rookie finished 18-of-40 passing, with a sub-50 completion percentage, for 208 yards and an ill-advised interception in the red zone. In this case, the box score doesn't reflect the whole truth of Lock's performance, as the performance of the rookie's teammates betrayed him just as much as the conditions did.
To win on the road vs. an elite opponent, the margin of error is razor-thin and almost every domino that Denver needed to fall in their favor went the opposite direction. After the game, Von Miller rebuffed the notion that Lock isn't the answer at quarterback, instead pointing to the lack of contribution from the rookie's support cast.
"Drew is definitely the future," Miller said post-game. "It's everybody around him. Guys gotta get open, offensive line's gotta block, gotta run the ball. Cliche little stuff. Drew is doing what he needs to do. Defense, we've gotta stop the run, we've gotta rush the passer, we've gotta play tight coverage. I sound like a broken record up here. We saying the same thing. We found our quarterback. We've got a great quarterback. Everybody else has to come up."
While not absolving the rookie for his imperfections, Miller hit on the reality that it takes a village to win in the NFL.
"We can't just lean on one guy," Miller said. "Offense, defense, special teams. It's the pros. We can't just lean on one guy to do it all or to save you. It has to be a collective effort by the foundation of the team."
Not one to wallow in self-pity, Miller's parting message was one of determination and optimism.
"For me, I guess it just looks different from my lens," Miller said. "I'm 30 years old. I've been playing in the league nine years. I'm ready to hit the gear. I'm ready to go again. I'm ready to bring whatever we had in the past back. I want that back. Down year, two down years, three down years, four down years—we did that. Now I'm trying to get back going again."
Here's the bottom-line takeaway from the Broncos' 23-3 loss to the Chiefs. Nothing about Lock's performance was enough to spoil the realization that, as Miller said, the Broncos have found their quarterback — that elusive, cornerstone piece to the puzzle.
Nothing Lock did or didn't do at Arrowhead should preclude the Broncos from heading into 2020 knowing they've got their guy at quarterback. The mission now becomes building the nest around Lock.
On the surface, it appears that Mahomes out-dueled Lock but the reality is, the Chiefs are leaps and bounds ahead of the Broncos from a talent and depth perspective. The good news is, GM John Elway will enter the 2020 offseason with north of $70 million in cap space and projected to have 12 draft picks.
Miller said that losing like this "defeats my soul" but his initial premise isn't wrong. The Broncos can't rely solely on one guy to save the day. This team was out-matched talent-wise in Week 15.
That's why 2020 might be the defining offseason in the Elway front-office era. With a truly dynamic quarterback, all things are possible. But Elway has to keep putting wood on that fire.
Armed with Lock at quarterback, the Broncos will have a chance to turn the ship around in 2020. Broncos Country simply has to hang on one more offseason.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
