Sean Payton's Run-Defense Criticism Indirectly Implicates Vance Joseph

Easily the biggest thorn in the Denver Broncos' side is their historically bad defense. The Broncos are ranked dead-last in the NFL defensively in total yards, rushing, yards per play, and points.

In Sunday's loss to the New York Jets, the Broncos did a solid job of bottling up Breece Hall and Dalvin Cook in the first half, only to lay down in the third quarter, and allow the floodgates to be kicked wide open. Hall finished with 177 yards on 22 carries, including a 72-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that served as the dagger to swing momentum New York's way.

The disheartening thing about the Jets running roughshod over the Broncos was that the defense had two key veteran starters return in safety Justin Simmons and inside linebacker Josey Jewell. Rush linebacker Frank Clark also returned to the field, though he received just 11 snaps in relief of starters Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto.

On Monday, Broncos head coach Sean Payton was asked to explain the defensive lapses and, upon reviewing the film, what the common threads seem to be relative to the persistent breakdowns in Vance Joseph's units, especially against the run.

“Good question. Just going through it, our gap integrity has been poor in all three games," Payton said. "We got wide yesterday on the big run. That was the first topic this morning. In other words, this has been—it’s going to be tough to win games if we can’t stop the run defensively, and we have to get it cleaned up. I’d start with fitting the right gaps and then understanding, scheme-wise, what we’re getting and how to restrict those holes. A lot of it—it’s not communication, it’s technique, but that has to get better.”

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As you can tell, Payton remains reluctant to throw Joseph under the bus or blame his coordinator publicly, opting instead to point the finger at the players and a lack of technique. But in an indirect way, Payton's comments about "technique" still fall at the feet of Joseph.

You know what they say about any lapses in team sports: You're either coaching it, or you're allowing it to happen.

Either way, it reflects on Joseph. And remember, Joseph didn't hire himself. That was Payton's call.

There's no rest for the weary, even the 1-4 Broncos. Faced with a short-week turnaround with the Kansas City Chiefs waiting on Thursday Night Football, Payton and company have to come up with answers quickly.

The Chiefs are averaging 123 rushing yards per game, while the Broncos are relinquishing a whopping 187.6 on the ground per contest. It doesn't bode well, especially on the road at the bitterly hostile Arrowhead Stadium.

Payton is struggling to maintain control of his team's emotional constitution, and that's not easy to do when the losses continue to stack up, and the Broncos find new, humiliating ways to drop games each week. It might not be accurate to say that Payton is worried about his team's mental state, but it's definitely something he's monitoring.

At the end of the day, though, Payton knows that the only cure-all is winning.

“You pay attention to all of that," Payton said. "One of the things about this league [is that] there’s nothing like winning. Obviously, when you’re not having success, you have to dig deep. It’s difficult; it’s tough. You get up in the morning, it’s unpleasant, and yet—I think I have pretty good instincts relative to how to approach the team and how to guide the team relative to the next challenge, and that’s what we’re going to do this week.”

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