What Broncos' Week 1 loss can & can't tell fans about what 2019 holds

Football Outsiders' Aaron Schatz was the first person I remember calling the reaction after Week 1 of the NFL season 'National Jump to Conclusions Week'.

Jumping to conclusions about the first week of the NFL applies to the Denver Broncos as much as it applies to any other team. Often, our conclusions are reached because we think too much about the Week 1 matchups, assume certain outcomes are a given, then when some of those outcomes don't meet expectations, we read too much about what they mean.

Regarding the Broncos, everyone at Mile High Huddle believed the Broncos would win the season opener against the Oakland Raiders. This ranged from weaknesses on the Raiders defense, to the strengths on the Broncos defense, to the performance of Derek Carr through the years, to the whole ordeal Oakland went through with Antonio Brown.

Those were among the reasons that caused we at MHH — Denver radio and many Broncos fans on top of that — to assume victory was in the bag. But we found out otherwise Monday night.

Thus, some Broncos fans have begun to jump to conclusions about issues with the team and believe that everything is going to fall apart and the Broncos are destined for another top-10 pick.

In some cases, the conclusions hold merit, but in other cases, they don't. They are misconceptions based on what Broncos fans have come to expect through past seasons.

Let's go over a few items that are being debated after Week 1 and find out what really can and cannot be concluded about the Broncos this year.

Joe Flacco can't get it done at quarterback: Nick Kendell did a good job of breaking down how Flacco really performed in the season opener. As he explained, Flacco isn't elite and won't be able to put a team on his shoulders and carry it to the playoffs. But he is good enough to get the job done with better execution elsewhere.

It's true that a few of Flacco's throws were off and, in a couple of instances, he held onto the ball too long. But he showed he could stretch the field and do more to keep a defense honest than the likes of Case Keenum, Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch.

Flacco isn't elite, that is true, but thinking the Broncos can't win with Flacco is what we call Jumping to Conclusions.

The offensive line is bad again: Certain players on the offensive line did struggle. It was known in the preseason that Garett Bolles still had work to do. When Ja'Wuan James went down with a knee injury, Elijah Wilkinson stepped in at right tackle and struggled, just as he did in the preseason.

Ronald Leary was rusty, but perhaps Dalton Risner and Connor McGovern played well. If those two keep playing well and Leary can get back on track, the interior line could be good.

At offensive tackle, though, there are going to be struggles this season. Even if they sign a veteran to help at right tackle (you can check Erick Trickel for a couple of options), it's clear that the tackles are going to be an issue this year. While it's possible the offensive line can be league average, the offensive line being a problem is a Safe Conclusion.

Noah Fant is a bust: No doubt Broncos fans saw T.J. Hockenson light up the Arizona Cardinals Sunday and had visions of Fant breaking out dancing in their heads. But that didn't happen.

However, it's still too early to tell if Hockenson can keep that pace up, especially when the Detroit Lions play better teams. Meanwhile, I warned people that Fant was more likely to take time to adjust, like many other great tight ends have, including former first-round picks.

It's fine to say Fant needs to learn from his Week 1 outing, but declaring him a bust already is the worst example of Jumping to Conclusions about this game.

Broncos can't defend the tight end: The preseason showed that the Broncos were thin at inside linebacker and didn't really have the personnel to stop tight ends.

I don't think anyone expected Vic Fangio to turn water into wine, but we have to remember that the Broncos weren't going to fix all their issues from past seasons in one offseason.

Still, the issues with covering tight ends are a Safe Conclusion to make. What might help is getting Todd Davis back in the lineup (because he's at least shown growth, even if it's great at coverage) and getting a better rotation set (playing Corey Nelson every snap was a problem against the Raiders, because Nelson isn't an every-down linebacker).

The Broncos pass rush is bad: So many of us expected Von Miller and Bradley Chubb to light it up right out of the gates — and there would be Shelby Harris and Derek Wolfe along for the ride.

That didn't happen against the Raiders, so is it time to panic? Not necessarily. The biggest issues with the lack of pass rush was Derek Carr getting rid of the ball quickly and taking whatever was available to him. It might have helped if the Broncos did a better job with rotations, to get some players a breather once in a while.

I believe the pass rush will find its groove in the coming weeks, particularly as Vic Fangio gets more comfortable about coaching on the sidelines. So long-term worries about the pass rush, I call that Jumping to Conclusions.

Isaac Yiadom isn't starting cornerback material: Derek Carr made a habit of targeting Isaac Yiadom throughout the game. Yiadom made a couple of good plays, but otherwise, he had a bad night.

I think Yiadom was worrying too much about his first couple of mistakes and spent too much time dwelling on them. It would have helped to pull him for a while and get another cornerback into the game, at least to find out if that player could at least do a better job.

Yiadom was a third-round pick last year, barely saw the field and is now under a new defensive scheme, so it will take a little time for him to get more comfortable. Perhaps he could be a solid starter in the future, but this season, it's a Safe Conclusion to say he shouldn't be starting.

Bottom line

The next three games will show us a lot more about what to expect from the Broncos overall this season. I think the team still has the talent to finish around .500, but the Broncos aren't a playoff contender at this time.

And while it's frustrating to not play well in the first game of the season, it's more important to finish strong after a slow start, than it is to have a strong start, then stumble afterward. That's what we saw the past two seasons under Vance Joseph and we don't want that to happen again.

For now, the best thing Broncos fan can hope for is that the Broncos are playing better at the end of the season than they are now. But avoid making too many conclusions until more games are played — that applies not just to the Broncos, but any team.

Follow Bob on Twitter @BobMorrisSports and @MileHighHuddle.

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