Bad coaching, poor blocking, and even lining up wrong on a field goal. All the small (and big) reasons the Broncos lost to the Pats.

33 comments

  1. Not having Nix i feel was a big reason. Stiddy could of won it. Weather basically equalized it. But also bad coaching decisions such as the going for it on 4th a 1 when you have a super easy FG.

  2. 1. Payton going for it on 4th down

    2. Stidham backwards pass

    3. Lutz missing 54 yard FG before half

    4. No adjustments once the snow came

    5. Challenging the 4th and 1 Maye QB sneak

  4. Coaching decisions and playcalling were the biggest contributors to our loss.

    In fact, I believe playcalling is the reason we were in so many close games to begin with all season.

    If you call screen passes 46% of the time, your offense becomes predictable and easy to defend.

    He never will because he’s too proud but the best thing that could happen to this team is for Sean to just be the HC and leader of the locker room and bring in a young, offensive mind to transform this offense.

  6. Lutz is a liability and the people coming to his defense is concerning. I get the weather conditions were in play but every time he lines up for a 50+ yarder I look away.

  9. In retrospect it seems like both Payton and Stidham were trying to do too much. Confidence is great and I think it’s why we got out to an early lead, but we forgot that at the end of the day stiddys still a backup qb and that merits some degree of caution.

    The worst play of course was his chest pass that gifted the pats 7 points. That’s just not how a backup should play especially in a game like this. Just take a sack. No need for hero ball.

    Stiddy also dealt with pressure quite badly in general. I wonder if Meinerz’s poor play was because of him not setting protections right or something.

  10. One way of saying: in a close game, every play makes a difference and the winners make more of them than the losers.

  12. The other day someone mentioned the backwards pass should have been intentional grounding – regardless of where the ball bounced relative to the player at he time.

    Taking this a little further, if a QB was in a normal throwing stance, arm moving forward, and he gets hit in the chest just prior to releasing the ball – the ball could very well land just behind where the QB was standing. In that case no one would question if it was a forwards pass or not. I reckon someone could find many examples of that scenario. So, why did they care for Stidham? Because Vrabel talked the refs into it that’s why. Good coaching by him.

    The rule is flawed though.

  14. One reason: No Bo Nix. Any honest person will admit that if he played, the Broncos win that game, end of story.

  15. I thought another factor was we couldn’t stop the run on key downs and we didn’t run the ball well.

    In any event, I’m excited to see what the team does this offseason. I think Denver will be markedly better.

  16. 1) Bo Nix was out

    That’s it, end of list. With Nix they win that game 10 out of 10 times.

    Meinerz did look really bad though, he didn’t seem to be moving well at all, and it had me wondering if he was injured.

  20. Their special teams have been mostly a disaster since Payton took over. He wouldn’t notice though because he’s got his face buried in the offensive playbook. Gotta really get in that book to call 25 screen passes.

  23. My take away was Sean called the game like he had Bo. It didn’t feel like a simplified plan for a backup QB to minimize mistakes and make easy reads/rely on a run game.
    It was either a false confidence in Stidham to excel beyond his talent level or an inflated ego of Sean to think it didn’t matter who started for him, he’d make them a star.

    No doubt in my mind with Bo that game ends at halftime with us up 24-3. Snow storm rolls in and we’re off to the Super Bowl.

  24. Stidham played like a backup Qb. We didn’t have nix.. SP was sellin with that dumbass 4th down play call as if we weren’t playing with backup and points weren’t a premium.. end of..

  31. 5 reasons:

    Fumbling the ball inside your own 15 giving them an easy TD that was the difference in the game.

    Fumbling the ball inside your own 15 giving them an easy TD that was the difference in the game.

    Fumbling the ball inside your own 15 giving them an easy TD that was the difference in the game.

    Fumbling the ball inside your own 15 giving them an easy TD that was the difference in the game.

    Fumbling the ball inside your own 15 giving them an easy TD that was the difference in the game.

  32. Jarrett Stidham. He looked good on the first drive of scripted plays. Then fell apart, then the weather ended the game.

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