In the first half of Monday night’s game, it looked like the Broncos had solved some of the offensive issues that had plagued them in the first five games of the season.
They scored 10 points on two first quarter drives and added another field goal before halftime, but their success didn’t extend to the second half or overtime. They punted on six of their seven possessions and the seventh saw them kick a field goal after an interception left them with the ball at the Chargers’ 30-yard-line. Denver didn’t pick up a first down there and had five in total after halftime as their offense failed once again to find its footing.
The defense kept the Broncos in the game, but a special teams blunder wound up setting up the game-winning score for the Chargers. P.J. Locke was blocked into punt returner Montrell Washington, Washington muffed the ball, and the Chargers recovered in field goal range. After the 19-16 loss, Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett said the team needs more urgency in order to get better results.
“This is very disappointing,” Hackett said, via the team’s website. “We need to have a lot more urgency across the board. It starts with me as a coach, going to all the other coaches and then the players. Players need to be just more urgent. We had some opportunities there, and we’ve got to execute at a higher level. We’ve got to come up with some better plays.”
It’s tough to win football games if you lack urgency and execution and missing those things on a weekly basis make it tough to believe the coaching staff has the right answers for how to get them. Hackett will try to prove otherwise against the Jets in Week Seven.
