ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — They are the few, the promising -- but in the end, the inefficient.
The Broncos have been a peculiar study in offensive contrast through two games.
Start with a mere 17 offensive possessions combined – the fewest in the league. This suggests both the Denver defense is not getting off the field quick enough and, more positively, the Broncos’ offense is sustaining possessions.
Indeed, in 14 of those 17 possessions, the Broncos’ offense has crossed the opponents’ 50. That’s pretty good. The Broncos rank an impressive fifth in the NFL in yards per drive with better than 42 yards a series.
If only they finish the movement. The Broncos are in the bottom five in scoring with just 15.0 points per game.
Most yards per drive:
Team ............ Drives ... Y/D .... PPG (Rank)
Cowboys ......... 19 ...... 50.95 ... 33.0 (5)
Ravens ............. 22 ...... 49.23 ... 41.0 (1)
Chiefs ...,,,......... 21 ..... 45.48 ... 34.0 (4)
Chargers ......... 19 ..... 45.21 ... 20.0 (18)
Broncos ........... 17 ..... 42.12 ... 15.0 (28)
“We’re moving the ball between the 20 and the plus-45,’’ Broncos head coach Vic Fangio said Wednesday. “We’ve had a few too many drives where we’re just on the verge of at least a field goal that we haven’t finished that part of it so that’s been a little bit of an issue.
“The red zone, once we have gotten down there has been an issue. It’s a multitude of things. We’ll keep working on it. We practice it more than most I think, so we just have to keep grinding away at it and find the best plays. We have to find the plays we can execute, and the players have to execute.”
The goals for any offense is to first win -- and the Broncos are 0-2 -- and then it’s to score, which the Broncos haven’t done enough of. Flacco, the 12-year starting quarterback in his first year with Broncos is engineering first downs. But two touchdowns in two games rarely wins in today’s NFL.
“I think our issue right now is we're definitely hurting ourselves, whether they are penalties or an assignment here or there,’’ Flacco said. “We're getting across the 50 and then we're doing something that is backing us up.”
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