ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — This was supposed to be the week to welcome back Russell Wilson with boos, taunts and jeers.
Instead, there’s the frightening prospect of the Broncos coming off a disappointing offensive performance in the opener and meeting T.J. Watt, Cameron Hayward, Minkah Fitzpatrick and the Steelers’ defense in Week 2.
“I think we’ll be seeing a better defense this weekend, and that’s with no disrespect at all to Seattle,’’ Broncos head coach Sean Payton said Monday in his day-after-game conference call with the local media.
Wilson, the Broncos’ benched-then-discarded quarterback after two disappointing seasons in Denver, caught on this offseason with Pittsburgh – mostly on the Broncos’ $39 million tab – but is questionable to play because of a calf injury. It would be a shame if Russ doesn’t play. The idea behind the awkward reunion was for the Broncos to show off how much better off they are with his replacement, first-round rookie Bo Nix.
Except Nix and the Broncos’ offense didn’t play well Sunday at Seattle except for their final possession of each half.
“My bigger concern today, No. 1, that game early was there a little bit for the taking,’’ Payton said. “We didn’t take advantage of the field position, the interception by Alex [Singleton]. We’re sitting there in a perfect position to really go up, and we don’t take advantage of the field position there. Our red-zone offense wasn’t nearly as good as it needed to be, and we did have some drops early on. I think when I watch this tape offensively, we need to be better around him, and we will be.”
In the first half of their 26-20 loss at Seattle, the Broncos’ first offensive possession was the Seattle 20 following Singleton’s interception and return. The Broncos couldn’t pick up a first down and disappointingly settled for a short Wil Lutz field goal.
In the second quarter, Broncos special teams gave their offense the ball at the Seattle 9. The offense went backwards a couple yards and again the Broncos frustratingly had to take a short Lutz field goal.
The Broncos not only had a chance to add 8 points but converting those takeaways into touchdowns, they had a chance to demoralize the Seahawks early. Seattle’s offense was reeling in the first half. It was all out of sorts. Go up a couple touchdowns in the first half and the Broncos may well have been celebrating a win on the trip home.
“One of the key things that was important in this game is winning the run game battle, and we weren’t able to do that,’’ Payton said. “We struggled and in that inefficiency on first and second down, it was one of our keys to victory and we were anything but.”
Was it the blocking?
“It wasn’t good enough,’’ Payton said.
Was it the running backs?
“There were too many 2-to-3-yard gains,’’ Payton said while overlooking the 9 runs for 1 yard or less. “When you look at Javonte and Jaleel’s numbers, we have to be more effective there and that’s something we talked about in the team meeting. …. Then I’d tell you, there’s a couple of runs that we’ve got to see better vison-wise from the running back position.
”Audric has one, where I don’t know that his eyes are in the right spot, but he’s got a chance for a much bigger play. Javonte has one, so overall we’ve got to improve in that area and then there were some early drops by the receivers and then we bounced back.”
So the offensive line, running backs and receivers could have done more to help Nix. But to Payton’s credit he admitted to more of his own shortcomings after re-watching the tape.
“Here we are, the game’s over. We have to ask ourselves as coaches, alright, ‘If we played it again, what would we have done different?’’’ Payton said. “There are a handful of things that I felt like I didn’t do a good enough job with relative to the inter triangle as to what we were seeing.”
Bronco Bits
Left tackle Garett Bolles missed most of the fourth quarter with an ankle injury, but Payton said X-rays done near the visiting locker room at Lumen Field and a follow-up MRI back home on Monday came back negative.
“Obviously, there’s a contusion,’’ Payton said. “That’s what I know and that’s a positive.” …
The University of Houston announced Allen Aldridge, a starting linebacker on the Broncos’ first Super Bowl-winning team in 1997, has died at 52. Aldridge played four seasons with the Broncos from 1994, when he was a second-round draft pick, through 1997. He then played four more years with the Detroit Lions. He was a starter for seven of his eight seasons – all but his rookie year. …
In his first 4 years with Ravens and Packers, inside linebacker Kristian Welch was primarily a special teamer (and a good one), playing just 44 snaps total on defense. He played 19 defensive snaps Sunday for the Broncos, 10 days after signing with team.
