Broncos Fifth Quarter: Goal-to-go issues plague offense in loss to Chargers

Upon Further Review

1. Goal-to-go issues (part 1). As choky extremity Noah Fant said, the contented wasn’t the Broncos’ gadget play connected fourth-and-goal from the Chargers’ 2. It was the erstwhile 3 plays. Down 10-0, the Broncos faced archetypal down from the 2. QB Drew Lock held onto the shot excessively agelong (3.21 seconds) earlier throwing to TE Albert Okwuegbunam (tackled by S Derwin James for one-yard loss). On 2nd down, WR Seth Williams was bushed (RB Javonte Williams one-yard gain). And connected 3rd down, RT Cam Fleming was bushed (Williams nary gain).

2. Goal-to-go issues (part 2). Trailing 20-3, the Broncos moved to the Chargers’ 8 for a first-and-goal. First down — Williams two-yard rush. Second down — Williams nary summation (S Nasir Adderley was unblocked). Third down — Lock to RB Melvin Gordon for 5 yards. Fourth down — Gordon’s one-yard touchdown was negated by an amerciable formation. It appeared Okwuegbunam was astatine responsibility for “covering up” eligible receiver Austin Schlottmann. Just the benignant of deficiency of attraction to the details that plagues struggling teams. The Broncos kicked a tract goal.

3. No sacks. For the archetypal clip this year, the Broncos failed to station a sack. The defence rushed 5 oregon much connected 11 of 33 drop-backs and had 3 knockdowns (one apiece by DE Dre’Mont Jones, S P.J. Locke and DL Jonathan Harris) and 2 pressures (Jones and OLB Aaron Patrick). QB Justin Herbert was 8-of-11 passing for 86 yards against other rushers. The Broncos’ 5 full disruptions matched a season-low.

4. Two cardinal missed tackles. The Broncos had lone 3 missed tackles, but 2 came connected a cardinal third-quarter play. ILB Jonas Griffith’s tackle for nonaccomplishment enactment the Chargers into third-and-7 from their 20-yard line. The Broncos rushed 5 and Herbert threw to RB Austin Ekeler successful the near flat. S Justin Simmons covered a ton of crushed but missed the tackle 3 yards downfield. At midfield, S Kareem Jackson missed the tackle. Ekeler gained 40 yards.

5. Escaping pressure. The Chargers rushed 5 oregon much players connected 10 of the Broncos’ 33 drop-backs. Their lone sack was successful a swift 2.82 seconds connected 4th down erstwhile DL Jerry Tillery utilized accelerated hands to get the vantage connected LG Netane Muti. Los Angeles besides had 3 pressures and 1 knockdown.

6. Field presumption costly. The Chargers started scoring drives astatine their 45- (47-yard footwear return) and 30-yard lines (after a punt), the Broncos’ 49 (after a fumbled punt) and their 48 (after a turnover connected downs). The Chargers’ mean starting presumption was their 34-yard line, tied for the second-best this play for a Broncos opponent. The Broncos’ mean starting spot was their 23-yard line.

Four Key Numbers

1-7

Coach Vic Fangio’s grounds this twelvemonth connected replay challenges (out of 8 attempts)

7

Touchbacks by Chargers K Dustin Hopkins connected 7 kickoff attempts.

25

Tackles successful the past 2 games for Broncos ILB Jonas Griffith (12 connected Sunday).

92

Receiving yards for TE Noah Fant, a season-high.

Talking Points

Playing clip review. All of the COVID-19 cases created playing clip for those who were backups oregon connected the signifier squad. CB Kyle Fuller played each 67 antiaircraft snaps, ILB Micah Kiser played 63, CB Nate Hairston 44, OLB Andre Mintze 39, DE Jonathan Harris 35, OLB Aaron Patrick 29 and DE Marquiss Spencer 14. On offense, WRs Seth Williams and Kendall Hinton played 53 and 36 snaps, respectively, retired of 60. RBs Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon each played 30 snaps.

Missed opportunity. K Brandon McManus’ 61-yard tract arsenic the archetypal fractional expired chopped the Chargers’ pb to 17-3 and the Broncos rapidly moved into bully presumption to commencement the 3rd quarter. Gordon gained six, 12 and 4 yards connected consecutive carries. But connected second-and-6, QB Drew Lock’s propulsion to TE Eric Saubert was incomplete and connected 3rd down, Lock threw incomplete to Hinton. The Chargers followed with a 14-play thrust to marque it 20-3.

Stopping the run. The Broncos held Los Angeles to a three-yard mean connected 35 carries. The defence had 9 tally “stuffs” not including end-of-game kneel-downs, their second-highest full of the year. Griffith had 2 1/2 stuffs and Fuller and Jonathan Harris had 2 apiece. One of Fuller’s tackles for mislaid yardage came 1 play aft his 14-yard walk interference punishment erstwhile helium bear-hugged WR Jalen Guyton to forestall a 42-yard touchdown.

Extra points

The Broncos had lone 1 dropped walk against the Chargers, a pugnacious sliding drawback that TE Eric Saubert couldn’t corral adjacent the sideline. … On the Chargers’ 49-yard footwear instrumentality to unfastened the game, ILB Justin Strnad fell down, S P.J. Locke space blocked and RB Mike Boone was double-teamed connected the edge. … K Brandon McManus’ bent clip connected Andre Roberts’ 101-yard footwear instrumentality was lone 3.26 seconds. … On the aforesaid first-quarter play, WR Courtland Sutton was called for violative walk interference and drew a antiaircraft walk interference penalty.