{"id":1314489,"date":"2019-09-10T21:48:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-11T03:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/broncos-strategies-backfire-in-dud-of-season-opener\/"},"modified":"2019-09-10T21:48:01","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T03:48:01","slug":"broncos-strategies-backfire-in-dud-of-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/broncos-strategies-backfire-in-dud-of-season-opener\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos\u2019 strategies backfire in dud of season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Denver Broncos offensive tackle Elijah Wilkinson (68), offensive guard Ronald Leary (65) and others sit on the bench during the second half of an NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, in Oakland, Calif. Oakland won the game 24-16. (AP Photo\/Ben Margot)<\/strong>
AP | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. \u2014 John Elway\u2019s draft dealing and Vic Fangio\u2019s strategy on preseason playing time both backfired in the Denver Broncos\u2019 24-16 loss at Oakland that snapped the NFL\u2019s longest season-opening winning streak at seven.<\/p>\n

Both may still pay off in the long run, but not on a cool night in the Bay Area where the Raiders and the \u201cBlack Hole \u201c were fired up to show they didn\u2019t need Antonio Brown anyway.<\/p>\n

Elway traded away the 10th overall draft pick in April to Pittsburgh, which grabbed Michigan star linebacker Devin Bush, who led the Steelers with 11 tackles Sunday. The Broncos GM used the pair of picks he got in return to select tight end Noah Fant at No. 20 and project QB Drew Lock in the second round.<\/p>\n

Linebacker Todd Davis, the team\u2019s leading tackler last year, tore a calf on the first day of camp and hasn\u2019t practiced since, Lock (thumb) is on IR and Fant had a dud of a debut, gaining 29 yards on two catches but costing Denver 31 yards in losses.<\/p>\n

He was dropped for minus-5 yards on a jet sweep on Denver\u2019s first snap and committed two costly penalties \u2014 an illegal block that wiped out 16 yards and a hold that pushed them back 10 yards and just out of range as Brandon McManus came up short on a 64-yard field-goal try as the first half ended.<\/p>\n

This came a day after the other Iowa tight end that went in the first round, T.J. Hockenson , piled up 131 yards and a touchdown on six catches for Detroit.<\/p>\n

Joe Flacco\u2019s rhythm with his receivers was off as Denver\u2019s out-of-sync offense predictably struggled at times, not surprising after playing so little in August.<\/p>\n

Blunders either pushed the Broncos out of field-goal range or kept them from reaching the end zone as they stalled repeatedly in the red zone before Flacco finally hit Emmanuel Sanders with a 1-yard TD just before the two-minute warning.<\/p>\n

That was Flacco\u2019s eighth drive \u2014 12th if you count his preseason cameos.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just the first game man,\u201d cornerback Chris Harris Jr. said. \u201cIt\u2019s a new team, new coach, new guys playing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the rub: every other team played their starting QB sparingly, if at all, in the preseason . But Flacco was running a new system installed by first-time offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello after coming over from Baltimore. Yet, he played in just two of Denver\u2019s five preseason games and directed just four drives.<\/p>\n

Fangio sat all of his offensive starters for the last two preseason games, giving them a 20-day break before the opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe we could have left them in there for another series in the second and third game,\u201d Fangio said.<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S WORKING<\/p>\n

Perfect in the preseason, McManus kicked three field goals and came within inches of tying Matt Prater\u2019s NFL record-long 64-yarder set in 2013.<\/p>\n

WHAT NEEDS HELP<\/p>\n

The pass rush. Von Miller and Bradley Chubb expect to easily surpass the 26\u00bd sacks they combined for last year, but they couldn\u2019t get close to Derek Carr (22 of 26 for 259 yards, TD).<\/p>\n

INJURED<\/p>\n

The Broncos\u2019 prized free agent singing, Ja\u2019Wuan James, whose four-year, $51 million deal made him the league\u2019s highest-paid right tackle, went for an MRI on his left knee amid concerns his injury was serious. WR Tim Patrick sustained a broken left hand and will miss at least a month.<\/p>\n

Free agent CB Bryce Callahan (foot) was inactive, and Raiders reclamation TE Darren Waller (seven catches, 70 yards) repeatedly burned his replacement, Isaac Yiadom, who rarely had any safety help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat part of it\u2019s on me,\u201d Fangio said. \u201cBut he\u2019s going to have to win some 1-on-1 battles.\u201d<\/p>\n

KEY NUMBER<\/p>\n

105.3 \u2014 Flacco\u2019s passer rating, the highest by a Broncos QB since Trevor Siemian\u2019s 107.7 mark against Oakland on Nov. 26, 2017. Flacco completed 21 of 31 passes for 268 yards and one TD with no interceptions and three sacks .<\/p>\n

NEXT STEPS<\/p>\n

Fangio doesn\u2019t figure he has any inherent advantages Sunday when his old team, the Bears, visit Denver. Fangio directed one of the league\u2019s top defenses for four years in Chicago before getting his first head coaching job at age 60.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything,\u201d Fangio said, \u201cthey may have an advantage because they worked with me for four years and there\u2019s still two defensive coaches there\u201d that were on his staff.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver Broncos offensive tackle Elijah Wilkinson (68), offensive guard Ronald Leary (65) and others sit on the bench during the second half of an NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders Monday, Sept. 9, 2019, in Oakland, Calif. Oakland won the game 24-16. (AP Photo\/Ben Margot)AP | AP ENGLEWOOD, Colo. \u2014 John Elway\u2019s draft dealing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1314489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 06:50:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}