{"id":1315016,"date":"2019-09-25T22:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T04:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/broncos-point-fingers-at-themselves-over-0-3-start\/"},"modified":"2019-09-25T22:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T04:28:00","slug":"broncos-point-fingers-at-themselves-over-0-3-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/broncos-point-fingers-at-themselves-over-0-3-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos point fingers at themselves over 0-3 start"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams (17) catches a pass as Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris defends during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo\/Mike Roemer)<\/strong>
AP | FR155603 AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. \u2014 Chris Harris Jr. insists it\u2019s Denver\u2019s opponents who are risk averse, not Broncos head coach Vic Fangio.<\/p>\n

The Broncos (0-3) are the first NFL team ever to head into Week 4 still searching for their first takeaway and first sack, which became an official stat in 1982.<\/p>\n

Asked Tuesday if Fangio needs to be more aggressive in his play calls, Harris retorted, \u201cHe is aggressive. He\u2019s calling all-out blitzes. He\u2019s calling man (coverage). I don\u2019t know what else Coach Fangio can call. He\u2019s putting us in every defense possible to be able to make plays.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos\u2019 deficient defense is one of the biggest surprises in the budding 100th NFL season, but Harris\u2019 reaction suggests he views Fangio\u2019s conservative calls as more of a product of circumstance than strategy.<\/p>\n

Fangio earned his first head coaching opportunity at age 60 this year after designing the NFL\u2019s stingiest defense in Chicago, the capstone to a three-decade run as one of the league\u2019s most respected defensive coordinators.<\/p>\n

Pairing him with Von Miller was supposed to be magical, like it was when Fangio and Khalil Mack teamed up last year to help the Bears end an eight-year playoff drought.<\/p>\n

Miller, who is two sacks sky of 100 for his career, hasn\u2019t had a single hit on the quarterback, much less a sack, in losses at Oakland and Green Bay sandwiched around a last-second defeat to Fangio\u2019s old Bears team.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was knocked down just one time, by Bradley Chubb, and said he\u2019d never felt so good after a game as he did following Green Bay\u2019s 27-16 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need to find a way to play better,\u201d said Miller, who was among the first to point the finger of blame at himself for Denver\u2019s stumble. \u201cI have to find a way to get sacks and do my job. No one holds me to a higher standard than I do. I could sit here and make excuses, but I got clean rushes (Sunday). I just need to find a way to get the quarterback on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris said the pass defenders and the pass rushers need to work better together to end their sackless streak and finally force some turnovers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to get on the same page, working together and making sure we have great coverage and great pressure at the same time,\u201d Harris said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t been able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos have missed new cornerback Bryce Callahan, who injured his surgically-repaired left foot in July, but they did get inside linebacker Todd Davis back last week for the first time since he tore a calf on July 18.<\/p>\n

Opponents haven\u2019t had to take many chances against Denver because the Broncos are averaging fewer than 16 points a game and have only had the lead for 12 minutes so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese first three games were weird, and we have to be able to force teams into making mistakes,\u201d Harris said. \u201cRight now, they\u2019re playing very safe. \u2026 Most of the turnovers happen in the passing game and if we can, we have to try to get teams to even pass the ball more.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos host the Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2) Sunday, and wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders said playing with a lead for a change would allow everyone to loosen up.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, it helps out a lot,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re playing with a lead, if we had a 10-point lead, everybody is a little more relaxed, but when you\u2019re playing from behind it\u2019s like you don\u2019t want to say it, but you do play a little tighter because you know every play can determine the outcome of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the other way around back when Denver was a Super Bowl contender with the Broncos setting the tone and forcing opponents into self-destructing, Sanders said.<\/p>\n

The Broncos say they sense a turnaround coming, though.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have a good enough team to win now,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though we\u2019re 0-3, we don\u2019t have that end-of-the-world feeling right now,\u201d Harris concurred. \u201cWe know that we\u2019re close. We\u2019ve done some good things but we have to learn not to beat ourselves. We\u2019ve been beating ourselves for a couple years lately.\u201d<\/p>\n

GM John Elway is encouraged , too.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had more good each game and less bad. It just hasn\u2019t been good enough,\u201d Elway said on the team\u2019s website. \u201cI think the mindset is right. We\u2019re still working at it. We\u2019re disappointed being 0-3 but hopefully we can come home this week against the Jaguars and play like we\u2019re capable of and eliminate some of those mistakes, make some big plays and get a victory.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams (17) catches a pass as Denver Broncos cornerback Chris Harris defends during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo\/Mike Roemer)AP | FR155603 AP ENGLEWOOD, Colo. \u2014 Chris Harris Jr. insists it\u2019s Denver\u2019s opponents who are risk averse, […]<\/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-1315016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-28 00:17:12","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\/1315016","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=1315016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}