Mile High Report
Here are all the best shots from the Denver Broncos brutal loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 16.
What a hangover.
The Denver Broncos had everything going for them in the first half against the Los Angeles Chargers, but for some reason went away from what was working and proceeded to get blown out. The turning point, though, came at the end of the first half where Sean Payton decided to try to make something happen with less than a minute to go.
Rather than take the blame for poor play calling, he blamed the penalty. While technically true, he could have also just run the clock out.
“Look, I think 40 or 41 seconds to start the drive,” Payton said after the game. “We try to see, typically, you’d be pretty conservative. We were going to have the ball. We ran a screen and then when the clock got low enough, we didn’t get any momentum going there. We just ran the ball and punted it. A penalty puts them in a position and then basically anytime you catch a punt, you have the ability to place it right there and get a free kick. Doesn’t happen much. We practice it all the time. Well, in that situation the penalty put them in field goal position, so it’s disappointing.”
Yes, it was disappointing. Disappointing that you didn’t just run the clock out and go into halftime with momentum and a two score lead. It’s also disappointing that you ignored the “Run it!” note on your play call sheet once the second half started.
It is what it is. I’m grumpy this morning and now they have Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals coming up with two games to go...
