Detroit Ex-star Slams Head Coach For Not Allowing….

The Denver Broncos have now dropped two of their previous three games following their Week 15 blowout loss to the Detroit Lions on Saturday, after winning six of their previous seven games. Since both teams had dropped their previous three games, something had to give.

The consensus was that Sean Payton, who had lost five of the team’s first six games, was finally able to turn things around for the Broncos (7-7). Over the course of their seven games, Denver had pulled off some significant upsets, most notably against Kansas City at home in Week 8, Buffalo at home in Week 10, and Cleveland at home in Week 12. Going to Detroit Rock City, however, was an entirely other matter.

After losing by two scores to their NFC North rival Chicago Bears, the Lions (10-4) and quarterback Jared Goff were coming off of their worst performance of the year. Fans of the Broncos were undoubtedly hoping that they were playing the Lions at the ideal moment. No, they didn’t.

At halftime, it was 21-0 Detroit, all of which was scored in the second quarter. It took until 10:41 remaining in the half for Russell Wilson to find Lil’Jordan Humphrey for a three-yard touchdown reception that, after a review, was upheld, giving the Broncos their first score. By that point, it was too little, too late, and Payton had yelled enough at Wilson to chalk this day up as an L.

Is it also too late for this Broncos team to secure a postseason berth? Certainly, today didn’t help things, as they were relegated to the 11th seed.

So, who’s to blame for this Week 15 loss for the Broncos?

The Broncos defense

After a brief two-week slump, Jared Goff was able to recover thanks to the Broncos defense. Goff threw for five touchdowns to no interceptions for 278 yards in Week 15, a significant improvement over his 161 yards and one touchdown to two interceptions performance against the Bears the previous week. Three of those were caught by rookie tight end Sam LaPorta, who is quickly emerging as one of the best in the league.

However, halting the run wasn’t exactly any better done by the Broncos. They let David Montgomery rush for 85 yards in 17 carries for an average of 6.6 yards per carry, and Jahmyr Gibbs rush for 100 yards in just 11 carries with a touchdown. The Broncos defense gave up 448 yards of total offense and let the Lions score in each of the six possessions in the red zone.