Washington’s first possession of the second half Sunday lasted just five plays, but it showed a bit of several different problems the Broncos defense has encountered early on this season.
When quarterback Sam Howell had nowhere to go with the ball on third-and-10, Randy Gregory flashed up the middle but couldn’t get home. Howell escaped, caught Jonathon Cooper committing too far to the middle and bent toward the sideline. Then one of Denver’s surest tacklers, Alex Singleton, took a rare bad angle and could only dive at Howell’s feet as he scampered for 11 and a first down.
To compound matters, Fabian Moreau got called for holding in the secondary — one of 12 penalties on the Broncos defense already through two games — tacking on five more yards.
Then Brian Robinson powered up the middle for 11 yards. From the left hash, Washington’s offensive line washed both of Denver’s down defensive linemen plus Gregory past the right hash mark by the time Robinson scampered by and dragged Josey Jewell for a couple of extra yards.
Then Denver got no rush against Howell and he threw a perfect ball to the post for Terry McLaurin, resulting in a 30-yard touchdown past struggling cornerback Damarri Mathis and reserve safety Delarrin Turner-Yell. Turner-Yell, a special teamer in Week 1, found himself playing 29 snaps of safety with P.J. Locke and Caden Sterns on injured reserve and Kareem Jackson ejected for his second concussion-inducing hit in as many weeks.
Poor tackling. Penalties. Mental errors. An inconsistent pass rush. All on display on a drive that tied the game at 21 and was part of a stretch in which Washington scored on five of six possessions. The Commanders didn’t need the red zone on this trip, but scored touchdowns all three times they got there, too.
So what to make of this? Is the Broncos defense really this bad? Or is this just a blip on the early season radar?
The early numbers aren’t pretty. Denver’s is tied for 30th in the league in expected points added per play, an efficiency metric, according to Sumer Sports data.
The early vibe from those involved is less panicked.
“The tackling I’m not worried about. I know the guys that are out there and we’re going to clean that up,” Singleton said. “We’re going to work on it this week and I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. I think it’s one of those things, early in the season, every defense goes through it and it’s just one of those wakeup calls.”
Singleton also said the he expects the penalty problems and assignment issues to abate, too. During his Monday chat with reporters, Singleton repeatedly talked about cleaning up rather than overhauling.
“We’re just still coming together,” Singleton said, talking about the red zone in particular. “New staff, still learning what we like and don’t like and all those little things. Like everything else, we have to improve.”
Payton after the game called the defense’s performance “poor.”
“We didn’t help them with the field position, with the turnover, but our red-zone defense was poor,” the head coach said. “First-down defense, we’re not fitting certain pressures. …. I didn’t think we played well, and we’re going to see a lot better offenses than that.”
Starting on Sunday, in fact, with a trip to Miami.
The Dolphins lead the league far and away in offensive EPA per play, they’re atop the NFL in yards per game (462.5) and passing yards per game (455) and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa looks like an early season MVP candidate.
That means the improvement has to come quickly.
“Well, we don’t get many more weeks to (work on it),” Singleton said. “So hopefully by Sunday we’ve got it all figured out.”
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