Lammey: Joseph blames Broncos coaches, Miller players, for skid
Nov 13, 2017, 12:00 AM | Updated: 8:14 am
The Denver Broncos suffered another embarrassing loss in Week 10. After getting blown out by the Philadelphia Eagles on the road, 51-23, Denver returned to Sports Authority Field at Mile High and got beat badly by the New England Patriots, 41-16, on Sunday.
After the game, there was plenty of frustration expressed by both Broncos players and coaches.
“We gave up 24 points on (special) teams alone. That wasn’t the only issue we had,” head coach Vance Joseph said after the game. “Offensively, we’re one-for-four in the red zone. We moved the ball better tonight, but we didn’t score touchdowns. Defensively, they scored on seven straight possessions.
“Obviously, the (special) teams were a glaring issue, but all three phases again.”
After the game, quarterback Brock Osweiler said “everyone is frustrated right now,” especially because the consecutive losses aren’t due to a “lack of effort.”
“This football team comes to work with a great attitude every day. We focus in meetings, and we work hard on the practice field,” Osweiler said. “To not see the results on the game field is very frustrating.”
The frustration in the Broncos locker room is palpable. But how much of the blame for Denver’s recent woes lands on the coaching staff?
“I’ll say this, when you lose like this, it’s on all of us. It’s a staff that we chose and that we feel great about,” Joseph said. “… I would say it’s on all of us. We have to coach better and play better.”
Denver lined up what was supposed to be the “Dream Team” of coordinators and assistants on both sides of the ball this offseason. But instead, the Broncos have had a nightmare season marred by inept play in all three phases of the game.
Joseph was hailed as a leader of men and a great communicator — a coach who could motivate the locker room.
And linebacker Von Miller said the players are “responding great” to Joseph’s message to the team each week, but that it’s just not necessarily translating to the playing field.
“V.J. has been great for us. It’s not the head coach or the coaches. We go out on the football field and we play. It’s the players,” Miller said. “We have stars at every position, it’s not the coaching.”
But if the coaches are not the problem, then the pressure is on the players to execute better — in all three phases of the game.
“It is a tough deal that we’ve been dealt, and it’s a tough situation, but it’s just not coaching,” Miller said. “I know how the media and everything is, but it’s not that. We just have to find ways to win games.”
