The Denver Broncos’ defense has allowed an average of 16 points per game this season, which represents the fourth-best average in the NFL through five games.
Allowing such a long number of points should be a winning formula, but Denver’s offense has averaged just 15 points per game this year, the second-worst average in the league. That explains why the Broncos are just 2-3. The offense is holding the team back.
So what’s the problem?
Denver coach Nathaniel Hackett has attributed much of the blame to miscues that have put the team in third-and-long situations, such as false starts, holding penalties and other negative plays like sacks.
“Let’s face it — the offense has had too many negative plays,” Hackett said earlier this week. “Just too many things that have put us in rough positions. We’re very efficient. We looked at everything over this past weekend. You look at where we rank and third down, that third-and-short. We are actually very, very good. We just put ourselves in those long down-and-distances.
“It puts the defense at a disadvantage. So the defense is playing very, very good. The special teams are doing some good things. So for the offense, we just have to put those basic things together and not have those things that are self-inflicted. Once we do that, I think it’s going to be a good football team.”
The Broncos believe they have identified the problems, but fixing them might be easier said than done. Having a stellar defense held back by an underwhelming offense has been a problem for years in Denver, a problem that Hackett — an offensive-minded coach — was expected to fix.
If he doesn’t fix it soon, Hackett’s seat might start to warm up.
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