The Denver Broncos were absolutely abysmal on third down against the Houston Texans on Sunday, going 0-of-11 in a 22-17 loss.
After the game, Denver quarterback Russell Wilson credited the Texans and said the Broncos got in a too many third-and-medium and third-and-long situations.
“Yeah, they did a good job stopping us on third down,” Wilson said. “We had some key plays, I think, on first and second down that could have given us a little bit more action down the field in the run game and all that kind of stuff, and they did a good job making it third-and-medium, third and-longs a couple times. We’ve got to find a way. Third down is all about finding a way – whether it’s throwing it, running it, caught a run or two – they stopped us on those. A few other passes, too, we almost had them. They did a good job.”
During his conference call with reporters on Monday, coach Sean Payton seemingly disagreed with Wilson’s assessment. The coach implied that Denver had third-and-manageable situations and simply failed to execute.
“It’s not good enough,” Payton said of the team’s third-down woes on Sunday. “Obviously, it’s frustrating. It’s a combination of a handful of things — protection, guys open and us not making a play. I felt like the yardage and the distances were what we wanted. We have to be better in that area. Our third down plan has to be cleaner. It wasn’t a game where so many of them were third-and-long.”
Payton also expressed frustration about the team’s final play in which Wilson did not shift receivers before the snap. The coach also noted that receiver Jerry Jeudy was wide open and not see by Wilson two or three times. Payton clearly was not pleased with Wilson’s performance on Sunday, and it’s not surprising after the quarterback threw three interceptions.
If the Broncos are going to make a playoff push in the final five games of the season, Wilson will have to play better — and the offense has to execute better on third down.
