Miles
Well-known member
- Mar 18, 2019
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OAKLAND, Calif. — Joe Flacco threw his first touchdown as a Bronco on Monday, and the score came on a near-perfect back-shoulder throw to Emmanuel Sanders in the right corner of the end zone.
Sanders, who burst off the line of scrimmage in his first regular-season game since suffering an Achilles injury, ran a precise route and then sealed off the defender.
In short, the play was likely everything the Broncos imagined when they traded for Flacco this offseason. It was indefensible, and it was badly needed.
But it came far too late.
By the time Flacco found Sanders for the score, the Broncos were nearly out of time in their 24-16 “Monday Night Football” loss to the Oakland Raiders.
And though they converted on that red-zone trip, it was the only time they would manage to score a touchdown in four red-zone opportunities.
In a game where the Broncos were shut out until the third quarter yet still had a chance late in the fourth, those missed red-zone chances proved too much to overcome.
“I didn’t see much that was good, obviously,” said Head Coach Vic Fangio of his team’s red-zone efficiency. “We didn’t make plays down there. I’ll have to look at the tape to see exactly for sure, but that was really a big difference in the game despite everything else. They scored touchdowns, and we didn’t.”
The Broncos didn’t lack explosive plays on Monday night. In fact, they had seven plays of at least 20 yards, three more than the Raiders. But for every Courtland Sutton catch, there was a back-breaking penalty. And for every Emmanuel Sanders reception, there was a costly sack.
“Obviously when you come in somewhere and you let them get a tackle for loss on the first play, they’re going to have some emotion,” said Joe Flacco, referencing the game’s first play. “The crowd’s going to play into that and all those things. But I really do feel like even on a couple of those drives, we got some things going. … We just weren’t able to put it together. We were a little sloppy in how we executed.”
Ultimately, that meant the Broncos settled for field goals instead of touchdowns. And because the Raiders scored touchdowns on three of their four possessions, it meant the Broncos settled for a loss instead of a win.
Perhaps what makes the inefficiency difficult to rationalize is that the Broncos seemed poised to score a touchdown on each of their first three red-zone possessions. And because Denver never trailed by more than two scores, a touchdown in any of those situations could have made a massive difference.
On their first possession of the third quarter, Flacco found Sutton for 24 yards and Noah Fant for 20 yards. Three consecutive runs then pushed the ball to the Oakland 6-yard line. But Denver wouldn’t get any closer. Royce Freeman rushed for no gain on first down and Flacco threw incomplete on second down before being sacked on third down.