Week 15 Reaction

Another abysmal second half caused the Broncos to drop a second consecutive game and fall to 10-4 on the year. The offense again scored zero points in the second half, but this time it was after putting up four touchdowns in the first rather than four field goals. But this was Pittsburgh, not Oakland. Brock seems to be reluctant to go downfield with the football in the second half even though that was part of his success in the first half. He was doing his part in the first half of picking apart that shaky secondary then he decided to be conservative with his throws in the second half. The defense was not playing like one would expect the 2015 Broncos defense to play, especially in the secondary.The culmination of; talent that Pittsburgh has at wide receiver, bad play and injuries ultimately spelled doom for the defense in the second half. 

Brock was awful in the second half. There is no way around it. He was 7-26 after he went down with a left shoulder injury late in the first half. His poor play could be explained by that injury, but he has not proved during the past month to be a different second half player than the player he was today. Time will tell, but if the coaches do think the injury is to blame, we could see Manning in 8 days. 

One last gripe about the offense is that CJ Anderson was left out of the running game. Hillman played well, but CJ needs to see more touches than he did today. Maybe they were saving him since it was his first week back from injury, I’m not sure. 

The defense could not have been asked to hold up any longer against Pittsburgh’s vaunted passing attack. Constant three and outs in the second half caused the defense to ire out much quicker than it would have under normal circumstance. The lack of TJ Ward, Darian Stewart and a banged up David Bruton left the Broncos without adequate help up top and the corners were left out to dry. Chris Harris played his worst game as a pro football player and if these two teams were to meet up again, I would not expect the same play from him. For the most part, the corners held up just about as well as they could without any help from the safeties. 

The biggest issue to come out of the game was not the loss itself, but the fact that the team needs to win out to ensure the division and a playoff spot. Cincinnati beat San Francisco this week, but I believe Denver can and will beat them. Hopefully Manning is healthy enough to suit up for that game.