Quick Review
The Denver Broncos lost to the Houston Texans 17-19.
The Game stats
Time of Possession
DEN: 27:35 HOU: 32:25
Play Selection
DEN 42 Passing Attempts, 290 yards: 20 Runs for 75 yards HOU 24 Passing Attempts, 213 yards: 33 Runs for 98 yards
The Running Game
The Broncos Rushing Attack Carries AYPC Long TD Fumble Lindsay 17 4 22 0 0 Booker 3 5 14 1 1 *AYPC is average yards per carry
The Passing Attack
Receptions % Long TD Fumble Heuerman 10 91% 14 1 0 Sanders 6 67% 18 0 0 Thomas 3 100% 31 0 0** Sutton 3 60% 22 0 0 Booker 4 50% 8 0 0 Lindsay 2 67% 12 0 0 LaCosse 1 100% 44 0 0 Janovich 1 100% 9 0 0 Patrick 1 25% 17 0 0 **No longer a Bronco, but I’m including his stats for comparison.
The Quarterbacks
Keenum
Passing comp ypa TD INT Long Rating 62% 7 1 0 44 90 Rushing Att Yards Long TD 0 0 0 0 Sacked Times Yards Lost Fumbles 2 17 0
Watson
Passing comp ypa TD INT Long Rating 71% 9 2 0 31 126 Rushing Att Yards Long TD 6 38 8 0 Sacked Times Yards Lost Fumbles 4 21 0
During the week
After the Houston game in week 10, lip readers claimed there was video of the Houston coach bad mouthing Vance Joseph before halftime. This would have ballooned into a meme fest, but the bye week killed the meme enthusiasm.
The Broncos didn’t get any credit for almost winning the game. The local media just stuck with their 2018 message, fire Vance. The Broncos listened to the media on two occasions that I can remember. They acquired Jake the Snake after the voice of the Avalanche started a campaign to bring him to Denver. During the Josh days, a billboard helped persuade the Broncos to start Tim Tebow. The media didn’t trade Cutler, but they were very happy when he left town.
Von Miller was all over the media helping out the community. Why do I bring this up? There’s speculation that if the Broncos fire Vance, they’re going to openly rebuild and Von’s contract is huge. The business people see his contract as an obstacle to rebuilding. The bad news for the business people is that the Von and Chubb combo is starting to pay dividends.
News leaked that teams are interested in hiring Gary Kubiak as head coach. Who cares? If Vance doesn’t make it through the season, some have speculated the interim coach would be Gary. As it stands, his office is only three doors down the hallway from Vance’s office.
The Afc West
Lets look at the AFC west. Although the Broncos are vastly improved over last year, they’re not a threat to win the division this year, so I haven’t spent a lot of time reviewing the division.
The Divisional Race
Team WP% Net_Points Games_played Kc 100% 21 3 Lac 67% 20 3 Den 33% -10 3 Oak 0% -31 3
AFC West vs AFC Conference
Team WP% Net_points Games_played Lac 100% 45 3 Kc 80% 69 5 Oak 33% -19 3 Den 0% -33 3
AFC West vs the NFC West
Team WP% Net_points Games_played Kc 100% 23 2 Den 67% 35 3 Lac 67% -2 3 Oak 0% -75 3
Today’s teams ranked by stats
Broncos
Points: 19th
Yards: 11th
Passing yards: 17th
Rushing yards: 9th
Passing Touchdowns: 12
Rushing Touchdowns: 10
Pick Six: 2
Safeties: 0
Punt Returns for Touchdowns: 0
Fumble Returns for Touchdowns: 0
Net Turnovers: 0
Chargers*
Points: 10th
Yards: 8th
Passing Yards: 13th
Rushing Yards: 7th
Passing Touchdowns: 21
Rushing Touchdowns: 7
Pick Six: 1
Safeties: 0
Punt Returns for Touchdowns: 0
Fumble Returns for Touchdowns: 1
Net Turnovers: +6
*They have converted 3 two-point conversions.
The game
It’s an away game. Everyone knows what that means. The Broncos have only won one game on the road this year (WP 25%). The Chargers have won 80% of their home games this season.
Game time
Sunday afternoon 2:05pm MT
Outlook
The Broncos are playing well enough for me to revise my season prediction. My revised predictions.
Week Team Outcome WP% 11 Lac Loss 78% 12 Pit Loss 67% 13 Cin Win/Loss 44% 14 SF Win 20% 15 Cle Win 30% 16 Oak Win 11% 17 Lac Loss 78%
That puts the Broncos at 6-10 or 7-9 depending on the Bengal game. It should also be noted that the Broncos have a winning record against teams with a WP of 50 or below. Which makes a strong case for the 7-9 final record.
With the Broncos experiencing no blowouts this season and just one embarrassing game (the jets), I could see Vance getting an extension this off-season to the horror of many in the local media.