Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Despite how poorly they played, at times, on both offense and defense; the Denver Broncos lost because they were stupid! There’s no way, ever, that you can give up that touchdown at the end of regulation. There’s no other way to say it; that was the dumbest play in NFL history.
In that situation, the defense cannot let anyone behind them and that’s exactly what they did. Based on the game to that point; no one should be surprised. The Broncos were up by seven points with less than a minute to do despite doing everything in their power to hand the game to the Baltimore Ravens. In the end; they succeeded and will now go down in history as the author of the biggest choke job in league history.
That’s the type of play that can set an organization back for years; teams do not just bounce back from these types of losses. As I wrote earlier; that single play was symbolic of a Broncos defense that was obviously overrated and feasted on lesser offenses during their eleven game winning streak. It cannot be said enough; there’s no way the secondary for the Broncos can give up that play. There’s plenty of blame to go around and it starts with Tony Carter. Why is Carter letting Jacoby Jones go, why is he biting on the pump fake. Let Jones catch a 20-yard pass; it’s going to take 20 seconds off of the clock.
As bad as the play was by Carter; the play by safety, Rahim Moore was even worse. He’s only assignment on that play is to be deeper than the deepest receiver and he wasn’t even close. His angle was awful and then once he knew he was beat; Moore makes a weak attempt to knock down the pass.
You can argue about whether or not John Fox was too conservative on the previous offensive series but if the Broncos play the last minute correctly then no one is talking about that decision. It was a great regular season for the Broncos but no one is going to remember it. No one is going to remember the comeback of Peyton Manning, no one is going to remember the 11 game winning streak, no one is going to remember the 13-3 record and no one is going to remember that the Broncos won the AFC West.
All they are going to remember is how completely stupid the Broncos were in the last minute of the fourth-quarter, and rightfully so. I’ve been watching NFL football for 36 years and it is, without a doubt, the single dumbest play I’ve ever seen. Now the Broncos and their fans have to live with that through the off-season and beyond.
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