The Broncos failed to convert a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter of a tight game. They failed to convert only because they failed
to challenge the play.Replays clearly showed Broncos quarterback Case Keenum
reaching the ball across the goal line before any body part touched the ground
as he dove into the end zone. Because it wasn’t a scoring play
Youth Todd Davis Jersey , it was not a booth review. That left it up to Broncos coach Vance Joseph to challenge it. Joseph reached for his red challenge
flag but decided against throwing it.Joseph said after the game that coaches in
the booth told him they didn’t see a clear replay.“And if we don’t have the
replay, what are they going to see?” Joseph said, via Jeff Legwold of ESPN.CBS
rules analyst Gene Steratore, a former NFL referee, said during the broadcast he
expected the league would have reversed the on-field ruling if the Broncos had
challenged.Instead of leading 22-19 with 12:17 remaining, the Broncos led only
20-19. The Chargers kicked a field goal with 6:47 left to regain the lead.
Denver eventually won on a last-play field goal
Youth Domata Peko Jersey , but the bad advice Joseph got from upstairs could have cost the Broncos dearly.Joseph, though, put it back on officials.“Get
the call right. How about that? Don’t always put it on us,” Joseph said, via
104.3 The Fan. So it is done. The Denver Broncos season and the Vance Joseph era
are both now mercifully finished. The game-day inactives list for the season
tells an interesting story for those willing to listen.Elijah Wilkinson began
the season as a game-day inactive after spending most of 2017 on the practice
squad. By mid-year, he was a full-time starter at guard for us. Brendan Langley
started the year on the practice squad and then was signed to active roster in
November. Despite all of our injuries at CB
White Chris Harris Jr Jersey , he took exactly zero defensive snaps. DeMarcus Walker had almost as many games where he was inactive (13) as he had
defensive snaps (21). We’ll discuss that more later. The game 16 inactives are
notable in that we didn’t play Shane Ray, Su’a Cravens or Demarcus Walker, but
the other guys who were inactive in the final game of the season were signed to
what were ostensibly futures contracts. Offensive snap percentages for the
second half of the seasonFull season offensive snap counts and percentages: By
playing Sam Jones in the final two games of the season, it meant that the
Broncos played every healthy drafted player that we selected in 2018 with the
exception of David Williams (who was signed by the Jags off of our practice
squad in October). We drafted 10 players and eight of them took offensive or
defensive snaps for us in 2018. Four of them were active for all 16 games this
season (Bradley Chubb, Josey Jewell, Courtland Sutton and Keishawn Bierria).
That is a big departure from the days when John Fox was loathe to play rookies
as our head coach. Part of this was from necessity due to injury
Youth Ronald Leary Jersey , but some has to be seen as improved talent evaluation in the draft. Hopefully we can have another extremely productive
draft in 2019. As much as I maligned our coaching staff in 2018, I have to
praise the offensive line coaches for the job that they did. We had a guard
playing center (Connor McGovern) and two tackles playing guard (Wilkinson and
Billy Turner) and we still had a functional offense (until the final three games
of the season). Also note that the offensive line was able to keep our starting
QB healthy and playing for all 16 regular season games - something that they
were not able to do in the previous two seasons. 2015 doesn’t count because
Peyton Manning’s foot injury was actually suffered during the 2014 season.
Defensive snap percentages from the second half of the seasonJust like injuries
were the story on the offensive side of the ball, they were also the story on
the defensive side of the ball. In every position group we had significant
contributors miss extended periods of time with injury and/or get placed on the
IR. We also had a player see his skills evaporate in Darian Stewart. This caused
Justin Simmons to try and pick up his slack leading to deterioration in his play
relative to 2017. I will note that Simmons was the only player on the team to
play every defensive (or offensive) snap this season. Key points to take away
from our player utilization/development in 2018Brendan Langley is officially a
bust. The Broncos were literally scraping the bottom of the barrel as far as CB
talent was concerned and Langley got exactly zero defensive snaps this season.
Langley has to be one of the worst reaches in franchise history rivaling our use
of a 4th round pick on Maurice Clarrett. DeMarcus Walker is an enigma. I have no
explanation for why he was kept as a game-day inactive for the final meaningless
two games of the season or for why has got a grand total of 21 defensive snaps
this season. We are now two full seasons into his NFL career and we have seen
less defensive playing time from him than we saw from Zaire Anderson in 2017.
Walker now has 121 career defensive snaps. Anderson got 135 in 2017. Keep in
mind that Brendan Langley got 108 defensive snaps in 2017. I wish somebody in
Dove Valley could explain their actions regarding Walker. We might have to
accept the the possibility that he is a bust (although he played well in the
preseason and he was effective in the very limited snaps he got this year). We
apparently can develop offensive lineman - now. Max Garcia prior to his injury
was playing at his highest level so far in the NFL. Connor McGovern looks like a
legitimate starter at both guard and center. Elijah Wilkinson was not an
embarrassment at guard despite not playing there since high school. Billy Turner
looked serviceable at guard. Even the much-maligned Garett Bolles improved this
season relative to his rookie year (despite the high number of holding
penalties). We have some good young talent on this team that might make it
easier to move on from some of the veterans who are either free agents in 2019
(e.g. Matt Paradis, Max Garcia, Jared Veldheer and Domata Peko) or who have big
cap hits (Brandon Marshall, Derek Wolfe
http://www.authenticsdenverbroncos.com/cheap-royce-freeman-jersey , Emmanuel Sanders, Ronald Leary and Darian Stewart). I would not be the least bit
surprised if none of those players listed above were on the team in 2019 - I
would be unhappy about a few of them, but not surprised. Definitely let me know
your thoughts on how we used and/or misused our talent this season?
