Miles
Well-known member
- Mar 18, 2019
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ESTABLISHING THE RUN
As the Broncos aim to get Lock and their offense back on track, they would be aided by a more consistent running game. The rushing attack was competent in the first half as Melvin Gordon III carried the ball nine times for 38 yards, and the team had good balance between the run and pass until the team's final drive of the half. Understandably, the team leaned heavily on the passing attack during its final drive inside of two minutes.
Denver ran just four plays in the third quarter — two passing, two rushing — and trailed by 14 points when they got the ball back late in the third quarter. They quickly fell behind by three scores as Lock was intercepted on the first play of the fourth quarter, which essentially ended Denver's chances of calling a balanced game.
Still, Fangio admitted the need to establish a strong running game.
"That would be a great help," Fangio said. "It would be. We were trying the run yesterday. It didn't always work out well and then we had the two-minute drive at the end of the half, so a good bit of that is throwing. Then we start off with a couple three-and-outs in the second half, and we ran it the first- and second-down plays and then after that we got behind. So, you're not going to get a lot of opportunities in the run game when you're behind, and we weren't getting a lot of opportunities early either because we weren't successful with it. So, no doubt that a better run game would help any quarterback."
FOURTH-DOWN CLARIFICATION
On the first play of the second quarter, Josh Jacobs plowed ahead on a fourth-and-1 attempt from the Denver 30-yard line. Jacobs was stopped near the line to gain, but the Raiders were whistled for holding on the play. Fangio accepted the 10-yard penalty, which forced a Las Vegas punt. The Raiders downed the ball at the Denver 2-yard line, and the Broncos proceeded to go three-and-out.
On Monday, Fangio was asked whether he considered declining the penalty and challenging the spot of the ball, which would've given Denver the ball at its own 30-yard line.
"I was ready to challenge," Fangio said. "They spotted it as a first down. I was ready to challenge it because obviously if they didn't make it it'd be our ball there, and they wouldn't have the opportunity to punt. The guys in the box that were checking the replay said it was very indeterminate and gray whether we would win that challenge. We chose not to challenge, but that's what we were thinking."