The Broncos were 3-1 when they took their bye in Week Five and that break appears to have come at exactly the wrong time.
Sunday night’s 41-16 thrashing by the Patriots was the fifth straight loss for the Broncos since the bye week and they have been outscored 92-39 over the last two weeks as things have spiraled to the lowest level yet. The special teams were the leading disaster against New England, but coach Vance Joseph said “all three phases” contributed to a loss that left defensive end Derek Wolfe with a particularly sour assessment of his club.
“I think we stink ... It’s just sad. It’s real sad,” Wolfe said, via the Denver Post. “It’s sad that we went from a championship-caliber team to a team that stinks and nobody respects us.”
Wolfe described himself as demoralized after the loss and he’s surely not alone in that feeling as the Broncos’ season has taken such a severe turn for the worse over the last month-plus. Given how widespread the issues have been, it’s hard to imagine they’re going to sort them all out in time to reverse the drop that Wolfe outlined on Sunday night.