In his 12 years in the NFL, Joe Flacco has learned the art of understatement.
So after his Broncos were thrashed 30-6 last night, dashing the hopes sparked by a two-game winning streak to drop to 2-5, he offered a frank assessment of where they were.
“We’re just not playing good football,’' Flacco said, via Mike Klis of KUSA. “They came after us and we kind of let them come after us. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to them. They played really physical. They came hard. They played downhill and we were in a lot of bad situations.”
Primarily, the bad situation was when the Broncos had the ball. They were limited to an early rushing touchdown, and Flacco finished with 213 passing yards, despite being behind and in passing situations most of the night. He has six touchdowns in seven games, and having fewer than a touchdown pass a game is not a sign of an efficient offense (at least in 2019).
Flacco was also sacked eight times, giving him little chance at times. They were also 1-of-13 on third downs, which is bad when you type it out like that.
“All levels of our passing game was the problem,’' Broncos head coach Vic Fangio said. “Protection sometimes. Receivers not getting open sometimes. Then some good coverages that maybe we weren’t ready for. It certainly a problem we have to get rectified moving forward.”
The question for the Broncos will quickly become how long they should let Flacco have the reins moving forward. With rookie Drew Lock still on injured reserve and at least a week away from a potential return, he’s not an immediate option, nor one which would clearly help.