Broncos Can't Rely Solely on Stifling Defense to Be a Championship Contender

There's a sort of rugged football beauty to the Denver Broncos' ideal winning formula. It goes like this: Pummel the opposing quarterback, and put your own quarterback on autopilot.

If Trevor Siemian can make a handful of clutch throws, too, as he did Monday night against the Los Angeles Chargers, then that's some delicious bonus gravy. As we saw in the not-so-distant past during a championship season in 2015, when the Broncos win, they do it with defense first, second and third.

It's an approach that leaves a razor-thin margin for error. The slightest stumble by the offense at the most inopportune time can lead to a disastrous result—which is nearly how the Broncos' regular-season-opening 24-21 win ended.

It was a game that had no business being close. There was no need for knuckles to be cycling through different shades of white during the fourth quarter, a quarter that began with the Broncos leading 24-7.

They had followed their standard blueprint of defensive dominance in every way. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers had been swarmed, and rarely given time to even glance downfield. And when he did buy himself a few more split seconds in the pocket before launching a throw deep, a secondary that allowed only 5.8 yards per reception in 2016—nearly a full yard better than every other team—was there to swat everything away.

So how was it possible that Shelby Harris' last-second heroics were needed to block a field-goal attempt and avoid overtime?

It was possible because although the Broncos offense was smooth for much of the game, the most minor misstep at a crucial moment can spell doom.

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Harris, a backup defensive end, pushed through to get a hand on a 44-yard attempt from Chargers kicker Younghoe Koo. The Broncos needed both that and a well-timed timeout from rookie head coach Vance Joseph as they clung to a close win.

Every win counts the same, but this one serves as a reminder of how fragile the 2017 Broncos can be if either awful luck or a flailing offense comes at the worst time. In this case it was both, which led to a screaming nose dive righted just before impact.

The Broncos led by 17 points with only 10:44 remaining in the fourth quarter. At that time the Chargers offense had been smothered nearly into submission. Just over 49 minutes of game time had ticked off, and the top three Chargers wide receivers had combined for only 60 receiving yards.

That came after Melvin Gordon accounted for 62 of the Chargers' 110 yards at halftime. He had a fine half, and a fine game. But Gordon is still a running back, which meant any deep home run threat was being extinguished with ease by the Broncos defense.

But even the best defense is vulnerable when the opposing offense is gifted quality field position. Which happened when this magic dart found its way into safety Adrian Phillips' hands:

Siemian's interception was the product of brutal luck, the kind that made palms and faces connect throughout the Broncos sideline. A few plays later Rivers hooked up with wide receiver Keenan Allen for a five-yard touchdown pass, cutting the lead to 10 points.

Panic shouldn't have set in yet. It was still a two-score game, and the Broncos offense just needed to kill the clock and put points on the board. Or just doing the clock-milking part would have been fine, too, as long as they protected the ball.

So, of course, running back Jamaal Charles promptly fumbled, once again putting the Chargers in easy striking distance. And Rivers then heaved one deep for his only 15-plus-yard completion of the night. He lofted a perfectly placed throw to wide receiver Travis Benjamin for a 38-yard touchdown.

Immediately there was an answer from the Broncos offense, and renewed life when Siemian zipped a 44-yard pass up the seam to tight end Virgil Green.

The Broncos offense did what was expected in a situation where nails were suddenly being gnawed off. It supported the defense and responded with a counterpunch.

At worst they were in field-goal range, and all Siemian had to do was not lose a whole lot of yards. The Broncos were on the Chargers' 13-yard line with less than six minutes left and had a chance to take another commanding lead.

Then two sacks later they were pushed back 19 yards, and a chip-shot field goal turn into a missed 50-yard attempt.

The defense promptly made a key stop, and Siemian's inconsistent group had the ball back with the same task and less time remaining. They produced seven yards and weren't able to finish in another near-game-clinching moment when Siemian threw an incompletion on third down.

That's why Harris' leap was needed, and in the process the Broncos re-learned a valuable lesson: There's little wiggle room with their recipe for winning.

They held the Chargers to only 2.9 yards per carry, and 5.8 per throw. The Broncos defense was also able to get off the field on nine of Los Angeles' 12 third-down conversion attempts, and in total the Chargers were limited to a mere 249 yards of offense, even with the late-game surge.

But a fifth quarter and heartbreak was still barely avoided, all because an improving though inconsistent offense is searching for its identity, and sputtering in the process.