ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – As the Denver Broncos move into the one-and-done round, they will face offenses that quickly find, and exploit, matchups those offenses think they can win.
It is more than possible those teams in the postseason bracket also will take a long look at what the 4-12 San Diego Chargers did along the way. With a decimated offensive line and injuries at wide receiver, the Chargers were able to isolate their most productive players in formations to create matchups that worked at times.
In the Broncos’ 17-3 victory in San Diego in early December, 14 of Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers ’ 18 completions in the game went to the team's tight ends or running backs. And in this past Sunday’s 27-20 Broncos’ win at Sports Authority Field at Mile High, 13 of Rivers’ 21 completions went to the backs and tight ends, including one of his two touchdown passes.
The Chargers’ opening third-down conversion of the game went to tight end Antonio Gates in man coverage on Broncos safety Josh Bush. Gates later caught a touchdown pass over Broncos’ safety Shiloh Keo.
Broncos safety Darian Stewart also re-injured his hamstring in man coverage on Gates on a play up the left sideline late in the first quarter. And while Stewart forced the incompletion, that play will be one that will likely be imitated in the coming postseason.
The Chargers lined up Gates wide left in the formation, opposite of the team’s wide receivers. That pulled the Broncos’ cornerbacks to the other side of the formation, and the Chargers also lined up running back Danny Woodhead to Rivers’ left as Rivers was in the shotgun.
The result was the Chargers had a Broncos linebacker (Danny Trevathan) and safety in coverage on the same side of the formation, with a far better potential for success than attacking the Broncos' cornerbacks.
The Broncos have routinely adjusted – they were the league’s No. 1 defense overall and No. 1 in pass defense – but when the games get tight and mistakes will matter most, playoff quarterbacks are going to go where they think they can find first downs and touchdowns. So the Broncos' safeties and linebackers are going to be first on the to-attack list.
Some other items from Sunday’s game video:
In the end, quarterback Brock Osweiler’s lasting memory of Sunday's game might be getting pulled with just over eight minutes remaining in the third quarter, the series that followed the team’s fifth turnover of the game. But his 34-yard completion to Jordan Norwood just before the end of the first quarter is a measure of Osweiler’s progress. Facing a third-and-5 at the Broncos’ 25-yard line, his first read was right to Demaryius Thomas, but Osweiler recognized where the hole was going to be and quickly snapped his head to the left and hit Norwood in stride in the middle of the field for the conversion. It showed a big-picture knowledge of the offense and a quick adjustment to how the defense had played the play.
Trevathan showed plenty of assignment discipline when the Chargers tried to have Woodhead start a play, as it was simply a run and then a toss back to Rivers, so Rivers could throw downfield from the opposite side of the formation. Trevathan, however, stayed with Gates in the open field and forced the incompletion.
In looking at some of right tackle Michael Schofield’s struggles, it’s clear the pass-rushers have scouted his tendencies. They are attacking Schofield’s outside shoulder/hand and then working quickly to the inside. When Chargers outside linebacker Melvin Ingram hit Osweiler's arm to force an interception, he beat Schofield to the inside with a spin move. And late in the second quarter, Ingram forced Schofield to get flagged for holding when Ingram again attacked the outside shoulder and darted inside.
Peyton Manning said he wouldn’t take credit for a “good handoff" when the run game got rolling after Manning entered the game. But Manning made the Chargers pay more than Osweiler did in terms of getting into running plays that sent the ball away from where the Chargers’ blitzes were set to come from. And perhaps proof that his injured left foot felt better, Manning was under center 11 times in 27 snaps before his two kneel-downs to end the game – that’s 40.7 percent of the time.
And something that will bear watching in the heat of the playoff moments, but when Broncos nose tackle Sylvester Williams was called for defensive holding in the fourth quarter Sunday, it meant the Broncos defense finished the regular season with 612 penalty yards, most of any defense in the league. The Broncos had five defensive players – Aqib Talib (10), Von Miller (nine), Malik Jackson (seven), T.J. Ward (seven) and DeMarcus Ware (seven) – who were all flagged at least seven times.
