Alex Singleton’s Week 1 stat line didn’t tell the full story, and now the noise around it has only gotten louder.
In Denver’s 31-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, the Broncos’ veteran linebacker led the team with 16 tackles. But that number came with plenty of missed stops, and he wasn’t alone.
The Broncos’ defense had a rough night across the board, missing 28 tackles - the most in a single game in Next Gen Stats’ database - and giving up 247 yards after contact. Kansas City piled up 392 total yards, with 63% of that coming after missed tackles.
If Denver makes those plays, the Chiefs are sitting closer to 150 yards of offense.
That backdrop is what prompted Singleton’s agent, Paul Sheehy of Pro Star Sports, to fire off a blunt message on X on Thursday aimed at the Broncos media scene.
“The level of sheer ignorance of Broncos bloggers and self proclaimed 'journalists' continues to amaze and has never been higher. I get it, rage baiting a passionate fan base gets clicks, but it doesn't take away from the ignorance or incompetence on display,” Sheehy posted.
Singleton’s agent clearly wasn’t interested in letting the criticism pass quietly. But by stepping into the conversation, he also kept Week 1’s mess front and center just as the league starts shifting its attention to Week 2. For Denver, that means a home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Singleton’s response after the loss was far more measured. The Broncos had just re-signed him to a two-year, $15 million deal this offseason, his third contract in Denver, and the 33-year-old captain took ownership of the tackling issues while brushing off the idea that one ugly opener defines the defense.
“Yeah, we're gonna be fine,” Singleton said post-game. “We're gonna work on it this week; we're going to do what we need to do, and we're gonna be fine.”
He also finished with only five solo tackles among his 16 total stops, a reminder that the production came in the middle of a game where Denver’s defense was getting dragged all over the field. Still, the Broncos see Singleton as an important part of what they’re building. He’s a team captain, the defensive signal-caller, and one of the players expected to help steady things when the game starts slipping away.
There’s reason to believe the tackling nightmare won’t carry over. The Broncos’ preseason workload for their first-team defense was lighter than it had been since Sean Payton became head coach, and the opener looked like a unit that simply hadn’t taken enough live reps. However it’s explained, the performance was too extreme to ignore.
That’s why the scrutiny is only going to sharpen on Singleton in Week 2. His agent has already gone to bat for him, but the real answer has to come on the field.
Denver expects a rebound. Singleton says the same.
If it doesn’t happen, the conversation around that defense is going to get a lot uglier.
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Nixs difficulties were not just about one rough stretch, either. He was dealing with poor pass protection, dropped passes and penalties that kept the offense from settling in, which makes the upcoming matchup with the Jacksonville Jaguars a useful early test of how much can be fixed in a hurry. Denver does not need a full overhaul in Week 2, but it does need a cleaner plan to give its quarterback a chance to play faster and more comfortably. [Read more 🡒]