The Broncos spent the offseason and training camp chasing a simple goal: start faster.
That meant not just cleaner opening quarters or sharper first possessions, but better drive starts - the kind that keep an offense from backing itself into a corner before it even gets moving. Denver had 62 regular-season possessions last season that ended without picking up a first down, not counting kneeldowns, according to Pro Football Reference. Only five teams were worse.
At the same time, the Broncos leaned on a defense that ranked second in the NFL in forcing those dead-end possessions from opponents, with 69. Only the Houston Texans had more at 71.
So the work began. Coaches even built in stretches during training camp where the offense’s only job was to earn a first down in three plays. The idea was straightforward: get the unit used to starting drives with purpose instead of dragging them into long-yardage situations.
On Monday night in Kansas City, though, the old problem came right back.
In the Broncos’ 31-10 loss to the Chiefs, six of their 11 non-kneeldown possessions ended without a first down. That’s 55 percent. Kansas City, by comparison, finished 3-for-12 in that category, or 25 percent.
The early-down problems piled up in familiar ways. Two drives started with sacks.
Another began with a holding penalty. Two more opened with incompletions.
Four of the five possessions in which Denver failed to gain yardage on first down ended without moving the sticks at all.
New primary play-caller Davis Webb was left dealing with the same kinds of issues that have haunted this offense before.
“Penalties. Self-inflicted wounds,” wide receiver Pat Bryant said.
“It’s hard as a play-caller to start drives behind the sticks. Obviously we’ve got to play a lot cleaner.
“It’s the first game for a lot of guys getting back out there, getting back rolling. But it ain’t nothing we can’t fix this week in practice.”
One of the most damaging sequences came in the third quarter after Brandon Jones’ interception return gave Denver the ball at the Kansas City 5-yard line. Bryant was flagged for holding - his second penalty of the night - and what had been a 2-yard gain became a 10-yard loss. The Broncos never recovered, and their only scoring drive of the final three quarters ended with them losing eight yards over three plays.
“It was the right call,” Bryant said. “Obviously, when a man gets outside of me, I’ve gotta let him go. It comes back to technique, something I can work on during the week.”
Bryant finished with 42 yards on four catches, the most among Broncos wide receivers. That total was also more than the rest of the receiver room combined.
His first holding penalty came earlier in the game and, in his view, should not have been called. But it still put Denver in first-and-20.
“I had a penalty before that that I felt like shouldn’t have been called,” Bryant said, referring to his first-quarter infraction. “But at the end of the day, they called a penalty.
And like his third-quarter penalty, it came on first down. The Broncos didn’t recover from that first-and-20, either.
“We kind of beat ourselves starting behind the chains,” Bryant said. “You don’t got many plays on the call sheet for first-and-20.”
For one night, at least, the Broncos looked stuck in the same place they were trying so hard to leave behind.
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