Broncos Biggest Studs & Duds in Savage 42-17 Beatdown Loss to Lions

The postmortem continues on the Denver Broncos' humiliating loss in Detroit.

The Denver Broncos were embarrassed in primetime by the Detroit Lions. The 42-17 drubbing highlighted plenty of holes on this Broncos team. 

When the outcome of a game is this lopsided, the buck stops at the top with the coaches. The Broncos' coaches did not have their team prepared, nor did they have the mental toughness to make it a game against a more talented opponent. 

There were plenty of duds, while the studs were few in the epic beatdown the Broncos suffered on Saturday night. Let's get into it. 

Dud: Sean Payton | HC

When a team is that unprepared and lacking in the mental aspects of the game, the head coach is the one to blame. The Broncos were simply outclassed on every level and looked completely lost. 

As Payton admitted post-game, he was out-coached by his former pupil Dan Campbell, and the head coach's frustration was obvious. Payton wasn’t on his game. 

The Broncos scored twice on two third-quarter plays inside the 10-yard line, only to have a bad spot called by the officials. Both of those plays should have been challenged without much thought, but Payton never threw the red flag. 

Instead, Payton seemed to blame Russell Wilson in a heated shot on the sideline that showed the head coach berating his quarterback. The Broncos were so far behind —the team needed points, not timeouts. 

Why Payton was so afraid to challenge the play is a head-scratcher. The Broncos ended up walking away with three points on that series when they were already down by three touchdowns.

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Dud: Vance Joseph | DC

What Joseph had conjured up the previous seven games had completely evaporated against the Lions. The 'scheme' was more of a scam as Jared Goff sliced the Broncos up at will. 

The same Goff who had turned the ball over 10 times in the last seven games. Joseph left the middle of the field wide open, which is exactly where Goff prefers to throw, and made no adjustments to fix the obvious issue. 

Poor planning, adjustments, and execution were the downfall of this defense, and that performance rests squarely on Joseph’s shoulders.

Dud: Defensive Line

The Lions' offense looked like it was pushing shopping carts around Costco, not playing an NFL-caliber defensive line. The running lanes were big enough for a blue whale to pass through, and the Broncos' interior D-line could do nothing to stop Detroit's ground game. 

Furthermore, the Broncos could not muster up anything to stop Detroit's passing game. It was embarrassing to watch the trenches get manhandled so easily, and the secondary get carved up to the tune of 448 total yards and 42 points.

Dud(s): Josey Jewell & Alex Singleton | LBs

Both Jewell and Singleton are limited athletes, but they looked like they didn’t belong on an NFL field in this game. The Lions beat them like a rug with a rookie tight end, and their running backs had no problem running through the Broncos' linebacker duo like they weren’t even in the game. 

The final humiliation was when a 200-pound wide receiver stiff-armed Jewell to the ground. That should never happen to a 236-pound linebacker, but that's just how pathetic Denver's starting linebacker duo was on Saturday night. 

Stud: Riley Dixon | P

When the punter is the only stud on the team, the game is a disaster. Dixon punted five times for an average of 52 yards and a net of 50. 

Dixon also landed two punts inside the 20-yard line. This is the type of performance that a team wants from its punter, but unfortunately, the defense couldn’t stop the Lions anywhere on the field.

It was good to see from Dixon, as the Broncos' punting (net and gross) has been the only special teams statistic where they're not ranked in the top 10 in the NFL. 

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