EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. –The once vaunted Denver Broncos’ defense has gone from Orange Crush to Swiss Cheese.
And it only took two plays on back-to-back series in the second quarter.
There was a 77-yard touchdown run on the first play of a series by Jets’ running back Isaiah Crowell, who slipped a tackle attempt near the line of scrimmage by Broncos’ cornerback Bradley Roby.
And on the next possession, Jets quarterback Sam Darnold perfectly hit Robby Anderson on a go route that burned Roby for a 76-yard touchdown. Tough sequence for Roby, who could have used safety help on the long pass to Anderson.
Anderson beat Roby again for a 35-yard touchdown pass from Darnold late in the half.
Those three impactful plays, plus 323 yards rushing gave the Jets a 34-16 win against the Broncos.
“Huge plays. I wish I had the answers right now,'' said Broncos' outside linebacker Shane Ray, who had a tackle for loss and pass deflection that defensive end Derek Wolfe nabbed for an interception. "Just look at the numbers, that’s not supposed to happen against this defense.
"I don’t know every little detail. We haven’t watched the film yet. But we didn’t play well today. Even the Broncos team against the Chiefs last week was better than the Broncos team today. We’ve just got to figure things out, regroup, take our coaching and move on.’’
The Broncos won the turnover battle yet lost, ending their NFL-leading 32-game streak of wins when having more turnovers than the opposition. The game wasn't as close as the final score indicated. It was 34-10 before Broncos quarterback Case Keenum threw a 42-yard touchdown to Demaryius Thomas with 3:18 left.
Thomas had five catches for 105 yards in his best statistical game of the season. Keenum was 35 of 51 for 377 yards and two touchdowns with one, game-ending interception. The Jets' Marcus Maye returned his pick 103 yards but was tackled down at the 1-yard line by Broncos rookie receiver Courtland Sutton.
Sutton was the intended receiver in the end zone when the ball was batted in the air to Maye so it was impressive that he made a touchdown-saving tackle to end the game, even if it was for naught. Sutton said he had never heard of Don Beebe, even if he did a fair impression of him with the hustle play.
"I believe that until the clock says zero-zero-zero, no matter what the score is – it just shows the heart and the character of the people on the field,'' Sutton said. "If you love the team and the organization, then no matter what we’re going to play till the end.’’
The Broncos didn't quit, but they were embarrassed. Crowell, who has never been one of the league's top backs, had 15 carries for 219 yards rushing and a touchdown and Anderson has three catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns. Another Jets running back, Bilal Powell, had surpassed 100 yards rushing, but then had two negative carries and finished with 99 yards on 20 carries.
The Jets had an absurd 323 yards rushing while rookie quarterback Sam Darnold passed for three touchdowns. In all, the Jets -- who have never been confused with the 2013 Broncos' offense -- amassed 512 yards in total offense.
“After going through the game plan we had this week I didn’t feel like they would be capable of doing what they did today,'' Ray said. "It was just poor execution and we’ll see what the coaches have to say.’’
The rushing yards total was stunning. Staggering. Humiliating.
“The worst we’ve ever done,'' said Broncos nose tackle Domata Peko Sr. "We had double teams inside and they were finding creases outside. They were breaking (stuff) outside. So we’ve got to set edges. They got after us on that and it was just one of those days. You wish that (stuff) never happens. We take a lot of pride in the run. That (stuff) hurts.
"We definitely got to clean it up, especially this next week. We’ve got (Rams running back Todd) Gurley coming to town and he’s no slouch so we definitely got to clean that up.’’
Broncos head coach Vance Joseph was asked afterwards if it was time to consider changes on the defensive staff.
"No, I don't think we're there,'' Joseph said. "We have to coach better so they can play better but we pay our players to play, also. So I'm not going to stand up here after a loss like that and start blaming our coaches or our players. It starts with me.''
The Broncos are 1-9 on the road since Joseph became their head coach at the start of last season. Eight of those nine losses have been by at least 10 points. The offense shared in the blame in this one. The Broncos had eight drives cross the 50, yet they only finished with two touchdowns and a field goal.
“There were some key drives where we got some first downs and got it going and for whatever reason, stalled out, even if what was on their side of the field,'' Keenum said. "We weren’t very good on third down today. We made it tough on ourselves. I think we were averaging third and 9-plus so against a team like that, the schemes they have and the players they have, you’re climbing uphill at that point. So we have to do better on first and second down and not put our defense in bad situations. It was a tough day.’’
Field position was only everything to the Broncos’ offense in the first quarter. On their first series, when they started at their own 10, they went 45 yards but finished with a punt, the first of Colby Wadman’s career. Aiming for the coffin corner, his punt only went 29 yards to the 17.
On their second series, after Denver defensive end Adam Gotsis stripped Powell and recovered the fumble, the Broncos’ offense only had to go 20 yards. The drive ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Keenum to rookie Sutton in the right corner of the end zone.
It was 7-0 Broncos and it stayed that way after a sustained drive by the Jets ended in a short, missed field goal.
On their third drive, the Broncos picked up three first downs and travelled 37 yards but again had to bring in Wadman for a short-field punt. He went too far sideways with his punt that only went 20 yards to the Jets’ 23.
On the first play, Crowell swept left, skipped past Roby on the corner with a cut inside, then kept on sprinting until he had his 77-yard touchdown run. Downfield, Crowell got nice blocks from his receivers on linebacker Brandon Marshall, who at one point had the angle on the runner.
It was 7-7 a minute into the second quarter. The Broncos put together another long drive later in the quarter with Keenum getting hot. He had three completions on three consecutive plays that went for 11 yards to Demaryius Thomas, 31 yards to Thomas, who made a nice over-the-shoulder catch on a flag route, and a 24-yard catch-and-run by rookie DaeSean Hamilton across the middle.
But after 74 yards, the drive stalled at goal-to-go and the Broncos settled for a short, Brandon McManus field goal.
Denver Broncos take on the New York Jets in New Jersey
The Broncos have now lost three in a row to fall to 2-3 -- three games behind the first-place, 5-0 Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West. The Broncos play next against the 5-0 Los Angeles Rams next Sunday afternoon at Broncos Stadium at Mile High.
