A broken clock was right two more times Sunday than the bums who reffed Broncos-Jaguars.
But the zebras didn’t give P.J. Locke a pair of skates for Christmas.
The officials didn’t make Riley Moss slip.
Or make Talanoa Hufanga slide.
“It hasn’t been a problem (so far),” coach Sean Payton said of the missed tackles that punctuated a stunning, humbling 34-20 home loss to Jacksonville. “I mean, look, it reared its head (Sunday), though. So we’ve got to look at it. There were space plays. And we just have to be better.”
They have to flush it. All of it. The 12-3 Broncos were a bizarro version of themselves against the 11-4 Jaguars. Jacksonville somehow out-Denvered Denver at altitude, taking care of the ball (zero giveaways to the Broncos’ two), extending drives (53.3% third-down conversion rate to Denver’s 35.7%) and turning red-zone trips into touchdowns (four for five, 80% conversion rate) instead of field goals or goose eggs.
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But man, oh, man, did the Broncos help. When Sean Payton had mentioned earlier in the week that Jacksonville was a "smaller market" (author's note: it is), but you see a real good team.” Jags coach Liam Coen did what opportunistic coaches do in this league -- he left out the "real good team part," taking a nugget completely out of context and twisting it into rage fuel for his locker room.
The Jaguars reportedly came off the field Sunday yapping about "small markets" -- which meant, basically, a seemingly innocuous sound bite had the same effect on the Jags that being an underdog at home (per the sports books) did for the Broncos against Green Bay.
Live by the (s) word, die by the (s) word.
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Jacksonville wideout Parker Washington collected a 5-yard out route near the right boundary from quarterback Trevor Lawrence, whose day was somewhere between peak Bo Nix and peak Patrick Mahomes.
Woop!
Moss dove at Washington. And missed.
Woop!
Hufanga dove. And ... also missed.
Woop!
Washington ran halfway to Castle Rock, untouched, before Locke chased him down at the Denver 20. The comedy resumed.
The Broncos defender squared himself for the tackle, only for Washington to zag left at the last second.
Woop!
The Jags wideout might as well have been Nathan MacKinnon at full tilt, because Locke promptly fell to his backside on the turf. The Denver defender recovered in time to sandwich Washington with teammate Alex Singleton at the Broncos' 10-yard line.
The refs? The refs didn't turn a short pitch-and-catch into a 63-yard back-breaker.
"They schemed up plays pretty nicely. That’s it," said Locke, whose Broncos visit slip-sliding Kansas City (6-9) on Christmas night. "I don’t think it’s problems (for us). I don’t think it’s problems. That’s stuff we've just got to handle.”
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You've got to handle the bad, weirdo calls when they come along, too. The officials seemed to be so sensitive about any type of Broncos contact on Lawrence, you wonder if Houston Rockets coach Ime Udoka whispered something to them on his way out of town.
By the letter of the law, Malcolm Roach landed on Lawrence "wrong" on what looked, at game speed, to be a clean sack midway through the third quarter.
By the letter of the law, Jahdae Barron made contact with Washington in the end zone later that same drive, even though the pass from Lawrence wouldn't have been caught by a leaping Victor Wembanyama.
Roach didn't use his helmet. Or aim for the head. He was flagged for putting his full body weight -- 290 pounds — on the Jags' QB as they went to the ground.
"You heard that before?" Broncos defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers was asked later.
JFM paused.
"I mean, (expletive)," the defender replied. "Yeah. I have. It's their call."
Then again, the men in stripes didn't fumble away a zone-read exchange.
Nor did they throw a desperation pass late right into the waiting arms of Jacksonville cornerback Jarrian Jones.
"We've said it all year ... 'Flush it and move on to the next one,'" said defensive lineman Zach Allen, who led the Broncos with three quarterback hits. "Flush it and digest it and kind of take some notes, take some directions (from it) and move on."
Thank goodness for short weeks. And for new crews.
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