Execution problems for Denver’s offense

When it rains, it pours, and right now the Denver Broncos, which has lost six of their last eight games, are getting soaked.

And apparently that moisture has hindered the offense’s execution over the past two weeks, seeing as how kicker Matt Prater has been the team’s best player over that stretch.

Denver’s offense stuttered repeatedly against Oakland and Indianapolis, and Prater bailed the team out with four field goals on Sunday. But each of those field goals was a missed opportunity as the Broncos scored only one touchdown in four red zone trips Ń which has been a theme for Denver this season.

“We’ve got to start putting teams away, no question about it,” said quarterback Kyle Orton. “All year we’ve kind of let teams hang around, and we’ve been fortunate enough to win most of those games. You do it long enough and you don’t put teams away, it comes back to bite you just like it did [vs. Oakland].”

Has it been the play calling? The personnel? The team’s mentality or chemistry? Orton thinks not.

“That’s the only problem in the red zone and with the offense is execution. We’ve had good play calls, good looks Ń looks that we practiced against all week Ń and no execution,” Orton said.

But head coach Josh McDaniels hasn’t made it easy on himself, repeatedly running Knowshon Moreno on first down for lost yardage, not using a fullback or Peyton Hillis on short-yardage situations, and not finding a way to utilize the explosive Eddie Royal more in the offense.

“Any time you end up in the red zone and you end up in second and longer or third and longer, it’s trouble because you don’t have enough space to do a lot in the passing game to try and overcome that,” McDaniels said. “We had three shots within the 3-yard line at the end and didn’t get it in on Sunday. We’ve got to execute better and find a way to punch the ball in there whether it be in the running game or the passing game, and we haven’t done that.”

McDaniels has yet to take blame for anything since his Mile High takeover in the offseason, and even though he has made some brilliant moves to this point, he has shown panic and little patience at times during the team’s current slide Ń particularly with play calling.

At one point during Sunday’s embarrassing loss to Oakland, McDaniels called a quarterback sneak for Orton, a guy with two bum ankles who had his ankles so heavily wrapped postgame they looked like the ankles and feet of the Incredible Hulk.

“Every game is like that. We have just been mediocre in the red zone, and it is killing us,” said receiver Brandon Marshall. “It is the same thing that has been wrong off and on all year. It is a number of things. We have to execute better and just do a better job.”

If Denver does not want to get blown out by a very good Philadelphia Eagles team this Sunday, they will need to keep pace with a very high-powered offense. Settling for field goals on Sunday certainly won’t get it done against the second highest scoring team in the NFL.

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