Empty Fourth-quarter Calories In Loss To Chargers Can’t Mask Broncos’ Biggest Problem: Their Early-game Offense Stinks

Competing on the main floor at Ball Arena for the first time since their Game 7 playoff heartbreaker, the Nuggets pushed their starters deep into the game against the Phoenix Suns’ reserves Sunday night in a preseason contest. The result was not the expected one: a 118-104 loss for Denver, which fell to 0-3 this preseason after shooting 33% from 3-point range to Phoenix’s 46%.

Jim Harbaugh didn’t have the heart to tell Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert he’d left Sunday’s game. “He did a really good job of hiding it because I was unaware of it,” the Bolts QB said after Los Angeles held off the Broncos, 23-16, on Sunday at Empower Field. “They did a good job of keeping calm and I hope he’s OK.” With that, Herbert, who threw for 237 yards against a Broncos defense that lost Pro Bowl cornerback Pat Surtain II to a concussion in the first quarter, flashed a look of genuine concern. “Is he all right?” Herbert asked reporters in the visiting team news conference room. “He’s fine,” a reporter replied. “He’s had it before …” another added. Cue a second concerned look. “Yeah, I don’t know,” the quarterback said.

The Chargers’ third scoring drive against the Broncos did more damage to the game clock than the scoreboard. But it still hurt Denver quite a bit. Los Angeles started the drive with 1:50 to go in the first quarter when running back JK Dobbins ran up the middle for a 9-yard gain.

On the Broncos’ 17th offensive snap Sunday afternoon, they finally managed a simple accomplishment. They found themselves, for the first time, on the Los Angeles Chargers’ side of midfield. The 45-yard line, to be exact. Instead of chugging any further, though, running back Javonte Williams fumbled and the first real drive of any promise for Denver was snuffed before it had a chance to develop. So, too, were the Broncos’ chances in any realistic way a few minutes later when Los Angeles punched home a backbreaker of a touchdown with a minute to go in the first half. The Chargers dominated the opening 30 minutes so thoroughly that the 23-16 final count in their favor didn’t really tell the story. This sequence did. “We did all the things you can’t do in a game like that,” head coach Sean Payton said.

Ferris Bueller can take a day off. But Pat Surtain II cannot be absent. One week after the coach and the quarterback squawked, talked and laughed about a sideline inferno that drew a comparison to a 1980s movie character, the Broncos learned how vulnerable they are without their best player. On the Chargers’ first series, Surtain whipped his body on a tackle and slammed his head to the ground.

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