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Twitter Shocked by How Much the Broncos Sucked Against the Raiders

The first Broncos game of the season went south fast.
September 10, 2019
Image: Broncos head coach Vic Fangio at a post-game press conference, wearing an expression to which plenty of fans can relate.
Broncos head coach Vic Fangio at a post-game press conference, wearing an expression to which plenty of fans can relate. YouTube
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Throughout the off-season, the Denver Broncos and those members of the press corps in the squad's pocket have been pointing toward a bounce-back campaign after three consecutive years of mediocrity or worse. But signs that this was mere spin — a trade-down in the April NFL draft, plenty of rough patches during training camp — were definitely evident for those willing to look beneath the surface.

Still, last night's putrid 24-16 loss to the hated Oakland Raiders in a Monday Night Football match-up on view for the entire sporting world to see was even more embarrassing than anticipated, as the distress expressed by fans on social media made abundantly clear.

Most of the questions surrounding the Broncos have centered on the offense and whether new quarterback Joe Flacco had anything left in the tank. But the vaunted defense, which was supposed to be even better under freshly minted head coach Vic Fangio, turned out to be the first problem of many to come.

In recent years, the D's biggest weakness has been an inability to contain tight ends, and it remains a jumbo issue: Oakland's Darren Waller was unstoppable, even though he's not exactly the second coming of Rob Gronkowski. Meanwhile, cornerback Isaac Yiadom, whom many of us couldn't believe Fangio and company had placed in such a prominent role given his total ineptitude last season, proved that he's excellent at only one thing: being two steps behind everyone he's supposed to cover. And Raiders QB Derek Carr managed to completely neutralize the edge-rushing prowess of Von Miller and Bradley Chubb by getting rid of the ball quickly. Expect every other team on Denver's schedule to follow suit.

And Flacco? During the first half, he got extremely limited opportunities to show what he could do, owing to an offensive line incapable of holding back a sneeze. Obviously, alleged O-line mastermind Mike Munchak hasn't been able to work any magic yet, and an injury to big-money free-agency pickup Ja'Wuan James made a terrible situation even more dreadful. Granted, the Broncos outscored the Raiders in the second half, but that portion of the contest was essentially extended garbage time.

The prospect of the next fifteen Broncos games going in this dreadful direction had members of Broncos Country on Twitter feeling alternately depressed and livid. To see what we mean, count down our picks for the twenty most memorable tweets about another disaster in the making.

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Image: Michael Roberts
Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.
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