[vailpass]

Originally Posted by PGM

Rep for honesty. Yeah, it's kind of wierd. I figured they'd have a pretty nasty D on 3rd downs with those pass rushers, but it hasn't quite worked out that way.

Not honesty so much as no way around it. It's right out there every Sunday in front of God and everybody.
Can't fix it if you don't acknowledge it.Coaches and players know it.

There were plenty of things for Broncos coach John Fox to dislike as he sat in his office and went through the film of Sunday's 31-21 loss to New England.

But there were four defensive plays that stuck out more than most.

"You know, third-and-10 plus, there were five situations, and they converted four of them," Fox said Monday afternoon.

Indeed, the Patriots turned four third-and-very-longs into four long gains — a total of 83 yards on four snaps. There were two 25-yard passes, a 19-yard completion, and, perhaps worst of all, a 19-yard run right through the middle of the Broncos' defense.

"At the end of the day, our third downs have a been a little bit of a bugaboo throughout this portion of the season,"
Denver Broncos


Fox said. "Probably the most disheartening thing is they weren't all third-and-ones."

The Broncos allowed the Patriots to convert 11-of-17 third downs. Denver's opponents through five games are converting 47 percent of their third downs.

"It was very evident they were playing keep away from our offense, and our inability to get stops on third down, along with some of our first-and-10 run defense, allowed them to do that," Fox said. "Those conversions on third down are obviously an area we have to improve at."

Read more: Broncos' third-down defense still stings day after loss to Patriots - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci...#ixzz28pAhMnDP
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