Getty Left guard Quenton Nelson and the Indianapolis Colts beat the Denver Broncos in Week 5 without scoring a touchdown.
It’s hard to fathom that an overtime game could be considered so boring, but football fans of all kinds went crazy on the internet during the lackluster Thursday night affair. Ultimately, the Indianapolis Colts outlasted the Denver Broncos in a “touchdown-less” 12-9 contest.
If you didn’t have the pleasure, or lack thereof, of watching the Amazon Prime broadcasted contest, you might assume that today’s storyline would be about both team’s defenses or even the seven converted field goals. Unfortunately for Broncos and Colts fans alike, the dreadful offensive performances were on center stage.
Was That The Worst Game Ever?
Certainly that could be considered a little dramatic considering the 103 year history of the National Football League. But if you were surfing social media last night, or woke up to sports television and talk radio Friday, you might think it was.
Former Broncos lineman and current FOX Analyst Mark Schlereth appeared on the Rich Eisen Show Friday morning saying that it, “may be the worst game in the history of the NFL.” Schlereth continued, “gosh it was ugly. The thing that fascinates me about football is the juxtaposition between simplicity and complexity. There are complex things in the game, but the bottom line about the game is that it is simple and that if you dominate the line of scrimmage, you win. And nobody could dominate the line. It just looked ugly.” Mark addressed concerns about the Broncos decision making throughout the game as well.
This is, no hyperbole, one of the worst NFL games ever played. My eyes are bleeding. #BroncosCountry
I think both team should consider punting on 1st down.
This is brutal
NFL Films is going to delete this game.
Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson was quick to take responsibility during his Thursday night press conference. “It’s very simple, I’ve got to play better,” Wilson said. “This defense played their butts off tonight. We had some key good drives, and were moving the ball but didn’t get to capitalize on them. We were third and long again too much. Throwing two interceptions can’t happen, I let the team down tonight.”
Similar Quarterback Situations
It was almost a mirror image watching a frustrated Russell Wilson underperforming and watching a frustrated Matt Ryan underperforming with their new teams. Both veteran quarterbacks threw a pair of picks and double-digit incompletions. The Broncos gained 375 total yards on 71 plays from scrimmage. Rushing for 125 yards, throwing for 250. The Colts tallied 106 yards on the ground and 200 passing yards.
Wilson did express some confidence going forward, however and summarized, “one thing I know about myself is I’m going to respond, I don’t know any other way.”
With high expectations for both teams to start the year, it’s easy to forget we’re only in Week 5. As the Colts improve to 2-2-1 and Denver drops to 2-3, both fan bases should remain extremely concerned as their respective schedules seemingly get tougher.
Road trips to the Titans, Patriots and Raiders and home games against the Jaguars and Commanders are due up the next five weeks for Indianapolis.
Denver will try to regroup for next week’s AFC West trip to Los Angeles. A home game against the Jets, match-up against the Jaguars in London and the BYE Week will follow that up for the Broncos.