One has to go.
Phillip Lindsay and Pat Shurmur cannot co-exist. Not in this offense. Not this fall. Not in this universe.
Through 10 weeks, most of them long, the Broncos have watched one offensive play go for more than 48 yards. One.
The runner who made that play happen just touched the ball four times, on the road, in a rivalry game. Four.
It’s funny, isn’t it? How Shurmur, the Broncos’ offensive coordinator, says nice things about Lindsay, son of the Front Range, a former CU Buff and a Pro Bowl tailback.
Because Shurmur’s play calls? His decisions in the heat of battle? His actions? They say something else entirely.
Something along the lines of: Kid, you can’t catch, you can’t pass block and you’re gonna get my quarterback killed.
One has to go.
It was hinted last spring, when GM John Elway threw $16 million at Melvin Gordon, despite the fact that he was already sitting on the mother of all-time tailback bargains.
It was palpable this past Sunday, during a 37-12 setback in Las Vegas that landed like a cricket bat to the crown jewels.
Having told reporters only a few days earlier that the Broncos needed “to get more out of our running game early,” Shurmur ran like jackalope in the opposite direction once the curtain went up.
Denver rushed the ball eight times during its initial 20 offensive plays. And on only six out of 21 plays in the second quarter.
Just like in Atlanta, things went to holy heck in a handbasket soon enough.
But before that, during a nip-and-tuck first half, Lindsay — one of Shurmur’s few home-run threats, the spark that jump-started a dead engine against the Chargers — carried the rock only three times and got targeted once.
Denver South’s finest managed just one more touch after halftime. The Broncos, no coincidence, were outscored 27-6 coming out of the break.
One has to go.
If Lindsay, who’d missed about a month of action after a turf toe injury in Week 1, got dinged up, then Shurmur’s discretion would be understandable. Admirable, even.
Nobody’s walked us down that road yet. And during a two-game losing skid that’s sent 2020 hurtling toward another chapter of five-to-seven-win purgatory, No. 30’s become conspicuously notable by his absence.
Following his 86-yard day on seven touches against the Bolts in Week 8, Lindsay averaged six carries and 12.5 rushing yards — 2.1 yards per tote — in limited duty vs. the Falcons and Raiders.
Which, again, seems curious. Las Vegas came into Week 10 with the NFL’s No. 16 rushing defense, having allowed 118.5 yards per game on the ground before the Broncos rolled in. Prior to last Sunday, the Raiders were tied for the NFL lead in rushing touchdowns allowed (13) and its defense had piled up the fifth-most missed tackles (67) of any unit in the league.
So if a ground-and-pound approach wasn’t ripe for exploiting, then it was at least worth genuinely exploring, don’t you think?
Four touches. Four.
If your neighbor with the hi-def, 50-inch flat screen decides to go Elvis Presley on his television set, that’s why.
Actions, actions under duress, speak louder than words. If Shurmur’s been trying to send a message to Lindsay, it’s coming through louder than Jimi Hendrix and a mountain of Marshall amps. The message to the Broncos faithful, meanwhile, reads like an obscene gesture to the sky.
If this keeps up, it’ll be returned in kind.
One has to go.
And sadly, deep down in your heart, you already know which one Elway seems convinced he can live without.
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