04-26-2019, 04:19 AM
SANTA CLARA Ja’Wuan James Jersey , Calif. (AP) — The Broncos looked beleaguered, beat up and undermanned against the lowly San Francisco 49ers.Overmatched, too? You bet.Short-handed they were, and it sure showed. Yet on this day, George Kittle might have been too much even if Denver had been at full strength.Case Keenum got going too late in a 20-14 loss to San Francisco on Sunday, four days after top target Emmanuel Sanders went down with a torn left Achilles tendon in practice Wednesday.The Broncos (6-7) were out of sorts early, then trying to play catch-up from a 20-0 deficit that saw Kittle take apart the defense time and again on the way to an 85-yard touchdown catch, 210 yards receiving and becoming the 49ers’ first tight end to reach 1,000 yards receiving.“Simply, we didn’t play well, no excuses. We can’t point fingers,” coach Vance Joseph said. “That team came out and outplayed us, in the first half especially. Our record right now, we’re still in it. Every game now is a must win. We haven’t talked about that, but we have to now. Every game that we play from now on is a must win.”Phillip Lindsay ran for a 3-yard score in the third then Keenum connected with DaeSean Hamilton on a 1-yard touchdown toss with 3:53 remaining. Keenum went 24 of 42 for 186 yards.He surely missed Sanders, who led the team with 71 catches for 868 yards and four touchdowns in a bounce-back year. His injury came three days after star cornerback Chris Harris Jr. broke his leg Connor McGovern Jersey , leaving the Broncos without seven starters from their season opener.“It’s tough,” Keenum said. “They’re guys you can’t replace.”Tim Patrick and Hamilton had seven receptions apiece, Patrick finishing with 85 yards receiving and Hamilton with 47, but most of their production came in the second half playing from way behind.“We got off to a slow start and then we picked it up in the second half,” Patrick said. “We just had to get it going. It was the first time as an offense all together in there. We were kind of shaky in the beginning, but once we got it clicking it was hard to stop us.”Meanwhile, Kittle couldn’t be slowed down in the first half, when he had all seven of his catches and 210 yards. He was only targeted once after halftime.After the game, Joseph reiterated how the Broncos must not beat themselves by falling way behind and making it harder.Denver had two defensive holding penalties in a four-play span in the first quarter and 11 total penalties for 62 yards.“We just have to be consistent,” nose tackle Shelby Harris said. “We can’t go out in the first half and go down 20-0.”There were a few defensive highlights.Von Miller sacked Nick Mullens for a 9-yard loss late in the second quarter. Including the postseason, Miller’s 103½ sacks matched the franchise record held by Simon Fletcher.Linebacker Bradley Chubb had two more sacks for 12 on the season to break Miller’s franchise rookie record of 11½ set in 2011.Miller was angry about his own miscues.“I had three false starts, and that’s ridiculous,” he said. “I’m a gambling man, and I broke today. I didn’t play like I’m supposed to today.”Most of the Broncos will be echoing those sentiments.“Now, it’s back to the lab,” Miller said. The Broncos will likely move on from veteran Darian Stewart this offseason opening up a starting position on the back end of their defense. One name who is currently expected to hit the free agent market and could fill that starting role is Bears safety Jake Butt Jersey , Adrian Amos. Player profile:Height: 6’0”Weight: 214lbsAge: 25Experience: 4 yearsAmos played four seasons at Penn State and had himself a solid career for the Nittany Lions defense. During his four-year career at Penn State, Amos totaled 148 tackles, 9 tackles for a loss, 3 sacks, 7 interceptions, and 15 pass deflections. His college career earned him an invite to the Reese’s Senior Bowl where he performed well in front of scouts, GM’s, and coaches. Amos ended up going in the 5th round of the 2015 NFL Draft to the Chicago Bears with their 142nd overall pick. Amos went from a day three, 5th round selection to a 16 game starter for the Bears defense his rookie season. He has since become a regular in their secondary by starting a total of 56 regular season games for the Bears the past four seasons. During that four-year career, Amos has totaled 235 tackles, 2 sacks, 19 pass deflections, 3 interceptions, 1 defensive touchdown, and 3 forced fumbles. According to Pro Football Focus, Amos was given an 82.7 overall grade which ranked him as the 8th best safety in the NFL in 2018. They also ranked Amos as their 11th best free agent this upcoming free agency period.With former Bears Defensive Coordinator Vic Fangio and Defensive Backs coach Ed Donatell now in Denver it is safe to assume that Amos is a favorite to land with the Broncos this offseason.Why it makes sense:Well Colby Wadman Jersey , Vic Fangio(the Bears former Defensive Coordinator) and Ed Donatell(the Bears former Defensive Backs coach) both now coach for the Broncos. Also, the Broncos are most likely going to release veteran starting safety Darian Stewart this offseason. So you have a player entering free agency who has ties with the newly hired coaching staff and a starting position open at safety a position Amos plays. It’s a pretty simple deduction that there will likely be mutual interest between both sides if Amos hits free agency. The Broncos as we all unfortunately know, have struggled to cover the tight end for years. If they add Amos to the back end of their defense, that struggle could easily become a strength for them since Amos is considered one of the top cover safeties in the game. Another strength of Amos is his versatility. Fangio used him at both safety roles in Chicago and I would imagine he would do the same with him if he signs with the Broncos. He would also help the safeties/secondary learn the basics of Fangio’s system quicker as well so that’s another positive. It just makes too much sense not to happen. The only thing that could throw a wrench into this is money.Why this doesn’t make sense:Franchise Tag, re-signing and asking price. Those are the only three things I can really come up with here. They could decide to keep Amos for at least one more year by applying the Franchise Tag on him. This would allow them to work on an extension to lock up their young stud safety for many years to come. They could also simply re-sign Amos before or shortly after Free Agency begins. They have Bryce Callahan and Eddie Jackson to pay in the present and near future so they may view Amos expendable here. Finally, the price tag. I’ll say this for just about every free agent. Elway draws a line in the sand and is known as a tough negotiator so you never know how these things work out. Also, keep in mind that the safety market was weird last season so it will be interesting to see how it plays out again this upcoming offseason. Outside of that, I have nothing for you. Final thoughts:I have been fairly clear about my stance on Amos in this article. He’s a top safety in the league, he’s still young, and he’s a very realistic option for the Broncos for many reasons(Coaching, connections, need, and a likely open starting safety role). If there is mutual interest on both sides and they can agree on compensation, I believe this can get done fairly quickly.