DENVER -- The Denver Broncos hadn't lost a season opener by
that much since 1966. Back then, it might have been expected. In
2005, it took a lot of people by surprise.
"It was ugly. It was humid. I was tired," cornerback Lenny
Walls said, succinctly wrapping up Denver's 34-10 loss to Miami.
The Broncos looked overmatched, unprepared and out of shape
Sunday in their worst season-opening loss since a 45-7 defeat to
Houston nearly 40 years ago, which turned out to be the
second-to-last game of the less-than-illustrious Mac Speedie
coaching era in Denver.
Denver's current coach, Mike Shanahan, watched replays of
Sunday's loss on the long flight home -- talk about a bad in-flight
movie -- and gave an unflinching critique of his team, mostly his
offense, on Monday.
"In thinking about my years as a head coach and years as a
coordinator, I don't know if I've ever been with an offense that
put as much pressure on the defense as we did in that game," he
said. "We didn't get anything going."
In all, Denver had nine drives over the first three quarters,
only two of which lasted longer than five plays. Miami's offense
held the ball for 27 of the first 45 minutes.
No wonder the Denver defense started shutting down physically.
Walls and cornerback Darrent Williams each had to leave because
of dehydration and with the rest of the defense sucking air, Miami
turned a three-point lead at halftime into a runaway by the early
fourth quarter.
"If you can't get drives going and the defense is out there
continuously, someone's going to wear out sooner or later," said
Shanahan, who voiced no concerns with the way the team prepared for
the stifling heat and humidity in Florida.
With Champ Bailey also out with a shoulder injury, and with Roc
Alexander on the inactive list, the Broncos wound up for a time
with rookie Domonique Foxworth at one corner and safety Sam Brandon
at the other, a position he hadn't played regularly since high
school.
"Both guys played extremely well," Shanahan said. "I was
really happy with the young corners."
He couldn't speak as highly of kickoff specialist Paul Ernster,
a rookie whose career in Denver could be over as quickly as it
started. His first two kicks went to the 5 and the 12. The worst
one, though, came after a fourth-quarter touchdown pulled Denver
within 20-10 and Ernster shanked one out of bounds. A play later,
Miami scored another touchdown, as Marty Booker pulled away from
Walls, who was cramping up.
"You hope a guy can step up in games and do it like he does it
in practice," Shanahan said of Ernster. "He hasn't done that yet.
We've got to make that tough decision" on whether to keep him on
the roster.
Mostly, though, it was the offense that cost Denver this game.
Jake Plummer threw seven straight incompletions to start off.
Ashley Lelie dropped a touchdown pass in the end zone and a couple
other easy throws that came his way.
Denver spent an inordinate amount of time in the preseason
working on production inside the opponent's 20, an area that hurt
the Broncos last year. In the opener, it paid off with one
touchdown, one field goal, one goal-line stand by the Dolphins and
Jason Taylor's sack, strip and fumble recovery on Plummer for an
85-yard touchdown return on the last play of the game.
It was clearly the most humiliating moment of an already
embarrassing day.
"Don't beat us up about that too bad," running back Mike
Anderson said. "We're going to correct that. Trust me. We've been
working on it. We're not just talking about it. Guys are dedicated
to getting it done."