Denver broncos Executive news summary Monday, October 8, 2018 After another smelly loss by Broncos, John Elway needs to ask Gary Kubiak to replace Vance Joseph as coach By Mark Kiszla The Denver Post October 8, 2018 It’s a stench that can’t be washed away in the shower. The Broncos stink to the bone. What’s that putrid odor? Hope dying. Vance Joseph reeks of an NFL coach that can’t do the math and is always late with the answer. Why can’t his boss see it? Can’t John Elway smell it? It’s impossible for the scoreboard to fully capture this mess, although as the New York Jets crushed Denver 34-16 here Sunday, it shouted how rotten this football team is in big, bright lights. “We were once a dominant team. Teams once feared the Broncos. It’s not that way anymore,” linebacker Brandon Marshall said Sunday. Marshall spoke quietly, while deliberately knotting a tie around his neck, after the Jets shredded the reputation of a defense that won Super Bowl 50 with 323 yards rushing. It was the heaviest pounding Denver had taken on the ground in eight seasons. You remember 2010; it was the year Josh McDaniels was fired as coach. With the benefit of time, defeat builds character. In the moments immediately after a humiliating loss, however, what’s revealed is how an athlete deals with emotional pain laid bare. While Marshall picked through the sad reality like a CSI investigator, Denver teammate Derek Wolfe growled like a hurt animal. “I’m tired of talking about the same (bleep) for the last two years,” said Wolfe, who employed a four- letter word not fit for print in a family newspaper. “Something’s got to change.” Since last season, the Broncos have changed the starting quarterback, the special teams coordinator and their travel schedule for road games to the East Coast. Nevertheless, the three-game losing streak Denver is mired in now looks a whole lot like the eight-game losing streak that almost got Joseph fired a year ago. Any guesses to what needs to change? Well, I don’t want to mention names. But his initials are V.J. As Denver trailed by 17 points with more than nine minutes remaining in the final period, facing fourth down deep in Jets territory, Joseph eschewed a chip-shot field goal to chase a touchdown. Really? When your bravado is bigger than your brains, folks call you Tin Cup. And when the pass from Case Keenum fell incomplete on fourth down, the healthy representation of Broncos Country that had invaded MetLife Stadium began flocking to the exits. Add basic football math to the basic football skills Joseph lacks. Denver fans behind the visitors’ bench shouted insults at the Broncos, according to Wolfe. Everybody was ticked. Can you blame anyone? This is the point where it would be easy for a team to turn tail and run. In fact, cornerback Bradley Roby tried to duck out on questions regarding him getting burned by a 76-yard touchdown reception by Robby Anderson. “”Robe’ has got to show up, man. Make a play or something,” said Broncos cornerback Chris Harris Jr., who then barked across the locker room, shaming Roby into explaining himself. “You’ve got to face the music, big ’un.” It’s a sad song. The orange has got the blues. For the fifth time in as many games, Case Keenum got outplayed by the opposing quarterback, and in this case it was Jets rookie Sam Darnold. Worse, the Denver defense ain’t what it used to be. “We’ve got to start over from square one. Figure out who wants to be here,” said Harris, vowing not to quit, insisting he’s all in. But can the same be said about all of Harris’ teammates? “I don’t know. I hope so,” said Harris, who will effort to rally a discouraged locker room. “We’ve got to change something. And we’ve got to win. It’s not looking too good right now.” In the entire history of the Jets, from Emerson Boozer to Curtis Martin, a storied franchise has never run, run, run for more yards in a single game. That’s no small achievement. “It means a lot to me,” said New York’s Isaiah Crowell, whose 77-yard burst for a touchdown early in the second quarter provided the first score of 24 unanswered points by the Jets. Denver defensive coordinator Joe Woods certainly had no answer. Where have you gone, Wade Phillips? Asked if it’s time to shake up his defensive coaching staff, Joseph replied: “No. I don’t think we’re there.” But is scapegoating Woods the answer? If Elway wants, he can wait to make a bigger move that feels inevitable, because the stench never touches Old No. 7 in Colorado. So Elway can wait, watching the Broncos slowly swirl down the drain. But Gary Kubiak, now a senior personnel adviser for the team he led to a championship as coach fewer than three years ago, works in the same building as Elway. The boss at least has to broach the topic with his dear football brother of 35 years, don’t you think? Or are the Broncos so far gone after only five games of 2018 that even if Kubiak returned to the Denver sideline, it wouldn’t matter? Broncos Analysis: This year became last year in blowout loss to Jets By Ryan O’Halloran The Denver Post October 8, 2018 They never thought last year could repeat itself. No chance. The Broncos believed adding accomplished veterans, a stellar draft class and several new assistant coaches would fuel a turnaround. But this year became last year during Sunday’s 34-16 eyesore of a loss to the New York Jets. Not competitive … like last year. Myriad mistakes … like last year. Looking ill-prepared … like last year. The Broncos’ 2017 season fell apart with an eight-game losing streak after a 3-1 start. The Broncos’ 2018 version have lost three consecutive games following a 2-0 start. Eleven games remain, but if this season feels like it’s already over the cliff and into the same kind of abyss as last year, well, you’re right. And the players may have been smacked by some kind of figurative reality following the beatdown. “Yeah, actually, this is the first time it really felt like (last year),” linebacker Brandon Marshall said afterward. “We just can’t get a win on the road. There is no way we should be getting beat by these scores.” With Vance Joseph as coach, the Broncos are 1-9 on the road and eight losses have been by at least 10 points. When the going gets tough away from home, the Broncos look like a team that wants to pack up, go through security screening and get on the plane. “Same (bleep) every week,” defensive end Derek Wolfe said. “I’m tired talking about the same (bleep) for two years straight. Something’s got to change.” But what, Derek? “I really don’t know,” Wolfe said. “I’m sure you guys know what it is.” But what, Brandon? “I’ll leave that up to you,” Marshall said. “But something has to be done. We just can’t keep losing like this.” Losing like the Broncos lost to the Jets gets coaches fired and players released. The Jets rushed for 323 yards, fifth-most by a Broncos opponent. They barely touched rookie quarterback Sam Darnold. They were 4 of 14 on third down. They stunk on special teams. One option for Joseph would be to assume the defensive play-calling duties from coordinator Joe Woods. Head coaches fire coordinators as a last gasp to save their own hide. If it creates a spark, the head coach stays. If it fizzles out, everybody gets fired anyway. All options are expected to be explored before Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams. “I don’t think we’re there,” Joseph said of shaking up the staff. “I thought we were sound schematically. But again, it always begin with coaching. We have to coach and play better. We prepare our players to play. It’s all of us involved. I’m not going to stand up here after a loss like that and start blaming our coaches or our players.” How about blaming the whole operation? This is a top-to-bottom mess. The Broncos led 7-0 but then gave up touchdowns of 77 and 76 yards to fall behind for good. They declined to get back in the game after Wolfe’s interception to start the second half. They went a stretch of nine possessions without a touchdown. “We’re a good football team; we have to just play like a good football team,” Wolfe said. “We have to play to our potential. We can’t keep playing bogus football and going out there and making mistakes, not winning 1-on-1s, not capitalizing on turnovers, stuff like that. It’s a team sport. We can’t turn on each other. We have to stay with each other.” Wolfe believes the Broncos can “absolutely regroup. We tried to regroup this week. .. Something much deeper is happening here that I really can’t understand.” Asked if it will be tough to rally the players, Joseph was steadfast. “It’s not going to be difficult,” he said. “We’re not going to fall for the noise. We didn’t play good and it showed up and (the Jets) wanted it more than our football team and it obviously showed.