Troy Aikman has harsh words for Denver Broncos

Oct 21, 2021; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; NFL Half of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman before the game between the Cleveland Browns and the Denver Broncos at FirstEnergy Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

The Denver Broncos did not leave Troy Aikman impressed on Monday night.

The Broncos entered the game 2-3 and lost 19-16 to the Los Angeles Chargers on the road. Denver’s offense continued to have problems, including on the opening possession of overtime. Denver got into a 3rd-and-1 situation and was unable to convert, so they punted.

The disappointing showing from the Broncos’ offense led to some harsh criticism from Aikman, who was serving as the game analyst on ESPN.

“It’s not been very good,” Aikman said of the Broncos’ offense. “But why is that? It’s because everyone across the board — it’s not just Russell Wilson — it’s the protection up front. It’s their inability to consistently be able to run the football. It’s their inability to consistently be able to beat defenders with routes. So, you combine all that, and you get an offense that is not scoring many points and is not playing very good football.

“They’ve got too good of players for it to consistently be this poor. At least I think they do. Maybe they don’t.”

That’s the question. Most people went into the season thinking Denver had the offensive personnel to succeed, but they haven’t come close to doing that. We know that Russell Wilson is battling an injury, but he has been bad since Week 1, when he should have been fresh. The logical conclusion is that the Broncos have poor schemes and poor coaching. Maybe that’s what Aikman was getting at without actually saying it.