What’s more fun than second-guessing NFL coaches? Nothing, that’s what. So let’s do it every week, right here. Today: Schedule-shuffling!
The scenario
This year, the NFL for the first time exercised a “Thursday Night Flex” — that is, flexing a game from Sunday to the previous Thursday. That happened this past week, when Denver traveled to Los Angeles to play the Chargers. The NFL flexed Cincinnati-Cleveland out of the Thursday spot — you don’t have to think too hard to figure out why — and gave Denver the opportunity to flex into the spot.
We say “opportunity” because Denver was given the choice to flex into the spot. Since the Broncos had already played a Thursday night road game this season — back in Week 7 against the Saints — they had to agree to a second road flex. Why take a second short-week road game? Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?
The result
Denver lost to the Chargers despite having an 11-point lead in the third quarter, and Broncos head coach Sean Payton pointed to the tight week as a reason why.
“We dropped coverage tonight five different times,” Payton said after the game. “Look, on a short week, we’ve got to look closely at, ‘Why are these things happening?’ But five different times, we had free runners. And you can’t have one of their top receivers not covered.”
The problem with that rationale is that the Broncos themselves agreed to the short week, so it’s not like they were backed into the slot. Short weeks are hell on teams’ preparation — this week’s Wednesday Christmas games are likely to be particularly ugly — so any time a coach willingly surrenders that prep time, you have to wonder what’s behind it.
So why did Denver agree to take on the Thursday night game? Possibly because it gives Denver more than a week’s break before a crucial Week 17 game against … those same Bengals who were flexed out of the spot.
Denver still has , per NFL Next Gen Stats, but that’s well below the Chargers’ 94 percent. Did Payton put his team in a bad position in Week 16 by angling for some more time to prepare for Week 17? Your call.
