ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Ahead of Denver’s preseason matchup with the Bills, the Broncos knew they would face a challenge.
The Bills planned to play their starters, while the Broncos were set to keep their star players out of harm’s way.
“That’s the best evaluation you can possibly get,” Head Coach Nathaniel Hackett said Thursday. “We want to see who can come out there and play vs. the best in the league. It’s an unbelievable opportunity for those guys to step up and show what they can do.”
The reality wasn’t nearly as pleasant, as the Broncos fell behind early and eventually lost a 42-15 decision.
The Bills scored touchdowns on each of their first six possessions as they exerted control and raced out to a 42-9 lead.
“Obviously, the defense didn’t play good enough,” Hackett said after the loss. “The offense didn’t play good enough, especially in the beginning. That’s why we do this. We get to evaluate a lot of guys vs. a really good Bills football team.”
Josh Allen played just one drive, but he completed all three of his passes and capped the possession by escaping pressure and firing a 28-yard touchdown pass to Gabe Davis. Reserve quarterback Case Keenum, who replaced Allen, found similar success. He led touchdown drives on all three of his first-half possessions and completed 16-of-18 passes for 192 yards, a touchdown and a 129.6 quarterback rating.
A week after allowing just one play of 20 yards or more against the Cowboys, the Denver defense gave up a series of big plays and let the Bills average more than eight yards per carry through the first three quarters.
The Broncos’ struggles came, in part, from a series of missed tackles.
“You [give up] six touchdowns on six drives, obviously nobody did good,” Hackett said. “So we have to evaluate the group as a whole and we’ve got to tackle better. We’ve got to hold the point [of attack] better, everything.”
Though Denver’s offense was unable to score a touchdown in the first half, Josh Johnson and Co.’s drive to begin the…
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