La derrota en Nashville
Escribí un tweet que decía más o menos: "los Broncos van ganando, pero siento como si fuéramos perdiendo". El equipo de Denver estaba enfrascado en una batalla muy cerrada con los Titanes de Tennessee y a pesar de todas sus ausencias tenía bajo control a Chris Johnson y parecía que Willis McGahee, Kyle Orton y Eric Decker, eran pacientes y estaban cerca de dar un golpe mortal a los de blanco y azul celeste.
Mi experiencia dice que a los Broncos les cuestan trabajo las escuadras excesivamente físicas como los Titanes y aunque estaban a la altura del juego, se salieron del script de lo que es un juego cerrado y parejo. John Fox quiso jugársela en "4a y gol" en lugar de patear un gol de campo. De entrada no me pareció mal la decisión --aunque saliéramos del guión-- pero la jugada no resultó ser la correcta, fue como "jugársela por jugársela" y la puntilla fue que la defensiva no evitara primeros y dieces de los Titanes cuando estaban encajonados. Justo en el momento en el que lograron su primera oportunidad fue cuando sentí que ya íbamos perdiendo.
El problema no fue la decisión, sino la dura realidad de que no había bases para tomarla. Eso cayó de golpe y lo descubrimos en ese momento, quizá Fox debía tenerlo diagnosticado antes.
Al final los Broncos perdieron 17-14 y la última ofensiva avanzaba desesperada hacia el empate cuando todos hubiésemos querido que fuera por el FG del triunfo, pero el hubiera no existe.
El impacto y dolor de la derrota entre los Broncos queda brillantemente retratada en esta pieza de Mike Klis:
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — There was a long cooling-off period. Coach John Fox started and finished his postgame news conference.
The visiting locker room doors finally opened, and Broncos middle linebacker Joe Mays was sitting in front of his locker, his sweat-soaked, grass- stained jersey and pants covering his fully padded, tired body. Across the room, defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley sat in the same position.
Between them was silence. The Broncos led halfway through the fourth quarter but wound up losing to the Tennessee Titans 17-14. No one talked when the doors opened. Someone tossed a piece of ankle tape on the carpeted floor. It sounded like a thud.
There are losses and there are losses when a team is nearly speechless.
"Nobody in this room deserved this," Broncos running back Willis McGahee said.
The Broncos almost prevailed, though they were badly outmanned because of injuries. Their offense was missing Eddie Royal , Knowshon Moreno and Julius Thomas. Their three best defensive players — Elvis Dumervil, Champ Bailey and D.J. Williams — again didn't play. Yet the patched-up Denver D held Tennessee running backs Chris Johnson and Javon Ringer to a combined 4 yards on 14 carries through three quarters.
Matt Hasselbeck , the veteran quarterback in his first year with the Titans, finally solved the Broncos' defense in the fourth quarter.
Afterward, the Broncos' locker room was the quietest it's been in years. It's never exactly reverberating with boom-box music after any defeat. But based on the utter silence in the locker room a good 25 minutes after the final gun Sunday, this setback was more difficult than others.
"It's real frustrating, and it needs to be real frustrating," veteran safety Brian Dawkins said.
"I wouldn't read too much into how quiet it is as a sign of anything other than as a sign that we're a group of true competitors," weakside linebacker Wesley Woodyard said. ". . . The quiet you're hearing says we all care about our jobs, and we care about winning."
"It was disappointing, but we've got to bounce back," said Broncos center J.D. Walton. "We've got another road game, and we have to approach it as a business trip, again."
