Broncos can't win by folding napkins

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FOXBORO, Mass. -- Fumble. Fumble. Punt. Punt. Interception. Quarterback change. Fumble.Second half.Punt. Interception. Touchdown. Punt. Punt. That's it. That's the game. That's the shame. That's the season.Oh, the Denver Broncos will soldier on, play better again. They can't play any worse. This 41-7 beatdown by New England is surely is the low point, meaning only that anything higher is still barely above the ankles. And the Broncos are still in first place, balanced on one foot with a clothespin on their nose, but still in first place.This Broncos team is not a team for glory, a team for success, a team for today. Certainly it was not a team for Monday night. This is not a team ready for prime time; this is a team barely ready for recess. "In front of the nation," said cornerback Dre Bly. "It's embarrassing."This was not an aberration, it was a culmination, all the very worst of the season piled into a single evening, every fault and defect exposed. And in prime time, which only makes the humiliation greater, but changes nothing.The Broncos are a team that simply needs better players, mostly on defense, and a week off to heal and ponder won't make any difference.An injury to quarterback Jay Cutler's right forefinger on the first play hampered his passing, but his two interceptions were only two of five turnovers, and none of the very stupid penalties, all of which piled up misery by the shovelful.How bad is the injury? "It's a finger," said Mike Shanahan. "It's either broke or it isn't. It isn't, so it will be okay."But Shanahan is not a doctor, he said, and no coach is. A coach resents injuries, a doctor tries to fix them.Cutler got better as the game went on, raising his passer rating from a halftime 22.9 to 43.6 after three to a final 64.3, like growing stink weed.The division is so bad that the Broncos could win it, or not lose it, and slip into the playoffs kidding themselves that they belong. "We got physically beat up," said linebacker D.J. Williams. "Both sides of he ball, offense, defense, special teams, they just beat us."This is a team of pieces, some good, some bad, some here, some there, but full of holes and flaws. Not a team of tacklers, for certain. It's a team that tackles as if it is folding napkins. It brings to mind the old coach who was asked what he thought of his team's execution. He was, he said, all for it.Shanahan, an older coach by the week, said, "Obviously, the Patriots played better than we did."Better? This was hammer and thumb, paddle and posterior, rope and neck.Never have the Broncos looked so ugly, not even when they wore striped socks. This was complete compost, the very definition of awful, as close to a forfeit as possible and still play the game."We've got to go back to basics," said Shanahan.Halfway through the season and back to basics? How sad and how true. The one basic most needed to go back to is the simple tackle, the one where a defensive player knocks the offensive player to the ground.The Broncos tackle like they are making a bed. All but safety Marquand Manuel. He tackles as if he is folding a napkin.Not that the Patriots are much better, but the Patriots did knock out both Baileys, the Champ and the Boss. They would have gotten the Beetle and the Pearl if they had been here.The loss of Champ Bailey allowed Randy Moss to romp carefree for two touchdowns. Moss was all that Moss can be, reminding Brandon Marshall that he has a few more steps left to climb."It just stinks how we played," said Champ Bailey. "Everybody in this room has to look at himself and try to get better individually. All of us have to look back and reflect on these last seven games and try and figure out a way to get better. We need a better attitude because our attitude stinks out there. We need to play better and play harder."And smarter. Typical of just how stupidly the Broncos played was Jamie Winborn, the fourth linebacker in the inconsequential 3-4 defense, taking a penalty in the Patriots end zone, enabling a drive. Ebenezer Ekuban contributes with a late hit. Manuel flails at thin air. Next stop, end zone for the Patriots.The Broncos gave recycled running back Sammy Morris the game of his life in the first half and then did the same favor for quarterback Matt Cassel in the second. They validated a rookie named BenJarvus Green-Ellis, just up from the practice squad."We got our butts handed to us," Ekuban said.Not really. If they had, the Broncos would have dropped them.(Contact Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News at lincicomeb(at)RockyMountainNews.com.)