The red zone turned into the bugaboo zone for the Denver Broncos in Monday night's 17-16 loss in Seattle.
In Russell Wilson's first game in a Broncos jersey, Denver went 0-of-4 in the red zone, including two fumbles from the goal line, went 0-of-3 in goal-to-go situations, and kicked two field goals inside the 15-yard line.
"Just to start off with it, when you're 0-and-4 in the red zone, 12 penalties, two turnovers, it's not a good deal," first-year coach Nathaniel Hackett said. "Just got to be better in the red zone. That starts with me. Got to be sure we have a better plan and are able to get physical down there and score some touchdowns instead of field goals, or nothing at all."
Nothing at all is what Hackett's team got too often.
The Broncos opened the second half driving down the field seemingly at will, marching to the 1-yard-line on back-to-back possessions with a chance to take the lead. Running back Melvin Gordon fumbled at the goal line on fourth-down during the first possession. On the next drive, Javonte Williams fared no better, getting the ball punched out for another fumble failure.
Since 1991, no team had lost multiple fumbles on plays from the opponent's 1-yard line in the same game, much less on consecutive drives, per NFL Research. The most recent time a team lost multiple fumbles from inside the 5-yard line in the same game (not consecutive drives) was the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4, 2006, versus Green Bay -- Donovan McNabb fumbled from the 2-yard-line, Correll Buckhalter fumbled from the 4-yard-line two drives later.
"We definitely beat ourselves," Gordon said after the game. "We got in the red zone multiple times. Couldn't convert. Don't mind going for it on fourth. We're supposed to get the job done. We're not worried. We'll have our heads down for a couple of hours because we're competitors and we hate losing. We know we shot ourselves in the foot. We know we're the better team, but clearly we made more mistakes than they did. In the National Football League it doesn't matter if you're the better team or not. You make mistakes, you're going to lose."
Not only did Denver fumble away the game, the offense looked ugly in the red zone, coming out of the huddle late and playing disjointedly. On their third-straight drive inside the 5-yard line, after a penalty and three incompletions, Hackett relented and kicked a chip-shot field goal.
"We didn't execute," Hackett said. "We had a false start. We had a walk-in touchdown and ended up having a false start, which is unacceptable. You can't have penalties there. We had a couple opportunities. They were there; we got to capitalize on them and we didn't, and that's what is frustrating in those situations."
The Broncos generated 433 yards of offense to Seattle's 253, earned 6.8 yards per play on 64 plays compared to 5.2 on 49, and earned more first downs.
The game came down to red-zone execution. Seattle's defense stepped up. Denver deteriorated.
"In the end, we got to score in the red zone." said Hackett. "It's that simple and that starts with me."
