The start of the Sean Payton era with the Denver Broncos is off to the worst possible start.
Denver opened the season with two close losses to the Raiders and the Commanders at home. That was frustrating enough. Then they went to Miami and got absolutely throttled by the Dolphins, 70-20.
The scoreline says it all. The performance was as bad as they come. No man on the roster or coaching staff can be free of criticism after that one. But some are more responsible than others.
Denver Broncos to blame for loss to Dolphins: The receivers
For once, the issue on offense wasn't Russell Wilson. But, of course, the quarterback playing much better was nulified by everyone else around him making horrible mistakes.
Brandon Johnson committed two penalties to nullify touchdowns including an illegal shift and an offensive pass interference. Both reversals resulted in the Broncos kicking field goals.
Courtland Sutton, who led Denver in receiving, was also his team's biggest enemy with two fumbles that ultimately resulted in 14 points for the Dolphins.
The performance of the defense will grab all the headlines, and rightfully so, but the failings of the offense also can't be ignored. They only scored 13 points in Week 3 since Marvin Mims Jr. returned a kick for a score.
Denver Broncos to blame for loss to Dolphins: The entire secondary
In Week 1, Jimmy Garoppolo had a decent debut for the Raiders with a QBR of 75.9 against the Broncos secondary. Then he ran into the Bills in Week 2 and posted a QB of 26.2
In Week 2, the Broncos secondary made Sam Howell look like a good quarterback. Then in Week 3, the Commanders quarterback came back down to earth throwing four interceptions against the Bills.
Maybe the Bills defense is that good. Or maybe the Broncos' secondary is just flat-out bad.
It's hard to argue otherwise after watching them get torched by Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins. Tagovailoa tossed four touchdowns and even backup Mike White got into the action with a 68-yard bomb to Robbie Chosen. That one was at the expense of Pat Surtain II, who got burned by a practice squad player.
Yeah, it was just that terrible of a day for Denver.
Cornerback Mamarri Mathis was embarrassing flexing after Tagovailoa's first incompletion...in the third quarter with Miami leading 25-13. Safeties Kareem Jackson and Delarrin Turner-Yell didn't look like starting NFL safeties. The whole secondary, even Surtain, struggled.
The defense has problems all over the field. The defensive front didn't get the job done either but the secondary has been facepalm-worthy.
Denver Broncos to blame for loss to Dolphins: DC Vance Joseph
College football fans are used to seeing 70-point performances on defense. But those are almost always in games between opponents on opposite ends of the competitive spectrum.
The Denver Broncos are an NFL team and they just let the Dolphins drop 70 on them.
Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph gave up as many points in one game as the Cowboys, who led the league in scoring going into Week 3, managed in their first two games combined.
Miami's offense is very good. Joseph didn't need to totally shut them down to prove his worth. But getting any stops would have been nice!
Joseph's plan to deal with Tyreek Hill was laughable. The star wideout had nine receptions for 157 yards and a touchdown. The DC even had Randy Gregory in coverage on Hill on a third down. Unbelievable.
The buck stops with Sean Payton because it's his team and his defensive coordinator, but Joseph still comes out of this looking worse than anyone.
