Following Monday night's 19-16 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, Denver Broncos running back Melvin Gordon said he didn't know the reason for his benching. On Tuesday, coach Nathaniel Hackett tried to explain the situation away by citing the lack of plays run by his offense.
"The first quarter -- he was in on the second quarter, and in the third quarter, we didn't have a lot of football plays," Hackett said, via the team's official transcript. "We were going three and out. Our plan was to get into manageable third-down situations to be able to move the ball and control clock. We did and we just didn't convert on third down. When you are 29 percent on third down, that's a hard recipe for success. When it comes to the running back play, we need to look at that and sit there and say -- if somebody's doing a really good job, and I think Latavius (Murray) was doing a fine job, he had the opportunity to go another series. Then we just didn't have a lot of plays. We want all those guys, we need all those guys and we have to be sure they are all on the field."
It's true that the Broncos ran just 55 plays to the Chargers' 83 on Monday night as the offense hit a lull, netting just five first downs on seven drives in the second half and overtime. But Gordon played eight first-half plays while Denver gave snaps to Murray (27) and Mike Boone (19). Gordon not seeing the field for the final 33 snaps of the game suggests it was more than simply a lack of plays.
The Broncos had already started to move away from Gordon following his Week 4 fumble against the Las Vegas Raiders until Javonte Williams suffered his season-ending knee injury. Couple that with Monday night's benching, and it's clear the staff doesn't trust Gordon.
However, Hackett insisted the lack of burn for Gordon wasn't production-related.
"We're going to have a conversation," the coach said. "We have a very good relationship and [I] want to be sure that we're crystal clear on everything and that he knows where I stand. I've always liked those awkward conversations and always want to be upfront and honest with everybody. Melvin didn't do anything wrong. He didn't. We just didn't have a lot of plays, and in the end, he didn't get the reps that he wanted. He's a competitor. He wants to be out there helping with his team. We'll sit down and we'll have a conversation."
We'll see in Sunday's home game against the New York Jets whether Hackett's dismissal of Gordon's benching was genuine or the running back remains saddled on the sideline.
