The clock read 1:25 when Peyton Manning lined up at the Broncos’ 23-yard line on a first down in the fourth quarter against the Browns. With the game tied at 23-all, he dropped back and scanned the field for his target.
His eyes locked when he found Demaryius Thomas deep left, without a defender in reach. A bullet pass to Thomas’ chest slipped through the receiver’s hands as his head turned up field. His eyes turned away just as his fingers failed to do their job.
With the game on the line and a chance to put the Broncos in field-goal position, Thomas came up empty. He came up empty when a catchable ball slipped through his hands in the end zone during the third quarter at Oakland, too.
And he would come up empty Sunday night as he tried to explain the inexplicable.
“I have no idea,” he told a swarm of reporters Sunday in Cleveland after catching 10 of 17 targets for 111 yards. “I have to figure something out. I’m not playing my best right now. I take the blame for that. The first one, I took my eyes off of the ball, knowing I have to keep my eyes on the ball as a receiver. It happens, but (it was) too easy of a pass to drop. I take the blame. I have to be better.”
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His response mirrored the one he offered in Oakland.
Demaryius Thomas was as miffed as the millions watching. The receiver who was widely considered among the top five in the league last season and had been a reliable target for Manning has been erratic to start this season.
Thomas has made no excuses for the errs. But questions what needs to be fixed and how have been unanswered.
At Oakland, Thomas played through considerable pain after injuring his neck on a hard hit in Week 4 against Minnesota.
At Cleveland, the basics, he says, were forgotten.
Thomas has not been immune to the Broncos’ offensive transition this season. But the dropped passes are not a symptom of the changes.
And after signing a five-year, $70 million contract in July, the timing and tolerance for adjustment and miscues are limited, if available at all.
Through six games, he’s totaled 527 yards on 48 catches for an average of 11.0 per reception, numbers hardly to scoff at. Of his 74 targets, 52 have been catchable, according to Pro Football Focus, and four of those have been dropped, for a drop rate of 7.69 percent.
Through the first six games of last season, he had 662 yards on 39 receptions for an average of 16.9 yards per catch. And he dropped three of his 42 catchable passes (7.14 percent) — all three of which came before the Broncos’ Week 4 bye.
The solution, as with most things, may seem simplistic on paper. But rarely is it so.
Coach Gary Kubiak on Monday acknowledged the drops but reaffirmed his confidence in Thomas to correct the mistakes.
“He was targeted 17 times yesterday, so he gets a chance to make a lot of plays and we count on him,” Kubiak said. “When he doesn’t make a play, I know he’s hard on himself. I know he’ll bounce back. We’ve got great expectations for him, but nobody is harder on himself than he is.”
Nicki Jhabvala: njhabvala@denverpost.com or @NickiJhabvala
