It was the longest-tenured Bronco who was perhaps the most defiant Sunday.
When Jason Elam speaks publicly, he does so with the crisp eloquence you would expect from someone who makes his living talking to people — a minister, perhaps, or a politician. His convictions arise in the content of his speech, not in the tone of his voice, which is calm: never raised, never on the attack or defensive, simply cool and rational.
Combine that with his experience, and his words seem to issue a clarion call to his teammates — and certainly one that goes against the momentum that rides against the Broncos now that they are saddled with a four-game losing streak.
“I really think we’re going to get in the playoffs; I really do. I think we’re going to go 3-0 here,” he said. “That’s my mindset, and I think that’s everybody’s mindset.”
As though he could sense the disbelief in his inquistors late Sunday afternoon, he reaffirmed his point.
“I’m serious. I think we’re going to get in.
“There’s going to be a lot of people outside the locker room bashing us. We’ve just got to keep our heads up and stay together,” he later added. “We have to go 3-0, so every game’s going to be a playoff game. We know we can’t lose any of them and I don’t think we will.”
Time will tell whether Elam possessed keen foresight.
Tags: Jason Elam, San Diego Chargers
I am glad our kicker is so confident, but unless he can cover guys like Anquon Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald thise week, or Ocho-Cinco, T.J Houshmanzadeh, Chris Henry next week I don;t share the optimism.
Some very fundamental defensive lapses are going to have to be resolved or the Cardinals could sneak up and shock us this Sunday….
TSG
http://www.milehighreport.com
okay, i highly doubt the cardinals will beat the broncos. Sure arizona has won their last 2 games, but they actually got lucky. (turnovers)
plus they beat the seahawks, booo, who cares about them, they suck. as for the rams, hah, well, we’ll just see wont’ we.
anyone else beginning to think that there needs to be alot of reevaluation of the game plans for next year
is Mike Hermingdinger (sp) even a coordinator? I never hear anything from him in any atricles or reports
also I love Larry Coyer and dont want him to go anywhere, but it seems like he needs to design more flexible defensive schemes
I dont know, Im no pro coach, it seems like the leagues figured us out though, and we havent adapted. Im sure changing schemes is alot harder than it seems though.
i agree, i think that jason is a very relient kicker and i think that he will stay with denver intill the end
JeAce07…what are you smokin that you forgot that the Seahawks beat us AT HOME two weeks ago and then Arizona beat them last week. The Broncos D is in serious trouble this week, especially if the idiot Coyer continues to allow the D-Line to fail. With our D-Line it is as if our defense is playing 7 on 11, rather than 11 on 11. With their play it essentially tips the balance of favor into the opposing offense’s favor. We are screwed if Matt Leinart is allowed to sit in the pocket for 8-10 seconds and throw to whichever guy gets open first.. The Broncos will be lucky to win two out of the next three…the playoffs? I don’t care how confident the players are, we have to win out AND get some help…I’d give it a 18% chance the Broncos make it in as a the 6th seed. I blame this season on Coyer’s ineptitude as a gameplanner. I don’t blame Plummer or Shannahan or Cutler or ANYONE else.(except maybe the Special Teams pathetic play) But other than that it’s ALL ON COYER.
at the start of the season the D was great and so was Coyer now that it sucks it’s all on Coyer , and what about last year ?The D line has lost its two best player , Pryce why we let him go? and Brown one of two season healthy . bring back these two players and it’s a totally different season .
Yeah the D-Line has not been playing good, yeah i think everyone would like Pryce back but he was just costing to much towards the salary cap, that is why they had to let him go, by letting him go the broncos were able to sign warren to a contract. Defense has had some injuries too that have hindered there performance (ie. Nick Ferguson, Sam Brandon, Courtney Brown) and some of the back ups haven’t stepped up and performed either. One thing that should be address is the need for Special Teams. THe SP has been really letting this team down week after week. Even last year the SP was poor. It sucks always having to start your offensive drives at your 20 or inside your 20 yard line and have to drive the field. Is it that hard to find someone to catch the kickoff and RUN FULL SPEED and make one cut and break a bit of a gain. Brian Clark looks scared running it back on kickoffs. Unlike the teams that play the broncos constantly get to start at roughly midfield.
yeah i agree if we want to win anything we have to get a D line that will work and we also need a better O line so that cutler and the RBs & HBs will have more space to run and get the ball where they want it.
I think our O Line is doing just fine. I think Tatum needs to just keep improving…he’s turning into one heck of a back.
I agree with those of you who say Coyer’s coaching has been a problem. I’ve been saying that for awhile now. He doesn’t change things up much. Since there’s no real surprises that our defense gives the opponent, there is no real aggressiveness to our defense. I said this the other day: short term – put in more blitzing and more complex stunt packages. long term – get a dominant d lineman that has some size.
If you want to pinpoint the reason for Broncos losing streak…look no further than Offensive play calling. In the first match up with the Chargers the Broncos up by 21 with 6 minutes left in the third quarter. Broncos go three and out on three consectutive pass plays. All Incomplete. A total of 13 seconds off the clock. Allowing the Chargers to get two more possessions in the third quarter alone. Both touchdowns. If the Broncos call three straight running plays and don’t get the first down as much as 2 and 1/2 minutes come off the clock and it only gives the Chargers on possession remaining in the third. So not only was if you want to say Jake is to blame for poor play that game, look at clock management and play calling when the Broncos have had the lead. Same thing in the loss to Seattle. Part of being a playoff team is playing with a lead. Don’t blame Larry Coyer, the amount of time his team has been on the field this season is phenominal.
Plain and simple the play of the D-line and the O-line has to get better, just look at the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers they pride themselves on dominating the line of scrimmage. Freeney is available next year…
Tatum is doing good its just we need to work on Cutler, I mean sure, he is just a rookie, but come on now. I say that Plummer gets his act back together and show the team what he can do when he is trying as hard as he can. The interceptions he threw were all little mistakes that could of been avoided. But most of all just work on the defence to get them ready for the game against the Bengals other wise we are out of the playoffs.