4:54 P.M. PST: “Perfect” is by far the most apt adjective to describe the conditions. A clear day’s sunset creates a broad spectrum of colors dissolving into each other in the skies above. The Monday Night Football theme blares, and the crowd goes bonkers, just as some of the Chargers were as they walked past where I stood in a subterranean corridor below the stands here at Qualcomm Stadium.
4:57 P.M. PST: A gorgeous national anthem from a group of singers hailing from nearby Chula Vista H.S., but gracious, it seemed like it might take forever with some heavy orchestral accompaniment at the beginning and at the end … the last couple of notes were held for 30 seconds or so. Great voices, but that was a little much.
4:58 P.M. PST: The choral performance of the anthem was followed by another choral performance — from the Chargers’ fans, booing the Broncos.
4:59 P.M. PST: The Chargers’ dance team was just introduced by the public-address announcer as “the hottest team south of the North Pole.” I was going to write something snarky in response, but I’ll refrain. Too easy.
5:09 P.M. PST: After plenty of pregame hullabaloo, including fireworks — not the brightest idea in a fire zone — and the appearance of Santa Claus — I think that was the guy having an early dinner here in the press box a couple of horus back — we’re almost under way. The Broncos will receive the kickoff. The referees are in their cold-weather pants, for some odd reason — it’s in the 60s. Weird.
5:10 P.M. PST: Glenn Martinez to a hole, up field and to the Denver 47-yard-line … quite a roar from the thousands of Broncos fans who’ve infiltrated this crowd.
5:12 P.M. PST: Selvin Young picked up two yards on the game’s first play, and then 10 more on the second … Broncos at the San Diego 41.
5:13 P.M. PST: Nice grab by Tony Scheffler across the middle … an illegal-hands-to-the-face infraction on San Diego is declined … Broncos on the march at the San Diego 21.
5:14 P.M. PST: Stephen Cooper tosses Brandon Marshall to the ground like a chewed-up dog toy after an incompletion … now, that’s just not necessary.
5:15 P.M. PST: Disaster strikes … Cutler steps up with the pocket breaking down and fumbles after being hit by Luis Castillo; San Diego’s Shawne Merriman recovers and the Chargers will start at their 17-yard-line.
5:16 P.M. PST: No unexpected changes in the Broncos’ starting defensive XI; Jamie Winborn fills in for the injured Ian Gold.
5:18 P.M. PST: Two plays and a San Diego first down; Philip Rivers finds Vincent Jackson in space in front of Champ Bailey for nine yards, and the Chargers are at their 28.
5:20 P.M. PST: LaDainian Tomlinson does his usual thing, finding the edge on his second carry for eight yards … then he darts right for 16 more on the next play to move San Diego into Denver territory. The crowd chants “LT, LT, LT,” as it did last year when these teams met here.
5:21 P.M. PST: After an overthrown screen pass, Tomlinson goes left for no gain … a post-play scuffle, however, results in an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on Lynch, who had made the tackle and then snatches loose Tomlinson’s helmet …
5:22 P.M. PST: Post-penalty the Chargers sit at the Denver 31.
5:24 P.M. PST: Nice open-field tackle by Dre’ Bly on Tomlinson on a third-down screen pass … but Nate Kaeding connects on the subsequent field goal. The penalty proves costly, and the Broncos trail 3-0.
5:27 P.M. PST: Kaeding kicks off to Andre Hall, who gets up to the Denver 34-yard-line … Two outstanding kickoff returns so far by the Broncos, one each by Martinez and Hall. Might have something with that combo back there.
5:29 P.M. PST: Broncos go backwards … False start pushes Denver back to its 29… Selvin Young gets four of the five yards back.
5:31 P.M. PST: Selvin Young goes left for a loss of one yard but Matt Lepsis grabs Shawne Merriman’s face mask as Young moves past … The officials rule that Lepsis’ grab was of the 15-yard variety, even though he seemed to grab it and quickly let go.
5:33 P.M. PST: Penalties piling up now … three for 35 yards … and Paul Ernster’s first punt upon his return sails out of bounds at the San Diego 44 — a 17-yard punt.
5:37 P.M. PST: Broncos force the Chargers into third-and-8 … but it goes for naught as Rivers finds Chris Chambers up the left sideline for 30 … Chambers had beaten Bly by a couple of steps.
5:38 P.M. PST: Jeromey Clary tackled D.J. Williams in the backfield … that ought to get you holding every time, and it does there. Chargers at the Denver 22.
5:41 P.M. PST: Two plays later … touchdown … Tomlinson scoots left for 20 yards … towels twirl and the Broncos trail, 10-0.
5:43 P.M. PST: Another solid return by Hall, and the Broncos start at their 32 … Hall has two returns for 57 yards; Martinez has one for 35 — a collective average of 30.7 yards per return.
5:44 P.M. PST: Travis Henry checks in and gains five yards on his first carry of the night … but then on the next play gets overrun as he tries to pick up Clinton Hart on a safety blitz. Broncos now in third-and-14 at their 28.
5:45 P.M. PST: Tony Scheffler with a splendid reception … Cutler’s third-down pass was behind him, but he reached back to make the grab and run another 12 yards to the Denver 45 for the 17-yard gain.
5:46 P.M. PST: After a one-yard gain, the Broncos will begin the second quarter in second-and-9 at their 46.
Tags: San Diego Chargers
Does anyone have an over/under on how many times the orange faced wonder will metion Bret Favre?
wow well at least we are consistent opening drive fumble amazing
Well bronconites.. that sums up our season right there.. crappy as hell…
17 fumbles in 20 games by cutler, totally unacceptable
wow now john lynch losing his composure this is horrible
Anyone else think this “unsportsman like conduct” call is getting out of hand? Whatever happened to the football we all loved? They’re really putting the exclaimation mark on “job.”
lynch will unfortunately get fined for that, while the chiefs player who hit brandon marshal in the balls didnt get any fine
kooblis he threw his helmet you cant do that and he just went over and apologize to lt after third down, thats strange for lynch to lose his cool, i guess the frustration is catching up to them, well at least somebody is showing some emotion
im digging the field position we have had for the first two drives
we have no chance to make playoffs and we are still playing conservative, this is trash, oh yeah enster great 18 yard point wow cut him on the plane ride home
Nice punt.
wow, great punt, way to come back ernster…
matt lepsis needs to be added to the laundry list of coaches and players to leave this offseason
it is like watching the same game good drive to, run all over us, bad penalties, go backwards next drive, and then a punt that a jv high schooler could have done. wow we are really bad
what a shame and eveybody saying we should finish 8-8, we need a high draft pick, cutler has no time in the pocket to even throw deep
Wow these broadcasters are just horrible. how does monday night football have the worst broadcasters.
thats the broncos we know and love 3rd and long give up a first down to a wide open receiver
watch gates be wide open somewhere in the red zone
lets see if we can keep them under 40
Anyone know how Terrell Davis is doing in the HOF run?
wow so much for finishing the season strong its time for the coaches to fire themselves
at some point the management has to look at what is workin and what is not. Jim Bates schemes are not working. they didnt even work in the pre season, and everyone said it was just pre season they arent showin much well here we are in game 16 and they look worse
I know one thing we need to get this offseason is a saftey that can tackle. I mean we would be a horrible flag football game. Just horrible. I love Nate webster’s intensit but my goodness he looks so slow.
well one bright spot is andre hall on special teams, trying to find a light in so much dark
Where were the LBs? Can somebody tell me what is the idea behind our D? No rush D and no pass D. We have zones, that are really great if you want to cover air, but no WRs…
StormST; i have a better question for you, what is the idea behind our whole team?
get # 15 and #84 in the passing game… oh, wait Cutler just got dropped again.
travis henry needs to go, veteran running cant even pick up blitz, this is sad for true bronco fans
here comes a 99 yard drive
ive never seen denver this bad its like no matter what they do its not right, its painful to watch 3rd and long here we go again
wow cutler has no time offensive line is little league at best
Did anybody else see how bad every single bronco got manhandled out there big huge 6’7 280 chad muster getting laid out by FS’s..and corners just horrible…they shoved us around like little rag dolls!!! NIce job fighting for the football on that last pic marshall he watched Jammer just catch that ball…Im so sick of RIVERS i wish somebody would have knocked him out after the game talking all his trash!!! GOD i hope Denver gets pumped up for next years meetings an d finally pulls one out!!!!!! Denver needs to cut everybody on D except Champ, Fox, Karl, Harris, THomas, DJ, Crowder, Elvis, moss!! cut everybody else and get sum real talent in here!! i like hamza but he is just a skinner version of Kenoy Kennedy!! all hits no tackle!
I pray shanny brings in sum Veterans that are able to produce and not just take up space on the field!! why do we have so many castoffs from crapy teams…..like martinez, mallard, winbourne, webster, mustard, henry,cargile, the list goes on and on!! Can we bring in sum people that can actually start for those crappy teams they came from!! lions, falcons,browns, jags, bengels..i mean they all got ran outta there cuz they suck and they come start or play big roles on our team no thanks!!
lets invest in the future of the broncos…bring in sum big named lineman and offensive studs even if its costs us sum talent at other positions for a few years…we need stability on the d and o line!!! so cut people and lets get this done even if we struggle for a few years at least well have sum good players in the long run!! be always just get subpar free agents that never provide anything to our team…name the last free agent to do anything for us…and i dont wanna hear Lynch…i can only think of Alfred Williams and Neal Smith on D and Habbib and Zimmerman on the O line….those were huge pic ups for us then!! nobody ran on us then and nobody walked over us like a high school team!! frustrated broncos fan!!
I know I said last week that I wasn’t going to watch any more crap donkey football but someone had it on at my mother in laws house tonite. We live in CA and so everyone was a SD fan. I claimed to be for whoever was playing denver because from now on that is where I am at. I formally hate this team, the management, and the suckass players. Denver, you are officially the new Tampa Bay of the 1980s. I’m sure you will suck ass next year. You have at best 4 players worth keeping. I imagine the dolphins will fare better than you will next year because I didn’t see a single aspect of your game that looks like it doesn’t need a complete overhaul. It will take appx 5-6 years for you to get back to any sense of decency. Good luck being the cellar dwellars of the AFC West. Too bad shanny is going to be around so long to keep you in the cellars.
Wow, one losing season and we see who all the true fans are. Which is a good thing, the bandwagon from 2005 was still a little full. Lets calm down and come back off the ledge. One losing season doesn’t mean a decade of losing. Did the Steelers panic when they went 6-10 and 8-8 a few years back? Nope, and they went out and won the Super Bowl just a couple years later.
I have to comment about the Cutler fumbling issue. I know this team needs a lot of work and it needs to address a lot of problems but Cutler fumbling is not one of them. This is a prime example of how the national media (ESPN) is biased against us. They completely fabricate an issue and present it in a way that people who are not Broncos fans will form an unfavorable opinion of them.
Let me point out some facts to you guys. Before tonight Cutler had fumbled 16 times, but those are his CAREER stats. 8 times last season in 5 games and 8 times this season in 15 games. First of all, I think its unfair to add in his numbers from last year to make the statistic look bad. Cutler was a rookie then getting his first starts, clearly he has taken care of the football better this season. Why not point that out ESPN? Second of all, how many of those fumbles were LOST? Its pretty much an irrelevant stat to point out how many times a person fumbles, its causing the turnover is what counts in the NFL. Cutler had lost 3 of those 8 fumbles this season. By comparison Rivers had lost 5 of 10 fumbles this season. Why not point that out ESPN? Wouldn’t that have been an interesting fact to point out? Lets also point out the great Brady had lost 4 of 5 fumbles and Favre had lost 3 of 9 fumbles. So clearly Cutler is not in bad company. If you look up the stats Cutler has less lost fumbles than 20 other starting QBs in this league this season. And my own personal beef is that I know 2 of those fumbles were not Cutler’s fault. Remember the one (against GB I think it was) where the center batted it out of Cutler’s hand and the other one (against Oakland I think) when Henry couldn’t get the hand off? So this season it seems to be Cutler lost 2 of the now 4 fumbles on his own accord. Wow, thats pretty terrible ESPN. Thanks for pointing that out. Morons.