Second-quarter notes from Qualcomm Stadium:
2:00 P.M. PST: One step out of bounds, and a touchdown turns into a mere field goal. Such is how Tatum Bell’s 51-yard run proved to be a disappointment; the Broncos offense stalled after the tailback sprinted right and into the open field with the team’s longest run of the year; Jason Elam salvaged the drive with a 34-yard field goal to get the Broncos on the scoreboard.
2:01 P.M. PST: But the Chargers are back near midfield again, after Antonio Cromartie returned Paul Ernster’s low, line-drive kickoff 45 yards to the San Diego 47. Again, the Broncos come up shy in another skirmish in the field-position battle. One play later, Philip Rivers finds Brandon Manumaleuna for 14 yards and San Diego is at the cusp of field-goal range.
2:04 P.M. PST: More than the cusp after Eric Parker gets a step on Darrent Williams and grabs Rivers’ rainbow pass at for a 34-yard gain to the San Diego 2.
2:05 P.M. PST: With the Qualcomm Stadium crowd bellowing “LT, LT, LT,” the Bolts give them what they want as LaDainian Tomlinson plows over the left side for his first score of the day and the Bolts’ third. The Broncos now trail 21-3 — their largest deficit of the year.
2:13 P.M. PST: Denver drives past midfield, but Jay Cutler’s third-and-6 pass sails away from Rod Smith as Igor Olshansky bears down upon the rookie quarterback. Paul Ernster’s punt sails into the end zone for a touchback, and the Chargers begin their fifth possession of the afternoon at their 20-yard-line.
2:37 P.M. PST: San Diego not only drove to a fourth touchdown, but they chewed up 6:19 of the clock in doing so, negating the Broncos’ chances of executing a two-minute drill scoring drive as they did last week against Seattle. The 25-point halftime deficit is the Broncos’ largest since the January 2005 wild-card loss at Indianapolis.
Tags: San Diego Chargers
“I’m sorry I screwed up Jake” those should be Coach Shanahan’s words at half time……….
Since 1999
35-35 without Plummer
39-15 with Plummer and never missed the playoffs!!!!!!!
Well, it was nice reading all of your comments this year (the regulars who posted here often) and responding as it seemed appropriate. But, I think I’ll just pack it up and move on to basketball season now. It would appear that the Broncos have their problems clearly defined and need no further input (not that they ever read these postings). Let’s hope they can acquire some pass rushers; a clued-in defensive & offensive coordinator; some confidence for Darrent Williams scared self; perhaps a feared safety; and that Jay Cutler gets the jitters out of his system now so he can demonstrate why they used the 11th pick in the draft on him this year. Hey, we’re close, real close. But until then, see you all next year, same time, same place! Happy holidays!
Oh stop with the comments about needing Jake Plummer back in. We were struggling with him in and even though we got to 7-2 with him, it was more because of the defense keeping things under control. But then we slipped to 7-4 with Plummer because the defensive cooridinators got smart and called Shanahan’s bluff. They realized that he does best when the run game is working and he can sneak in a few passes to keep the defense off guard. But opponents took the challenge this year and played run against Shanahan and dared him to put the ball in Jake’s hands. And we all saw what happened…exactly what has always happened with Jake = agony or glory, but rarely consitency. I have to agree with what Sean Salisbury of ESPN said a few weeks back: “If you’re going to play like a rookie, then you must play the rookie.” I hardly think that it would have been much different if Plummer were playing right now. So, at least Jay Cutler will get it out of his system now instead of waiting until next season, when they would have made him the starter anyways and then have him struggle. I think we were screwed either way because the offense is anemic and the defense is exposed. So stop with the Jake Plummer comments, he had his shot for almost 4 years and granted we did make the playoff, we also got booted out of them too with Jake at the helm. He has shown his true colors and they’re somewhat faded and lack luster. Give the rookie his shot now, for he is our future.
Doctorising you said it!!!!……he is our future.
Don’t forget only 1 team can can win the Superbowl every year…Manning never won in nine years should he be benched? How about Dan Marino and Marino and Jim Kelly they never won. Elway never won a superbowl in his first 12 years did he deserve to be benched????
Buddy its not easy to win the superbowl you have to have the Team around you as a QB to win it…
Doctorising, some of the worse comments I have ever read! Throw a teams entire chances of winning anything out the window because they have lost in the playoffs before? Ridiculous! Put in Cutler because Jake did not win the super bowl in 3 years when Elway was given 14 years!
I have never seen such a disgrace by sports fans in my life! I’m so tired of people thinking we were 7-2 because of the defense! This is one of the worst defenses Denver has ever had….They’re good against below average teams and they’re HORRIBLE against good teams. They were 7-4 becaust this is a AVERAGE team who should have worried about something other than a QB as their draft pick. They got that QB, put him in and he just loss his first 2 games. A lot of good he is doing.
He should have started next year and since Leinart and Young were already chosen, they should not have drafted this second rate QB who was given one shot at QB in college….VANDERBELT was the only team willing to let Jay Cutler even play QB….did you know that Jay fans? And once again, lets all remember at this xmas time….JAY CUTLER HAD A LOSING RECORD IN ALL 4 YEARS OF COLLEGE!