Stephen Alexander had more catches Sunday than he’d had all season heading into his team’s 17-13 win at Oakland. It was easily his biggest game in terms of receptions since he joined the Broncos last year.
But while he’s had games like the six-catch, 49-yard effort in his nine-season NFL career, he couldn’t recall the last time he caught passes on three consecutive plays as he did on a drive that bisected the third and fourth quarters and resulted in the Kyle Johnson touchdown that gave Denver the lead for good.
“Oh, gosh, I can’t remember,” Alexander said. “It’s been a while. I can’t remember. It’s been a long time.”
Alexander has long insisted that individual numbers are the most distant concept from his mind. Never has that been more true than after Sunday; he was far more pleased over his team’s win than his most significant individual contribution in the last year and a half.
“I’ve said it from Day One: I could care less about how many catches I have, as long as we’re winning games, that’s the name of the game for me,” he said. “I could care less about catching the ball or not.”
Alexander’s six receptions were part of what amounted to an onslaught from his position, as Nate Jackson added three more grabs for 33 yards. The tight ends had nine catches, while Broncos wide receivers had seven receptions among them and the backs added four more.
“I think four of my catches and a couple of Nate’s were on the same play,” Alexander said. “We kept switching sides and it was a keeper game, and that’s something we worked on all week and we felt like we could take advantage of some things with that.”
Added Head Coach Mike Shanahan: “Sometimes the wide receivers will be there; sometimes the tight ends will be there, it all depends on what they’re doing.”
Sunday, the tight ends did well — providing five receptions for 53 yards on the Broncos’ game-winning drive.
That’s all for Week 10. Time to call it a morning after the overnight, postgame work, culled while NFL Network’s highlight show airs in the background … and if I hear Deion Sanders yell “Run, Willie, Run!” once more over the highlights of Pittsburgh’s Willie Parker-fueled 38-31 win over the Saints, I’m going to take my chair and do this. (Wait until about 34 seconds into the video.)
Anyhow, talk to you later today. Shanahan has his press conference at 1:30 p.m. MST, and we’ll have the video on this site as the Broncos begin one of their more crucial weeks of the season.
Tags: Oakland Raiders
I must say it was refreshing for the Broncos to get the tight end back involved in the offense.
Is anyone else thinking that the Damien nash experiment failed and that Mike Bell will be back with the active roster next week?
TSG
http://www.milehighreport.com
I hope so i am a major mike bell fan! this week i was really mad. I mean has shanahan lost his mind. Why would you take a practice squad guy and switch him with Mike Bell a running back who has proven to be able to be starter over Tatum Bell. Why would he do this. It really angerd me. And then also Nash did really bad and proved Shanahan wrong.
Also why would he put a player who is not injured and has been doing good on inactice???
email me at mnotkinster@gmail.com
tell me why
please
I agree the experiment did not work out as planned, and I can’t figure out why they would mess with something that is not broken, and not fix what is ailing with Jake.
The win wasn’t pretty, but it was nice!
Go Broncos!
Diane
http://www.sacredjourneymassage.com
I liked the idea. Mike will be fresh for the Chargers.
Shanahan is smart. He has not shown much against teams he know he will beat up on and what is the point of a 35-10 blowout. Its the same as 17-13. he gave a lot of guys a week off and with the early bye this year, it will pay off in Dec and Jan.
Prediction: Broncos 35 Bolts 13
Take it to the house!!!
So yall think He will play mike against the Chargers?
I hope so, he can lead us to victory. He will be one of those back in the Denver Franchise who we should play like we used Davis a while back.
Mike is my man.
So will he play?
Good point MrDonkeyPunch! Rest is very important. I actually prefer to watch games that are close rather than blow outs, but I do ocassionallly like to rest my adrenalin, too, and have a blow out every now and then and just relax.
I hope Mike plays.
Diane
http://www.sacredjourneymassage.com
But hope is different then he will be playing.
I know Shanahan is on and off and changes his mind contantly, but who do yall think he will play and why?
I think he will play Mike. He’s the best rookie in the league, if not the best in the league right now. He’s rested and ready to go!
Diane
http://www.sacredjourneymassage.com
I LOVE MIKE AND ITS GREAT TO SEE OTHER WHO BEILEVE IN HIM!!!
Well according to me and many other bronco fans, and general NFL fans he is. Even though he doesnt have the most yards(305) or the most touchdowns(3, he has the second most), he has benifit of the doubt. He hasnt play half as many games as all of the other rookie RB’s. If shanahan gets it all together he will play him and see how amazing he is.
“I think he(shanahan) will play Mike. He’s the best rookie in the league, if not the best in the league right now. He’s rested and ready to go!”
Diane
As one can see Mike diddnt play this week becuase of a strange sudden Shanahan Disision.
“Both Mike Bell and Cedric Cobbs are inactive, while Damien Nash — promoted from the practice squad this morning — is up and in uniform. Nash is the only full-time tailback up on the 45-man active roster besides first-teamer Tatum Bell. Head Coach Mike Shanahan spent part of Monday reconsidering his decision to use Tatum Bell as much as he did Sunday. “I’m a little disappointed in myself that I played Tatum Bell as much as I did,” he said. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Head Coach Mike Shanahan played Monday-morning quarterback the day after his team’s 17-13 win over the Oakland Raiders … and second-guessed himself as to whether Tatum Bell should have played as much as he did.
Bell gained 37 yards on 14 carries and lost two yards on one reception — a performance scarcely resembling the efforts he turned in before turf-toe problems began to hinder him last month. He averaged 97.5 yards in his first six games, but has just 64 in the two games in which he’s played since.
“I’m a little disappointed in myself that I played Tatum Bell as much as I did,” Shanahan said. “Even though he says he’s healthy, I don’t think he’s as healthy as he says he is. And I saw that in the game.”
Bell’s burst wasn’t at the level to which Shanahan and the Broncos were accustomed, and that has shown in his per-carry averages of 2.1 and 2.6 yards against the Colts and Raiders, respectively. Prior to those two games, he’d averaged 4.7 yards per carry; his season-long average is now down to 4.3 — which would be the lowest of his career to date.
“You can see what a guy can do, what a guy does consistently over a couple years’ time,” Shanahan said. “When the guy can’t do that, you know he’s hurting a little bit more than he’s letting on.”
When the Broncos approached the goal line early in the fourth quarter, Shanahan called upon Damien Nash, playing in his first Broncos game after spending the previous eight weeks on the practice squad.
Nash never cleanly fielded the handoff from Jake Plummer, though, and was left to salvage the possession by falling on the football for no gain.
“Those things happen. I’m just very happy he was able to recover it,” Shanahan said. “It did help his cause.”
At the very least, carrying four times for 14 yards allowed Nash to gain a toehold in a running-back derby that suddenly appears wide open, with all four of the Broncos’ tailbacks notching carries in the past two games.
“(Nash has) looked good in practice from when he did play in the preseason game (against Tennessee in August),” Shanahan said. “I thought we needed a guy that was healthy, a guy that was biting at the bit a little bit to get his opportunity, to kind of see what he could do in the second half of the season. So we’ll do things like that throughout the season, and sometimes when you have competition at certain positions, you don’t know when it’s going to occur, but chances are it will occur.”
Through the injuries to Tatum Bell and Cedric Cobbs — who missed over a month with a sprained ankle — Denver’s rushing offense remains fourth in the league through nine games, but its 63-yard effort against Oakland marked the lowest single-game rushing total for the Broncos since Sept. 26, 2004, when the Chargers muzzled Denver’s runners and limited them to 37 yards on 21 carries, their lowest collective total in a decade.
But the Broncos’ season-long efforts — no matter which tailback actually receives the carries — means Shanahan is still generally pleased with how the ground game is faring.
here are some stats comparing the lagues leading rookie RB’s(take in consideration mike has only played 2 games compared to all the others who have played atleast 6)
Rushing TDs No.
1. M. Jones-Drew JAC 4 (9 games played)
2. J. Addai IND 3(9 games played)
3. L. Maroney NE 3(9 games played)
4. M. Bell DEN 3 (3 games played)
Rushing Yds
1. J. Addai IND 568(9 games played)
2. L. Maroney NE 495(9 games played)
3. L. Washington NYJ 432 (9 games played)
4. J. Norwood ATL 355 (8 games played)
5. W. Lundy HOU 343 (7 games played)
6. M. Bell DEN 305 (3 games played)
So as you can see when playing half or even less of the games that all the other have played his average is alot higher and he is alot better becuase if he makes almost what they do in less then half of the games they played and made these TD’s and Yard’s in! Well i have done my reasearch.
Well mike is the best here is the stats
here are some stats comparing the lagues leading rookie RB’s(take in consideration mike has only played 2 games compared to all the others who have played atleast 6)
Rushing TDs No.
1. M. Jones-Drew JAC 4 (9 games played)
2. J. Addai IND 3(9 games played)
3. L. Maroney NE 3(9 games played)
4. M. Bell DEN 3 (3 games played)
Rushing Yds
1. J. Addai IND 568(9 games played)
2. L. Maroney NE 495(9 games played)
3. L. Washington NYJ 432 (9 games played)
4. J. Norwood ATL 355 (8 games played)
5. W. Lundy HOU 343 (7 games played)
6. M. Bell DEN 305 (3 games played)
So as you can see when playing half or even less of the games that all the other have played his average is alot higher and he is alot better becuase if he makes almost what they do in less then half of the games they played and made these TD’s and Yard’s in! Well i have done my reasearch.
wow look at this
Nov 13 Jeff Legwold, of the Rocky Mountain News, reports Denver Broncos RB Tatum Bell (toe) remains the team’s starting running back, even though Bell continues to be hampered by a turf toe injury. Bell will have to show he is ready in practice this week if he plans on receiving an increased workload Week 11.
I mean what!!! dude Shanahan learn a leson. Tatum cant play anymore! put mike in. Now i have a question i havent really payed attention to the chargers run D, how is it?
Shanahan trying Nash against the raiders was not a bad move because they didn`t have to be good to win. Now he knows that M Bell is alot better than Nash and he will never do that again!!! As for the other experiments….. they worked out alot better….like i said oakland was the perfect time for experiments….
Oakland was the obvious time for an experiment/tryouts for others on the practice squad and Shany knew it and I bet won’t do it this week in such a pivotal game. I thought it was brilliant as Mike Bell got a rest and will have fresh legs this Sunday as I think he will get most of the reps. GO BRONCOS!!
After reading all of these inputs it is very easy to realize who is smart and who just doesn’t have a clue. mrdonkeypunch gets it, I don’t know if your prediction is very realistic but I like it. Leebov is also a pretty smart fella and very correct with his points. MikeBellNumba20 is creepin me out quite a bit though with all this Mike Bell talk. We get it dude your a Mike Bell fanatic but seriously tone it down a bit. But anyways, lets remember something, none of our RB’s have been very productive since going against a horrible run defense in the Colts. We didn’t do anything against the Steelers nor the Raiders. I think a big part of the problem that hasn’t been looked at enough is the season ending injury to one of our great offensive linemen. Erik Pears is doing okay but Adam Meadows is not. He is out of sync and also had two false starts against the Raiders. I think we will go back to our normal RB’s this week against the Chargers, hopefully T. Bell will be 100% and the running game will get back on track. Oh yeah, and as for Jake Plummer all he does is win ball game after ball game. He is 39-13 with the Broncos now and played great at the end of th Raiders game going 7 for 7 finishing with a gutsy 4th and goal play action to Kyle Johnson. Great call, great drive. Go Broncos.
This weeks prediction: Broncos 28, Chargers 17
tseely3@mymail.slcc.edu
Ok well i am not obcsessed. I just am trying to let everyoen know there has been a mistake made. Mike needs to be starter or atleast get tons of runs. I think he can do really good agaisnt the chargers. Obliviously not like LT. But yall know.
Maybe Shanhan wanted to lighten the hit on Foster so he sat Bell and Cobbs too. The wide outs, RB’s, TE’s, and Jake have all been good and bad. Anybody remember Walkers drops in game 1, and a local writer missing Lelie. The rest of the year will be Shanahan working 3-4 plans(playoff games) where all groups can take what the D gives them. Raiders gave Denver the flats. The O line isn’t up to the usual standard yet. I would like to see them tuned up so Denver only has to throw 10 passes in Indy because of the running game. The D line needs to get to Rivers this week and Manning in the playoffs. Put them in the dirt(turf). If not Denver will lose this week, and not get to the Super Bowl. If Denver puts it all together this week, they will have confidence for the rest of the season. If they put it together for KC and SD on the road, too. I think the playoffs will look real good for Bronco fans. Please everybody get off Jake’s back. Remember the Brister/Greise switch, if Shanahan thought there was any chance Cutler could do(in a regular season game) what Jake can do he would have at least warmed up once by now.
what do u mean by
“Maybe Shanhan wanted to lighten the hit on Foster so he sat Bell and Cobbs too.”
?
If Mike Bell is as great as some of the above seem to think, do you really think Mr. Shanahan would have sat him out this week? Mike Bell is quick and strong but he does not run strong. He gets tackled too easy. If anyone can come up with an instance where Mike ran through the first tackler and continued on, please let me know. Plus, there are 4 practices during the week and multiple film sessions. That is where the players EARN the coaches trust, not just on Sunday afternoons. Some coaches allow players to screw off during the week as long as they earn their money on Sundays, but Shanahan is not one. Mike ran really hard against Indy, then came out against Pittsburg and was the same guy as he was earlier in the year. Not to be a know-it-all, but trust Shanahan. He knows more than any one of us who gives us the best chance to win. And he felt on Sunday, that Nash was the guy. We don’t have a power runner and we need one desperately.
Bill
Well,
Mike sat Mike Bell This week becuase he wanted to try out nash and he though tatum was 100% but nash did bad and tatum is not.
Well,
Mike sat Mike Bell This week becuase he wanted to try out nash and he though tatum was 100% but nash did bad and tatum is not.
Mr. Shanahan did not sit Mike Bell just because he wanted to try out Nash. He sat Bell because he left some yards on the field in the Pittsburg game the week before. Do you think he would have sat Terrell Davis just to try out some guy on the practice squad? Does he bench John Lynch to try out a safety that’s on the practice squad? No he does not. I’m not implying that Mike Bell isn’t going to be awesome. But the words came out of Shanahan’s mouth….Bell left yards on the field against Pittsburg, and Nash has been doing a great job in practices.
I think Mike Bell is a good back but not thinking he is our go to guy in the future. He does not have the speed in the flat that Tatum does nor the size to make up for that. It is obvious that Shany is still looking for the “go to” guy for the majority of the reps. I am not convinced Tatum is our man either…………
mike is our man..yall will see
Hey, Mike Bell may be the man for the next few games, but to all those saying SHANAHAN likes to experiment and no better team then the Raiders to do it agaist….Well, that almost cost us the game. Another Shanahan experiement that FAILED miserably, BENCHING Bubby Brister in order to start Brian Griese. None of us would even remember Brian’s name if it wasn’t for his daddy. We may still have had a good 99-2002 if it weren’t for that EXPERIEMNT. Now the next FAILING experiment that Mike can try, is to start CUTLER over Plummer! No way, that will be the biggest mistake Mike has made as head coach, that is why I say loud and proud…Let Plummer Play!
http://www.letplummerplay.com
ok i sortof agree. Mike is our man and he will be starter is Shanahan knows what he is doing. But Cutler is alot better then plummer overall. Cutler has great power and accuracy. While Plummer does not.
You got to love a guy who says “Oh Gosh” and thinks of only the team winning instead of individual stats (T.O., Keyshawn, Porter, etc).