You win, you get feted; you lose, you’re reviled. Such is the NFL, where middle ground doesn’t exist except for the once-every-five-years-or-so tie.
And so it goes with the Broncos, who have not one, not two, not three, but four individuals nominated for weekly honors on which you can vote.
For GMC Defensive Player of the Week it’s defensive end Elvis Dumervil. The second-year standout had a pair of sacks of Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday night, one of which included the forced fumble that Tim Crowder picked up and returned 50 yards for a score. Click here to vote for No. 92.
But speaking of Crowder …
For Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week, Crowder got nominated after scoring the first touchdown of his career, which gave the Broncos a 21-7 second-quarter lead over the Steelers. Click here to throw a vote in the direction of the Old 96er.
On the offensive side of the ball, a plaudit for the quarterback …
For For FedEx Air Player of the Week, it’s Jay Cutler among the three finalists. Cutler posted a three-touchdown night in the win while completing 22 of his 29 passes for 248 yards and directing the sixth game-winning or -tying fourth-quarter drive of his 11-game career. Click here to send a vote his way.
Of course, the playcalls came from the sidelines, which brings us to the fourth nominee …
For Motorola Coach of the Week, Head Coach Mike Shanahan got a nomination after the Broncos scored a season-high 31 points, held Willie Parker below 100 yards and converted 70 percent of their third downs, the highest percentage of his 13-season tenure. Click here to vote for him.
Tags: Elvis Dumervil, Jay Cutler, Mike Shanahan, Tim Crowder
go broncos
Just wait til next week when Cutler has 300 passing yards with 3 TD’s, Dumerville has 3 sacks on Favre, Bailey and Bly have a combined 3 interceptions, and Shanny pulls of a 41-17 thrashing of the Packers.
Maybe I’m a little optimistic??
Maybe, but a little optimism isn’t a bad thing. I have friends who say I should be more optimistic, but fellow DenverBroncos.com guru Kyle Sonneman thinks this is an impossibility, saying, “You can’t be optimistic; you’re a pessmist by nature.”
I’ll i’m going off of is the fact that I’m the only person I know who predicted we put up 30+ points on the steelers. So I’ve been using that fact and gloating.
My brother-in-law is a huge bronco fan too, but I can’t stand talking to him before a game because he is also a pessimist by nature. He figures “I’ll expect the worst then I can either be prepared, or pleasantly surprised.” That attitude is annoying. He predicted the Rockies lose to the Padres, then to the Phillies, then to the D-backs. Now he’s also predicting Hillary to win in ’08, so I just hope his streak of being dead wrong keeps up.
Pleasant surprise is a wonderful feeling.
What I aim for is to have no expectations … to not foresee failure, to not predict greatness. You just take the circumstances as they come.
Unfortunately, it’s still fun to speculate about what might take place … even when it’s of a doomsaying nature. But I think when one watches every team’s game, and does so with the emotion of fandom, rationality gets tossed aside, the emotion ends up being at one of the polar extremes. I’m no psychologist, but that’s just how it appears from my own experience and seeing others over the years.
Aw, c’mon ‘Drew, there has to be a little optimist down in there somewhere. Anyone who can toss out a term like “plaudit” on a sports site has got to have some pretty strong mojo working for them. I bet you didn’t even have to consult Roget’s for that one. Whoops, I’m starting to gush here, better stop before I heap some undeserved eclat on our favorite “Eyeore” of a keyboard jockey.
Ain’t Tuesdays grand?
Andrew,
Do you think your somewhat pessimistic attitude comes from many years of frustration as a Bucs fan? Just wondering. Keep up the good work!