Five third-down conversions against; 281 total yards surrendered;
seven points allowed in a Week 17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
For the most part, it was a performance the Denver defense could be proud of.
But cornerback Champ Bailey wasn’t satisfied -– particularly with the Broncos’ lack of takeaways.
“We’ve got to play better,” Bailey said. “We played good in the second half last week, but we still didn’t get any turnovers. We’ve got to get turnovers to help our offense.”
In the Wild Card round Sunday against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers, Bailey knows how critical protecting the ball on offense and taking it away on defense will be in deciding the outcome.
“Turnovers,” he said, “really determine who wins the game most of the time.”
Consider the 2005 season, when the Steelers edged Bailey and the Broncos 34-17 in the AFC Championship game.
The turnover department that day?
4-0 in Pittsburgh’s favor.
“You can’t expect to win a game when the turnover margin is minus four,” Bailey said. “When you play a caliber team like the Steelers, you can’t make mistakes and expect to win.”
Mistakes in the secondary tend to be magnified against the Steelers’ current group of receivers.
Mike Wallace, who Bailey called the “fastest guy in the league, period,” and Antonio Brown each posted 1,000-yard seasons, and both wideouts have the breakaway speed to score from anywhere on the field, putting sure-tackling and communication at a premium for the Denver defense.
“They’re fast. They’re some of the fastest receivers you’ll see. That’s probably the biggest challenge,” Bailey said. “That’s why you have guys like myself, Andre’ Goodman, Chris Harris — we have to hold up. We have to run with these guys. We’re not slow, either, so we can definitely do it.”
Its clear Bailey has confidence in his team’s ability to pull out a victory over the favored Steelers Sunday.
Underdog or not, the Broncos are looking to advance past the Wild Card round.
“This is the playoffs,” Bailey said. “Regardless (of what people say), we have to go out there and get it done. We got in and we have to make something happen.”
NEWS AND NOTES
Future contract signees are officially added to the roster at the beginning of the following league year.
The tickets, which are located in the upper level and cost $60 each, are being sold at all Ticketmaster outlets, via Ticketmaster Charge By Phone, through online sales at www.ticketmaster.com and at the Sports Authority Field at Mile High box office.
Fans may purchase tickets with a credit card via Ticketmaster Charge By Phone by calling 1-800-745-3000. Fans desiring to use the Internet to purchase tickets may do so at www.ticketmaster.com.
NFL games accounted for 23 of the 25 most-watched TV shows among all programming, including three Broncos games (at Green Bay, vs. New England and vs. Kansas City).
In addition, the 16 most-watched shows on cable last fall were all NFL games, including the Broncos’ season-opener on Monday Night Football.
Overall, according to The Nielson Company, the 2011 NFL regular season reached more than 200 million unique viewers.
Below are photos from Thursday’s practice.
-Max Henson
And Fox does the correct Head coaching thing to do, he doesn’t point the finger at anybody:
“We’re all in this together,” Fox said. “We’ve got to put him in positions where he can succeed, and then he’s the one out there throwing the ball. At the end of the day, we’ll try to give him some better pass plays to operate, and we still have to execute.”
Shannon Sharpe trying to make a point:
With their postseason game closing in, the Broncos get the point.
They get that a struggling offense and its young quarterback must find a way to push the ball over the goal line more often than they’ve done much of the past two months.
And that if Plan A doesn’t get them those points against the Steelers’ No. 1-rated defense, there has to be some sort of Plan B. It’s just that no one is quite sure what it is.
“Look, the Broncos are the No. 1 running team in football, so the question is what will the Broncos do if the Steelers take that away from them?” Broncos Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe said. “And there is no doubt they will try to take that away from Tim Tebow ; they will try not to let the Broncos run the football so that he has to throw it. And there’s only one professional athlete going to the Hall of Fame with one pitch, and that’s Mariano Rivera with a cut fastball.
“If you’re a quarterback, if you’re an offensive team, you better have a second pitch if somebody takes your first pitch away from you.”
It’s time for Tebow to put up regardless of how the running game goes in my opinion.
I think they should enforce the OT rule for the entire season, and playoffs. I like it. Each team should get an opportunity with the ball.
So basically teams are neutralizing Tebow effectively to render him useless.
I hope all of this doesn’t translate into our team pressing. A pressing team never plays well, and that’s how we’ve played the last three games. Everyone needs to focus on their assignments and trust the man next to them.
I personally like the OT rule the was it was. This isn’t college..Tebow will attest to that. haha
Legwold goes on:
For all of the Broncos’ league-leading rushing totals, that get-it-done run game hasn’t always been able to power into the end zone. The Broncos led the NFL in rushing yards (2,632) and rushing attempts (546), which means they’ve pounded out the yardage despite the fact defenses knew the runs were coming.
But they also scored only 11 rushing touchdowns, which was tied for 19th. Their 35 total touchdowns were tied for 19th.
“Look, Dick LeBeau makes you one-dimensional,” Sharpe said of Pittsburgh’s defensive coordinator. “Dick LeBeau refuses to let you run the ball. Dick LeBeau wants to stop the run no matter who he’s playing, and he wants quarterbacks like Tom Brady , Peyton Manning and Drew Brees having to throw the football all the time on every snap. Of course he’s going to want Tim Tebow to throw the football.”
The Steelers may not have played their usual brand of run defense this season — three running backs had 100-yard games against them, and the Steelers were 1-2 in those games — but they still got most of their opponents into difficult situations more often than not.
So much so that Houston’s Matt Schaub threw for only 138 yards, Brady threw for a season-low 198 and Bengals rookie Andy Dalton had 170 and 135 yards in his two games against the Steelers.
All of that puts the pressure on Tebow in his first playoff game, especially if the Broncos can’t run well enough to keep the run-pass threat a threat.
“There are going to be so many different emotions,” former Broncos quarterback Brian Griese said. “And he’s going to have to manage a lot of those emotions. People telling him how to play the game, pull the trigger, don’t pull the trigger, don’t turn it over, go make a play.”
Yeah, we can all tell Tebow what to do, but at this point in his career easier said than done, Good luck Timmy!
“(It’s) probably safe to say all 11 starters have a blitz where they’re the ones coming,” Tebow said. “You’ve got to be aware. You’ve got to know where they’re coming from, and you’ve always got to know where (Polamalu) is, that’s for sure. Sometimes it looks like it’s chaos out there, but they know where they’re going and they’re going there fast.”
“We don’t do too much preaching to our guys,” LeBeau said. ” We try to present the problems that are inherent with that opponent that week, and certainly this is a different offense and no one has completely handled it, but some people have done pretty well against it, and we hope to be one of those people.”
BTW, this was a great article by Jeff, thank you.
just thought about matt hasselbeck saying, “We’re gonna score” after the coin flip one year in the playoffs………LOL
I believe he got intercepted………..
He didn’t have much success from there because everything after was darn near homerun balls like we were tryign to catch up in a hurry. 6 of 8 is fantastic. Sounds like watever u were doing was working. Also like amardillo Orton said, sure TTs reads are not the quickest but they contain him and give him all day, more recieving options (more than 2) would be appreciated.
I think we can win this game … but then again I think we can win any game. Gotta love it. The closer we get to game time that shorter peoples memories and pesimism gets … and the more kool aid is drank. Sure we didn’t get into the playoffs the way we liked. We got in ugly but ugly or not we got in. This season is written IMO, and a win against Pitts will verify. This is like a movie script.
“A once proud franchise, now reeling from a 4-12 season. One of the worst seasons they have ever had. The look to their former HOF QB and only one to get it done in Denver to bring them back to glory. Lot of drama on who the starting QB will be. They start off slow, and then their is a QB switch and they go on a streak … towards the end of the regular season they start to unravel and playoffs is not gauranteed, but they make it. They have faced many teams with their main stars down for the count, and had good timing and good luck, and now again in the playoffs, the stars seem to be aligning once more. Will they return this once proud franchise back to glory, or will they feel the bitter taste of defeat?”
Tell me that doesn’t sound like a football movie u would wanna watch? lol
Official Score Prediction for entry: Steelers 28 Broncos 13
Orange Kool Aide Score Prediction: Broncos 27 Steelers 24
As far as I’m concerned, those are the numbers that scare me the most in this game:
The Steelers have 40 players who have been to the playoffs, 39 of those in a Steelers uniform. The Broncos have 11 and just two — cornerback Champ Bailey and D.J. Williams — – were in a Denver uniform for the last Broncos postseason game.
Completely lopsided.
Players who haven’t been there have no clue as to understanding how big it really is.
Very excited to go to the game. I hadn’t planned on going after our KC showing, but then found out Phil Simms drew our game AGAIN. I had to ask myself, what’s worse, spending money to fly to Denver and watch us get killed or listening to Simms broadcast for 4 weeks strait. I then bought my flight. Anything can happen once the whistle blows!
LOL, if you don’t like the TV announcers you can always turn the sound off and listen to KOA850 instead, they do every game and you can get the audio on your computer if you’re not close enough to Colorado to get it on your radio, just a thought.
I personally don’t mind simms and nantz………..I actually prefer them over any of the FOX guys.
Hopefully the Steelers underestimate us … that will definitely be needed lol. But they look too disciplined to underestimate a team.
The blame falls on both QB and OC … u are correct Bay … and recievers. Its rarely ever truly 1 persons fault…. so i dunno if u are in carnages camp because he doesn’t beleive its a lil of both … its exclusively TTs in his book. From my understanding.
Defenses aren’t doing anything special … they are just doing what u try to do to any offense. Make them one dimensional … which would go a long way to let people know that while they were clowning TT for passing … at least his passing was part of what helped us win … now that we are one dimensional we cannot win. So its not a McGahee show and everything will be good. The run game is very important in the NFL no doubt. Also … sure the short plays might be tougher but right now retrying the same deep stuff over and over isn’t working so why not risk it. Nothing in the middle either according to a bloggers account from what he saw live at the game. Also sure they have started doing the bump and run and contain thing in the last like 4 games … but even before that we weren’t really doing anything short, no RB screens etc. Last time we RB screened was before Moreno got hurt. Either way … yup both parties fault. Tebow is flawed … goes without saying … knew it when i wanted him as my QB but so is the game plan and play calling. Takes 2 (or more) to tango.
TRB
The number one thing I hated was how fox brought a large number of his Carolina crew. Only one that was cool to bring was Magazu … cuz we needed him to teach this Oline … but everyone else … not necesary … u keep using the same people and u will possibly have the same results. Thought fox needed an entirely new enviroment … but alot can be said for loyalty too. TRB
I agree TRB, the playcalling has been questionable………
But when the plays to throw the ball have been called, TT has not performed at all…………bottom line.
That missionary has posted the same exact lengthy post with the word of God at the end of 7 of the last 10 blogs! I was wrong, he is far more obnoxious than any Jehova’s witness who ever knocked at my door. Actions like that will only give whatever you preach a bad feel, unreal people don’t get that.
Yeah Carnage is usually mostly black and white, I try to see both sides a little more I think, very little more though, haha.
He hasn’t performed in recent games Ill admit. In the past games he just took care of the ball and did enough to win the game … not too much not too little. Just what was required, sure he didn’t light up the scoreboards but he got it (or should i say helped get it) done.
I am really curious to see how a Tebow pulling the trigger will be. Klis said he saw alot of open guys but Tebow was too tentative. Hopefully he pulls the trigger … it will be tough against the number 1 pass D tho. But if he can get out of the pocket, I think he is gonna have what those QBs listed that didn’t pass for much needed, a passing game on the run. Cuz clearly the pits punish prototypical pocket passers. We will see. I just want the to win and go to Baltimore so I can see what I can do about a ticket lol
TRB
I don’t know how many of you watch old movies, but I have seen the movie “The Titans” numerous times. In reading these blogs and listening to all the comments made by our coaching staff, it reminds me a lot of that movie, especially the part talking about the offensive play book. The scene is sitting at the meal with the coaches facing each other and the coach that had been replaced telling the new coach about his play book. New coach informs him he has his and it is only (I think he says 6 plays-not sure), but that is all the plays he runs.
My point…sounds like Fox football to me. He has his plays and that is all he runs.
that’s only IF we beat the steelers and cincy beats the texans……..
but yeah, a def possibility for sure. But I think IF we win, we play the pats.
I guess I should be rooting for Cincy then lol. Playing the pats won’t be bad either … hard to beat a team twice … we might have a chance if we make it that far. And maybe Texans lose to Baltimore and I still get my Baltimore game … I want my Bmore game darn it lol
TRB
All I see on the schedule now is we play Pittsburgh, LOL.
Here again, another point to make. Personally I believe they should have had Tebow “pull the trigger” when they first put him in the game way back when. Then they might have seen what they had to work with instead of now hoping to get him to “pull the trigger” in hopes that he pull off a win against a premier defense.
Tebow has pulled the trigger plenty, but he was shooting blanks, LOL, but I know what you mean.
I hope that six shooter is loaded with real bullets now, is that the 6 plays they keep talking about? LMAO!
yup, his sights have been more than just a little off to say the least.
We need Tebow to “squeeze the trigger.” You don’t “pull the trigger” when shooting, so maybe that’s why he’s been so inaccurate as he’s been pulling the trigger…squeeze the trigger Tebow..SQUEEZE IT!
hahaha @brian……….
I’m a former competitive shooter so that made me chuckle pretty hard……lol
bay, you think your boy willis will be used as a weapon?
lunch! catch up with you guys in a bit!
Not near what I chuckled having been a firearms instructor. There is no way I will repeat what we used to tell our folks to do with that trigger.
You mean as a target, Tebow has the weapon, LOL, no clue but seriously doubt it will be any different than all the other games, Fox is not unpredictable at all, never has been, probably never will.
Like you said Bay, he has his play book and that is all he plays. I was wondering why TT has looked lost these last few games. Maybe it is because he is having to play this playbook and doesn’t understand why?
No lie. Expectng Fox and staff to just see the light because we are in the playoffs will be asking too much. We will just have to hope the players execute the predictable plays/game plan to perfection.
TRB
TRB. Well said. Agreed.
Peter Kings Wild Card Prediction:
Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) at Denver Broncos (8-8)
The only thing the Broncos have going for them, other than playing a mile high, is that hard-hitting Ryan Clark won’t be there to punish Denver receivers in the deep secondary; he’ll sit out as a precaution because of sickle-cell disease. Oh, and Ben Roethlisberger is gimpy again with the high ankle sprain. I don’t see the loss of Rashard Mendenhall for the year a crippling blow, other than in terms of depth; Isaac Redman will do just fine. If Denver’s D plays a perfect game, this might be close. But I don’t see Tim Tebow being able to make enough throws downfield to win, and I think Dick LeBeau will have plenty up his sleeve to neutralize Tebow.
Steelers: 24
Broncos: 9
I agree about the execution, we gotta execute the whole bunch of them! LOL, jk, a classic, haha.
Ouch! Peter King says….
Dick LeBeau
Enemy numero uno
If sure tackling is a premuim in this game we are in big trouble, unless Bailey can make all the tackles!
Big Ben is always willing to stand in the pocket and take the hits – would be great if we can force some bad throws off that gimpy ankle.
Morning Bronco Country…
I’m so glad to see Tebow saying in his own special way to ‘Take off the Training wheels’…
Quarterbacks think alike… He knows that he needs to be using the middle of the field… and his TE…
Sometimes running plays like a bubble screen or a draw is to simply keep the defense honest… Just because they can stop it doesn’t mean they will… If you let a defense cheat up and in over and over without at least threatening to make them pay for it then they have in fact made you one dimensional…
Does it strike anyone else as odd that the first week that McCoy’s name is mentioned for a HC Job in the NFL is the first time he and Tebow have ever had a public difference?
McCoy only called plays for 3 games last year… 3! and with essentially McD’s Playbook… Foxxy obviously has a different playbook and a different philosophy, that in and of itself calls for less from the Quarterback than any other scheme in the NFL…
Don’t ever say ‘Tebow Can’t'… It’s like saying the sun won’t rise tomorrow, It will and ‘Tebow Can’…
The passing ‘PLAYS’ themselves by design are not well suited to what Tebow is good at right now… If someone is running Press Man coverage, the best route to run is a Out’n'Up, or a Curl’n'Go… Both plays require a pump fake, and I don’t think I have seen Tebow Pump fake at all this year… If your plays are mediocre to begin with, the play you pick to run is really not the problem… It’s the play itself…
Tebow deserves your support… Honestly, many never did support him, and come here to rile the rest because of their personal shortcomings. I’m sorry if TT makes you feel guilty about the choices you made in your life, it’s not his fault he is a good person and an amazing athlete…
If he fails, he fails… and he very well could and probably will fail to beat the Steelers (12-4) with his support cast of 8-8 (from 1-4) but 8-5 as a career starter in two different systems is FAR from a fail…
VON TEBOW FOOTBALL!!! Ride BIG BEN like YOU STOLE HIM… HARD AND FAST, THEN PUT HIM AWAY WET!!!
FTS… NO SPIT
*new blog*
It amazes me how soon people on here that jumped on the Tebow bandwagon are jumping off. I would rather our team play with Tebow who has the heart and will to win with what you all think is suspect talent, than Orton who was a personality black hole. All you armchair QBs say all you want, but Tebow, not the defense has got us wins in all of those squeakers. Now that he’s had a bad stretch you guys are as fickle as a stuck up cat. Our defense is awesome and in the last couple of games has played well enough for him to capitalize. Well, he didn’t but I remember back in Elway’s first couple of years, fickle fans wanted to tar and feather him and send him packing like Conor McLeod in the Highlander. Have some faith and have some loyalty, fellow Bronco fans!
corithians 1:27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
Psalm 3:6 I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side
Psalm 27:3 Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.
Proverbs 3:5-65Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.6In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Faith can move mountains it is written:Just believe,even when all you have left is a Prayer,Its Then Miracles Happen.
Fan poll question of the week: Which is the biggest key to success against the Steelers on Sunday? a. pressure on Ben R. b. establish ground game c. win turnover battle d. start fast e. limit big plays by Pitts wr’s & this is the answer I’m adding. “ALL OF THE ABOVE”
a combo of c) win turnover battle and d) start fast
Turtle and Crush AZ have the right attitude! This is NOT the time to be negative and cry about how the stadium is going to be all black and yellow and that we are going to lose. I don’t care WHAT the analysts and everyone else says, this is playoffs and everyone is 0-0. We can do it and like these two said, TT got us here. Three bad games should not discredit him. I’m sure that EVERY qb in the league has had AT LEAST three bad games. I don’t see their fans dropping them over it. I am pumped to cheer on my time and hoping the shut up all the doubters! GO BRONCOS!!!!