On Thursday, Chris Hall of DenverBroncos.com sat down with Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway for the most recent installment of Elway Access.
Since the team’s last game, the Broncos have been able to enjoy some time off to get healthy and ready for the Ravens. Coming off a Thursday night victory in Oakland, the players were off on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, giving them a breather going into the final three weeks of the season. In the win over the Raiders, Denver jumped out to a 13-0 lead en route to a 26-13 victory that came despite some red zone difficulty for the offense. Elway said that win, which improved Denver’s record to 10-3, made the trip to Oakland on a short week well worth the difficulty.
“It’s great now that we got that one over,” Elway said. “The first thing is you have to get through the short week. And we were able to do that, go in there, and even though it wasn’t our best football game, we were able to get in there and get a win. It’s always tough to win on the road, no matter where you go, against one of our archrivals in the Raiders. We were able to go in there, obviously 2-for-7 in the red zone isn’t what we want to do coming out of games. But we were able to get the job done. So once we won that game, then it became the benefit of having the extra weekend.”
Up next for Denver is a trip to Baltimore to take on the 9-4 Ravens. Baltimore is currently in first place in the AFC North and is one of three teams, including Denver, fighting for the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, which would mean a first-round bye.
“We’ve got our hands full because they are a good football team,” Elway said. “They’ve lost two in a row, they’ve been banged up, they have had a lot of injuries. They play very, very well at home so we’re going to have our hands full. This is going to be a great test for us to see where we are and how we’re going to be able to handle it. This is the type of game that depending on where you end up, you’re going to have to win, beat good football teams on the road in the playoffs.”
One big development for the Ravens this week was Monday’s change to the team’s offensive coaching staff. Jim Caldwell was promoted to offensive coordinator on Monday, replacing Cam Cameron. While the move will impact some of Baltimore’s game-planning, Elway expects the Ravens’ offensive identity to remain the same.
“Their offense is not going to change,” Elway said. “The play-calling is going to change because obviously you have a different play-caller. But as far as the picture of what the Ravens are going to be, we’re going to see pretty much the same thing. It’s just tendencies are going to be a little bit different than maybe what we’d seen in the past, so we’ll have to be ready for that. But it’s still going to be a physical game. They’re going to try to run (running back) Ray Rice and get him the ball, and we’re going to have to hopefully contain him a little bit.”
One of the biggest challenges for the Broncos will be turning trips to the red zone into touchdowns. Denver scored touchdowns on only two of seven possessions that penetrated the Oakland red zone in Week 14. Improving in that area will be a tall order against the Ravens’ defense, the No. 1 unit in the NFL in the red zone.
“Those windows really shrink down there,” Elway said. “They’ve got a lot of veterans. (Safety) Ed Reed down there roaming center field makes a lot of plays for them. They just understand, it’s a veteran-savvy team that knows that the closer they get, maybe there’s a little bit more intensity to them to make sure people don’t get in the end zone and they hold people to field goals, which they have been able to do. We just know that even though people are talking about their defense not being what it has been in the past, it’s still a very formidable defense and we have our hands full.”
Tags: Elway Access, Executive Vice President of Football Operations John Elway, Week 15
B-R-O-N-C-O-S BRONCOS BRONCOS BRONCOS!!!
I’m excited for Sunday!
Me too…praying that Manning can avoid one of those ATL type of 1st quarters.
B-R-O-N-C-O-S BRONCOS BRONCOS BRONCOS!!! ILMSDB!!!
(I love copy and paste too!)
Rough night for the Eagles. 27 of 34 pts. scored off of turn overs. Foles looked good – at least as good as Dalton – Bye Bye MV!!!
Steep hill for the Been Gals – def not a playoff team…IMHO
Both QB’s under 50% completions. Hmmm… are they certain Tebow’s passing was a flaw? LOL (I think the media has ruined Tebow’s career…not certain I can stand him with with all the ‘ink drips’ fawning…)
“On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me two Elway rookie cards and an Elite Peyton Manning jersey…”
Feel good material from Jamison Hensley from ESPN.com:
When the Ravens’ schedule was released in April, the stretch that stood out was seven Pro Bowl quarterbacks in the final eight games. The problem is, Baltimore hasn’t been losing to Pro Bowl quarterbacks.
With a chance to clinch a playoff spot the past two weeks, the Ravens were stopped by Charlie Batch and Kirk Cousins. Baltimore couldn’t celebrate another trip to the postseason because it failed to hold a fourth-quarter lead against a 37-year-old third-stringer (Batch) and a rookie fourth-round backup (Cousins).
The Ravens have a rich tradition of success on defense. Baltimore has ranked in the top 10 in defense for the past nine straight seasons (2003-11), which is tied for the third-longest streak since the 1970 merger. Now, this banged-up defense can’t keep the likes of Batch or Cousins out of the end zone when the game is on the line.
A week ago, Batch was 10-for-11 for 105 yards and one touchdown in rallying the Steelers from seven points down in the fourth quarter. On Sunday, Cousins replaced an injured Robert Griffin III to tie the game with 29 seconds remaining when he hit Pierre Garcon for an 11-yard touchdown pass and ran in the two-point conversion.
To be fair, the Ravens are dealing with several injuries on defense, especially at linebacker and cornerback. Their team leader (Ray Lewis), best defensive player (Terrell Suggs) and top cornerback (Lardarius Webb) didn’t play. Dannell Ellerbe, who replaced Lewis in the starting lineup, was out with an ankle injury. So, when Jameel McClain left in the third quarter with a neck injury, Baltimore was down to undrafted free agents Albert McClellan and Josh Bynes at inside linebacker. The Ravens are also starting special-teams ace Corey Graham at cornerback because of injuries to Webb and Jimmy Smith.
Are the Ravens in trouble? “No, man. We ain’t in trouble,” safety Ed Reed told reporters after the game. “Next question.”
OK, what about this question: How can the Ravens beat Peyton Manning when they can’t beat Batch and Cousins? Manning, who plays the Ravens in Baltimore on Sunday, has won eight straight meetings against the Ravens. The last time Baltimore beat Manning was December 2001.
So, I will definitely put to rest my concerns over the fact that we almost NEVER win in Baltimore because Peyton just about NEVER loses to them. It feels good to have Manning, specially for this one.
Is Porter back in the lineup?
Just saw Rob Parker debating the blackness (for real!!!!) of RG3 with Skip Bayless. The guy is an idiot and it’s attitudes like his that fuel racism, shame on that bigot.
Yeah but it seems as if they don’t want to chance playing him with the seizure thing, I already said it was probably too big a liability for the team to venture there with all the current concussion issues. With only the one year contract it’s safe to say he will be gone next year.
We all saw the potential of Harris last season, but seeing him and Carter really step up this season make me feel better about our secondary. *Who would’ve thunk..two undrafted CBs* I was hoping that Bailey and Porter would be a good combo. I wonder if the orginization saw this coming and that’s why they only offered him a 1-yr deal?
They were debating that he was “too black or not black enough”?? That’s ridiculous!!!
Denver Broncos (10-3) at Baltimore Ravens (9-4)
“Having nothing to do with the change in offensive coordinators in Baltimore, but everything to do with the fact
that the Broncos haven’t lost since two weeks before the World Series started. The Ravens, to beat Peyton Manning,
need their best player on the field Sunday to be Terrell Suggs, not Joe Flacco”.
Broncos- 30
Ravens – 20
Source: Peter King SI
Contrary to what some bloggers reported, Porter did try to sign on for more than one year.
He was ONLY a offered a 1 yr deal by the front office. There may have been medical issues that us as fans
were unaware of at the time. Porter started out the sesaon fine, but faded quickly, as was evident in the Texans game.
Agree with you bay… Porters’ one and done.
Brian
Not black enough, see for yourself:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/rob-parker-robert-griffin-race-first-take_n_2295726.html
That Parker should of been fired on the spot, shame on ESPN too.
Come on, people, get your crap together. We’re way too far advanced for these issues. Racism is ignorance…no matter how it’s sliced. I’m glad you guys are seeing this as stupid, too.
That’s utterly ridiculous!
Maybe if Goodell and Parker got together they might be able to muster an once of credibility between the two of them.
Game preview from PFF: https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/12/14/3tfo-broncos-ravens-week-15/
Arian Foster is hilarious. He took to twitter today saying how he needed to work on his blackness and that since his more was Mexican he was going t work to optimize 50% of his blackness. Love that guy.
*his mother.
Good for Arian. Those guys should be ashamed of themselves.
WTF is “blackness” anyway?! I see football players, I see human beings…I’m not seeing this other thing.
And Foster is 100% Indian at heart. Namaste.
Racism should not be tolerated in sports, and the platform of ESPN speaking with a loose tongue, Parker will be fired I bet. This is what separates people, Some really need to get over it already.
I gotta ask,why is the person that answered a question the one being gone after?IMO,Smith deserves just as much,if not more,criticism for opening that door.
Smith and Bayless are both worthless clowns.
I just think the whole thing is devastating. I’m not even a Redskins fan and I think that RGIII is pretty much one of the most eloquent guys in the NFL. And he is a good person, likeable, and has the potential to be a fantastic quarterback. Who cares who he voted for… Doesn’t he have a right as an American to vote for who he wanted to without being criticized either way? What if he didn’t vote at all? Do they ever say that Eminem isn’t white enough? No… RH709 I’m with you… What does “blackness” mean anyway!?
Stephen A. Smith is always dancing on the edge of the black vs whomever. The guy gets on my nerves.
I’d want RG3 on my team! For everything he does on the field, for his character, and what he stands for. He’s a likeable guy.
Yeah, you’d want him on your team if you didn’t already have the GOAT!!!
Parker was “suspended until further notice”: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/14/espn-suspends-rob-parker-until-further-notice/
Haha! This is great: https://mobile.twitter.com/si_vault/status/279626508258123777/photo/1
At least these guys didn’t kill anyone, unlike the Connecticut elementary school shooting that’s all over the news now, elementary??? And they are even talking it might of happened in a kindergarten class, what the ????
Good for ESPN!
Tap your cleats 3 times!! HaHa!!
Yeah…what was that?
I’ve worked with kids that were doing well, in school, and with life, suddenly drop out because someone accused them of acting “white”. Great comments ‘idiot Parker’. It came across clear…you wouldn’t hang out with someone who was white.
Don’t they have some time lapse on these programs that some intelligent person could have cut to a commercial and changed the subject?
Fluid situation at this point, but they are taking a dozen deaths now…. What is this world coming to? And in China just today someone knifed 22 people in a school there, I guess because it’s harder to get guns there…
*talking
Heck, I’m more concerned with the North Korea situation. Crazy things happening there.
Or Iran, take your pick, LOL.
Now CBS is saying 27 deaths…
Well Yeah, we’re living in crazy times! I fully agree!
18 children… the humanity!
I just now turned on the TV and put it on Fox News. I had know idea to what you were saying about these deaths. I assumed that a rampage started in the state of Michigan over the Union stuff. Oh my God, this is aweful! A middle school?!!
I had no idea! Oh my God! What is next?!
Bay, I didn’t see your 10:15 am post. ooops!
This is the most horrific thing you could ever imagine, an entire kindergarten class sounds like…. So many people’s lives changed forever. Unbelievable is what this is.