Whenever Brandon Marshall feels he has a bad or even so-so game, he takes it upon himself to make all the necessary corrections to turn things around.
That is certainly the case this week as he prepares for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“I couldn’t sleep Tuesday night,” Marshall said in his press conference Thursday. “I was anxious, and I was looking forward to practice. Just getting out there and being able to polish up some things.”
Last week, the Chiefs double covered the 6-foot-4 receiver, and he admits he wasn’t fully prepared for it. And with as much as Jay Cutler has looked his way, it’s no surprise that defenses will be keying on him. But now is the time to get back on track and make sure two defenders can’t derail him.
“They threw two at me a little bit last weekend. I didn’t prepare myself as I should of,” Marshall said. “This week I am excited to have another weekend, another opportunity. Going back to my college days, whenever I have a so-so game or a bad game, I am hard on myself. My expectations are a little bit different than everybody else’s. I always go back to the drawing board which is practice and go back to the field and work harder. I busted my butt yesterday, and I am going to bust my butt today and Friday.”
Though he caught seven passes for 77 yards and the Broncos’ lone touchdown in their loss at Kansas City, a good game by most standards, Marshall did one thing that took away from all the rest — he fumbled.
It was a play where he was lined up in the backfield with Cutler. Marshall took the handoff and ran around left end only to be met immediately by a Chiefs defender. Marshall got hit and fumbled the ball, and Kansas City recovered it.
“I feel like if I didn’t fumble, it would have been a totally different game,” Marshall said. “Unfortunately, that was the way that they won Sunday. We have to do our best to eliminate those mistakes and those turnovers. Personally, I took it pretty rough. It just shows me that I have to work harder on ball security. If I want to continue to be a wide receiver in the NFL, I have to have ball security.”
After that, it’s safe to say that Marshall will aim to keep both hands on the ball as often as possible.
GETTING NOTICED
Anybody at Arrowhead Stadium or watching Sunday’s game on TV saw the hit. Spencer Larsen charged down the field on a kickoff, gliding past would-be blockers, en route to the ball carrier. Who knows if Dantrell Savage saw the hit coming, but he certainly felt it.
Larsen laid out Savage, upending and stopping him cold at the 19-yard line. Amazingly, Savage popped right up and jogged off the field without a problem. But since then, Larsen has been receiving more than a little bit of attention.
“It inspires me cause he’s on my team,” Nate Jackson said before Thursday’s practice. “He’s striking fear into those guys, and you need that. He’s got a lot of juice right now, and he’s capitalizing on it. We all are.”
The rookie out of Arizona may be listed at fullback on the team’s roster, but right now he’s hitting like the linebacker he was in college. His five special teams tackles are good for the team lead.
“I mean I knew coming in that he is a good player, but he is just out there making plays,” Louis Green said. “That is a mind set. I am pretty sure when the other team looks at the film they see him coming down and making those big hits that will leave me open to give me a big hit. It is all about looking at film. I try to study everyone, and after studying him he makes his read and when he sees it, he goes and hits it.”
“No hesitation at all.”
– Adam Zinser, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Adam Zinser, Brandon Marshall, Kansas City Chiefs, Spencer Larsen, Tampa Bay Buccanners
Brandon Marshall goes nuts after he catches the ball. Scrambling around like a wild man. This is going to lead to many many many many more fumbles. He is giving the Defense the opportunity to punch the ball out because he thinks he always has to make some kind of huge play out of nothing.
your a bronco fan? its called yac. yards after catch. you dont realize hes making te play for us learn some respect broncofan az’\
This is about Brandon Marshall, but what about the Defense and especially Special Teams???
BroncoFan that is the way he plays. He didn’t fumble because of a hit. He fumbled because the defender yanked the ball out as the other defender was pulling him down. I thought the ref would have blew the whistle because his forward momentum was stopped. It’s all good though because majority of the time he gets lots of extra yards on all that “scarmbling like a wild man”. I’ve only seen the guy fumble twice since he has been in the league and they have both been similar. Getting tackled by multiple defenders. Once against San Diego last year and this one against the Chiefs. It happens but I would say for Brandon to continue to play. He always covers up the ball except for when he carries it in the one hand (although he hasn’t done much of that in the regular season) like he did several times last year and the preseason. B_Marsh is a freaking beast and he will not be taken down many times by one person head up. B_Marsh for congress!!!
ok we can hate on the d right now but hate on brandon the best reciever in the nfl while missing the first game com on. we can win the superbowl and broncofan will still hate on the team com on the d sucks but marshall doesnt.
The offense is good but the defense is the ones that need help. We need to bring in a black defensive coordinator not to be rude or any thing. We also need to bring in a finess defensive line and have brick wall defenders, safetys are big hitters. Denver will be in the top 5 total defense every year in the NFL.
I’ve been saying this since the preseason when Webster got the starting job over K2. We are making incredibly costly mistakes at the MLB position. This is due to Webster’s overpursuit. Just watch him run by or run past an RB, TE, or WR, then turnaround and head that direction. If we truly going on a youth replacement movement, and we’re going to be making mistakes. Why not let Larsen be the one making mistakes, not Webster. Because Larsen has great upside, but after 9 years, Webster has NO upside. It’s all been realized or lost by now. Webster would be back up on every other team in the NFL. Let’s go Larsen, the K2. If it doesnt work out there are some great MLB’s in the draft next year. Hey, how much worse could Larsen or K2 be at this point, than Webster. I believe that Woodyard’s in the same category. However, we havent been seeing his name as much lately. He’s going to be an OLB for us soon. I do agree with DJ and Boss, they’ve got thing pretty well in hand. If everyone did their jobs like those 2, we’d be a top 15 defense.
The offense is good but the defense is the ones that need help. We need to bring in a black defensive coordinator not to be rude or any thing. We also need to bring in a finess defensive line and have brick wall defenders. Broncos need to bring in big hitting safetys to play the game the way former broncos such as Dennis Smith, Steve Atwater and John Lynch played the game as a broncos. Once these misteaks are corrected Denver will be in the top 5 total defense every year in the NFl.
The next Sunday the Broncos are going to lose against the Bucs, and the wonderful defense of the Broncos will be displayed as the worst in the NFL,
is the beginning of 6 victories and 10 defeats in 2008,
and another year full of mediocrity and nothing happens,
because we are tired of hearing the excuse of Shanahan and not do anything about it
in a way i want to say what the hell RNST?
but also i want to agree,
I agree we need to let some of the younger players play like Spencer Larsen and sign Josh Barret to the roster he has so much upside and put him in at strong safety get Marquand Manuel out of there the guy is old no upside liike the guy above besides right now i dont think we could be much worse the only reason the broncos won three games was because of the offense not the defense i dont know what else besides that Denver can do because they just dont have the personel to be a good defense they need a good inside presence at MLB like Al Wilson was for along time or even if they just got another pass rusher to be on the other side of Elvis Dumervil this defense would greatly improve because the coverage wouldnt have to be out there for along time. Like i said i dont think its the scheme i think its the personel.
Brandon Marshall, with all due respect to Rod Smith. Is the most talented receiver Dever has ever had. He will go down number one in every receiver category as long as he stays a Bronco and doesn’t sign elsewhere.
That’s what a playmaker is or does. Anyway he won’t have a lot of fumbles cause usually the defense can’t touch him. I say no more fumbles for him the rest of the year. You go Beast!!
The Broncos offense showed up to do their thing last Sunday, against the Chiefs. But they seemed to have a “This is just business” attitude. That’s great – and very efficient on most Sundays, but when we are playing the Raiders, Chiefs, and Chargers, it doesn’t work to “just take care of business.” The Chiefs came out as if to say “lets punch the Broncos in the mouth.” They showed up with an intensity not seen in non-rivalry games. Records don’t matter! Players don’t matter! It doesn’t even matter who the better team is! The team that can keep the intensity and emotion wins the contest. This is the first time a lot of our players are learning this lesson. Perhaps, we as fans, should take this into consideration. . .
Oh, and one more thing. . .
Was anyone else thoroughly impressed with how well Royal ran his routes during the no-huddle offense? This is only his fourth game, and he is awesome in those situations!
Hey, this is my first one so please comment on this. I dont know if it is too early to start talking about the draft, but what do you guys think about trading Bly, and a few draft picks to get a high first rounder and draft a guy like James Laurenitis from Ohio State, or a big solid DT or another good ass rusher to take the double teams off of Dumervil?
We need CHANGE on our D and we need it now!!!!!
LET THEM LEARN AND GROW FROM EXPERIENCE!!!!
I HOPE WE DONT RUN A 3-4 DEFENSE AND IF THE DEFENSE SUCKS THIS WEEK WE NEED TO FIRE THE DEFENSE COORD. POINT BLANK PERIOD
First, Marshall is a beast, that is indisputable. One fumble doesn’t remove the benefits he has giving us with YAC. He is possibly the best in the league. some might say its too soon to say but are you kidding me???
Two, scheme is great, but i don;t agree with safety Manuel and the trade of Dominique foxworth. Say what you may about him but he could tackle. And shanahan had no problem putting cutler in as the future when we were doing fine with Plummer but doesnt do the same for a promising safety in Barrett.
Thirdly, I don’t think the defense is as bad as many think. We do well most of the game but end up giving up random big plays that send their stats to hell. Not to mention we have a high powered offense that scores alot and fast meaning that the defense is out there enough for mistakes.
Oh yea and we don’t run the ball like we used to. selvin was good last year but the o line is different this year and prolly no suited for our old run style. I like how quick six ran the ball with new O-Line and looking foward to torrain. but our best running of recent was when we had Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell 1,2 punch. BRING BACK THAT MILE HIGH SALUTE
I really don’t think that this team is suited for the Super Bowl (because of the D.)… our offense is great but our D. struggles big time (as all of you know)… I think we’ll defenitly be in the post-season… and than after some off-season changes to our deffense… THAN, We’ll be a Super Bowl caliber team…
I have been away for some time but it is good to see so many fans bearing their souls to the Bronco nation. I agree with a vast majority of you. The defense is the real problem here. As we all know; when a defense plays this poorly it dictates all of the actions of the game. We can have the best offense in the world but we can not expect them to score 40+ points every Sunday. Even in the days of John Elway he would comment on games where the offense was simply not firing on all cylinders. When this occured he could generally look to the defense to keep the game within reach. Unfortunately this is not the case and while I know that Shanahan and Bates must game plan for this contingency by creating offenses designed for the 40 point purpose I also know that the likelihood that Shanahan will do the right thing and fire Bob Slowik mid-season is about one in a million. The simple fact of the matter is that we all foresaw this potential outcome for our defense. Slowik’s performance in past postings has shown the same tendencies. His “Squat and Wait” defence is completely reactionary as his players simple work to keep the play in front of them. Through the past four games; when have you really seen a defensive player challenging an offensive player for the ball. The Denver defense is the police agency of the NFL. Although they will tell us they are proactively engaging teams they are really doing nothing more than showing up after the crime has already been committed. I know that Shanahan has already taken a lot of heat for the coaching decisions he has made but I know as do you that there is not any team in the NFL that thinks that a defense that gives up 500 yards is acceptable. I yearn for the years of Larry Coyer where the defense did give up its share of plays but it was two things; impossible to run on and dynamic in the take away department. Slowik should never have been named the Defensive coordinator. We should have been turning to someone who is not only hungry but knows how to engage today’s young players. Mike Singletary comes to mind. Giving up 300 yards in today’s NFL with it’s offense happy rules is not uncommon but the Broncos are actually fielding a worse defense than last year. A lot of it has to do with the mentality of the defense as well. When I hear Jarvis Moss tell the media that he had decided that he wasn’t going to be a 275 lbs. DE but a 245 lbs end I knew something was wrong. And how has our former first round draft choice doing? Slowik can not be allowed to take the most promising offensive crew the Broncos have had since back to back Super bowls and throw it in the “Boy we could have gone all the way” basket.
Mike in San Diego
Yes, Spencer, you were excellent! My fellow Mormon hard-hitting stud! In any case, the defense has been horrendous, but if Spencer and Josh Barrett get a shot, things can improve. If we don’t turn the ball over, then we should be fine against the Buccaneers. It will be a close game, but we can pull it out.
reed24,,you’re right,its never too early to talk about next year,,especially if it means improvemnt on defense…..Laurinittis would be an excellent pick,but i can also see Mauluga and Spikes fitting in too….we need all the help we can get on defense..a powerful DT and premier runstuffer/passrusher to stand opposite Doom..but we can never count out Crowder..yet…too early to say,,but i say,,trade up,,pick up the best defenders in the first three rounds..
as for now,,,can we please ask shanny to let Niko and Lasen play MLB for a while…and let Barrett back in for a lagging Manuel
Yes, the Broncos defense sucks, but I have a question for all the Slowik haters. Will firing Sloqwik make our inept defensive tackles any better? Without any pressure up the middle, our DE’s will never be able to put abnny sort of consitant pressure on the QB.
…stop talking about the defense…WE GET IT…go in there and try and do a better job…YOU CANT…this is a MUCH more exiting start to the season than last year and we’re on top of the west so show some freaking support bunch of whiners!! GO BRONCOS!!
What happened to our offense that had been scoring 38 pts a game and looked unstoppable. We went away from our strength, spreading the short passes around. Instead we are looking too much a B Marsh and teams are focusing on that. Also in the KC game it looked like we were trying to establish the run game, KC’s weak point, early in the game and not our strength, establishing the pass first for the run game. That was how we have been so successful the first 3 games. Play to our strength not to their weakness.
I can solve our D problem. Where is Greg Robinson? He would be perfect for the D personnel we have. If he is not coaching in the NFL lets go get him. Blitz city.
Hey Fellow Broc Fans – I’m new and stuck down here in texas bleeding orange and blue. Key word is BLEEDING. This is my first post and I’ve never had anything negative to say about my beloved Broncs but did anyone have a problem with the Wed Video segment on the home page with Slowik. He said a the 2 minute mark on the video that “you don’t fool people in this league very often because there is so much preparation”. Did anyone see Romo get fooled ( and beatup) by the Redskins when I got picked off in the 3rd Q. Did anyone see the Pitt OLine get fooled by Philly D. Seriously Bob? Good Technique is so important because noone is getting fooled and they are allowed to have good technique. How about mentally beating/breaking an opponent? Everyone is fast and physical so the game will come down to who fools or beomes foolish. So you’ll give up a big play every so often, but we are doing that anyway, but not getting the reward of making a big defensive play.
Just a thought -Jim
Am I the only person that keeps hearing the D make statements such as “communication” problems? I believe it was pointed out earlier that this is supposed to be a VERY simple scheme to run. If Laser Larsen can home in on a guy like that on special teams why in the WORLD couldn’t he do the same on the defensive side of the ball? I know we are thin at fullback, but we have a MLB playing flat so far. Granted, it’s not all his fault, and if Thomas doesn’t start holding his own on the line it’s not going to be any better no matter who plays in the middle. Having said that, PUT IN JOSH AND THE LASER AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS!
Fellow Broncomaniacs
This is going to be another long year if Shanny doesn’t find a REAL defensive mind to run the show. This defense smells alot if not worse than last years. One post said Gunther Cunningham, not bad or find somebody like old Joe Collier. Bring Back the Orange Crush mentallity. Call Meck and
get TJ off TV, they surely could do better than what we have know.
Spenser Larson showed no fear with his ferocious hit !! It would be great to see him get a few reps at MLB, if Webster continues to struggle. He is listed as FB, but played both sides at Arizona. He played LB during pre-season. Has excellent lateral movement (sideline to sideline) and lists at 240 lbs. NT Robertson did not play last weekend. Peterson started in his place. What’s the status on Robertson ? He is strong against the run, so hopefully he will be ready to play against the Bucs.
b4life I agree with you they should sign Josh Barrett to the 53 man roster and put him as strong safety they should let him play for 13 years. They should also make him a starter because he is a good player that has alot of potential and deserve to be put on the roster.
I am so sick of all you all’s negativity.Why don’t you put on some pads and talk that talk huh? Cause you can’t cause you ain’t got it,so shut up and watch like real fans support your team that’s what we do .