In close games and in critical moments, the 2-9 Vikings have had a difficult time making enough plays to win throughout the season.
“Sometimes the balls just roll for you, sometimes it’s rolling against you, but it really comes down to players making plays,” Minnesota defensive end Jared Allen said in a conference call today. “When we have the opportunity to make them, you have to make them, and we haven’t been able to this year.”
The Vikings’ upcoming opponent in Denver has found a way to make those plays late in games.
With Tim Tebow starting at quarterback, the Broncos are 5-1 in their last six games and the last three wins have been decided by seven points or less.
It’s been a total team effort for Denver as of late, with the defense and special teams units stepping up consistently, and the Tebow-led offense has found a way to come through in the clutch time and time again with decisive drives.
In studying the Broncos, Vikings Head Coach Leslie Frazier said he sees a team in Denver that believes close games are theirs to win.
“It seems like in Denver they are believing,” Frazier said in a conference call. “Tim will figure out a way to get the ball into the end zone or get it close enough to kick a field goal. We just have to keep it close. When you have a team that believes like that, it’s just lifts everybody’s confidence and guys start believing in that leader and sure enough that seems to be what’s been happening.”
“If we hang around and let the game stay close, then that’s going to create problems for us because they have their whole playbook,” Allen added. “And Tebow can do what he does.”
With Tebow, the Vikings know they are up against a quarterback that thrives in late game situations and they also know he’ll carry the ball on the ground quite a bit in the Broncos option attack. Frazier added that Percy Harvin –- a teammate of Tebow’s at University of Florida -– will be used as source of information in regards to the option offense.
Last week Tebow carried the ball 22 times in the win over San Diego — a total more commonly seen next to a running back’s name on the stat sheet.
“It’s something that you don’t really expect to see,” Frazier said. “Now, with Tim at quarterback, you do have to prepare that way. It’s almost, in some ways, like having a running back in the backfield, because those numbers are the kind of numbers we’d like to get for Adrian (Peterson) each week.”
Frazier shared his thoughts on several other Broncos during the conference call.
On Von Miller: “He doesn’t play like a rookie. Some of the things that he does—his explosiveness, his awareness, the instincts that he has, the power that he has— it’s just very impressive. He’s going to have a great future in the NFL.”
On Eric Decker: “He does have some deceptive speed, and he runs very good routes as well. But part of it is like what you said, they’re running the ball so effectively—the No. 1 rushing team in the league—that you commit so many people to the run and all of a sudden Eric is behind your secondary.”
On the Denver defense: “Their front is really coming along. (Brodrick) Bunkley is playing extremely well, and obviously, the pressure that Von has created on opposing offensive linemen has really helped their secondary and their linebackers in general; but their front in particular has really gotten our attention as we’ve studied the tape.”
-Max Henson
Tags: Minnesota Vikings, Week 13
Team effort, I like the sound of that.
Frazier is scared!!!
I can’t believe it’s only Wednesday.
The Vikes are going down this sunday. Going down hard. HaHa!!
We all know that the N.E. vs Denver game will be nationally televised.
They are a good well coached team – but they are having a rough time of it. 2-9 is bad. I think they continue to wait for Ponder to have a break-out game just like Bronco fans wait for Tebow.
If the Broncs can manage to beat the PATs – Then Houston will unanimously be held up as #1 in AFC.
Broncos look to match up well with the Pats if we quit losing players.
Windy and cold here and I’ve gotta go play softball in it.
Heading down from good ole Winnipeg to catch that game this weekend.When i bought the tickets, we were 1-4 and the vikes were winless i think. Made a bet who would have the worst record at the time of this game with the pals im going with[vikes fans]. Lets just say ill be shotgunning beers all weekend on their dime haha.
Bay: Broncs 27 wedontlikes 13.
Look for me in the big marshmellow dome section 102 elawy 1994 75th ann. jersey, or the elway 1994 nike[wife]
A question for bloggers who were around for the 1977 Broncomania: Is Tebowmania anywhere close to that invcredible time and space? It was a magic time that you think can never be recreated, but ……….
“Percy Harvin –- a teammate of Tebow’s at University of Florida -– will be used as source of information in regards to the option offense”.
I thought most coaches coached in college 1st then pro,shouldn’t they know about the option,but knowing how to defend it and doing it are 2 different things!!!!!!!!!
Pounding the Rock and playing great “D” sounds good don’t it???
GO BRONCS!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry oldsouthstander,I didn’t start watching football until I was 12,which was 1982….
i wasnt born till 1987 so cant recall the 77 season
Diff than 77….painted the town Orange! Wasn’t a player we were excited about, it was the team and we were tasting success for the first time! We are getting there now with this team but it to answer your question…no, it’s not the same in my opinion.
I honestly can’t even start to compare it, what’s to compare, in 77 it’s the first time ever we went to the SB, it’s like the first time we ever won a SB in 1997, those two events can never be duplicated. Of course go all the way this year and you make another great chapter in our history, but comparing 2011 when we’ve gone to 6 SBs to 1977 when it was our first time is like apple and oranges, and we really haven’t accomplished anything this year yet anyway, it’s just like in it’s embryo. But it’s keeping me on the edge of my seat, Ill say that for now.
Happy Birthday Gray, thanks for keeping the time-stamp on the Live Blog; it has been great. Also, thank you for all you and your staff do to keep this Broncos Country blog the BEST BLOG in the NFL! I wish you and yours the best.
Happy Birthday Turtle and 709 hope you had a great day!
-Royalty
Beating the Raiders in the Conf Championship game in 77 will also be hard to top!
1977 was insane. The Broncos never made the playoffs prior to that year snd the Orange Crush defense was absolutly dominant. People were making records about the team and the radio stations were playing them, also old Mile High was a madhouse-old school Bronco fans who were embracing the season as magical. Look at the scores and stats from that year and you will see that the defense carried that team, the offense used several RB’s and didn’t score much but did capitalize on turnovers which came in bunches. That year will never be matched in my eyes because it was new and fresh.
Mike: thanks. You hit the nail on the head. Not taking anything away from TT, but, yes, in 77 is was team first, individual stars distant second.
On NFL Live today the question was posed to Mark Schlerith (sp?) and Tony Dungy as to who was responible for the Broncos turnaround. The implication being you have to say either TT or the way the D has started playing. Mark had the perfect and absolutely correct answer: John Fox. Mark went on to say that the reason is that Fox had the guts to throw away the playbook and concentrate adapting the plays to the talent he had, not the talent he had to the plays. It makes perfect sense on O and D.
And also beating Terry Bradshaw’s Steelers in our first playoff game ever, stuff like that can’t be done again, ever, that’s why I feel so lucky I was there for all of it and I was 23 in 77, thought I was a grown man then, LOL.
BFE
Rex Ryan (or his father) wrote a book on how to defend against the option and we still pulled out the win. The only thing i’m worried about is our defense becoming over-confident playing against the Vikes. in this competitive field, being the NFL, we can’t afford to be complacent. In order to fight for top of the AFC-WEST, we got to play each game lights-out!
-Royalty
And nobody believed we could go all the way through the playoffs that year, I mean nobody!
How sweet would it be to beat Big Ben’s Steelers in the play-off’s this year? A year in which nobody believes we can go to the play-off’s, lest win a play-off game.
“History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” -Mark Twain
Never say Die!
-Royalty
Maybe this can shed some light on the the 2011 Denver Broncos:
Clarke’s Three Laws are three “laws” of prediction formulated by the British writer and scientist Arthur C. Clarke. They are:
1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
My view of it is simply based on facts, we can’t duplicate going to our first playoff game ever again, we can’t duplicate winning our first playoff game ever again, we can’t duplicate going to our first SB ever again. And all that was achieved in 1977, it’s just the way it is, now we have to write different chapters.
Like going from a 4-12 record to a SB would do the trick, LOL.
Just learned of Von’s surgery… I hope we err on the side of caution and use him sparingly on Sunday.. Give Haggan the start and see how the game goes, maybe we can manage w/o him.. I’d rather have him heal up 100% than risk further damage
So what ive been hearing is miller might be out. That hurts. Also heard AP is out for the vikes. Ouch. I love the broncs but when you can go see a game live, it sucks when maybe the best 2 players at their position are out. I must have bad luck because i was at the game in 89 when elway ripped them up in the first half, got hurt, kubiak came in, pik 6 to browner, and that was all she wrote.
no matter what happens the rest of this year im proud to be a denver fan and im glad our team is playing so great right now i hope we can make the playoffs this year but if not i will be amped to see how far we can go in the coming years. there are lots of things to build off of with this team and im sure we will be a team that contends year in and year out vs being a team on the outside looking in like the last few years.
go brocos
Oldsouthstander: I was a sophmore in high school in 1977.
From what I remember, it just seemed like there was this feeling that whomever we played, no matter down and distance, the Broncos would get it done! Offense or Defense. We had first year Coach Red Miller.
Craig Morton coming over from the Giants to lead the Team. Otis Armstrong & crew running the rock. Rick Upchurch on special Teams, and of course the biggest sensation to hit the Rocky Mtns… “The Orange Crush Defense”!!!
Something special is brewing now. Have to hang on to my hat and see if the brewery is going to get us an awesome brew!! lol!
GO BRONCOS!!!!
man not to be rude but a lot of you broncomaniacs are old farts compared to me.lol i dont know jack squat about 77 its sounds like a great season though i hope 2011 brings back some memories for you guys.
Thanks to one and all for their 2 cents worth of 77 vs now. Like many said, it was an unrepeatable time for so many reasons. The memories of the radio stations and all the other madness are truly indescribable. For those who didn’t experience the “Orange Maddness”, I’ll relate two true things of that magical time to giove you an idea of how it was. 1) If you owned an Orange Bronco yopu could name you price. 2) A fellow had unsuccessfully been trying to sell his house for some time. He painted it orange and sold it in less than a week!
Haven Moses was one of the principal reason on O we went most of the way that year.
i first became a fan in 77 because my family went camping to beautiful rocky mountain n.p. [i was eight] . took a trip to denver, seen the blue and orange lids and fell in love with the colors.[remember i was eight]. wore them ever since. Went back to RMNP last year with my wife and kids. That place is something special. You guys that live there are lucky
Yes, we are lucky!
So the last two days, the Minneapolis paper has had front page (sports of course) articles about Tebow and Decker and their recent success. People here have totally, and understandably, lost almost all of their faith in their team. Can’t wait to get to the game on Sunday…my first Broncos game in eight years!
I agree with Schlereth, John Fox deserves a ton of credit. Not only has he adapted to his team but let’s not underestimate the value of retaining some of the assistant coaches. In a year of tremendous upheavl, he didn’t throw away everything. He appears to not be a micro-manager (Shanahan) or a careless coach (Wade Phillips as a head coach). He seems to strike a balance between players coach and disciplinarian. Way to go Foxy!
Can’t forget Moses… that’s true.
Not to worry millerqbkiller, you’ll be there before you know it…lol!
This life does go fast….
I haven’t been in Colorado since 1990, but I have a real wild memory of the Rocky Mtn Natl Park. Once I parked up very near the highest point in the road over the park and I just hiked down in the valley down below with all my camping gear for a couple of days. Of course it’s all illegal to camp outside of campground areas but that’s always been the attraction for me, LOL, anyhow it was real wet at the bottom of that valley with very heavy vegetation everywhere and I got to set up camp late and picked some little clearing in the woods that was half way flat and proceeded to go to sleep. Middle of the night, sound asleep, this gigantic thing collapses my tent all the way to the ground and then tailed out of there, I basically was dead in the middle of an animal path and as there never was a living soul down there he went his merry way doing whatever he did in the middle of the night and crashed smack into my little single men tent. It took me like 5 minutes to get the nerve to move in case it was a bear, and by the time I got looking out of the destroyed tent, all was quiet, never knew what it was….
I think for me in 1977 the fact that the Broncos were beating franchises that had experienced Super bowl success (Oakland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, KC) and beating the Raiders in Oakland (30-7?) with multiple interceptions of Stabler made us fans feel like the Broncos really did belong. John Ralston had drafted very well in the previous seasons but Red Miller pulled it all together. (Tom Jackson, Bob Swenson, Randy Gradishar, Lyle Alzado, Rubin Carter, Billy Thompson, Louis Wright, Rick Upchurch, Riley Odoms, Otis Armstrong). That defense was a dominate force running the 3-4. If you get a chance, go look at the archived stats from that year. There were many games when the offense had under 300 yards and Morton passed for in the mid to high 100s. Very conservative with the defense giving the ball to the offense in scoring position and the offense capitalizing. Sorry for the recollections but as an old fart I remember those days with great fondness ha ha.
Speaking of Rubin Carter, his son is currently playing with the NE Patriots.. Andre Carter.
Rubin Carter is coaching football down South in Albuquerque NM.
He’s the defensive line coach at the University of New Mexico.
Wow – cool story bay – glad you made it out.
Hope you Birthday boys had a Broncn’ time today.
Tough news with Von. Hopefully a speedy recovery allows him a speedy return. (if there is one game he could miss, it would be this one)
This has the making of a trap game. I feel pretty confident Fox and staff will have the team fully prepared!
Den-24
Min-10
bay sounds like u were on trail ridge road[which is unbelievible] never seen anything like being up 14000. my soccermom van almost didnt mke it haha.
Well I was perusing through the team portion of the site and noticed a few funnies….
On the Depth chart, Kyle Orton is still listed as the #2 QB along with BQ.. I guess they feel like he is still an advantage to us because he is playing for our division rivals…lol
Even funnier is if you click on “Team Photo” you get a nice shot of Josh McDaniels and the 2010 Broncos…lol
I’ve got my timer set to see if the admin is reading this blog and how long it will take to put up the team photo with the right Head Coach in it…lol kddn..
1977 – I was 14 and still a Steelers fan. I remember the Orange Crush with a little different view. Haha I remember very well when Broncos put my Steelers out of the playoffs – you had to remind me.
I started college in Denver in 1982 and became a fan as I watched Elway figuring out how to be a QB in the NFL.
Good times!
CO residents: people still painting their houses in Bronco colors?
Occasionally. What I see more of though is people painting the horse head (mostly the new one, but sometimes the old) on the sides of their garages, etc.
Hey folks, haven’t commented here since Detroit. Gotta love the way this team is playing together right now. I may actually get to watch this game too. Michigan doesn’t see many televised Denver games, I have been comboing on NFL.com and NFL RedZone to follow the team. I know we cannot afford to look past either of the next two matchups, but I honestly cannot wait to see the Patriots visit mile high. It will be the one test of our metal that even critics could not look past should we win or even lose narrowly. The Vikings are a much better team than thier record though, and I hope we are ready for them. So excited!!!
I read that Webb tends to play a pivotal role in Minnesota’s game plan… I’m knocking on Wood right now, so as to avoid a jinx, but I remember a game that the Broncos should have won, against the bears but do to an injury Kordell Stewart played quarterback and shredded the Broncos.
Webb is an interesting athlete that can create matchup problems for some teams (Some teams without Champ Bailey!)
) With Goodman playing well and fully healthy I expect to see Champ shadow Webb and Goodman matching up with Harvin. Minnesota put Jenkins on IR this week, so they have two established recievers really and two really good TE’s, (OK, One Really Good one and one Rookie that shows massive potential, the guy out of ND)
Denver’s D is for real and Gerhart will not have the success that Mathews had last week… Even if Von only plays on Passing downs I still think he will tally a sack…
I’m excited for this game, and really anxious to see if the team stays focused now that they have the pyschological effects of not being an ‘underdog’… I think Foxxy and Tebow keep them hungry and they play as hard as ever so by the fourth quarter we will be simply running off the last 6 minutes with a bone crushing, down your throat drive that shows we are really learning how to win from both sides of scoreboard!
VON TEBOW FOOTBALL!!!
FTV!!!