[...]Preseason Week 3: Friday Practice Blog « DenverBroncos.com[...]…

[...]Preseason Week 3: Friday Practice Blog « DenverBroncos.com[...]…

Thanks Bay for letting us in on some of how you always know so much that is up to date – via using twitter. I’ll add Shefter to my account so I can follow better. For those of you who don’t use twitter, sometimes it’s meaningless, but other times, it’s very good when people are kind of giving you a “play by play” of what’s happening at an event that you can’t see or be present at or letting in you in on future events well before the general public is informed about them.

I also agree with Bay’s 11:03 post that it’s realistically going to be difficult for the Broncos to make the playoffs this year and that San Diego is still the team to beat in the AFC West. But because there were no off-season practices and on any given day, any team can beat another team, I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. But I do agree with Bay that the Broncos would probably need to win the division to get into the playoffs because based on past history, wild card teams usually come out of other divisions.

In general, I think the psychological effect of how the first few games go is really important for the players – and the fans. Success breeds success. If the Broncos are 4-1 at the bye week, they will have some real confidence. But the team and the fans need to keep a focus on winning the division, not necessarily the overall win/loss record early in the season. Like Bay says, I think the most likely way into the plays for an AFC west team is to win the division. The overall win/loss record may not have to be that impressive to do that. The general idea would be to hope the team wins the division and improves over the course of the season to a point where that if the make the playoffs, they will have improved a lot and be able to compete with any team by that point.

Sorry for my typical long post. I just don’t have the time to post frequently. I can’t wait for the game tonight!

Near the end of last season I was one of the many fans who jumped on board the Tebow bandwagon and thought Orton should be shown the door. But as I watch these preseason games it is clear that Orton is by far the better QB right now. Remember, as much as we all love Timmy he was a McD draft pick. Most of us hated every personnel move that McD made but everyone seemed to love drafting Tebow. The more I think about it, the more I’m starting to believe that even that was a bad decision by McD. Obviously it’s way too early to say for sure what’s going to happen but at this point I don’t see Tebow succeeding unfortunately. He’s a fine person that’s for sure, but I’m just not seeing the greatness as a football player that I thought I saw last year. Plus, coach Fox went to a Super Bowl with Jake Delhomme as his QB, and we all know that he was not much more than a game manager. In my opinion Orton is much better than Delhomme ever was. If Kyle can stay healthy and Fox & Co. continue to improve the defense and the running game I definitely believe Orton can have the same kind of impact that Delhomme did in Carolina.

That brings me to the defense. I love the aggressive playcalling by Dennis Allen. I wasn’t sure Von Miller was the right choice with our first round pick, but I think I was dead wrong about that. He has Derrick Thomas written all over him. With him on one side and Dumervil on the other and Ayers moving inside on passing downs as Bay and others have mentioned, our pass rush looks lethal. The thing I like most about the D is they seem to be playing for one another. After that big hit by Rahim Moore last week I loved how veterans such as Champ, DJ, and Dawk were quick to come to his defense and make sure that Bills receiver Stevie Johnson didn’t try anything. You know a rookie like Moore has to love that the older guys have his back no matter what. I’m not a big fan of fighting normally but it’s great to see a defensive unit that looks out for each other. To me that’s the kind of attitude it takes to create a successful D.

Sorry for being so long winded, but I had several thoughts I wanted to touch on. I won’t make a playoff prediction or anything bold like that right now, but it is obvious to me that coach Fox has this team headed in the right direction. Can’t wait for Monday night against the Raiders!