The Denver Broncos finally dropped a game Sunday, to an always tough Baltimore Ravens team that, in this case, came into the game with three straight losses and was desperately in need of a win.
Denver remains in good shape with a 6-1 record following the loss, which was a tough defensive struggle that at halftime saw the Broncos trailing by just a 6-0 score. The ravens returned the second half kickoff for a touchdown and slowly pulled away after that.
With that loss, Denver Head Coach Josh McDaniels fell one victory short of becoming just the second or third (and we’ll explain) first year head coach to start off his coaching career with seven consecutive wins.
Potsy Clark won eight straight to begin his coaching career with the Portsmouth Spartans in 1931—the Portsmouth Spartans became the Detroit Lions in the modern National Football League.
But Potsy too had a predecessor for this title, albeit one with a couple of caveats attached to his resume.
In 1920, the absolute very first year of an organized professional football league, Barney Lepper was the head coach of the Buffalo All-Americans, who won their first eight games before finishing 9-1-1 for third place, behind the Decatur Staleys (10-1-2) and the league champion Akron Pros (8-3). But maybe Lepper was not a rookie head coach that year.
In checking with the Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistician of the NFL, they believe that Lepper might have coached some team, some place, in the ragtag world of pro football before the game became organized as the NFL.
Either way, this 6-0 start goes back a long way. Any time you are talking about a team that competed with the Muncie Flyers, Tonawanda Kardex, Columbus Panhandles and Rock Island Independents, to name just a few of the very colorfully named early teams, you are talking about the Mayflower of pro football.
Josh McDaniels hails from Canton, Ohio, as most fans know by now, so it seems very fitting that a new coach who comes from the cradle of football would have flirted with a record set as far back as the game can be traced.
By the way, the Spartans played in Portsmouth for four years before relocating to Detroit and becoming the Lions in 1934.
Meanwhile, the game goes on, and it will again for the Broncos. Denver has won six American Football Conference championships and two Super Bowls, but the Broncos have never gone undefeated. And they did not figure to this year as well.
Don’t labor about one loss.
So the message to our fans is to focus on the task at hand, which is this week’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That’s an attitude that likely would have made Potsy proud.
Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Postgame, Week 8
Eventually this season, they would have to lose, and it came from a very good team. The 3 losses that the ravens had were against very good football teams and were by less than 7 points in each, so you have to give them credit.
i also don’t think Denver plays well at all in the early games, as long as I’ve been alive.
The pic says it all, Harbaugh is having a great old time, and McD says allright,allright you did a great job, now can I get the heck out of here?
I know they are real good friends, it looks like Harbaugh is rubbing it in a bit, doesn’t he?
By the way, Mr. Saccomano, I like reading your NFL history tidbits, it’s informational, but mainly I don’t feel so old! LOL.
Yeah it’s true. We got caught in a hornets nest! Don’t get so down. Atleast the loss came now. Instead of late in the season. Then we get Jacksonvilled in the playoffs. The older fans know what I mean. We will learn. I’d hate to play us right after this week. It’s payback time.
No loss is good, but this certainly was not bad. A loss like this hopefully will serve as fuel for the boys to keep plugging. Now the pressure of an undefeated season is off and they can just play ball. Keep playing like underdogs!
Harbaugh’s toung is purple? huh? must have been some pretty good grape lollypops. That team looked like they were eating some of Romo’s Supersoup….? Has anybody checked those Ravens for steroids lately?
A good old fashioned butt whip’n, It has happened to all of us normal humans in our lives…. If we have lived them?
Anyhow, I don’t know why my heart felt soo saddened by this one? I even thought losing one along the way would do good for the overall psyche of the team. It’s doesn’t hurt none the less though and it took me a day to get real with the idea of losing like that. It has been about 10 months since I felt this feeling…..
We’ve been a little spoiled as Bronco fans over the last six weeks but there are a few glaring problems in our team that should get the confidence barometer below the “overly enthusiastic” mark.
Special teams are very mediocre and possibly dismal. We didn’t even get a punt of 40 yards or better? Whats up with that Burger? We didn’t get a kickoff into the endzone? No effort on tackling during runbacks…. Why don’t we have any special teams effort? Eddie looks like he doesn’t want to do the returns? he reminds me of Hester? He can dazzle the world with runbacks but he wants to be a reciever.
Our Offense is….ugh! No excitement? I know we’ve had a few great plays to save our tails and our efficent times….But, there is this inability to be offensively dominant that eludes our team, which is exactly what I DIDN’T expect for an O coordinated by McO-Guru! Pardon the euphemism.
The NE Pats offense made history making HUGE plays and pumping TD after TD to make the NFL record books for most TD’s and undefeated reg-season under McDaniels!
Someone tell me why we don’t have the BIG PLAY ABILITY?! We can come back from a score down in the fourth qtr, but if we are two scores or three? No way. I totally don’t have any confidence in the Broncs coming back in the 4th qtr and winning something more than 14 points? We need that BIG TIME COME BACK ABILITY that some teams and some players just seem to possess!
Minnisota V seemed to be able to accuire the BIG TIME COME BACK ABILITY just by sending the coach to the airport to pick it up????? There is a part of football that can’t be coached, scheemed, anyalized, statted or even sometimes explained, But there is something to be said about the ability to come back..? At the present moment…… We Don’t Have It?
All that I have to say is that the game looked a lot closer than the score said. But we all know I don’t really ever have anything with a point to say. Let alone anything intelligent.
this should only motivate us to shove Ryan Harris’ cleat up the Steelers’ a–es. I know, weird comparison, but He won’t need his shoes this week by the sound of it.
OC, I hear you loud and clear, and I think most of us realize that being 6-1 hasn’t gotten us anything, as McD keeps reminding us. This is a very important time in our season with some very difficult games coming up. I love what we have done so far, considering my expectations for this year were 8-8, but I am far from comfortable as far as how we are handling some of our games on Offense and the ST has been atrocious for two of the last three games now. You have to win at least two of the three battles to have a chance at winning, if the O and ST don’t make some notable improvements for the month to come, the D will not be able to pull it out on their own, as it was painfully obvious yesterday.
I am not trying to alarm anyone, but Monday’s game is a lot more important than people might think, a loss, then you go up to Washington and face an excellent Defense, believe it or not that is not a cake walk game, then San Diego will be seeking revenge, the Giants will bring in the pressure on Orton just like the Ravens did and at KC in December, if everyone was worried about our history about playing at the Ravens, then you all know what I’m talking about at KC, in that miserable windy ice cold stadium where we lose 8 out of 10. Then it’s at the Colts… no need to warn anyone about that one.
Repeat, not painting a gloomy scenario here, just saying hopefully the team is as well aware as some of us that without their best effort week in week out, we could be hard pressed just to win 2 of the next 6 games putting us at 8-5 and in for a real fight to the finish, where we should win at home against Oakland and KC, but could easily be losing the game sandwiched in between at Philadelphia where they will also bring the pressure on like the Ravens, so we could end up 10-6, and in my book that still would be very good, but I know it would disappoint a lot of fans.
This game Monday will tell me a lot more about where we’ll end up, if the O line can figure out how to handle the pressure that the Steelers will send, just like the Ravens, then our outlook will greatly improve. This game is much more important than our record would lead you to think, don’t be fooled.
well crap. thats what i say. the ravens may have shown our offenses weaknesses. just now gettin on the computer and reading what all of you thought about the game. some great posts and points. really good blog from you, baylin, your game analysis coupla blogs ago. right on. i really wish orton had the ability to throw the deep ball better than he does. take away the short passing game like the ravens did and he seems to be a below average qb. maybe i’m wrong on that, tho. i’m no professional analyst by any means. our special teams play seems to be lacking, too. and why oh why did we think berger was a better option than kern?
the tackling and coverage by our defense was pretty bad, too. had flashbacks of last years atrocity of a defense. we really need to play better than that all around. i sure hope it was a case of us just having a bad game the same day the ravens had a really good one because they really looked like a much much better team than us. and theyre not as good as alot of the top teams in the afc. bottom line is a 3-3 team just kicked our a**. that’s not good. but we’ll see what we’re made of real soon because the superbowl champs are comin to town next. GO BRONCOS
LBF, thanks for noticing I worked hard on my game review, LOL. I love it so I don’t mind doing it. Your opinion about our team is just as valuable as any analyst, probably not a compliment though, considering what I think of analysts. LOL. The Berger thing is McD wanted a guy who could kick all the kicks, as you probably already know, not just a strong one down the middle. I use the golf analogy, you have 14 clubs in your bag, and if you can use all of them, you can become a force. If all you can do is hit your driver good, or your 7 iron, or your putter, you will never be able to score low. With Kern, all he could do is hit a low bomb, which proved deadly against SD. Berger has all the kicks except the real long ones because he is up in age, but he can kick it high so it won’t be returned, kick it inside the twenty like he did at the 8 before the half (Kern never could) and kick it out of bounds inside the twenty. McD specifically had him kicking high yesterday, but as I said earlier most of them were scary short, but none were returned. Look at what happened when Prater kicked a long low KO to the 2… TD, exactly what we don’t want to see on punts. To tell you the truth, I am more concerned over Prater’s inability to kick it deep in the end zone than worrying about Berger, I mean he punted for the super bowl champs last year and has done it for 18 years. Never thought I could talk so long about the kicking game! LOL.
This was an extremely important game for the Ravens. It was almost a do or die to keep pace with the Bengals and Steelers. They cam out with a superbowl type energy and mindset…we obviously did not match their intensity. …that part does not worry me, we can fix that. all teams have some down games. we just got our 24 handed to us BAD. If we don’t come out on MNF motivated from this loss and fired up at home and play extremely physical, then i’ll be worried about that part of it. ..I’m confident they’ll bring an off the charts level of energy this next Monday.
But what has me most concerned is our inability to really get into a rhythm offensively and put up some points. WE haven’t scored over 30 points all yr offensively. We barely break 20 most games. With our offensive talent we should be averaging over 20+ per game easily. We have not spread the defense and really thrown the ball down field all yr. The deep ball is a big part of the game. It has to be present to be more effective with shorter stuff and the running game.
…I want to see what Kyle Orton’s got!! Please take the reigns off and call more aggressive plays. He did it in the NE game. …It was like the 1st 300yr game he’s thrown. Lets see what the guy can do, he’s never had the opportunity. Throw his a** into some fire so we can see what he’s made of.
If we can start lighting it up offensively a little more we can compete with the big dawgs. (orton dont have to be brees, manning, brady) but he has got to start slinging the rock a little more, especially down field.
Yeah our ST has to step it up as well i agree with that. That’s a killer when u get run backs and Ed Reed should have blocked that punt. That was sheer luck he didn’t so it would have been even worse if that happened. Plus the Ravens dropped at least 2 INt’s. Real bad day!!
@ Head Coach McD,
We need an EXPLOSIVE offense that can accumulate a lead in the FIRST HALF. Then our already DOMINANT defense can PROTECT the lead in the second half.
Where is that EXPLOSION Coach?
I’m one of those fans that steadfastly supports you and I really want to see a HIGH SCORING 40 point Bronco Offense fielded, REGULARLY! I know thats a lot to ask but you have done it before. Your my Head Coach and your forte is McMasterminding the O! I’m just respectfully asking to see “EXPLOSIVE OFFENSE”. We will need it this Monday against Pittsburgh for sure!
I LOVE ME SOME HC MCDANIELS!!! I BELIEVE IN YOU COACH!!!
EXPLOSIVE OFFENSE + DOMINANT DEFENSE = SUPER BRONCOS!!!
Does anyone know why peyton hillis aint pounding the rock like last year? Surely I missed something because I just got out of Basic Training
Need to get some swagger back. Beating Pittsburgh at home will do it and propel this team on to greatness. Can’t afford to lose any at home. Broncos need home games in the playoffs. We’re good but maybe not quite up to the level of Vikings, Colts and Saints just yet. Losing at home is not an option with how good our defense is, so I won’t labor about the Ravens on the road. That is tough to swallow, but acceptable at this stage of the season.
The “experts” keep harping on the lack of good teams that the Broncos have faced as why they’re 6-1. The record certainly points that out. Look at the combined records for teams that the 4 no loss or 1 loss teams have faced:
Indianapolis Colts: 17-33
Minnesota Vikings : 19-33
N. O. Saints : 25-27
Denver Broncos : 26-25
There it is in black and white, proof of the “cream puff” teams the Broncos have faced. With 5-2 Pittsburg up next.
I didn’t really think we’d go unbeaten anyway, but the loss is out of the way so it’s time to smack the Steelers around. The Metalhead fans are already out of control, some humility is precisely what they need. GO BRONCOS!!!
@ baylinorcrush: Broncos win 17-14.
brian, the picks are going to be slow coming in this week, still hangover over the loss, I guess, this is the first one.
baylinorcrush: Broncos win 24-21
I really think they messed up our game plan right from the get go.
Thier offense picked up the pace with the no huddle. They didnt let us settle in to our game. It was harder for us to sub in players.
Other then our first drive in the third quarter, our offense was beaten off the line.
They kept rushing wide on Clady’s side and then hitting the huge gap that was created between the guard and tackle.
They had a great game plan and it worked. Gotta give them credit.
My hope is that this was the smack in the mouth we need to step it up for the rest of the season. Take this loss and learn from it.
If we thought the ravens were tough, this next game is really going to be a test. I still believe in our Broncos. Lets make it to the playoffs however and whatever it takes to get there, we need to get there this year. After this start, we can’t let it slip away again.
Turn up the heat and bring on the Steelers.
OC, explosive offense! explosive offense! are you kidding me?.. you are talking about explosive offense? Let’s just try to score more than a TD next week, explosive offense..
See it doesn’t only work in the Mora rant, it can be adapted to many situations. LOL.
I’m not even gonna guess a score, because this game can go any way possible. With Pittsburgh, what you need is teamwork, not speed or strength. They won the superbowl last year because they worked together better than any team in the AFC, and maybe in the NFL. I will say they were lucky because the Ravens beat the Titans & Dolphins out in the playoffs before, and the Chargers beat the Colts. But my point is, Pittsburgh can be high scoring, they can just kick field goals throughout the game, or they can lay an egg. I think we can make them lay an egg, but I’m not hoping.
I think that every game from here on out is an important game for a few reasons: San Diego is starting to roll they have the ability to come on strong late in the season, we need to keep up moral and intensity suffering losses late in the season can kill both, to continue to imrove in all phases, but obviously most importantly for post season play. I never really enjoyed waiting, watching, wishing for some other team to mess up so we could get in. I’d rather just get the job done ourselves and control our own outcome of the season. In my opinion we need to take on every game as a must win. I don’t want any team overlooked..even the Raiders. We just need to refocus, regroup and get ready for the Steelers. Hopefully we come out firing mad on all cylinders.
Go Broncos!!!!!!
I’m very confident that McDaniels and Nolan will have a nice game plan dialed up for Pittsburgh this week. Our team as a unit need to execute it and keep attacking the Steelers in order for us to win.
I hope Orton starts to improve on the long ball and give Marshall a chance to make a play on the football.
my picks for this week game. Denver will bounce back from this lose. its goin to be really tough game but i think we win on a game winning field goal, broncos win 20-17
The way I see it the Steelers have now won 4 in a row and that could be what we need, a little bit of overconfidence on their part because of it and the fact that our loss was so lopsided. On the other hand, we should have no problem being humble now, lol, so we should be hungry. I saw a little bit of that humility going South the last two weeks, specially with Marshall who spent way too much time and energy on national TV.
A lot of you guys want the respect from the media, but that comes at a high price and we just found out the cost. As I have been saying all year along with a couple others, being underrated is the best possible scenario, as it allows you to fly under the radar and go quietly about your business. Some of you might want to re-think the we get no respect thing and get all bummed out about it, put your egos away, and enjoy the fact that when we get no respect, we’re not on the front page, so our players are giving a 100% to the cause and are not wasting time flashing their smile with the big white teeth on TV, no disrespect Marshall, just calling it like I see it. Marshall, soon after you started playing well you started regeressing into you all about myself behavior, and your performance suffered because of it, you had a totally below average performance Sunday as I stated in my Good, Bad and Ugly piece. You are still very immature and I don’t know what rubbed off on what in the team, but the majority of the team showed a lack of maturity this past Sunday, other than the bonafide old timers and true leaders of this team, mainly Dawkins and Andra Davis.
I, for one, will be real happy that this Monday night game thing will be over after this week, other than the Turkey game, so we can go to the likes of Washington without all the fanfare which obviously is by now going straight to our players heads. That’s my take on it.
We better have a full out effort all week without being interfered too much with by the media, which this week will be very hard to accomplish, but I would like to see McD issuing strict restrictions to players about contacts with the media, other than what is mandatory by league rules. McD needs to come down hard on the whole team with srict discipline this week. That’s what got us to 6-0, remember? Hard training camp, hard practices, tough stances taken with the ones who weren’t in line (Marshall) and somehow in this last week, I can’t help but know that there was a slacking off discipline wise. This is not acceptable when you are getting paid the money they are. This is agame, it should still be fun, but not the preparation of it, it should be strictly business so we get our money’s worth. This was not the case last week, the team let themselves, but more importantly us, down.
It was disappointing and to take the loss lightly is plain wrong. We are still in great shape, but in one game we have succeeded in regressing a lot more than the one loss, we have regressed on our psyche because we allowed it, this was not all the Ravens doing, this was us being unable to respond to what they did because we were not all there, the spirit, the fire, the resiliency, the preparedness, the give it your all was absent. This is unacceptable in the NFL, you must be out to compete every week.
This is a huge statement game coming up, it could mean the difference between a 10-6 season or a 14-2 one. Regardless of our 6-1 record, IT IS THAT HUGE OF A GAME. Like I said earlier, don’t anybody be fooled thinking it would be ok to be 6-2, IT WON’T.
We have arguably the best wideout combination in the league,but we only had like 150 pass yds????against the Ravens .Marshall,Royal,Stokely,Gaffney,Sheffler,and Moreno and Bucky coming out of the backfield.I know we are typically a running team but c’mon our receivers are what made Cutler look so good last year. I believe in our running game,and our defense,but we’ve got to get the ball to our great receivers guys.You can’t waste talent in this league!!!!GO BRONCS 7-1. i’m picking Broncos 24-20.
Please throw the deep ball more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Something just didn’t feel right from the start of the game. I had a bad cold going on too which made it even worse. Sunday just wasn’t a good day
baylinor, in your 9:11 pm post, you said the Broncos could go 10-6. That is exactly what my dad thought we’d finish. I don’t think it’s bad at all. I remember 07elway saying before the season started that 8-8 would be very good considering a new head coach, new defense and a QB who people thought would bring disaster for this team. Every game we have left we need to treat like we could lose it and play like it’s the SupeBowl. What i’m basically saying is that we have to want to win the game more than the other teams. I am very happy about the turnaround this team has made from last year, though.
@ piratehb30…..
word on the street is that hillis is in mcd’s dog house due to some mistakes made earlier in the season. but i think he is workin back into the games!
Go Broncos
“DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS”
@ baylinorcrush….
this is a really tough one to call…. should be a good defensive battle all night! that being said, im still pickin our donkeys to win on monday night.
20-17 denver! thats my final answer.
Go Broncos
“DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS”