Tough day … MONDAY BLUES. 
( I hate (not beating) the Raiders. Never use the “L” word.
Had to think about this one all day — 1-for-4 in the red zone. Where’s Hillis, where’s our identity. Maybe it’s me but we have an identity crisis. I guess you have to chalk it up to a new team, new coaches, new system, new players, new QB. I don’t have an answer other than past experiences that tell me so.
We’re a year or so out … much like the 7-7 teams around the league. Minnesota gets beat by the Panthers and New Orleans gets beat by the Cowgirls (are you kidding me) Wow! Again.
ANY GIVEN SUNDAY in the NFL you can punched in the mouth by 2nd and 3rd string people. It’s just that good or they wouldn’t be 1/10th of 1 percent of the people who come out of college playing football, only 32 teams = 1696 NFL players.
Mistakes, penalties, mistakes, penalties … boy I’d hate to have to sit through those film and get picked out … pretty glaring most of the time. I said film, didn’t I? … funny … now it’s like being at the movies. When I played the projector made that movie sound, click-click-click-click. Now it’s video.
I caught myself yelling at the TV this weekend and I never do that. I usually sit there analyzing the offensive and defensive lines and started watching the ball. The receivers got carried away at missed opportunities. Goal line stands, you name it.
Eighty yards rushing against the 30th ranked defense in the league. Tough day….the only thing that made me smile today was Cutler threw 3 more picks against the Ravens for a total of 25 this year. That tells you a little bit about my mood after Raider week. I hate the Raiders!!
Philly bounceback and a Kansas City closeout….that’s all I have to say.
Coop
Tags: Oakland Raiders, Postgame, Week 15
Coop, I agree. we are already in December and we don’t have an identity yet. sometimes we run the ball well, sometimes we pass the ball well, and sometimes we play great defense. we’re never consistent at
any of those and we never can rely on one of those phases.
red-zone offense is killing us. we could’ve easily had over 30 points if we got touchdowns instead of field goals. PUT IN HILLIS
Why in the world does McD keep trying a power run game. we do not have the offensive line for that. our o-line is good at zone blocking. the zone-blocking scheme has given us great success for this last decade, I don’t know why McDaniels is trying to install a new run game.
overall, if we want to make the playoffs and actually make some noise, we have to be a lot more consistent and balanced, and simply play to our strengths. Go Broncos!!!!!!
I still do not understand why we are not using Hillis. Also, did we go to a prevent defense on those critical 3rd and 4th down plays?
Nice post coop,
Glad to see its not only the fans respond asking for hillis but you as well, glad to know its not only us asking what this teams identity is (undefeated good, loosing streak bad, good defense, no wait bad defense, no wait good defense)…just inconsistent and Jekyll and Hyde all season
but like u said, all we can do is bounce back against Philly and close-out against KC….can’t do anything about the past but learn from it…the future is ours to create. Ive had so many emotional highs and lows about this team this season that when we put up a pathetic effort like this, Don’t even know what to say that hasn’t already been said…all I can say is “whose next?”
THE SEASON IS OURS FOR THE TAKING
GO BRONCOS
PS: Just remembered. even more embarrassing is the fact that this went down in our house….sigh
Coop, you asked the question we’ve all been asking since the beginning of the season… Where is Hillis? If you go back and watch some of the games from last year when Hillis was healthy and the featured back, our offense had a swagger and toughness about them. When he got hurt, we lost that swagger and I haven’t seen it since. Sure you can blame the O-Line and say the defense needs to do a better job of stopping the run, but the question has to be asked… Where is Hillis? If McD, doesn’t like the guy, at least say it and trade him so his talent isn’t wasted on the bench. I refuse to believe that Jordan is a better option than Hillis.
Win or lose, I want to see this team play with intensity and emotion the last two games of the season. It would be nice if they get to play more than two, but only time will tell.
GO BRONCOS!!!!!
One last thought… as we’ve all said, Coach McD needs to be more creative in his offensive game plan and play calling. If he doesn’t make the change and switch things up, he is just as guilty of doing the same thing the coaches did last year, which he was very critical of when he was brought in to be the coach. Maybe if he was a bit more humble and lost some of that ego the team would be in a better place. I’m tired of hearing the coach say that they are going to change things up and come game time, it’s the same thing. We only get 16 games a year (3 or 4 more if we’re lucky) and we deserve more as fans. Do what you said you were going to do when you were hired as the coach of the Denver Broncos!
Tennessee – I think it’s because if you give Hillis a hole and he’ll get you 8 yards. On the other hand, give Moreno a speck of light and he’ll get you 8 yards. Buckhalter is a better back than both of them at this point in their careers.
I think if anything what these past two seasons are proving to us, the Broncos CAN get to the playoffs, it’s just a matter of WILL they get to the playoffs. Makes me want to puke losing to the Raiders like that.
Jesus! Orton cant convert on third downs consistently. Nolan let the defense get a sack for cryin outloud… BLITZ! I dont get it, Hillis needs to be running on short yardage. Yeah, I agree, McD if you don’t like Hillis say so and trade him, he’s got great hands and runs like an F’ing beast. Dont let sit on the bench.
The bad thing is the way the wildcard standings are as of right now we would be playing at the Ravens in the wild card game(they beat the hell outta us once already this year),assuming we even make the playoffs?I was almost certain we’d beat them damn Raiders,now we have to win at Philly and at home against KC to get in the playoffs,a total let down at the end of the season.Remember last year????????????McD this one falls in your lap.PS we better get a damn QB next year,tired of mediocre QBs.
BeastFromEast92… if the standings remain the same, Broncos would play the Patriots in New England. 6th seed plays the 3rd, and 5th seed plays the 4th.
This loss is ALL on the coach. McDaniels has to do a better job. He had players that were NOT ready to play. He had schemes that were wrong for the Raiders. And of course his stubborness ALWAYS comes into play.
Great pick that A. Smith. Why did he cut Jack Williams and sign old man Law?
Please do not make the playoffs now and REALLY embarrass the Bronco nation.
hillis, hillis, HILLIS!!!!
what the eff. im tired of seeing no run game. if moreno cant be consistent then leave it to bucky or hillis, they will almost refuse to suck. lets get a run game going and it will open up the play action and help us in the playoffs.
O
Hillis is a much better back in short yardage and everyone seems to forget about shotgun. He was great out of the gun. He can catch, block and run the draw! Everyone is saying it…why is it not getting to Bobby Tunner? Somebody please get the memo to MCD, Tunner, Dennison! I thought for sure after the Cheifs game when he literally carried 5 guys from the KC for 12yards he would get a fair shot. The excuse that we are thin at FB is BS! Put in Hamilton or even better Chris Baker at FB at the goaline. If Tatum Bell is in shape I would like to see him back. This is it! If we don’t win out we don’t deserve to be in the playoffs.
D
Ayers is getting better every game but both him and Doom made some huge mistakes against the run this past week. Woodyard is inchs away from breaking up allot of these critical plays. If Ayers and Woodyard can get that extra step faster we can really be a force on D! What I don’t get is if we know the raiders are going to run, run, run why not switch some plays to the 4-3? RE:Holiday NT: Fields DT: Thomas LE:Peterson SLB:DJ Williams MLB: Davis WLB: Woodyard??
Eddie this is your chance to prove that you desrved to be picked ahead of Desean Jackson! Lets make it happen…do or die
Go Broncos!!!!!
Well it goes without saying Coops. Hillis? Who the is Hillis?
IMO as a first round ‘shock’ pick, Moreno needs to be on the field as much as possible “YOUR MY BOY BLUE…Your my boy” otherwise McD & Co will look like fools with the 1st rd pick sitting on the bench…
Jordon is a banged up deloren which needs to go to the scrap heap.
Hillis is a power back with some wheels, Buckhaulter is not as big but has shown his excellent ability to find a gap and go for it, but with him out Hillis needs to get more game time and not at FB.
theroyalbeast – Just to add on to your comment about learning from the past. I think that is the problem, we are NOT learning from our mistakes, all we are doing is going into a game with variations and not completely changing tatics. After the Stokely pass we were 1st n 2.. Pass-Run-Pass-FG total yardage from those downs = -1 yds. Sounds like a broken record.. 4 FG’s against the Bums of the Bay?? I thought we had problems when we lost to the Skins but a back-to-back home loss to the bum Raiders is down right unacceptable.
I honestly dont know if we can beat the Eagles on the road. OUr team as it has been put, is a classic case of Jekyll & Hyde.. is it so hard to ask for consistancy? Do we go to each game with a completely different PB? If something worked in the previous game why not reuse it sparodically before the opposition twig? News Flash McD….ZONE BLOCKING WORKS.
We have the leading Sack demon in the NFL.. don’t send him in to ZC.. its like having a tank, but deciding to use your water pistol instead!!!
Okay thats me done.. lol.. I wish the boys all the best of luck for the game in Philly… When preperation and oppotunity walks up to you in a street, take hold of it with both hands and dont let it go!!!
“We can only do it one play at a time. Lets go out there and walk the walk. Play Bronco football and we’re come out champs”!
Recoup~Regroup~Refocus!
atwaters da man – Royal had a great season last year and proved that he was a worthy draft pick. The question should be… why is he almost non-existent this year in the passing game? I think it’s a direct reflection of the coaching, play calling and offensive game planning. IMO
One last thing. Mike Shanahan has a 20 million dollar home in Denver built to have the entire team over for film study,etc.etc. Mr. B please hire Mike as the new GM! Considering how bad culter is playing without Mike it really shows how well Coach Shanahan did with the Offense. I know you normally can’t have your cake and eat it to but Shanahan GM/Personnel/ Offensive Coordinator, MCD Coach & Nolan D Coordinator would be amazing! We could sign any free agent on the market and finally get over the hump:(
broncofannsd: Royal did have a great season last year but if you put both years together D. Jack has him beat by a little bit. 0 TD’s this year??? I can’t even believe it as I’m writing it. Game plan has allot to do with it but at the end of the day it is Royal against “X” and he has been shut down this year as a receiver. I love Royal but he needs to step it up with B Marsh getting 2 and 3 guys on him.
Thanks for the post Coop! The frustration with this loss was overbearing. Good point about not really having an identity. Moreno was shut down in 2nd half. Tough loss….this one stung. Ghosts of Christmas past seem to keep haunting us in the month of December. Seasons not over, and we have a chance to bounce back. I’m over the fact Coach McD will not be playing Hillis anymore. Not that he played much anyway. As much as I hate to see it happen, it would be best in the offseason to let Hillis go and play somewhere else where his talent can be utilized. Obviously Coach does not have faith in him for whatever reason(s).
On another note, thanks for the message to my son on your previous blog. Yes, I’ve seen his O-line get a great rythmn and march down the field. When they succeed, they have all the confidence in the world.
Happy Holidays Coop !
“red zone blues” great name for a song! Not so great for a football game. LOL.
Coop:
You yelling at your TV makes me feel not alone. Posted this after the game. I would have felt a little better if it had been Rich Gannon and a healthy Raider team that beat us in December in a game with this importance!
But with 3 unproven Quarter Backs and one big back??? The Broncos did show me what kind of team we have. And it’s not a playoff team. I could point out lots of things as an arm chair fan. But must agree McD is young and Hard Headed. I really though we would see Hillis in short yardage and as a pass threat. I am horse and pissed due to yelling at my TV! My wife even gave me my old foam Bronco Brick in case I wanted to throw something.
Anyway it’s only a game! But I only get 16 of them a year and its important to me. So now I will get ready for the Eagles and I will still Love My Broncos whatever happens.
GO BRONCOS!!
FTR
Dear Hillis freaks,
SHUT UP!
I’m with Coop. Philly bounceback, KC close out.
I am a very Passonate Broncos Fan and the Lost to the Raiders really Pissed me off because not just the lost and the risk to our playoffs hopes but i been getting alot of trash talk about us losing and im tired of fighting.Im tired of people complaining abotu Peyton Hillis he cant make our running game any better its our Run Blocking not the Running back and the Line needs to stop getting Kyle sacked so much i Think Josh needs to work on some new Scheme for this offense and let Kyle Spread the Field i know he can do it also Stop i mean Stop letting Running backs run all over you.SCOre Score Score would’ve won that game if we walked away with some points
Still broncos #1 Fan and im Josh Mcdaniels #1 Fan so gotta work hard im doing w/e i can to support the broncos and i Deserve the same.Btw Resign Brandon Marshall,Elvis Dumervil and Kyle Orton those are the top Prioity Mr.Bowlen make some Cash so when the Salary Cap is gone We can sign every1 to a Minium of 5million a year if they reach the Requirements of Performance.Brandon Marshall Please dont Be Greedy with the Money we all know your better then Fitzgerald but you dont need that much money Come On Son!!
broncos14441: please enlightening us? 3rd and short has some how become a weakness? The last 12 years all we needed was to get to 3rd and manageable -3,4 even 6 yards- and we would get a almost automatic 1st down. Now 3rd and 2inchs is not only a problem, but it is about to cost a great team, in a great city the playoffs. Hillis has shown that he can get 3 yards with 4 guys on his back so it seems like a common sense. If you have a better idea I would love to hear it?
Pretty sad the way the fans sat in their comfy seats and mumbled all day, and I was in The South Stands. What has happened to the fans?
I think the new stadium is too comfortable, I say put the bench seats back in The South Stands and get rid of the stupid cup holders, crowed people in and make it less comfortable and maybe the old fans might come back.
Another thing that really bothered me was the amount of commercials was re-cockuless. about every other play was stopped for a T.V. time out and a commercial. No flow at all, in fact neither TEAM really needed to call a time out. I know it’s Christmas shopping season but what a bunch of crap! This is everything I Hate about Christmas! and it’s starting to ruin this game.
I also feel Coach McDaniels started Moreno too early this year and He is now injured and He’s hit The Wall! Remember He’s a young rookie. Yes Hillis would run circles around Moreno right now if given the chance but that wont happen Because of The Coach, and being a staunch supporter of His since the change I feel someone needs to call Him out and I don’t mind being that guy. PUT HILLIS IN ! ! ! ! ! ! !
and finally, I agree with everyone who has put this loss on The Coaches sholders. Even though the execution was poor coupled with the poor game plan and play calling. GOD those penalties were embarrassing. Weren’t we playing the raiders/ Aren’t they supposed to get more penalties? WTF ! ! !
I’m sorry but that was one frustrating game to watch.
TIME OF POSSESSION ! ! !
GO BRONCOS ! ! !
Hey Coop: On the whole Hillis thing, Both coach Turner and Dennison were here last year when Peyton came in after seven other RB’s went down and was the spark plug we needed at the time for our team. I truelly believe if he wasn’t hurt we would have made the playoffs last year. Do you think that Turner and Dennison have any impact on Hillis playing or not playing? or do you think that McDaniels is just too pigheaded to listen?
Just wondering what you think?
COACHMEUP!
GREAT QUESTION! my fellow bronco fan, I was thinking the exact same thing! LOL!
There is no question that the offensive line is having some issues with the new blocking scheme. It’s not horrible but just not as consistent as the zone blocking scheme and the results from previous years in Denver!
Anyways, I agree with you Turner & Dennison!!! They have to have a voice!
Lastly, you know what is scary and I hate to see it! I wonder what Hillis’s contract is like? Shanny in Washington with Portis and Hillis…uh….uh oh! Peyton keep your phone on vibrate during those film meetings! Shanny may be calling you!
GO GET EM’ BOYS!
monodono, I agree. The south stands are not what they used to be. I have gone to 4 Broncos games this year(one in the south stands) and it’s just not the same as Mile High. Mile High had a magic like atmosphere. Teams feared going into there. The design of Invescojust doesn’t allow the same level of noise the last stadium had. Don’t get me wrong, Invesco is a very beautiful stadium. It’s just not as fearing as Mile High was.
Re-sign Orton? Are you serious? This guy plays well when everything is going well. He DOES NOT MAKE ANYTHING HAPPEN!! He takes sacks instead of throwing the ball away (have to call last time out against Raiders that was huge)
He has surprised me with some of his play but I get frustrated when he rushes throws to Lamont JOrdan on 3rd down instead of buying time and hitting Marshall or Stokley or anyone for that matter. He has happy feet and still does not trust the blocking. If he takes hits early it only gets worse. His clock is way too short.
Washington game he hits MArshall on two large bombs. Nothing since? And he doesn’t even look at Royal. There are guys open down field but Orton lacks the patience to allow plays to develop. He rushes through his reads and never looks back at his first option.
He is not the answer
All i want for Christmas is a win !
First things first:
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to you all!!!!!!!!!
Toughest game of the year for me to watch or handle….Raiders.
You locals, all done shoveling
) ??
Coach McDaniels is the only one that can answer the (Hillis) playing question. Period. This might get me in trouble but either play him or trade him. He’s to good a player not to be on an NFL field and there’s something going on and frankly cudos to Hillis for being a true professional through all this. Plain and simple.
Mile High is a venue not a stadium. It’s a beautiful place and is the one of the best in the NFL. Forget about the old stadiums…they are all now venues not stadiums. Thing of the past. That was the past which we all enjoyed but they are multifunctional facilities.
I said 8-8 at the beginning of the year and aren’t far off. I want to be wrong and get a shot at the Playoffs so we get a young team a feel for the speed, tempo and feelings of the Playoffs. Very different…a new season……new day.
Raiders are behind me/us. Philly’s on the radar and the Chiefs that’s really all I care about becasue that’s all I can hope for.
We have the talent to do some damage when we play our game.
Hey, Dec 27 ESPN 30-30 on the U. If you get a chnace to watch it, let me know your thoughts.
Yak before the game and have a great day tomorrow!! God Bless!!
Coop
Merry Christmas to all and to you Coop.
Love that you speak your mind against the tide once in a while, even if you know it might get you in trouble, I hope not, you are the only writer to do that on this site and to me anyway, it is very refreshing. I couldn’t agree with you more, I posted that same exact thought on this website a couple weeks ago, trade the poor kid Hillis in the off season, for gosh sake, I believe he has endured enough and he deserves a shot at playing somewhere, anywhere, even if it’s the Raiders I said. I just want to see him playing, him on the sideline is such a waste of talent, I really feel for the kid, and you make an excellent point on how, regardless of all that treatment, he has been the better man, never bad mouthing anything or anyone. Who ever gets him will be lucky to have him, a winner all around, sorry you couldn’t see that coach, and even if by some miracle you do now, it will be too late in my opinion, who would want to play for you after being treated with such disregard for so long, roting away for nearly an entire season.
Also picked our team to go 8-8, so I guess it makes it all gravy from now on regardless of they win or lose, but it doesn’t really, a 6-0 start made us hope for more, and a 2-6 follow up makes us all sad indeed. It’s just hard to witness the same implosion two years in a row for all the real fans out here, I included. But it’s not quite over, we can righten a lot of things on this Eagle game. Everything really rides on it as far as what kind of team and what kind of coach do we really have? We don’t really know, we are about to find out. Win or lose, it ultimately doesn’t matter as much as if we give it an all out effort, players with their play and coaches with their play calling, or if we don’t give it that all out effort. That would really be the most depressing thing for me. So, give it your all, you all, make yourselves proud and us in the process, we don’t like to hold humiliating NFL records such as the biggest fall outs in a season two years in a row, we deserve better, we are the Denver Broncos. Happy Holidays!
Shanahan on Hillis link. Sorry I know it makes it more painful but I hope some how, some way MCD can see the video and at least just be open minded.
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-coach-of-the-week/09000d5d80cf742f/Shanahan-on-Hillis
I live in LA and we have a ton of real fans out here. -For anyone in LA that bleed orange and blue and likes hot girls as a much better viewing option than commercials go to Capital City on Cahuenga…in the very back patio-
Coop thank you for the blogs…they truly rock!
This is my take for better or worse:
Pre-Season Cuts: I liked LB Lee Robinson & Tim Crowder much better than the other MLB(practice squad #48) and Moss but it was a very, very solid off-season.
DEFENSE:
The Jack Williams/Tye Law cut killed us! I felt like Williams had a bad game against the Ravens but was perfect for are nickel back. It is amazing how one move can change the course of a entire town in the always close NFL. Enter Tye Law. It is not his fault that they threw him in with 1 day of prep against the Steelers but that cost us a big game that I think Williams would have stepped up for. Sucks! Jack had speed and was in the system learning the entire off-season from the best in the league but that is not what hurt us the most unfortunately. What killed us is that every time Law is in the game everyone knows we are in zone or that he will have help because of his skill set…which limits Nolan’s game plan big time. The only thing I wanted from Law was to remind everyone that the only way to beat the colts is to press everyone hard! Take the timing out of a timing offense. It happened but a full half to late and there goes 2 games-Colts & Steelers-. Luckly for us I think we finally found the answer in a un-drafted free agent that wears the number #25. Tim Carter looked really good against the Raiders and has the skill set that we need to disguise our Nickel,Dime and Dollar packages.
Elvis is the man in regards to the rush obviously but he has almost become lazy against the run/coverage. This limits are disguise again and it has started to be totally exploited.
If there is 1 thing MCD should have learned from spygate is that you do not ever want to show your cards even if you know you have better players. Lets just be honest don’t ever show your cards ever! The same plays on down and distance. Over and over…come on MCD?
I think he is a good coach, I like the old school attitude and countless other things he has done but I think the same tunnel vision that helped so much this off-season is now hurting us. I can go on and on but the point is the team that blocks better etc, etc will lose if the other team knows what we are going to do before we do it. Where is the play-action? Where is Hillis? What happen to the power run with a o-linemen as the FB? Why don’t we take a couple shots to open up both the under routes and the running game & where is the Wild Horses?
I like the attitude of the power running game and if you want to sprikle it in great but we are a ZONE blocking running team and the pure lack of creativity in that department is the biggest problem we need to fix.
With all that said I know we have what we need to not only get the job done but done well! This will be are coming out party this weekend and even if absolutely nothing that I just said is done I think we have the heart to beat anyone any day! I think the entire team whats to see the COLTS, STEELERS and RAVENS ASAP!
BRING IT ON & SOMEONE GET THAT VIDEO TO MCD PLEASE!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
BRONCOS 28 EAGLES 6
Hey Coop,
Thanks for saying it even though you might get in trouble. Play Peyton Hillis or trade him! As a fan, I am disappointed and angry that such a talented player is sitting on the bench. Any of you that think us “Hillis Freaks” are crazy, go back to last year and watch all the games he played in before he got hurt. He was a beast that played with passion and was the ultimate team player. WTF……….