Nine games remain in the regular season. Heading into this week’s game against Miami, the Broncos lead the AFC West by a game-and-a-half. They are in first place but they haven’t consistently played like a first place team.
It doesn’t take a football genius to figure out where the Broncos need to improve:
–RUSH DEFENSE. Opponents are averaging 154.6 rushing yards per game against the Broncos. That is simply too many. If a team doesn’t stop the run on a regular basis, that team will not have success.
Check out the running backs the Broncos still have to face, assuming they all stay healthy: Ronnie Brown/Ricky Williams (Dolphins), Jamal Lewis (Browns), DeAngelo Williams/Jonathan Stewart (Panthers), Michael Turner (Falcons), Thomas Jones (Jets) and LaDainian Tomlinson (Chargers). Wow. And that’s to say nothing about possibly going against Larry Johnson (Chiefs) if he gets his off-field issues ironed out.
–TURNOVERS. The Broncos have committed 12 turnovers in their three losses. When they aren’t being generous, the Broncos have shown the ability to move the ball and score points.
–STEPPING UP. Cornerback Champ Bailey is out for at least a month. Linebacker Boss Bailey is done for the year. Tight end Tony Scheffler and running back Selvin Young have missed games, as has wide receiver Brandon Stokley. Young defensive linemen Marcus Thomas, Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder are still trying to find their way.
The fact is that a team usually isn’t able to find impact players off the street during the season. That means guys on the roster have to improve.
It usually takes defensive linemen time to develop. The Broncos have to hope the learning curve is short for those guys.
Can a young player like running back Ryan Torain give a boost to the running game? He was on the fast track to the starting spot before getting hurt in the preseason. A more productive running game could go a long ways towards helping the defense, not to mention the prospect of scoring more points.
With nine games left, the Broncos have four at home (Miami, Oakland, Kansas City and Buffalo) and five on the road (Cleveland, Carolina, Atlanta, NY Jets and San Diego). That group of games looks a lot tougher now than it did before the season began.
The fact is that the Broncos are atop the division even though they have had their share of problems. I will be interested to see what transpires over the next couple of months.
What are your thoughts about the final nine games of the season? Will the Broncos shore up their weak areas and hold on in the AFC West?
Thanks for reading and offering your thoughts.
Best,
Mike
Tags: 2008, Denver Broncos
Mike, I have a question for you. Why did coach give the players the week off after getting spanked by the Pats? If I recall he did the exact same thing last year. ( Are we not telling the players that no matter how bad they stink it up before the bye we will give them the time off) Seems our defense seriously sucks and could use all the extra practice and not be rewarded each year for laying an egg the game before the bye week. Question #2. We obviously do not have playmakers on this defense so why is Larsen not starting? The kid is a playmaker and we have him as a fullback? I love my Broncos till the day I die but I am clueless on why everyone (even our past GM) can be held accountable except for whoever is making these decisions. …..;.West Coast
Mike has john lynch been contacted and if not why? Whats up with mcree did he get hurt or benched? If he got benched why didnt manuel get benched also to me he seemed to play worse. In your opinion will this be the last year we see dre bly on the team, to me he is horrible. Also what do you think champ will do if we cut boss or is that not an option because of keeping champ happy. Last question; what position would you draft in the first round and what players that will be free agents at the end of the year should denver go after. “me i would draft a corner in the first round and go after a middle linebacker and saftey in free agency”.
I see us winning the home games at best the road games will be on a wing and a prayer, I don’t see us winning on any of the remaining games on the road. If we do I will be truly amazed. But I guess thats why they play the game. Never give up, GO BRONCOS.
ColumbusOHbronco, the first thing i would do in the off season would be to get a dominant DT. I have mentioned getting Albert Haynesworth from Tennessee, that would be the best thing that we could do. And as far as the draft, I would either go Corner, ILB, or DL in the first round. =Fro Corner I would like to see us get a guy like Malcolm Jenkins. I would like to see us draft Laurenitis, or a guy like Terrance Taylor, or Tim Jamison from Michigan in the second or third round.
I hate when people start talking draft when the team still has a winning record, and there is still more than half your games left to play. I really don’t think this is the last year we see Bly, I can’t keep tolerating how everyone bashes on him. He is still a solid corner, I think I’ve made some valid points in the previous posts and it’s lightened the bashing a little bit. Then everyone started comparing him to D. Williams, (RIP) and saying in his brilliant 2 years he looked way better than Bly….
D-Will was way good, but remember the Indy games? He was CONSTANTLY getting beat play in and play out. Reggie Wayne lit him up for I believe it was 3 or 4 touchdowns and had to be a ton of yards.
Seems everyones forgot those games, those really were the only games he got torn, but ALSO those were the only games that the other teams qb CONSTANTLY LOOKED HIS WAY! It wasn’t until after the Colts had all that success only throwing one way with their “amazing” qb that people stopped, looked, and said we can do that! Ever since then that’s all teams have done, constantly throw and pick on the corner on that side of the ball. D-Will was faster than Bly so that would have helped, but really if he was still here (G.R.H.S.) he would be getting lit the way Bly is and you people would be saying the same things about him in only his what 4th season?
What we had then that we don’t now, and it helps out our cb’s and our coverage in general! A constant pass rush from just our front four, but those same front four paired with our LB’s of Gold, D.J. and MR. WILLLLLSOOOONNNNNN were able to stop the run. I promise you guys that when we are able to do that again, doesn’t even have to be just our front four, just get pressure on the qb when we need to, and stop the run consistantly Bly will hawk some balls, Champ will do what he does, and it won’t matter who we have at safety, they will get some int’s as well.
That being said, stop the off season talk until it’s off season please! Notice how Rice didn’t dive into off season because flat out what he said “9 games left guys” that’s not including playoffs which I bet we get atleast 1!
To end, I think our biggest thing Rice is, turnovers. We have proven that we can score with the best rated offense in the league and win! That game we didn’t turn the ball over more than twice, and we also got 1 turnover I believe with Webster’s run back 6 points too! When you lose the turnover battle by 2 or more it is very hard to win against any team, KC proved that. So ya, don’t turn over the ball offense and I really don’t see it mattering who we play, how many yards we give up, or points, because our D will get some stops, but our offense will be better than even the best gun slingers!
Hold onto the ball offense, maintain your gaps defense, and keep the faith fans!
Finally, I’m not baking any cookies and sharing them with you unless you are there watching it with me. . . . . . . (you know who you are)
yeah, shut up with the bashing on Bly. Who the heck would be better playing opposite champ. No one!!!!!!! D-Will always got burned. Fans used to bash him all the time. No one would be better.
2champ4pickSIX I remember d-will (r.i.p) gettin beat that day by reggie but look who was throwing at him and who the reciever was but i also remember d-will redeming himself….He was always consistent strong with a confident swag…speed was ridiculous but d-will rarley had a bad game…Bly on the other hand has not done anything thus far this season but i do give you credit for pointing out how our front 4 and our LB’s caused pressure so bailey and williams were in a better position to get int that season but still i believe d-will would have grown into a solid corner better than bly…maybe even champ…..maybe….but i had to disagree wit the comment u made about d-will……on other news our D now has to step up drastically…i believe we can..im pretty sure shanny has somethin up his sleeve bkuz if we miss the playoffs…he will get bashed all offseason and doubted for the rest of his career….keep faith bronco fans i believe we gon pull thru and go 10-6 or 11-5
coloradoboy you just sound dumb as hell d-will stepped up even as a rookie and a sophmore in the nfl and was solid playin along side champ bkuz he has swagg and welcomed that challenge…he knew he was gon get picced on all season and he did a pretty good job defendin his side
As a Die hard Bronco’s fan it is getting hard to except the product that is being put out on the field year in and year out. I cannot remember the last time I had any confidence in our Dfense. I constantly here announcers talking about Denvers small speedy lb and dline… stop it. I am tired of hearing that, we need some beef on the Dline so we can put some pressure on the quarterback and stop the run. We need to draft some safties that can hit. The Denver Broncos don’t scare any body and I am tired of it! If we do not make the playoffs this year heads need to role, from the top down. That includes the head coach, it is possible he is not reaching the players any more. I am not looking forward to the second half of the season, but like the fanatic I am I will sit every sunday with an ounce of belief that we can win. It is time to bring the pain!!!! Please someone step up!
How bout we open up all starting jobs on defensive side…. since we have trouble stoppin the run mainly when it comes to big backs i say we fill moss in for boss put more weights and size on the Lb’s start niko over webster he seem to make better decisons and not over do his positions. our d-line is athletic but is not coach well at all we have no power and lack size. i say since our secondary is playing like rookies how bout we overhaul it and start them starting with josh Barrett. he runs a 4.3 in the 40 6′2 230 not bad for a safety in fact he seem better then what we’ve go now and alot faster same with rod rogers, a lil smaller but heck, we wont have to worry about gettin burned with big plays big plays. no more zone for db’s we are better off at man to man especially now that champ is out. leave it to the linebackers, after all we are struggling to stops the short yardage passes like screens cutbacks. etc. offensively let go with ryan he is hungrey for some PT keep in mind in my opinion he is faster than pittman and stronger then young. our tallest since burnstein. all in all if we stop the run short yardage passes that tend to turn out to big plays. and turnovers we can 7-2 out of our last nine games
DRAFT?? WTF?? We have a full 9 games to play dammit and you start talking about the draft?? IDIOT!! We need that pressure to come from the front which causes the chain reaction as mentioned by 2champ4picksix.. Pressure on the QB causes errors in judgement and thats when our secondary come into play. D-Will (RIP) was a rookie and he was on the inprove.. he had great confidence on the field, and humility off it. Darrent had the likes of Wilson, Lynch and Champ to feed off and hell yeah Manning-Wayne killed him for 3 TD’s but that was one game.. Bly obviously does not have his speed but does have the experience so once our D steps up (Not IF but WHEN) Bly and the Safeties will be able to cover their positions.. We can’t keep comparing Bly to Bailey thats not fair, they are on different levels. I do admit my mouth watered when Samuels went on FA…. but I think Shanny made his deal the year before and couldn’t reneg on it and decided to run with Bly and give him a decent shot at the job. Through thick and thin we need to be paitient.. which begs the question… How long can the Bronco faithfull be paitient?? Hell it took the great Elway 13-14 years before holding the Lombardi trophy..
Dre Bly is a solid corner in the NFL. Im sick of everybody bashing him every day. Go Broncos!!!!!
If Torain can be the back that we all want him to be, then our offense will provide enough points to cover the defense. Our division is so weak that we should win it. San Diego is imploding and KC and Oakland are miserable. We need a good mixture of run and pass plays to keep defenses honest and we will see nothing but great things. GO BRONCOS
The rest of our games will surely be a test for us especially one in particular that we play at the very end against a team we all can’t stand and a game we won but shouldn’t have - the Chargers. Yeah, I know, what a shocker!!!
The road games for sure will be our biggest test… its never easy playing in someone else’s territory and the fans are absolutely nuts. Luckily, though we’ll get to have the Oakies and the Chiefs on our territory and we’ll do what we did to the Oakies in Week 1 all over again and when it comes Dec. 7, the Chiefs are going to be sorry they beat us earlier… more so because I’m gonna be at that game. Wouldn’t miss that one for the world!!!!
And the biggest problem we have is turnovers, that’s a no-brainer. It simply needs to be fixed, we need to work on our ball security. These receivers are good at what they do and is Cutler but they need to protect that ball as if their life depended on it, which in a way it does. You fumble or throw INT’s too much, nothing good comes out of it. They have to know that its just a matter of fixing the problem. I’ve got faith that they will fix it… their careers depend on being able to fix their mistakes.
And as for a certain someone around here (you know who you are too)… I’d be more than happy to watch that interview with you, I watched it earlier today when I was kind enough to go and search the ends of the earth for it for you, which I posted the link on the other blog in case you didn’t know. And I’m getting over the fact that I’ll never get my football shaped cookie from you… I baked my own today, I kid you not. Chewy Chocolate Chip… mmmm they were gooooood!!!
Love ya
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!
The turnovers are mental. We just do not have it is our minds that we will get an interception and have not for a while now. This year I believe we have maybe 2 INTs….. that is what happens if there is no rush at all and having a playing afraid mentality. Having weak cover guys we will be forced to blitz effectively for surely Dre, and Karl cannot force coverage sacks. Shanny is to blame for no depth trading Foxy and even Colbert. Why trade extra guys in week one or two when you have no idea how things are going to go. This further shows how Shanny needs to be stripped of his GM duties. To count on Torian Sunday is crazy. I expect maybe 5 carries. To me Shanny’s value as a coach will be seen in how he does not or does correct the team over the next 10 weeks….. I love the guy more than anyone but to not make the playoffs this year has to be the end.
To have a successful 2nd half of the season, the offense needs to take pressure off the defense by being able to run the ball effectively and don’t turn the ball over. Though the defense was making costly mistakes before the bye week, I thought they were improving every week until the offense started turning the ball over. Those young guys on defense made some big plays before the bye , they can’t always be back on their heels.
I don’t see that they have a backup for Cutler on the roster. Has Hackney been brought up? I sure like him, he’s tough, got a heck of an arm and can improvise. Probably scares the heck out of Shanny!
Is Torian ready to go? Hope he gets a shot to do his stuff. He’s worked hard to get healthy and he may be the guy along with the old man who can punish opposing defenses. I have been amazed at just how hard Pittman runs the ball. A healthy dose of those two guys could make us AFC west champions and a real threat.
Wonder how Chad Jackson is doing in practice? D Jackson didn’t exactly light them up when filling in for Royal. Is Royal 100% ?
Sure wish I knew what the heck is going on down in Broncoland!
Blah, Blah, Blah….. Everyone needs to take off your orange color glasses. Since the loss to Pitt in the championship game this team has not been the same. It has been and still is mediocre. At the most we will be 8-8. Philosophy and coaching need to change. Please prove me wrong.
icarus23… We were not as good as we thought when we were in that chamionship game. The d was still bad when you look back. Things have been bad since the superbowl wins, we have to face it. Realistically we have not had a good team since.
I will prove you wrong icarus23 when out final 16th game of the season is played and we get a wild card spot in the playoffs. Our record will be better than 8-8. Some come back here and post on the pre game blog for our playoff appearance matchup.
I will be waiting……
“You know who you are” but I did have a football shaped cookie, infact 6 of them waiting for you, then I thought hmmmm…… maybe I will drive it up there, but figured in the price of gas and everything and you would have ended up owing me enough for that cookie, that with inflation I would have to just take one of your tickets to the KC game! If that sounds fair, you let me know, because it seems like a steal. Plus I have to make more cookies, after figuring that I didn’t think you would do it so I ate all 12 of the ones I made!…
the system offensive and defensive of Mike Shanahan will remain for posterity.
defensive small and fast were good in the 90s
today do not work,
The offensive in the West Coast is not working at present.
when you play with bigger teams
are removed from the field,
for the love of god , fire Shanahan.
Mike, The coaches reward players that excel on ST. BUT Larsen, Koutouvides, Woodyard, that have excelled at ST can not start at LB because there is a veteran at the position. These guys are excellent tacklers on ST and seem to never lose gap control. Could you find out why they do not get to start? Find out if they are better then Webster and Winborn. I still remember DJ and Champ’s statement in camp, “Niko reads offense’s really well and puts us in position to succeed”.
I was a bronco fan at the rom in foxboro and will have a tough time wearing my bronco jacket. I sat in the middle of some happy Pats fans and I didnt like it. It was hard to think positive about that team I watch lose. I blame it all on Jphn Elway for leaving a team that has fallen apart. I still think the Pats are losers too.
Change Chabelo Cutler, the same Brian Griese’s history
west coast Says…I understand your question about the bye but the fact is that players get some time off during the bye week. Remember, they have been at this since the off-season conditioning program began in the spring. I’m not feeling sorry for them for that but it is a long haul. And I don’t think that by letting them take time off tells them it is o.k. to play poorly.
Also, most of the players made their plans in advance, knowing they would have time off. So if they play poorly the game before the bye should the coaches leave them high and dry with unused plane tickets and such? That’s not appropriate.
To your question about Spencer Larsen. Now that D.J. got shaken up, we might see more of Larsen at LB. But he and Hillis are the two fullbacks.
To your point about accountability…the Broncos are on their third defensive coordinator in the last three years. I’d say that’s accountability.
columbusOHbronco…I honestly don’t know if the Broncos have called John Lynch but I would tend to doubt it. Would he even want to come back? But remember, the Patriots let him go, too, which gives you an idea about what teams are thinking.
I don’t think this is the time the Broncos are thinking about cutting Boss Bailey. And my guess is that if he heals o.k. and can come back and play, they won’t cut him. Remember, many of these types of decisions are made based on economics. If the Broncos felt they didn’t want any player back, they would have to weigh the salary cap hit. Will Dre be back? At this point, it is impossible to tell. After all, there is still half of a season to play!
As far as the draft goes, I would say a defensive lineman in the first round. There is no substitute for getting pressure on the passer. I don’t know about free agency yet because I don’t know who will be available.
Mike