I am usually one to try to keep things in perspective. The NFL season is a long one. Every team typically goes through some ups and some downs. Rarely are there must-win games in October.
At the same time, it is becoming clear that the Broncos are at a critical point in their season. The injuries are piling up. The play on the field has been inconsistent. Another quality opponent is looming. There is a danger of things going south in the locker room if the team isn’t careful.
Which way will things go? Will they spiral down? Will the team rally and overcome the adversity and make the season a positive one?
In times like this, I find it helpful to do something that is very simple…take a deep breath…hold it for just a moment…then slowly exhale.
The season isn’t over. That is important to keep in mind.
I do believe, however, this is a crossroads moment for the 2010 Denver Broncos. Teams can often have more than one of these in a season and this is, in my opinion, the first one for the Broncos this year.
Head coach Josh McDaniels said on Monday that Brian Dawkins, Andre’ Goodman, Robert Ayers, Wesley Woodyard and Darcel McBath will all miss the game against the Jets because of the injury. Demaryius Thomas might also have to sit out; his status is uncertain.
Facing any team without five prominent defensive players is a tall order. Playing a team like the Jets with that group on the sideline will be, to say the least, difficult. The Jets can run the ball, they have multiple weapons at wide receiver and tight end and they have a quarterback that is getting better.
One of the best ways the Broncos can help out an injury-ravaged defense would be to have the offense stay on the field. The problem there is that keeping the offense on the field usually involves running the ball successfully and as we all know, that has been problematic for the Broncos to this point.
Most offenses are having trouble running the ball against the Jets. They are fourth in the NFL, allowing only 79 yards per game on the ground. It is another tough week for the Broncos to try to find a running game.
There is no doubt the Broncos have their work cut out for them. They are 2-3. They have to play a really good Jets team when they are at well below full strength.
“There’s a lot of ways to look at this,” head coach Josh McDaniels said on Monday. “We’re kind of up and down. You can look at it and say we have two straight home games and we still haven’t played a game in the division yet. We’re not even halfway through the year. It usually takes one victory to make you feel better about the direction you’re headed in and how you’ve played. That’s got to be our mindset at this point, (that) we’re one game away from being 3-3.”
If the Broncos get to 3-3, they should feel better about things. If the Broncos fall to the Jets and slip to 2-4, well, I think we all know how things go when an NFL team is struggling.
Welcome to life at the crossroads.
How do you think the Broncos will fare this week? Can they overcome the adversity they are facing and beat the Jets? Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Mike
Tags: 2010, Denver Broncos, Mike Rice
Another great post Mike.
There are a lot of things that are piling up that make it seem like we’re doomed for another dead end season or worse but this team is better than that. It’s not realistic to think or assume this team won’t put up a fight in our games from this point on. Their behavior in one game doesn’t necessarily roll over to the rest of our games. I mean look at our season so far. We lost, then we creamed Seattle, we lost again, then we rallied & fought for the win in Tennessee, then we lost again. You can’t assume or predict anything with this team. God only knows what they’ll do come each Sunday. It would be nice to know ahead of time that they’ll win or at least put up a fight no matter who we play but I like the unpredictable nature of this team. You can’t guess their next move, heck they don’t even know.
Each game is different. Just cuz the Jets had a good game last night & won doesn’t mean they can just walk into THE Mile High City and then walk out with a win. I refuse to believe or assume this Broncos team will just let the Jets come into our house and roll over us like some bulldozer. We will find out on Sunday just how well our team handles adversity and how strong they are in games when so much seems to be going wrong. For once look at the positives (there aren’t many but at least we have some). We have a strong leader in Orton, he’s made great plays & despite our 3 losses he’s having the best season of his career. Have some faith in the guy for Pete’s sake. Then we have our WRs who have come to our rescue (even in losses) when we don’t have a running game. We’ve had to depend on these receivers from the get-go and they’ve held up pretty darn well if you ask me. They’ve had to carry out a good majority of all our plays cuz our RBs can’t get anywhere.
Our defense had been doing their jobs just fine till we went to Baltimore. They let the Ravens do their thing and didn’t do much to stop them. And now that we have 5 defenders out this next game, everyone thinks all is lost. Give the back-ups a freakin’ chance already, not that you’ll have a choice. Just cuz we won’t have Dawkins doesn’t mean we can’t win. He’s only one man, he can only do so much. A critical key player he is, we all know that but it’s not like he’s our entire defense. Same for Ayers. There’s things he can do or has been doing that no one else has this season but that doesn’t mean we’re doomed for the worst season ever. I’m sure a lot of people thought this season was over even before it started just cuz we lost Doom for the season… we’ve had a great defense till this past Sunday, that counts for something. No one puts a sack on a QB like Dumervil but we’ve survived this far… we’ll survive the rest of the season.
This game won’t be won easily, no game is. And it shouldn’t be. Any game worth winning, is worth the difficulties that come along with it. It’s up to this team to fight and gut out a win. The Broncos team I know will do just that, especially in a home game.
Have some faith Broncos Country…
GO BRONCOS in 2010!!!!
Mike, absolutely love the honesty of your article, namely the first two paragraphs, that’s all I’ll say for now as I have poured my heart out about everything on the previous blogs both about this loss and the upcoming game. GO BRONCOS!
wow bummer on all the injuries we have our work laid out before us. i pray for quick healing for all who are hurt
07elway…thanks for the kind words. I agree with you. I don’t think the Broncos will roll over in the least and it remains to be seen what kind of play they get from the guys who will be filling in for the injured players.
You just never know in the NFL. Look at all the upsets last week. There were a bunch of them. It is certainly more than possible for the Broncos to win. Before the season started, I picked the Broncos to beat the Jets. That was, obviously, before any of us knew about the injuries the Broncos would have to deal with. But it wouldn’t surprise me much to see the Broncos win on Sunday, even with all the injuries they have.
In no way am I tossing in the season. That would be crazy. But to me, it is a critical time and to some degree, there could be some things hanging in the balance over the next few weeks. Time will tell how it all shakes out.
bay…thanks for the read and the kind words. I appreciate your passion.
dcftcollins…well said. Quick healings would be great.
Mike
07Elway…I am not sure where you get the information that our defense was doing just fine until the Baltimore game. We are averaging 1 sack a game, giving up over 100 yards per game on the ground, 23 points per, not causing any defensive turnovers, and just generally being pushed around. MJD ran for 99 (people are saying we “held” him under 100), Peyton threw for over 300, this week was ridiculous, and Vince Young looked like the late Air McNair out there. (that rhymed) I think that we are not doing a great job defensively, if anything we are performing at a very moderate pace. Just wanted to see why you think everything is ok. I think from a talent standpoint, the Jets have us beat everywhere. OL, DL, Secondary, RB, Receeivers, the only even may be Sanchez and Orton. That is why people are down on the team. We have been decimated talentwise. But I would like to read your thoughts on it all
and oh yeah…good post Mike…quality work as always…enjoy reading from the east
vabroncoguy…thanks for reading and checking in. I appreciate the kind words. Mike
Good read Mike…
I think you just joined the realists….lol just kddn
ILMSDB!!!!W or L!!!!
To be honest, I felt us lose our momentum in preseason…
It just hasn’t felt like we’ve had a strong sense of urgency from the beginning…
We’ll see though because like you said, it only takes one big win to change everything. I know I felt better after winning in Tenn, and if we could make a little run and get above .500 then the division could be within reach.
It’s hard to be excited about the product we are seeing on the field now, but it’s not over until we are mathmatically eliminated.
Here’s to hoping that Coach McDaniels can find a way to right this ship and sail on into the post season!
KEEP THE DRIVE ALIVE BRONCOS!!!!!!!!
ILMSDB!!!!
Great post Mike!
Times like these are all around us. Everyday we have a chance to step up, fill in, or just stand up to face adversity. Now the Broncos have that opportunity in front of their own fans. There are some talented players on our roster that have a chance to play the game of their lives. I hope that is what I see this Sunday when I go to Invesco at Mile High.
If they play with passion, if they stand up and fight for their fans and their pride, anything can happen. Go Broncos!!
Who among us really expected to be better than 2-3 at this point in the season? We are in the midst of that tough four game run. And yes it is possible we could be 2-4 after Sunday. And if we are the season is still not lost. 3-3 would be wonderful and can happen but if it doesn’t it doesn’t. Look at all the upsets last week so anything is possible. My goal has consistently been 4-4 at the break. If we are there I believe we will have a winning season. It is sad we have so many injuries going into this weekend but the back ups are also NFL caliber players and maybe someone gets their chance to be great. I am not giving up on being a believer in the owner, the coaches, the staff and the TEAM. I’m excited that we have a quarterback playing as great at Orton and a wide receiver group that is awesome. Somehow our offensive line must be able to run block and open some holes or it won’t matter who is running, they can’t be successful. I believe we will get there. I’ll be in my orange at the stadium Sunday for my first game in person this year cheering for our Broncos.
Mike,
I said it in a previous post, but I’ll say it here. Our team needs to be more disciplined on the field and stop committing stupid penalties. These holds and delays of games are killing our drives, especially when you convert a big third down for a great gain, only for it to come back and be in an even worse situation. If we had converted those 3rd downs, who knows what might have been the outcome. Either way, we got our butts kicked on both sides of the ball and the end result is a loss.
Do I believe the season is over? Not a chance. There’s still a heck of a lot of football to be played this season. But we are at a crossroads and this is a huge game for our Broncos. It’s gonna take a perfect game with limited penalties to ge the W. It’s gonna be tough with all the injuries but ANY GIVEN SUNDAY, right? Hell, the Raiders just beat the Chargers so anything can happen!
Here’s to some Mile High Magic this Sunday!
vabroncoguy… last time I checked our defense held Seattle’s (64) & Indy’s (41) RBs to under a 100 yards total. They let MJD & Rice run over them but they didn’t let 2 other teams get 100 yards on us. Our defense is far from perfect but for the most part I liked what I saw from them in our first 4 games. Our defense is not our issue when you compare it to our run game. Pathetic. We have bigger problems how that we’re without 5 defenders, but they’ll pull through. I’m not blind to what problems we have going on, believe me, I’m very well aware and informed of our issues. The Jets may have a lot of talent but talent alone doesn’t win you games. God so help our coaches that they put together a decent strategy for Sunday’s game and decent play-calling, we’ll have both talent & smarts on the Jets. Think positive for once. Won’t kill ya.
And since so many are saying stats don’t matter and they don’t win games, why are we even talking about it??? If wins are all that matters to so many of you then be glad we have at least 2 wins and aren’t 0-5… thanks to our TEAM.
Have some faith Broncos Country…
GO BRONCOS in 2010!!!!
Well we were 6-0 last year when we ran into the Ravens in week 8. They handed out a beat down that sent us into a four game losing slump. This year is our opportunity to show the NFL that we are more resiliant than last year. A critical game indeed. Thanks for a great article, Mike.
A Mile-High Crossroads. Mike, that is so relevant. Kudos to you and your article.
You know, I don’t have any Orange Bronco gear!?! Would a sixer of Orange Crush constitute a suitable replacement?
My faith is in some good old fashioned Mile-High Magic.
Get Healthy, GO BRONCOS 2K10!!
Just read Revis has “added swelling” in his hammy. I’m lookin for any glimmer of hope here people! Lol
Great post Mike,as always….vabronco,are you crazy??no way their receivers are even in the class of our infamous “4 Horseman”.
Been gone for a few days(camping with the family),looks like I didn’t miss much,just a buttkicking and a bunch of angry fans letting off steam.
The Jets are coming to Denver off a big win over a big name franchise, a Monday Night Special, with a ton of hype. I really see a big upset coming their way. Time for Jarvis Moss to earn his paycheck and see what the young secondary can do.
I really hope we can get out in front early and give the defense something to play for.
Actually you missed a lot of good stuff BFE, but I know it was worth it.
The first five teams we have played have a win loss record of 15-9 (62.5% winning record) They have an average ESPN power ranking of 12.8 The next 11 games coming up has a win loss record of 26-27 (49.1% winning record) and an average power ranking of 18.9 There is hope as the schedule gets a little easier. Despite all the naysaying I still think 10-6 is quite possible. I know I drink the kool Aide, but I believe.
Good stuff?????…5 players on Defense out,and a bad loss too,the only thing that i saw was good was Orton passing to Lloyd and Gaffney.
No, good stuff blogging wise.
If we can get to the halfway mark with a 4-4 record,we still got a shot at getting to 9-7,that’s where I thought we would end up anyway,and it looks like 9-7 might win the division,if KC comes back down to earth,which I’m quite sure they will,given time.
I read some,but I’ll go back in a bit and read the rest,thanks Baylin.
There is a crapload of it though, if you haven’t seen the game yet, you can check my good bad ugly piece posted on the second half blog Oct. 11th at 7:48am, it should get you up to speed with what happened in the game.
Thanks for the #’s danso – some good stuff as well.
I’ll continue my dosage of orange kool aid, and enjoy watching our Team play. Yes, it has been tough row to hoe, but we’re not out for the count.
Anyone going to the pep rally at Larimer Square on Friday?
For those who show up at Invesco on Sunday, this will be Sanchez first trip to the Mile High City, so let’s show him how tough it is to bark out signals, especially in either red zone!! LOUD n PROUD for our boys in ORANGE!
I know the rest will be rooting from wherever they are, be it at a Sports bar or at home with Family.
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!
Nice post, Mike. This game comes down to whether the Broncos can stop LT and make Sanchez win it with his arm. If the D can stop LT, AND put some pressure on Sanchez, then we win. I think Orton will move the team and put points on the board. Our the LB’s up to it? I saw some incredible line blocking by the Jets OL last night. We will see. Even if we don’t, if we can get to 4-4 and have the two week bye, then maybe we’ll have some bodies back for the 2nd half.
royalbronco-you are welcome. Wish I could make the Larimer Sq pep rally but don’t fly in until Sat. Go TEAM BRONCOS!
Funny stuf, Legwold just posted an article named “Jets will blitz Broncos coming off the bus”, haha.
And the Saints just signed Julius Jones, thought he was worth a look, same with Larry Johnson, but obviously McD thinks our running problems lie elsewhere and I tend to agree, but to me it’s not just about the execution like he says, but also about that ever since McD got rid of our RB coach and O line coach and hired his own coaches to switch to his scheme is when things went kaput.
The system and the O line/running game coaching are flawed or both, how else can we explain such inability to even have the semblance of a running game for so long. The O line can only be so bad, but we have three proven vets on it in Clady, Harris and Kuper, who even if not all 100% should be able to get some yards with a proper run design, same can be said with the running backs, they are not so bad that whenever either one of them carries the ball, they run into a wall one or two yards past the line of scrimmage about every time.
Law of averages would suggest that both the play of the O line and the variety of RB’s we have put in there would be successful enough to get 4 or 5 yards here and there, but we don’t, hence it tells me it goes deeper than that, to the root of the problem, to the guys who design this whole running scheme, to McD who tells Studeville and Barone what he wants and either those two are not capable of getting it done or McD’s running method does not work which I believe is the culprit. Either way there is a problem at the top, not just execution, that’s too easy a way to explain the severity of this mess.
And good luck for hoping McD would re-think his approach to the running game no matter how disastrous it already is, if he says it was proven to work in N-E, by all means he will not change his mind even if hell freezes over, he will change O line/running back coaches and the entire O line plus the RB’s before he looks himself in the mirror and re-assesses himself, that’s the hard reality of all that.
Hey, he is the HC, he does what he wants, if he goes down it will be on his terms and if he succeeds same thing, high risks, high reward job, it’s just some times you would hope such a young HC with just a little over a year experience would take a look around and see what worked here and what doesn’t, we went the most feared running game in the league for years to the most laughable excuse of a running game in the league in just over a year, something is seriously amiss here, talk about instant self destruction there, to unheard of proportions, real, real sad no matter how you slice it.
A couple of stupid errors in there:
The system OR the O line/…
we went FROM the most feared…
But you get it anyway, it just bugs me to be sloppy, and I do it too often, it must be the execution, LOL.
Well hello all Bronco fans!!! Great post Mike i apreciate your willingness to lay it on the line and be honest tell us what is real. Not all media types from the home city do that.
Lots of good wll thought out posts. Incredibly not alot of whining lots of honesty and hard to swallow facts topped with frustration and fear of loseing the season, but real. Inciteful, helpful.
Need to see a marked change in the approaoch the staff takes to running the Ball. It must be hard though, when they as a coaching staff send in a running play on first down and we gain 1 yard or worse then we are playing from behind. Hard to stick with it but I for one would like to see them mix it up and be more unpredictable. Run on diffrent downs more pitches getting to the edge.
Also mix in the short passing game as a weapon, a way to make the D have to adjust not just something we go to when we can’t run the ball then it is too predictable. All this said they are the pros it is there buissinessWe need to have a game plan that accounts for them being one of the best Defenses in the league. For goddsakes don’t be predictable and leave Orton back there as sitting duck he tends to get jumpy feat and a quick trigger when he loses confidence in the O line.
Give moreno a chance to take advantage of his speed and qickness get him to the edge.
Shore up and become stable in the St play alot of that is caoching and sticking with a plan and stop tinkering.
Limit the penalties especialy on offense there is no excuse for them to have as many penalties as they do if Gaffney continues his downfield penalties yank him and put in decker or DT if he is available. Although DT’s killed us too.
The season is definatly not over the chiefs will come back down to earth the chargers are beatable and Oakland is Oakland subject too lots of penalties and the occasional helful turnover.
Lots of winnable games. I like the previous post about not expecting to be 3-3 at the end of this game I didn’t I was afraid of 1-5 and that was drinking the coolaid because the first 6 games were scary. Still can’t believe the schedual makers what were they thinking.
But this is the NFL and there are no excuses.
Go out there and cheer for our TEAM let them know how much we care and how much it matters to us.
It is there job to play mistake free and execute.
Looks like we’re going to need to move some LB’s around. Maybe Mario shifts back to an outside position and we bring in Joe Mays to man his inside position.
Other option is to bring in Jarvis Moss on the outside and leave Mario in the inside. DJ is leading the Team in tackles from his “Jack ILB” position. Hunter has had some moments and we need him to step up now more than ever.
We dumped Ayodele and cut Kirlew so looks like we’re getting thin at this position.
Just to go bakc a bit to this mornings comments.
Bay OC i really dig this blogg and you guys seem to have history here. I just wanted to say that like B&R I come home every nite now and read all of the posts. I have been a bronco fan for all my life and have never even thought about another team. Over the years I would come to this site and check things out but because of my life that was not able to be consistent or very frequent. For now it is just a real fun part of my day I am putting it before alot of stuff to a fault rite now.
I read your post the other day Bay written to that guy who came on at the end of the game and ranted for like three hours and then hasn’t showed up for the rest of the week. Lame
I like that both of you took the time to set me straight a couple of weeks ago it has made this Blogg alot esier to read since then.
I try to keep to myself and realy listen you two are some of my favorites OC for his humor and Bay for your information and expierience so thanx you have made my days esier over the past few week and I for one intend to stand the test of time.
I know I tend to have long posts with seemingly little football info. Which is probalbly a little true the schools I went to mainly 20 years ago were too small to have football programs. So all of my knowledge comes from the 35 years I have been watching the Broncos. I never miss a game and love to watch. I go to games in Oakland which is THE WORST place in America to go to a game if you are a fan of the other team. I will one day make it to Denver Hopefuly this year and see a game. Until then I hope to be a part of this blogg ansd take part in your fun.
Thanx to bothof you for the humor ond light heartedness during the heat of football season. It makes it esier.
Ben out
Ben, actually OC and I do go back a long ways, the first time we blogged on the same site was on the Rocky Mountain News website, long time defunct, in fact there is a good writer left from there who moved to the Denver Post and who I quote often, Jeff Legwold, really smart about his football and very good writer. Once the RMN shut down we would blog in the DP once in a while, he more than I, we both didn’t like the narcistic nature of the bloggers there, I followed a few RMN bloggers to a Bronco fan website, got turned off on that with the non regulated use of foul language there and we both ended up here and like it best. Everyone has to be civil, the blog administration is very nice whenever they are issues, and all in all it’s pretty smooth, great articles by the likes of Elway’s O lineman Cooper and the radio voice of Mike Rice not to mention historical facts by Mr.Saccomano, what’s not to like. However, we try to push the enveloppe a bit since this is after all the home of the Bronco organization and the point of view here can at times be quite pro Broncos no matter what, but articles like this one by Mike shows they do their best to be as fair and balanced as humanly possible, specially Coop. Anyhow, what has kept us going for so long is definitely first and foremost a sense of humor, absolutely essential to keeping your sanity with some of the stuff dished out here daily by folks who you would think are debating things as a matter of life and death. No way OC and I would ever do that, no matter how much we feed into this blog, main thing is we don’t take eachother all that seriously, we just enjoy going back and forth entertaining ourselves and hopefully others. OC has the most fabulous imagination of anyone here and will just crack you up with his various team descriptions, players nicknames and so forth. Many other bloggers have made it real good to be here also. Glad you enjoy it and that you are here sharing your stuff with us, it’s all interesting as long as it is done in good taste, and nothing is a bore other than when it’s stuff that comes from bloggers who don’t respect eachother. Thanks very much for the compliments, you made my day and I’m sure you will make OC’s when he gets around reading it.
thanx Bay I apreciate it!!!
Always fun to read and I plan on staying Even with my long winded half football knowledge Philosiphy self.
I am haveing too much fun!!!
I love me some Broncos!!!!
Baylin…you bring up some great points in you assesment of McD,especially the part about him never putting the blame on himself.We had the best Oline in the NFL,for years,now it is the worst run blocking line in the NFL.There is a problem with the Oline coach and the scheme.IMO
The zone blocking that we won 2 Championships with is still a proven scheme,as far as I know the Jets are using it and it works for them.Bring it back McD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you don’t believe me ask LT:
http://www.nj.com/jets/index.ssf/2010/08/ladainian_tomlinson_excited_to.html
ZONEBLOCKING-ZONEBLOCKING-ZONEBLOCKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
good points and not too much negativity. I beleive the jets are in for an upset special. no reevis. i like it. rex ryan blitz too much. he dares teams to go down the field agaist them. its bound too backfire. and with our passing threat, were the ones to get it done. also did anyone hear colt mccoy might start this weekend. that means that all rookie qb’s are starting except for…… thats right our tim tebow. it will defenitly come up. just thought i mention it. GO BRONCOS. Denver wins 21-16
Anyone who is expecting the Jets to come out flat because of a big win and on a Monday night needs to temper their enthusiasm about that because Rex Ryan means business regardless of the set of circumstances, sorry guys but I love that guy, here is what he said yesterday:
“We want to have the best record in the National Football League at the end of the season. And we’re right on pace.”
The Broncos waived defensive lineman Jeff Stehle, likely in anticipation of other roster moves.
Is it a big move before the 19th trading deadline to acquire someone or is it just an in-house move to activate someone from the practice squad?
That is the big question!
I’m all for bringing some change from the outside, can’t say the status quo is exactly all we need, specially with the whole new rash of injuries, we are in real need of LB’s right now. I say let’s bring in an OLB, what you guys think?
A good observation by Krieger even though he usually brings everyone down by his comments, but what he states are facts so it’s worth posting:
So Josh McDaniels overhauls the Broncos’ roster, prompting 21 months of nonstop debate between fans of the old and new, only to produce an offense with exactly the same problem as the one it replaced:
Lotta yards, not that many points.
Kinda makes you wonder what all the arguing was about. This year’s team ranks third in the NFL in yardage and 15th in points. In other words: elite between the 20s, pedestrian near the end zone. Mike Shanahan’s last Denver team ranked second in yardage and 16th in points, or about the same.
Of course McD still has 11 games to go to change all that, but interesting point nonetheless.
For us to be on schedule with my season record prediction we need to go 3-1 in the next 4 games and if the locker room can weather the storm without finger pointing and or McD losing them it is achievable. That’s how I got it on my schedule, lose against the Jets and beat Oakland at home, SF at Wembley and KC at home. Obviously a win against the Jets would allow for a loss at Wembley, either way they can get to that 3-1 would mean a real good shot at finishing over 500 and achieve what I thought we could all along, 9-7.
Assuming KC falters and SD stays unbalanced we could have a shot at the division title, which will be the only way to get into the playoffs this year because a wild card is out of the question to me since like I said the other day, we already lost serious ground in tie breakers with three AFC foes losses. And if that’s not enough look at the quality of the AFC South with the Colts, Houston and Tennessee, the AFC East with the Jets and Patriots and the AFC North with Baltimore and Pittsburgh, and you easily see seven teams who have clearly better shots than us at only two wildcards, that ship has sailed in my opinion.
The biggest question mark is will KC falter, however much I hope they will, I find it very unlikely, they are building something real solid from the ground up over there starting with the draft so they are plenty young they will not fizzle out physically, not to mention the solid organization all the way to the top with GM Pioli and good coaches on both sides of the ball plus an out of this world ST, in my opinion they will only get better, they have the make up for that, might as well get used to it.
So, in short, I think the only way we win this divison is by taking it ourselves, there will be no hand out from either the Chiefs nor the Chargers like many bloggers here hope, so my advice to the team would be one game at a time, don’t even look what other teams in our division are doing until you play one of them, winning those games will be at a premium, going 4-2 in our division will be probably the minimum required to have a shot at the title.
For now we cannot afford to carry this two game losing streak into a four game losing streak like we did twice last year, that would be an early nail in the coffin and a gigantic mental hurdle for the team to overcome.
When you start 2-3, games have a way to become more important much sooner than when you start 5-0, the window for messing up closes up that much faster, time to buckle up and go to work, comments like those of Haggan yesterday will not cut it much longer, rather they will become unacceptable if not already in my book, here is what he said:
“We understand what we put on the field Sunday, and it wasn’t an A-1 product, everyone in the defensive room agreed with that.”
Believe Bay said it best on an earlier post. Something has got to change with our rushing game. If not, I don’t see us getting to .500 this season. I’m no expert on Oline play, schemes, etc., but we are past the point of McD saying, week after week, that they aren’t “executing.” He started with the silver lining that we “weren’t having alot of negative yardage plays.” This didn’t last long as we started having negative yardage plays. I say “break out the Wild Horses!” All we have to lose is more games if we don’t do something to shake up the opposing defense, and give them some new looks. With our current attack, when Orton is under center on 1st down, we run the ball. He goes into the shotgun, he passes. No wonder the Dline is stopping our run game. We need to run from the passing formations and vice versa. Put Tebow in under center or in the shotgun on occasion, as the Jets use Brad Smith for Sanchez, and let him run the option. Something. Anything. If I sound frustrated by this, it’s because I am. Where is the imaginative offensive mind we have heard so much about?
danso – Wow you’re first Broncos game at Invesco at Mile High! You’re in for a great time ! Make sure you get to the stadium early so you have a chance to take it all in.
If you have the opportunity, stop by the Broncos Barn. You can’t miss it – a large tent in front of the stadium, and once you get in, you’ll have different things going on in there.
For more information – you can read about it here on the website under
Tickets & Stadium – Tailgating.
ben09 and bay,
Thank you for all the kind words!
I feel all Orange and warm and fuzzy now! you guys just made my day!!!
BRONC ON! BRONCO BROTHERS!!!!!!
I LOVE ME SOME DENVER BRONCO FANS!!!!!!
Great posts Bay informative.
I would like to see a good pick up knowing MCD it will be to bring in Adoyle. “the patriot way” Did he ever get picked up by another team. If he didn’t I realy wouldn’t be surprised but I also don’t know if he fits the spot we need. I think it is OLB as well. But I also don’t know the extent of the saftey injuries. How long are Mcbath and Dawk down? At least he is getting ready to make a Move.
That realy does show me that he has a winning attitude but the longer this season grinds on the nmore I think his stint with us is going to be like Shannys first two seasons with the Raiders before the Broncos.
A guy like him has to get knocked down before he will put the team ahead of himself it is sad because we the fans and the veteran players suffer.
But he has a good attitude on winning that a HC needs IMO he has good no Great football knowledge but he has to learn to adjust lots of his overall philosophy or if not philosiphy system.
All the evidence is there inconsistency one good game followed by a break down followed by a good game ect.
All the personel movement because of his “competiton ” philosiphy. the “great” offensive mind that can’t find a run game?? LOL the bottom falling out on our run D last week. A coach has to be able to see those things and make adjustments not just leave it up to the assistants and pint fingers at other people.
Haveing said all that I kinda like him LMAO he is articulate and gives good answeres in his press confrences. I like that he gives more to the fan than I remember Shanny doing which is my only other HC to go on but I was also not on the web site near as much under Shanny.
Hope he makes the roster move!!!1
hope he thinks about either changeing scheme in run blocking or fireing O line coach mid season
That would be Team first and addmitting he made a bad call.
“Is there ice in hell?”
GO BRONCOS
First of all, great post Mike. Thank you for being honest and upfront about our current situation in Bronco land. Mike and several bloggers here (most notably Bay) took the words right out of my mouth (but probably better put) regarding our run game and the importance of keeping the guys in the locker room together and turning this thing around. The run scheme leaves a bitter taste in my mouth to say the least. We have a pretty solid group of O lineman and it is just blows my mind that we are so inept at running the ball. And as it has already been said, it will be a long hard season if we cannot turn our run game around. We cannot keep putting our D back on the field. Our biggest concerns on offense are the run game, time of possession, and scoring points. I feel that if we can fix the run game the T.O.P. and points will come as a byproduct.
And to 07 Elway, thanks for keeping it postive. Many of us are having a hard time doing that. I will definitely try to drink a little more of the Orange Koolaid. But if we go on a big loosing streak following the Ravens game (like we did last year) we can all wave bye-bye to the playoffs.
I don’t like getting worked up over something I cannot control. But I guess that comes with the territory of being a die hard fan. I wish McD would read some of these posts because he could really learn a lot. IMO. Lets all hope for a Miracle at Milehigh. I want to see this team play consistently, be creative, and smash their opponents in the mouth. I know the Jets are a good team and I do not EXPECT the broncos to win. I hope the Broncos win, and I predicted them to win. If we do not at least put up a good fight at home, then I will be pretty sad towards this team..
Lets kick some butt Sunday.
I LOVE ME SOME DENVER BRONCOS……
Big D – I have no choice but to stay positive, for my own sanity. I always try to find the good in situations that seem impossible. This is one of them. They, no doubt, have their work cut out for them and it would certainly be a miracle if we do win against the Jets but they can pull it off. For my own peace of mind, I don’t let it get to me too much (although I get VERY frustrated with this team sometimes). For the past 4/5 years, its like they’ve been a broken record… same thing over and over. They are gonna have to break that cycle sooner or later. I would’ve thought they’d accomplish that by now, 4 consecutive years of ending up 8-8 is just flat ridiculous… and annoying. One of these years I’ll be right and they’ll do better than 8-8. Guess I’m just an optimistic fan along for the bumpy ride on the drama-wagon that is the Broncos. lol I think they’ll surprise the Jets and give ‘em a big upset on Sunday.
Have some faith Broncos Country…
GO BRONCOS in 2010!!!!
royalbroncofan-I may have mislead you. I meant to say my first Bronco game this year. I usually get to at least one game each year and sometimes two Last year I attended both the New England and Dallas games there and enjoyed the victories. I have also been there for losses. Appreciate the welcome and looking forward to this weekend in Denver..