For the second time in three games, the Broncos had a really good chance to win. For the second time in three games, they came up short, falling to Indianapolis on Sunday.
It isn’t that difficult to see that struggles in the red zone were critical for the Broncos. Five trips to the Colts’ 20 yard line or deeper and the Broncos could only come away with two field goals while turning the ball over on downs three times.
Some may question Josh McDaniels’ decision to go for the touchdown on 4th and goal at the one yard line in the second quarter. I liked the call.
The Broncos were down 13-0. The Broncos had the ball at the one yard line. They had four plays to get the ball into the end zone. Four plays.
They gave the ball to Laurence Maroney, whom the Colts stopped on first and second downs. Third down was a fade route to Demaryius Thomas, a big, physical target who has the ability to go up and get the ball. Orton’s pass was a bit long and out of bounds. Thomas never had the opportunity to make the play.
On fourth down, the Colts stopped Maroney short of the goal line, thanks to a correct reversal by instant replay.
Coach McDaniels’ decision to go for it on fourth down is certainly a decision worthy of discussion. But I don’t see there being an obvious right or wrong decision. That is only determined in hindsight, after the play works or doesn’t work.
There was not a single play call in that series where I was thinking, “What in the world was that?” The Colts held. In situations like this, many people like to blame the coach for deciding to go for it. But when you come up short four times from the one yard line, and there was no clear cut mistake in the play calls, I have to look at the guys on the field. Somehow, someway, they have to punch it in.
I also like the decision to go for it for a couple of other reasons.
First, you’re playing the Colts. A team only gets so many chances in the red zone in any given game. Against Indy, there is more of an urgency to take advantage of those opportunities because of the Peyton Manning and the potent offense he leads.
Second, the Broncos were trying to get the game down to one possession. Even though it was still pretty early, it was an understandable thought. Plus, while they didn’t convert, the defense held the Colts three-plays-and-out, forced a punt, got good field position and drove for a field goal right before halftime.
The other interesting fourth down decision came with just under nine minutes to go and the Colts ahead 20-13. Fourth-and-three at the Indy 12 yard line. There was a miscommunication between Kyle Orton and Brandon Lloyd on the route and the pass was incomplete. As I understand it, there was an option for Lloyd to run one kind of route if he got one defense and another kind of route if the Colts played something else. Apparently, the Colts switched, Lloyd and Orton each thought different things and the pass had no chance to be caught.
Some people think Coach McDaniels should have kicked the field goal. And there is merit to that point. In my opinion, however, it is not a no-brainer to kick the field goal.
They trailed by a touchdown. They had been moving the ball. They were deep in Colts’ territory. The defense had already had some success slowing down Manning and the Colts’ offense.
Why not go for it, try to keep the drive going and score a touchdown and tie the game in the fourth quarter? I can’t argue with it. In fact, I liked that the Broncos were again aggressive.
Going for it as the Broncos did in some key situations and being smart about what they were doing, which I believe they were, sends a message of confidence to the team. It sends the message that the coaches believe their guys is good enough. I like that.
I would have liked it better had either decision worked out and the plays been executed on the field.
But let’s not take the easy way out and blame the coach for this loss because of a couple of decisions to go for it on fourth down in the red zone didn’t work out.
In many ways, the Broncos played well against a terrific team. Yes, they lost and that is the bottom line. But the season is three games old. I’m not ready to come to any conclusions except the obvious one that the Broncos are 1-2.
What did you think about the game on Sunday? Thanks for reading and posting your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Mike
Tags: 2010, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Mike Rice
I got 1 question:what if Orton has a better year than he did last year and throws for say 4500 yds and 25 tds,then what does McD do???
Sign Orton to a longer deal or let him split and start Tebow,now thats something to think about.
Is Tebow our future,or is Orton going to keep getting better and stay our starting QB,it’s hard to keep 2 good QBs.
How many games do we lose before we put Tebow in there and let him take his lumps???what if we go like 2-6,then do we play Tebow???
Not trying to make an argument just throwing the scenario out there.
BFE
broncos win this sunday 24-27 we wil bounce back!!
Well here to another day closer to sunday and another chance not only to improve but to win. This team is young in alot of spots and withinin the system. But we are as a whole showing promise are we one of the elite no. But do we play in a division where that realy is important. No there is a chance and I for one have hope.
There were so many little things that they did wrong the turnovers the failure of both the coaches and players to not only change the play call but to execute in those two situations but the turnovers were just as bad.
The players are not executing.
We got spoiled in Denver with the zone blocking and with Shanny
It is a new system and a new coach and in my opinion I would rather get behind them and BELIEVE than not it just makes my week go by ezier being an optimist.
I am going to pick them 16 times in Baylions pool but in reality I think 9 or 10 wins is a victory especialy with Doomervill being out and with Haris our second best lineman being down for two games.
With as well as that O line Blocks for KO I think MCD should slow it down and spend some extended time on the run game.
I am beggining to be a fan af Martindales D but I am also up for other opinions cause we were half way decent last year under Nolan. we just seem to have flip floped the run D for the pass D.
The way I felt after the game as I was walking it off was that if MCD was going to put TRUST in the players on the field it was there job to EXECUTE I love the way orton and more importantly the Recievers are playing but ORTON has got to show me he can do it when it counts. When the yards are harder to come by and the opposeing teams D Knows the chips are down
We need a run game to survive in this league and we need to stop turnovers and we need to shore up the kick return and kick coverage and finaly we need to generate a pass rush.
Lots to do but I go to work every day and put on my hard hat and they do too.
So It is up to them as a team to get it together Especially before we start playing within the division.
There are games to be won and as far as I’m concerned we can win the division If this team chooses to show up.
It is ours for the takeing
MISTAKE FREE FOOTBALL GO BRONCOS
Tebow doesn’t start unless Orton can’t.
Going for it on 4th and 1. Great. Plays called. Bad. Can’t you call a QB sneak. 1 yard. It’s 3 feet. Some if these guys arms stretch out that long. Arghhhhhhhh. The shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line. Not off tackle. Lol you could have called a Rollout. Playfake. Double reverse. FB handoff. Wild horses. Tebow even handing the ball off. Or Tebow lowering his shoulder. He was awesome getting those 1 yard gains against Jacksonville!
Get Healthy, GO BRONCOS 2K10!
Orton threw a pass over the head of DT on 3rd and goal,and threw one at Lloyds feet on 4th down at Indys 12 yard line,he played great between the 20s,but didn’t play any better than the Oline or RBs in the redzone.The whole Offense played bad in the red zone,bad blocking,bad running,and bad passing.
Not knocking Orton,but he’s gotta play better in the red zone.Why not play Tebow on short yardage,why did we draft him???McD said he didn’t have any plays for him against Indy well I say BS,he could get 1 yard on 4 tries garunteed!!!!!!!!
sndvl, BFE… I am right there with ya bro’s…. I agree with everything you guys are pointing out. Wow! a breath of fresh Rocky Mountain air… thanks fellas…
Bronc ON!!!!!!
ILMSDB!!!
we shot our selfs in the foot , when yoy play indy it’s 0 mistakes . on a positive note we looked good and stayed in the game midway thru the 4 th quarter. much better than i expected and enjoyable to be at the game
also the fans in the $$$ seats need to get into the game and cheer. it’s sad that they sit on there butt and comment about the coaching , with mike and josh i here the same
AWESOME, Bronco fans who don’t see eye to eye most of the year are actually bonding over the common goal, get that darn ball into the end zone, and if that means Tebow doing it, so what? Are you listening McD? Let your hang ups and stubborness go by, just look at tomorrow as a brand new day !!! The old days of yesteryear are over if you let them be, screw the short yardage with no gain template of yours, re-invent yourself, bring in the shock effect to the rescue, and if that’s Tebow, so what, we just want to get that one yard, it doesn’t matter how it sounds in your HC head, we’ll take it regardless of how ridiculous it sounds to you, get over it, it’s not how you win, it’s if you win, GOT IT?
BeastFromEast92 1,000000%! How does everyone…and I mean everyone but McD not see that Tebow is our best option on short yardage! So frustrating! It like a rebellious teenager. We begged & pleaded for Hillis last year and the more we asked the less we saw of him. I think McD has about 60% correct but is to arrogant to see the other 40%. Dawk need to have a long talk with him!! For real
atwaters, anyone who asked McD about using Tebow in short yardage has been deemed to make a ridiculous statement, that’s just how it is, even if it’s asinine, he is the main man and he wants everyone to bow to him, so here we are.
About Tebow in short yardage McD says:
“People who mention that, I don’t know, that’s ridiculous.”
man, i agree with BFE 100% about his post at the top of this page. i can really see us losing out until Oakland week 7. if thats the case and we are 1-5 or 1-6 after oakland, why not put Tebow in at QB if he is the guy that McD wants to lead this team. cuz the way i see it if we dig ourselves a 5 or 6 game whole we are not coming out of it. we just dont have the team to do it. or thats how its looking right now because we score 1 td in 5 red zone attempts. personally, i think that the sooner we put Tebow in the better it will be
i just think it would be kinda like VY and CJ in Tennessee. or Vick and McCoy in Phili. the threat of those QBs running opens more lanes for their teams RBs. now, i know Tebow isnt a burner like Vick or anything, but the guy scred what, like 50 rushing TDs in college? that cant be overlooked if you are a D Coordinator
Denver’s running game could not move the ball 1-yard all day, to think it could done at the goal line is plain stupid. The fumble during the punt hurt Denver’s chances to winning the game because McDumdum kept picking plays that would score back all the points at once for Denver, instead of chipping away at Indy’s lead.
Get Real or quit …
I might add that Orton needs to run down field (or get off the field) when no one is open, and it might not matter if #15 is in the game because McDumdum would probably forbad Tebow to run during any such occurance … Eff, Josh McDumdum
Real cool news for Stokley:
The Seattle Seahawks signed former Broncos wide receiver Brandon Stokley
What’s rediculous is NOT using Tebow in short yardage situations. McD talks about all this and that if it will help the team win. Give it a shot, at least the defense wouldn’t know for sure it was a called pass or run play.
Good for Stokes, glad to see a team pick him up. Still thought he had the best hands out of our WR.
Go Broncos!!!!
Kuper says:
“Bottom line, we have to do better in the running game. It’s everybody. I take a lot of ownership on this. We take pride on running the ball.”
Take pride on running the ball!?!? Did I miss something? Is there some games I missed watching? For the life of me I can’t recall watching a running game ever since McD has been here. It must look different from the trenches…. Obiously that statement wasn’t worded very well, but I get your meaning Kuper, you would like to be proud of your running game, so would I.
Here is how the pride of our running game stacks up now:
To date, the Broncos as a team have 201 yards rushing. Chris Johnson by himself has 301. And Johnson is having a down year. And we are playing Johnson Sunday.
With the three tough games coming up this is probably the best thing going for us in the division:
The Chiefs, who are the league’s No. 1 rushing team, have this weekend off — they are among the first group of teams with a bye — before getting into the teeth of their schedule. Once they return from their week away, they will go to Indianapolis (2-1) and Houston (2-1) in back-to-back weeks, where their ball-control offense will be sorely tested against two of the most high-powered attacks in the league.
What is becoming more and more evident to me I believe is that we just have the wrong kind of backs to play in this new power scheme of ours. We have a really good back in moreno, but I just don’t think he is a great fit for our running scheme. I see someone like alabamas trent richardson the ideal back for us
For McD, the carrousel must go on:
McDaniels made it clear this week that if either Brady Quinn or Tim Tebow wants to avoid being the team’s No. 3 quarterback on game day, he has to win the days leading up to Sunday. The game plan will have some part in the decision, but the two will fight it out each week with their limited work in practice. “If they get a handful of reps in practice and/or it’s a team where our game plan is really set more for Brady or more for Tim, depending on the week — I think we use all that information to try to make the best assessment we can — including whether we’re going to do something with Tim,” says McD.
I don’t know about you guys, but it sure wouldn’t make me feel good to be in that constant limbo situation, not a whole bunch of positive reinforcement for our young supposedly QB of the future, at least he better be considering we basically used three picks to get him. Just doesn’t make a whole bunch of sense, I mean in the short run it might be the best thing to do but I seriously doubt that it is beneficial enough to counter the negatives that it has on these guys, specially Tebow. I can only put that on immaturity. It’s sndvl who has always said that this season will ride on whether McD has matured or not (that was for Broncfalls since he doesn’t like it when I repeat stuff I’ve said 800 million years ago, so I used sndvl, pretty smart) LOL.
Yeah Casino, power blocking O line with a duo of LOS disco dancers and Bucky who is just a part time fit who also doesn’t fit the scheme. That’s all on McD, it was his choice, he made his bed and now he must sleep in it, not a restful sleep I bet.
But it’s not all bad, there is great news to share too, as reported by Klis:
The Broncos are a PASSING team. A passing team of historical proportions.
The stats and record have just been confirmed: The Broncos are the first team in NFL history to have four receivers with at least 10 catches, 140 receiving yards and one touchdown through the first three games.
Here’s a breakdown of the Broncos Big 4:
Brandon Lloyd: 14 catches, 339 yards (24.2 yards per catch), 1 TD.
Jabar Gaffney: 17 catches, 189 yards, 1 TD.
Eddie Royal: 17 catches, 186 yards, 1 TD.
Demaryius Thomas: 10 catches, 140 yards, 1 TD.
That’s a handful for anybody, now if we can get some production in the red zone, we will be unstoppable.
I guess I’ll be the devil’s advocate so to speak on the Tebow situation. While I do think Tebow would do a fine job in goal line situations, he was brough in to be the QB of the future. Linebackers and linemen in the NFL are way bigger than the college kids Tebow ran over at Florida. If Tebow runs in for a goal line attempt and ends up getting hurt, we all bash McDaniels for damaging and hindering the progress of our future QB.
I see both sides, and lean towards agreeing with McDaniels. Bottom line, Maroney and Moreno in our goaline set should not have any issue scoring from 1 yard out on 3 tries. We shouldn’t have to depend on gimmicks of Wild Horses to score. Our Oline needs to man up and get a push on the goaline.
Atwater, McD has been trying to do that for 27 games, now, granted only for 7 games with this new O line, but it is obviously not working, how long can you keep at something before you try something else? I’ll just agree to disagree on that.
It doesn’t have to be Tebow, McD just need to show some imagination is all, you would think he’d be hurt by now hitting his head against this wall for so long.
That is the definition in the dictionary of STUBBORNESS.
ravens just released trevor pryce. sure hes getting long in the tooth, but he has experience and could provide solid depth if not a new starter for a year or two at the DE position. might be worth a look
WOW, you are bringing back old memories, I met Trevor in the hotel lobby before the Atlanta game in his rookie year in 1997 and got his autograph, that alone should tell you how much of a stretch it would be to acquire a DE who was playing in 1997! I love the guy but I don’t see what could be left in that body of his, tough position to last that long.
Just saw that at the bottom of the screen on the NFLN:
Peyton Hillis, 373 yards, 3 TD’s this season.
I’m real happy for him, he was a good kid with the wrong coach is all.
I never said that we have been effective at what we’ve been doing. McDaniels needs to solve this issue of short yardage with the running backs and offensive line instead of resorting to putting our future qb in to get leveled multiple times a game. It’d be a shame to see Tebow end up with a shoulder injury or a concussion all because we gave up on our running game.
There isn’t a whole lot of creativity needed. He threw a fade in on 3rd down this weekend which I liked the call but the chemistry with Orton and DT didn’t seem to click on that route. Sure a playaction mixed in would have been nice but like someone said earlier, Orton is struggling in red zone short yardage just as much as our Oline and running game are. Hopefully when Harris is back and Beadles moves to guard we will be more effective with getting an inside push.
It would be nice to see Trevor Pryce in a Broncos uniform again. I always thought releasing him was a mistake.
I echo your sentiments Bay about Hillis. Too much talent to be wasted on the bench. He’s definitely playing with a chip on his shoulder and I don’t blame him. Too bad McD didn’t see, or want to see, what all of us saw in Hillis.
I don’t buy into the logic of not using Tebow in goal line situations because of the potential for injury. It’s a part of the game. It’s been our season in a summary. Tebow could get hurt between the 20s just as easy at the goal line. McD needs to fix it. Plain and simple.
Now, I gotta stick up for my guy Orton. What’s this perception that he needs improvement in the red zone? How many of you would rather have Cutlet and his turnovers? Or Orton and his smart decisions. Not turning the ball over in the red zone always gives you a shot at 3 points. Too bad McD has turned into our very own ugly cutler red zone dilemma. Arghhhhhhhh
Get Healthy, GO BRONCOS 2K10!
We can agree to disagree on the injury part. Consistently lowering your shoulder and running into a goaline stack is a little more risky than standing on the sidelines in my opinion (which are the only 2 options at this point with Orton playing well). In the long run is it smart to have Tebow taking risks of concussions and shoulder injuries just because we can’t get it in with our RBs? I don’t think so, let him concentrate on learning the QB position as quickly as possible and not have to worry about being a component in the Wild Horses. Our offensive line doesn’t get a push so Tebow, Maroney, Moreno, Larsen, it doesn’t matter they are going to get hit in the backfield.
In the red zone, how can you say he has been successful? His fade to DT was way early and way off. His throw to Llyod was a poor decision and a poor throw. Yea he isn’t turning the ball over but he’s not generating points. Outside of the 20 he has been magnificient. He needs to realize on 4th and 3 that he needs to make a higher percentage throw than the back shoulder comeback route.
Which none of this even matters because McD obviously has expressed his lack of intent to ever use Tebow as a goaline package. It’s more what can we do to fix the problem without Tebow at this point.
I’d like to see a mix of counters and some straight pitches where we can utilize our athletic (yet massive) offensive linemen.
There is a RUMOR out that Trevor Pryce is working out for the broncos…..
This is what Mike Florio says about it:
The Baltimore Ravens have dumped veteran defensive lineman Trevor Pryce. Per a league source, the Ravens made the move in order to create a roster spot for safety Ken Hamlin, who was cut earlier this month. Pryce could return to the team as soon as next week.
Like others have said, the fadee to demaryous thomas was a wasted play. Going for it on 4th down wasnt bad tho.
But do you know what the most interesting thing is, besides Morenos diving touchdown, the only redzone running touchdown we got inside the 5 was when, they called a pass play with one RB and the defense responded with a pass defense, orton audibles, Buckhalter ran it in with no trouble. You dont always have to go with a big goal line formation on the goal line especially when it doesnt work for u. They fear the pass enough to come out in a pass D so we can run it in with ease
The crazy thing that gets me abut Quinn as the number two is…what does he offer that Orton isnt better than him at. Knowing that, we pretty much know, barring injury he definitely wont go in. TEBOW on the other hand, can run the ball very well and present the threat of pass. Something orton cant do so he ACTUALLY has a chance of having a package and playing. It just makes more sense to ALWAYS activate tebow. And wild horses whether he passed or ran, woulda been effective. especially if he ran on a poor colts defense. The most imagination McDaniels has used is that flee flicker in the 2nd game, and it worked. Best advice for McDaniels, stop being stubborn and predicatable. It is your greatest flaw. Besides, who drafts a first rounder and NOT use him….
while checking up on trevor pryce news, this is what he said about hillis.
Defensive end Trevor Pryce said Hillis didn’t just use his size to his advantage.
“He’s a big back, but I don’t think people understand that he’s a fast back,” Pryce said. “As big as he is, once you get 250pounds rolling fast, it’s hard to stop that train. He was able to get a full head of steam, and once you get a full head of steam, he wins. And we didn’t tackle very well. But we’ll get it fixed.”
Happy for him like Baylin, but definitely miss him. He is however on my fantasy team and my madden franchise, along with Marshall
so its like i still have them, LMAO. go broncos.
ya, as much as I want to see tebow play, I kinda agree with atwater when he said that it would be the best idea long term to let tebow learn the qb position. The sooner he does that the sooner he can take over and start wining games for us
Of all the players we traded away it`s Hillis that I miss the most. Trading Hillis was our biggest mistake. So congrats to Hillis with his success so far and congrats also to Brandon Stokely on going the Seahawks. Stoked for Stokely.
My prediction for this weeks game is Bronco`s win this one 31-20
I think Tebow is one of the few exceptions to first rounders being drafted and not used. He is basically the highest drafted developmental prospect in the history of NFL drafts. The Aaron Rodgers argument always seems to apply but I don’t want to beat a dead horse with that point.
Tebow succeeding or failing will be McD’s legacy, I don’t think McD wants to run his brand new car into the Ray Lewis’ and Jerome Harrison’s as a running back. Tebow gets hurt and takes forever to develop, McD looks like an idiot
Atwater, that is if McD doesn’t look like one already. LOL I also agree with strand. I loved having Hillis as a Bronco. Very hard headed and dumb to trade him for someone we will never use. The fact is that McD didn’t use Hillis when he was here (refer to my first sentence) and that was dumb in its own right.
Cox has lost the punt return job due to his fumble and Royal has gotten the job back.
I am somehow surprised by this, I understand it because what Cox did was unforgettably dumb, but Cox’s strength coming out of OSU was definitely his electrifying returns, and having Royal not return punts showed how much value he could bring to the slot position. Last week when Royal took over duties with punt returns, he was pretty much out of the game plan after that. I think this is another one of those now common theme knee jerk reaction from McD. Always looking at what can help right here right now short term without thinking of the ramifications long term. If anyone at any other job on the planet was demoted for one single mistake, no one in this world would ever have a chance to advance in life.
Boy do I wish McD had people skills and long term vision wisdom, but it seems like it would be two important traits he knows very little about. A simple talk to straighten Cox over the importance of that fumble to me seems to be the only way for our team to grow, but nooo, demote the guy, send him to the doghouse, like so many others, how big is that doghouse I keep hearing about anyway? LOL.
Which brings up a good point:
Why is it we are always asked to have patience about what McD is doing rebuliding our team while McD himself over and over shows he has none?
Good question indeed.
I concur Baylin (as I almost always do). That is pretty drastic to take the duty away from Cox and give it to someone who has a huge role for us as our slot reciever. We cannot afford to have Royal getting burned out by being responsible for punt returns and our starting slot guy. I am continuously baffled by some of the decisions that coach is making. McD has a tough job. I can’t think of anyone besides the president who is constantly evaluated and ridiculed like a head coach. But hey, he wanted the job right. We got rid of a coach who usually made good decisions (besides the getting the right DC in), and now we have a coach who stubbornly makes decisions that just seem dumb to most fans. And many of the fans are pretty knowlegeable about football and know a “no brainer” decision when they see one. It’s hard to be patient right now with some of the decisions being made regarding a team that we all obviously love.
BTW, Broncos win this one 28-21 because no matter what I LOVE ME SOME DENVER BRONCOS…
I’m starting to think that McD coming out of N-E is a real big hindrance to him and us, I mean he acts as if he demands to have a perfect team, let’s face it while McD was in N-E he did have as close a perfect team as you’re gonna get, so he goes on with that in his head and expects perfection here too.
NEWSFLASH! this not a perfect world, everybody makes mistakes, you just work with them you just don’t take them out of circulation like he did Hillis and forget about them, what kind of coaching is that, coaches don’t give up on players, they coach them to be better, our roster is nearly half new players for each year he has been here now, and this is a good thing? Last year I buy the firts year having some cleaning up to do thing, but this year? and it keeps going on as the year goes on…
At one point he will have to take a look in the mirror and realize that to win is not just about x’s and o’s, it’s about retaining a bunch of good men and turn them into what they can be, not just having men who are hopefully good enough to run everything the way you want them to, and if they don’t, even just one time, go another route. Sorry guys, that makes no sense at all, I just don’t see how in the wolrd the morale can be good in that locker room, everybody must be looking behind his back constantly just to see if they are about to be stabbed, very sad. Hope I’m all wrong, but I doubt it, in my own life I’ve been pretty good at anticipating problems way before they are in the forefront, a must for any business owner, and I see players/coach problems on the horizon because McD is not growing in his .