To answer the rhetorical question once posed by the late baseball broadcaster Jack Buck, “No, I can’t believe what I just saw.” I am at once amazed while simultaneously mystified at how the Broncos could struggle so mightily against the Patriots.
Clearly the Patriots were ready to play. Their intensity was evident. Their desire was clear. Their execution was nearly flawless.
But this was still a team playing without its star quarterback, Tom Brady. This was still a team whose defense hadn’t shown itself to be dominating.
And the Broncos never gave themselves a chance.
That’s the most maddening part about Monday night’s Boston Massacre, a 41-7 loss to the Patriots in which the Broncos committed five turnovers and couldn’t stop a castoff running back, Sammy Morris, who topped 100 yards in the first half and finished with a career-high 138 rushing yards on the night.
No one person gets the blame for any loss (or any win, for that matter), but when Broncos’ running back Andre Hall fumbled the ball away on Denver’s first possession, a lot of wind went out of the Broncos’ sails. They had been moving the ball steadily and then all of a sudden, they were playing defense.
Whatever wind was left in their sails seemingly disappeared all together when Hall gave the ball away on the Broncos’ second series. Give credit to the Broncos’ defense for holding the Patriots to field goals after those first two giveaways. But the damage was done. I can only imagine what might have been had the Broncos put points on the board on one or both of those first two drives.
The problem is we’ll never know what might have happened. The Broncos did not play well at all and now they get to think about it before trying to turn things around on Sunday, November 2 against Miami.
As someone posted last week, the sky isn’t exactly falling. There is no doubt the Broncos have plenty to fix, with reducing turnovers and finding something resembling a run defense at the top of the list.
But I always look for the bright spot, and the fact remains the Broncos are still leading the AFC West. I agree that’s not the greatest accomplishment given the relative mediocrity of the division, but it is true nonetheless. What is also true is the fact that the Broncos have to play better football.
They get a week to lick their wounds, clear their heads, and refocus before trying to turn talk into action. The bye comes at a great time. Some key players have a chance to heal up and everyone can take a moment to exhale and return ready to make a playoff push over the final nine games.
The season is hardly lost. In fact, it is just getting started. There is no great team in the NFL. Who thought the Tennessee Titans would be the last remaining undefeated team? Who thought the Chargers would be 3-4, the Colts 3-3, the Cowboys 4-3 and reeling, and the Bills 5-1?
That’s what I thought. Not too many hands are raised.
But let’s forget about all the other teams. The Broncos have plenty of things to straighten out.
Given what happened Monday night, a few days off sounds like a great place to start.
Now that the bye week is here, what non-football fun can you recommend to the Broncos to clear their minds?
Have a great week enjoying the other NFL games. Early next week, I’ll look ahead to the rest of the season.
Thanks for reading and I look forward to your thoughts.
Sincerely,
Mike
Tags: 2008, Denver Broncos, New England Patriots
Run Defense. The Broncos are a very quick defense. All it takes is a little offensive misdirection and the offensive line have the advantage. One way to take away the effectivness of misdirection is to employ the use of Tom Landry’s Flex Defense. Keep a couple DL one yard off the line of scrimmage. That gives them more reaction time and better angles.
Allan Correa
Paso Robles, CA
Well Mr. Rice I think the Broncos need to go fishing. The sound of moving water usually helps me clear my mind.
EMBARRASING!!!!!!!! THANK GOD WE HAVE A BYE WEEK.. How can I get excited anymore over a Broncos game after that… that… abomination??? I think I might trade the fishing pole for golf clubs monodon… let the mind settle and come back… lol
I think Shanny’s face said it all after Hall fumble the second time. Has someone played a madden fumblitis cheat card on our team or what??
Regroup…Recover….Respond!!
This team is the brunt of many National radio shows this morning. What a total embarrasement. Oh but I have the solution lets fire coach Slowvik because Shanahan needs another scapegoat.. I am sorry bringing in Robertson, B Bailey, McCree, Manual, Niko K, and Lowry have been all fine pick ups, what a joke. The Mastermind is at work because he can make an average player great, just ask him.
Lets not forget about moving up to get Moss and Thomas in the draft two years ago. Crowder is also a fine player. We need serious help on this team.
I am not saying Shanahan needs to go but , I will say one playoff win since #7 Left
Good Luck!!!!!!!
this is embarassing for all bronco fans. this defense is the worst defense i have ever seen. beside champ and dj there is nobody worth keeping. tell me why we let lynch and hamza go, the safties we have now are the worst in the nfl. dre bly is so over rated and needs to be traded at the end of the season. shanny didnt want to sign any big name players during the off season, why? cutler needs to keep his mouth shut and play ball. this team is to soft and guys get hurt to easy. call lynch tell him to come back and when the season is over be aggressive and go get some players that will help the team win. and when the draft comes take the best defensive player availalbe, doesnt matter what position we need help at every position. im praying that torian is who coach thinks he is and that the rest of the offense can stay healthy its our only chance.
If we look at this as it is, we have only out played 2 teams this year, Oakland, and Tampa all the other games we got out played and got a lucky win,
Instead of 4-3 we should be 2-5, but the worst is this, if you can not stop the run, if you can not stop the pass, and if you can not stop the turn overs, if you can not score which we have not done lately then how can you WIN!!!!!
This hurts me to say but I would be very surprised if we WIN!!! another game this year,
I think you have all of trainning camp to get it right, our next game will be game number 8 and you are telling me now we are going to turn it on, yes I know that teams can catch fire in the 2nd half of the season but what have you seen that will make you think that we are on the up swing, we are in deep deep deep deep trouble,
I said this before we will get a top 10 draft choice.
Well if you want to quit on your team go ahead, If you think it all falls on Shanahan then by all means it is your call. Take a hard look around the NFL, you all act like the Bronco’s are the only team that is struggling, get real. If the superbowl was invitation only by national radio and tv, they would have selected the Pat’s and Cowboys, who gives a flip what the local and national press thinks anyway. The praise them lump on changes as the day goes on , and what ever makes their numbers jump or what reaction they get from the readers, viewers, and bloggers. They need to play as a team, no one player makes everything happen, live and die as a team. The head coach is always responsible for what happens, the coaches under him have their responsibility to him, what they do or don’t do, reflects on Shanahan as he is the head coach. Maybe Mike Nolan can come help trying to figure out what to do, he was a very good defensive coordinator before he became a head coach. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to try and pick individuals that will fit within your system, and then get them to work with other players, tough enough in high school athletics to get right mix of players. Something has got to change, this team has too much potential to waste, but the rest of the season starts in two weeks, hope they can turn it around.
I believe we have a team that is not playing to full potential, obvious huh. I know these last couple of games we’ve had some key injuries, and that doesn’t make it any easier to win a game. However, when injuries happen other players need to step up. Hall had a great chance to step up and contribute to the running game instead he contributed to the teams horrible turnover differential. Lowry had a great chance to show he could be a physical force at safety instead he missed some key tackles and took some poor angles. Now I know it is easy to talk about what should and shouldn’t be done to overcome these past shortcomings we’ve been having, but I believe and hope we will. First I think we need some people to step up and be a vocal leader for our team. I don’t think we have had that this year yet. I know we have some great veteran leadership but we need someone to say “hey do your job” both verbally and by actions. Lynch was a great leader on and off the field. His physical playing style I felt helped the team feel they could play against anyone. He wasn’t afraid to help players with their responsibilities. I think that the team followed him. Well he’s gone, sadly, but maybe we should give him a call…..
I feel that we need someone to start taking this role. I watch the way Cutler carries himself as a person and I feel like sometimes he doesn’t care. I watched his post-game interview and he acted like my niece and she is 4 years old. As the teams QB I feel that this is the appropriate position for leadership. If I remember right this position was once filled by one of the greatest Bronco leader of all time. He played and he played for his team and he lead for his team and he took great pride in his team. That’s what Cutler needs to do, instead of acting like a baby.
We have the talent I think what we lack is a little bit of leadership. Just my thoughts. Go Broncs!!!!!
I agree that this was an embarrassment. If we don’t stop the pass and especially the run, we will lose. And we need to stop turning the ball over and stop committing stupid penalties because we are killing ourselves out there. But at least we have the bye to get healthy and work on our mistakes. And after the bye we should get Torrain back and Young too so we will have more depth at running back. And we will get Scheffler too which will help our offense alot and hopefully the Bailey bros will be healthy by then too. And put McCree back out there because Lowry is worse. And even with this loss, we are still number 1 in our division and pretty much everyone else in the AFC is below .500, so even if we don’t get the division title, we can still probably get a wild card spot in the playoffs.
And our defense got 6 sacks so that’s a plus.
OOOOOOO ma goodness! someone needs to go this is redickerous! i dont know wat the Broncos r gonna do they are now 4-3 wen they were 4-1 couple weeks ago! if they wouldve won chargers wouldve been behind 2 GAMES! does Shanny need to start cutting people, cause most of our defensive unit in my opinion needs to go! i love broncos but this is making me sick! i understand football teams are gonna have problems but Broncos has been having this problem wat 3 4 yrs! enough is enough! shanny needs to basically say play well and represent this team or get out! and the offense ooo man, ryan, and selvin please come back! tony, brandon too! andre hall im sorry u need to only be punt return! Broncos WILL NOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS WITH THIS DEFENSE! .
we need someone on this team to be a leader we can change this attitude now. losing the way we lose is unacceptable. maybe jay and whoever else on this team might consider playing a couple games for free i dont blame nobody but the players we need to get players that care about football instead of the paycheck. were i work its about working hard and getting paid. here its like i just need to show up. jay just be yourself you are a great talent. let the news media blow and go. you just stay focused on what you can do to make this year great for this team. i am behind the broncos now and forever go broncos.
I think we are all behind our Broncos, but RayRay, Razor Ramone is right, this has been going on far to long,
every year everybody runs all over us, if all of our team was on the field and no one hurt, it would still end the same in the NFL you must play defence, yes 6 sacks, everybody Sacks the Pats just as everyone runs on us,
we gave up 34 to KC, and in their last 2 games after that they scored I think 10 points or something like that.
Now the Broncos have a bye so lets see if the Pats score more than 20 I bet not, gang we have given up 30 plus in all but 2 games. WOW!!!!!
Oh boy. What can I say, I ended up so angry and frustrated last night I had absolutely no words. Now that its the day after and I’m haunted by nightmares, I’ve got enough words to put someone to sleep… which I’m sure will happen by the time I’m done writing this.
So here we go… my novel.
As Rice stated and so have many others including myself, we can’t blame this loss or any loss on any one person. We can’t push this whole thing on Hall or Cutler or Shanny or some individual. This is a TEAM loss. Every loss and win is by the TEAM’s doing. No individual can take the entire blame for this. They wouldn’t take the credit all to themselves if we had won and as we did yesterday, no one would want to take the full blame for a loss like this. As irritating and frustrating and embarrassing as this game was they can recover from this. I’m not sure if they were thinking about the bye coming up and all they wanted to do was just get this game over with but if that’s the case they did a fine job of not showing up and doing their jobs.
Many things hurt us and every little thing that could have possibly happened to us DID happen. We got a bit of everything and that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Penalities – Absolutely killed us, not as much as turnovers obviously but they killed us pretty good. It seems so fishy enough that ever since that Hail Mary of a call from the ref against the Chargers, the refs have been trying to get back at us. Now, we may have earned some of those penalties but certainly not all of them. There were some terrible calls on us and calls that should have been made against NE but never happened.
Turnovers – What a horrible word. Everytime I hear it I cringe. All I can really say is that it needs to get fixed and EVERY SINGLE PERSON on the planet knows it. Sometimes people don’t think much of it till the turnover turnover turns into points and if it keeps happening those points add up over time. No one thinks much of 3 points but when it keeps on going and the problem doesn’t get fixed those points turn into a win. Out of those 41 points for NE, I know I lost track, but how many of those were points off turnovers by us??? I’m sure that’s a statistic I don’t want to know.
Offense – Incredible at Week 1 but took a major flush down the toilet as the weeks went on. Yeah, we won the first 3 games but we all know the win against the Chargers shouldn’t have happened for us. That was pure luck, my friends!!! As was the win against the Saints. We got real lucky and from there we changed, why I couldn’t be the one to tell you. We couldn’t have been more rock solid offensively against the Raiders and I was so sure that was how our offense was going to play all season long and I certainly got my hopes up way too soon. The offense got showed up by the Pats… honestly I don’t think we played that bad on either side of the ball BUT their defense & offense just outplayed us BIG time. Their D read Cutler like Champ does for us. Those passes that were picked off could and should’ve been caught but their D was reading Cutler and very well obviously. I can’t explain it… I don’t know every detail of what was going on but I wish I could just for my sanity.
I still have faith in Cutler, he is the best QB we’ve had since Elway. I can’t & won’t deny that. However, it seems lately he’s getting a little too cocky for this offense. I just can’t believe he said that his arm strength is better than Elway’s. Yeah, the kid can throw a football and its very impressive but comparing yourself to a Hall of Fame QB like that, a living legend – WAY too cocky for me. I give credit to him for having confidence but he’s pushing it and if it doesn’t stop he’s going to start turning this team into the kind of cockiness the Cowboys are known for and I HATE them Cowboys. I don’t want to watch this talented QB turn into a Terrell Owens, I can’t stand that guy because he takes confidence and turns it into a larger than life ego. The Broncos have always been better than that and I’m not looking for a change in that area.
Defense – played fairly well till we couldn’t hold them to field goals anymore. At some point we just let them run all over us and that’s exactly what they did. We have to work just as hard to fix the defense problems as much as the offensive problems we have. Every team has problems including the Titans… just because their 6-0 doesn’t mean their a perfect team… I don’t know what but they’ve got problems of their own. I just found it fascinating then irritating that we sacked Cassel, what 6 times I counted, but we couldn’t do anything else hardly. If I had a choice, I’d rather have our D stop their run than get 6 sacks and get creamed 41-7. Oh, man just writing that gave me shivers. Sorry to have to remind everyone of that.
Injuries – As for Champ, I hope he gets well enough to come back after the bye. Same goes for Boss. Champ is hands down one player we can’t afford to lose the rest of the season or even multiple games. We NEED him. For the time he was in this game, he was the star. He played his heart out. What I want to know is where was the heart or the drive to win in all the other players? I hope and pray Torain can come back for Miami or maybe the week after, sooner than later would be GREAT!! I’m sure Scheffler will be back by Miami and I hope Stokley comes back soon as well.
I can’t imagine I left anything out but I’m sure I did. During the bye, these guys need to do a little relaxing just lose any thoughts of this game from their minds. They can’t afford to dwell on this. Its been in my mind all day long but as the players they need to shake this more than I need to. They have to come back to play in 2 weeks, this horrible mess of a game can’t linger in their minds for much too longer. They can’t afford it, and as fans we can’t afford it. I know all in Broncos Country are counting on this TEAM to work as a TEAM and bring home more wins than losses. I was born with Orange & Blue blood like many here I’m sure and I want to see this team succeed more than anything. I love this team, I was born practically right next to the stadium, this team is in my blood for the rest of my life.
This team is better than what they showed us last night. I now have much higher expectations for this team after the bye. I expect against Miami to come out STRONGER than ever. I expect to see a whole brand new team. Alright, I’m done, believe it or not. Hope you enjoyed the novel for those with the attention span long enough to read this.
THE END
P.S. GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!
Everybody run, the sky is falling !!!! Oh wait, actually Denver only lost a football game. If they come out of the bye with 3 straight wins and Cutler pumps 10 TDs, the world will be back on axis.
The only hope for the Denver is two-fold: do the fundamental things right and adopt a nasty attitude (see comments, Bailey, Champ). I realize it’s a team game but the defense needs to make it one on one, just beat (or don’t get beat) by your man. A nasty attitude doesn’t mean a highlight hit, it means putting the guy on the ground and beating the guy in front of you.
The offense should, by now, have realized they’re not as good as they thought when everyone told them they were the 07 Patriots. So, prepare better, stop the stupid mistakes, and play with attitude.
As a team, stop excusing away the mistakes and using them as excuses. Listen to Champ, Wiegman, Hamilton, and simply refuse to quit/refuse to lose and impose your will on the result. Roger Penske lives by the motto, “Effort equals results” and he applies that to each phase, not just game (race) day.
i agree with the bad refs since that game. i believe i said that in the live game blog but, i think that needs national attention like that one bad call, we lost the jags game because of bogus calls when the game was on the line i wanna be a ref if you can just call penalties on the team you dont like. Im ready for torain and im praying for champ we need to lose a te or 2 and get a corner. when champ and bly were both down i thought there goes the season. We need improvements fast but were still in first so lets shape it up or pack it in like the chiefs and get a good draft pick lol
The guys played like they didn’t trust themselves or their teammates. They hesitated instead of sticking it to the Pats. Sure, we had some great hits and great plays, but one aw s#*t (in this case 5) will blow all that away.
You guys are my team. I wish I could give you a “do-over” but I can’t. All that’s left now is pride. I know you have it in you.
Jim Kennedy
Harsh comments. I agree that the New England game was really bad, but no worse than all the other games this year. Denver’s defense has been the worst in the league all year long. I don’t care if the D is ranked 30th and not 32nd. They are by far the worst D in the league. We have a good offense to thank for that because if they didn’t sustain drives and put up points, then our defensive rankings would likely be way worse.
It is really sad to watch all this talent underachieve. I truly believe we have the best cornerback in Champ, but we are still awful against the pass. All the players keep saying that the defenders are out of their gaps, so it can be fixes. When. If they haven’t learned by now, I don’t think it will change. We can’t stop the run or the pass, and when we do we have stupid penaties.
What is different than last year or year before that. This defense has sucked for years. We get a new defensive coordinator every year, but it doesn’t matter. We have good corners, good linebackers, but that is it. WE NEED DOMINANT DEFENSIVE LINEMAN. How long are we going to watch this experiment fail. Now we are switching back and forth between a 4-3 and a 3-4. Nothing has changed. We still can’t stop the run or get pressure on the QB with our line alone. I know we had 6 sacks on Monday, but most of those were Cassels fault. He holds the ball too long. If that were Brady, it may have been 71-7.
There is one positive though. At least the coaching staff realized they needed to blitz a little bit more. We are at least getting some pressure on the QB by doing this. The problem is we still give up too many big plays. But at least it is better than letting the opposing QB have 7-8 seconds to pass like in the New Orleans game.
Give Jay Cutler a break. He and the offense are the only bright spots on this team. He didn’t play well yesterday, but he was injured. I have done the same thing to my finger playing. It really makes it tough to throw, and you could see that in his finger. Realistically, this was Jays only bad game. The guy is good. He doesn’t need to throw 3TDs and 300 yards every game. Other people have to step up.
I think the offense will be OK once we get a few weapons back. They probably won’t score 30 points every game, but few team do. Anyone who thinks that the offense isn’t under extreme pressure is crazy. They know that they MUST score a lot or we have no chance. I think that is why we see a lot of turnovers after we have put together a good drive already. Their is an urgency to score because they know the defense can’t do the job. Give the Offense a break.
I hate to say it because I like Shannahan. I always defend him as a coach. However, it is time to make a move and get a couple of PROVEN DEFENSIVE LINEMAN. The experiment isn’t working with the young guys. I would keep Ekuban and Dumerville and dump the rest. There have been good guys on the market, but we have done nothing. This is what we need. One last thing. If players have been out of their gaps since the preseason, then WHY are they STILL playing. Give other guys a chance. Who cares if they aren’t as talented. We need guys to play their role of D. Being out of your gap consistently suggests stupidity in the learning process at this point or selfishness in trying to make plays. Do your role defenders.
Calvin Lowry wasnt much of an improvement. He flat out sucked so did the whole defense. We shouldn’t of gotten rid of Hamza or Foxworth.
This team has been too cerebral for too long. We have too many technicians. We need to coach who can step in and fire up a team like a Cowher or a Schottenheimer….. an emotional guy. Knoll and Knox as coaches struggled after they became over the hill as a coaches as Shanny now does. Their greatness became mediocrity. Shanny’s blindspot is now exposed. He continues to ignore outright special teams where the guys are just getting by. The Bears believe on every punt that they will block it or return it for a TD and they hit, block and run with that intensity. Shanny also cannot figure out the defense at all. All we need is average D. My opinion is to blitz like we did in the SB years. If our strength is our quickness at LB and our corners who cover than blitz and put pressure on Bailey….. at least the pressure is now on the best guy to cover one on one. Also get rid of the safety covering up on the run. If we do that than bring Lynch back to play only short yardage situations. Our offiense is ok but we need a bonifide running threat. Pittman is good but not good enough to keep a safety from worrying. If we do not make the playoffs and implode I do not see how we can keep Shanny. We are a young team but ….. A minimum move would be to take the GM job from Shanny.
How many Bronco fans Would LOVE to see JOHN LYNCH back? I am no coaching expert, lets get that clear, but our safeties are terrible. John would bring life to our defence on the field and off. I think he is a spark that we have been missing. Manuel and Lowry tackled their own players more than the patriots last night. Please bring back Lynch.
p.s.
Does anyone else think that Martinez should be doing our punt and kickoff returns?
I would definitely second that B-Marsh=#1. We should have never let Lynch go. Yeah, he’s up there in age but he wasn’t done here as far as his job. He still had plenty to give to this team and we let him go. BIG mistake.
And I also agree with you that Martinez should take those jobs to do our punt & kickoff returns. Other than Selvin Young, he’s the best one we have for those positions. You were right on the money B-Marsh=#1.
GO BRONCOS!!!!!
07elway is this all you do is blog on this website your crazy you should be coaching the team with how much time and effort you put into it your crazy.
i agree, bring Lynch back!! sure he’s lost a step, but just his presence over the middle of the field and in the running game will help the D get better, not to mention his knowledge of the game and his leadership
also time to throw away the idea of the broncos being a 3-4 defence, it got the sacks but also allowed all the big running plays
I’m glad the by week is here. We need to get healthy so thats important.
On the upside I think that Cutler is still a great QB and he will bounce
back. Also I think Ryan Clady is playing lights-out right now! Clearly I
think he was the best o-lineman in the draft. B-Marsh is simply amazing
and it will be even better when Stokely gets back. Royal is playing as
good as anyone right now and Scheffler will be back. Defensively, I don’t
know where to start except I think that something major has to change.
DOOM, D.J., and Champ are the only ones worthy of starting! On special
teams . . . . . . Please put Royal in to return kicks and punts! Thats why we
drafted him. Anyone but Hall! Like Marshall said, ” We need to find out
what kind of team we wanna be.” Get mad and do something about being
the laughing stock of the NFL, and take it out on your opponents! Have a
good by week.
DO SOMETHING ON DEFENSE!
Go Broncos!
Lowry was the worst safety i had ever seen.
what happened to Mcree?
the first thing i got is how about espn get rid of tony “i make stupid unfunny comments” cornhiser cause the idot doesn’t know football, actually he reminds me of a guy that used to be in that spot by the name of dennis miller, they should have mike mike and mike do monday night football they did a good job. Now that i got that out of the way, it wasn’t all the defences falt, the six turnovers that the offense had put the d in a bind, the people that really think the broncos aren’t going to win another game are stupid and need to stop writing on here cause they don’t know football either. granted i dre bly is overrated and we should have traded him but after this season how many teams do you think are gonna want to pick him up after he has been burned all season and its 7 games in. dj williams needs help, he is a lot better when he is not the focal point of the linebacker core, just cause he got moved back to out side backer he still has the same job as the middle backer just moved over 6ft. randy moss didn’t do anything against champ except one catch for 9 yards so champ is good. at saftey how about we get ride of manual who can’t tackle and he over pursues put mcree back there along with barret, that has to be the best for this season but we need a fast saftey actually a cover saftey as for the d line dumerville is a beast he needs to stay along with robertson and marcus thomas and the other end how about we put crowder their he did good last year, i think the bigger weakness other then saftey is linebackers not our d line imean look at boss bailey he has got hurt in every single game he has played in, nate webster has put some good hits on people but he over pusues way to much and he tries to arm tackle. as for most of the d wrap up the legs stop trying to go for a hit up high cause it doesnt work if you havent noticed. offense HOLD ON TO THE F’ING BALL this is pathetic you get paid to play a game that i for one would do for free and still play the best i could, how about you guys play as good as you get paid. dre bly was right on one thing the refs are making up for calls and its bull crap, jay cutler should have a talk with the refs and say hey you call this game fair and if i doesn’t happen then i would love to see the refs get nocked in the mouth on “accident” the last thing i have is we are still in the lead in the west, we are not the worst team in the NFL, screw this 32nd ranked pass d or what ever, lets do what ever we have to, to win the game if that means we have to “get lucky” like a lot of poeple say then so be it, lets go broncos, strap up the chin strap, hold on to the ball and play like you love the game and not like a bunch of over paid “i’m gonna give this player on the other team a hug” pussies. oh and good job O line keep it up
That game last nite was awful…..41-7….c’mon…Andre Hall had 2 costly fumbles..and..Jay Cutler said he has a stronger arm than the legend John Elway…where was his arm when the broncos needed it…Patrick Ramsey did better the series he was in…thats a joke….Jay should have kept his mouth shut…..He hasn’t won a super bowl…last nite Jay tried 2 make big play…when he throw his first interception of the nite..he had 2 broncos open….the broncos should stop going for big plays and just play some damn football…the big plays will come 2 them but they have 2 be patient….On the other hand…Randy Moss knew he couldn’t do anything against Champ Bailey…..Champ is the real deal in Denver right now….along with Marshall
PLEASE CUT ANDRE HALL! HE IS A PATHETIC RUNNING BACK!!!!!
Once Torain is ready to go hall must be cut. And pleaaaaaase put Barrett on the team and get rid of Lowry. He had so many oppurtunities to stop someone last night and just blew it. He is our worst pickup by far.
Ok, I GIVE! I love Shanny but… When EVERY part of your game is suspect… (nice job O-line) It’s time to blame the coaching. I saw not a single clever call. I saw precious few halftime adjustments. As I’ve said in every post I’ve …posted… Shanny needs to hire and hand over the reigns to the defense and shut his mouth about it for two years at least!!! It takes time to gel in this ultra competitive league!
I’m sorry Shanny, that was ANOTHER poorly prepared poorly coached team we watched last night. It would be one thing if this season turned out to be a failure…. It’s hard to win in this league…. BUT IF THE FAILURE LOOKS LIKE LAST NIGHT… OR ANY OF THE TOTAL LET DOWNS WE’VE BEEN SEEING! KICK SHANNY’S ASS DOWN THE ROAD!!! WHERE’S THE BLUE & ORANGE HEART?????
btw Please prove to me how good a coach I think you can be!!??
Oh yeah, nice to see Champ in coverage instead of stopping the run. He’s still the Champ. Get well please Champ?
That was a tough one but 2 bright spots:
1) We just saw the last of Andre Hall. He decided to give up his job to Ryan Torrain. We all know what happened to Quinton Griffon right. Shanny can and will not tolerate that crap.
2) We have a bye to get healthy and Jay’s finger isnt broken.
All is not lost, but we are on the brink of giving away the division to the Chargers. We have 2 MAYBE 3 games we can afford to lose now. Margin for error is shrinking. Lets go out and TCB at home vs Miami and show the nation who the Broncos REALLY are on Thurs night vs Cleveland. From then on, every game is against a decent opponent. We will know for sure if we are contenders by then. Let’s get to 6-3 and we’ll see……..
My momma always said “if you can’t say something nice , then you shouldn’t say nothing at all”. Guess I’ll take mom’s advice for now…….
07elway – I have asked that you replace Rice as a blogger lol
John Lynch can tackle, John Lynch can inspire, John Lynch can lead, John Lynch can think, John Lynch can read the offence.. ALL THESE THINGS our current Saftey stock cannot do!
We should have made a play for Samuels, Bly is well… over rated…
Our O-Line preformed well despite allowing 3 sacks. If Culter was on-song NE would not have blitzed…
Two weeks till we play Miami(?) Im not looking forward to hat as I think that wild cat play will make our D look worse (if thats at all a possibility)
Alright… Im worried about the whole wild cat offense that the dolphins have going right now but we can beat them if we play solid. we would have torain, stokley, and scheffler back. Im not sold on selvin young at all, i think we should keep pitman at starting rb. Oh, and to answer your questions about how to solve our defensive problems, shanny needs to not be scared to go out and get big players. We need to push to get ALBERT HAYNESWORTH this off season. And also, like I said before, TRADE BLY, along with some picks to move up and get LAURINITIS
Guys, I have been saying for weeks now that our defense sucks. We do not have the players (except for a couple) that have the ability. We have a defense full of backups. Why not start Larsen, Wesley, Williams and Barret. At lease these guys would get better each game and who knows, by the end of the season we might be good on defense. It sure beats giving up 400+yards every game. Go figure
Heh Squil One question do you believe everthing that is written in the paper or stated in the news to be 100% truth! If you have a little doubt, maybe you should rethink just how much Jay Cutler said or how he said it or maybe he was joking. If you believe everthing that is stated then listen only to Tony Kornhaiser, he is full of s*** and will give everything you want to hear. Why do you think he keep pounding on the last night he wants to make things controversial, so you will stay tuned to his show!! Enough time wasted on that Go Cutler and kick a** Broncos
As Broncos fans we should all feel embarressment at that display we saw last night I don’t live in Denver so today at work i got it good. What could i say the team looked terrible. in all aspects of the game. I know or team is way better than what they been showing these past two weeks. the bye could not come at a better time. Its like having a time out in Basketball the team needs to sit back and refocus on what they need to do. In the broncos case the need to do some deep soul searching. When I saw Hall fumble the ball on the first drive I told my wife they are going to lose the game. I know we all been blaming the D and we should but those turnover our just DEADLY we just can’t recover from them. The D stood tall and forced two field goals. that could of easily could of been TD. but still those Fumbles just stopped all the momentem if any we had going into the game. We made the Patriots look like a super Bowl contender. I not going to go into detail about the game. We all saw it we all know what is wrong and its lots. But i’m a guy that looks at the glass as half full We are still leading in the division and there really is no team playing really well. Thank god! I still love the Broncos and i will still cheer for them every sunday.
CUT ANDRE HALL!
IMPROVE THE DEFENSE!
CUT CALVIN LOWRY!
IMPROVE THE DEFENSE MORE!
BRING BACK JOWN LYNCH OR JOSH BARRETT!
FIND REAL PLAY MAKERS THAT WANT TO STEP UP!
Thats what we need to be doing on our 2 weeks off or else we will be embarassed again by the MIAMI DOLPHINS!
WOW!!! so much negativity….not good..yes it sucks, and yes the defense looked bad especially against run, but cmon, the broncos drove the field on first two drives and hall fumbled, plus cutler hurt his finger on first play, and we didnt have stokley the slot machine, and scheffler, which woulda opened that offense up…if bailey and the other guys are all healthy for week 9, mark my words…watch out dolphins!!!! broncos will put up more than 30 points that game and get back to form…just pray for the defense to do something, like tackle…and i want to know why mcree is not playing, and dont like lowry, but would love to see josh barrett come up, loved him at asu in college..so broncos, get rested and see u week 9 at home, and show your fans, what they wanna see….
Everyone is saying that Denver is crazy for letting Lynch go, but he wasn’t happy here and he said that he only wanted to leave because he thought Denver wasn’t going to be a contender this year so he wanted out. But now that we are still in the race, maybe he wouldn’t mind coming back and he would give our D some much needed leadership and run stopping capability. And activate Barret from the practice squad.
FIRST OF ALL I WANT TO SAY JAY CUTLER STOP THROWING THE DEEP BALL DOWN THE FIELD ON 3RD AND 3 AND WHO CARES IF U GOT A STRONGER ARM THEN JOHN ELWAY JUST WIN.2ND FIRED SLOWIK AND TELL HIM TO SHOVE THAT DEFENSE UP U KNOW WHAT.3RD TELL DRE BLY HE SUCKS AND MAKE ME SICK.4TH IM TIRED OF DEFENSE SAYING WHAT THEY DID GOOD U DIDNT WIN AND U GAVE UP 41 POINTS TO MATT CASSEL WHO CARES IF U GOT 6 SACKS, RUN DEFENSE SUCKS.5TH BRING JOHN LYNCH BACK WE NEED HIM BAD. 6TH DONT EVER RUN ANOTHER 3-4 DEFENSE AGAIN
John Lynch will probably go to New England because Harrison got hurt.
Anyone saying get rid of Shanny, you’re an idiot. His only problem is he has handed out too much responsibility, and doesn’t seem to control the games like he used to. He needs to take back decision making from Slowik and Dennison. They also need to just go to a 3-4 defense. No more kinda running 3-4 kinda running 4-3 not really running anything. Everyone saying fire this guy, fire that guy, hire 10 new defensive players, guess what it’s week 8 not gonna happen!! We’re pretty much stuck with what we have until next year. Then we can dump half of them and hopefully pick up new guys. But they need to realize something.. you trade/draft guys to fit into a scheme. If you DON’T HAVE a scheme, it’s hard to do that!! They need more emotional leaders on defense. I think DJ and Champ are great, but obviously it’s not enough. After every sack and a defender got happy, i wanted to reach through the screen and punch them in the face. You do not get to celebrate ANYTHING during a game like that. Someone on the defense needs to actually get angry!! There is no fire or passion from most of the guys we have.
After bye week, look at it as we will still be in the top of our division and by finishing the season strong have a shot at playoffs. Offense needs to focus on being mistake-free and the defense needs to man up. Get mad, get angry, and hit somebody.
WOW ! ! !
Does everyone blog when the TEAM does bad?
Cutlers only bad game, really?
Bring in John Lynch, really?
The refs suck, really?
Fire Shanahan, really?
look this game left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth, but let’s be reasonable.
I did see a couple of good ideas, pick up Hainsworth not bad. Nice reed24.
Jay hold your mouth right, and make better choices, I like that one squil & columbusOHbronco.
To see the refs get knocked in the mouth “accidently” would be funny, but not a good idea bullridinmike27.
C2, put Royal into return, Great idea.
Refuse to quit refuse to lose impose your will on the result “Effort equals results” NICE Quote! bronco1263
Playing games for free I like it, go cutler.
Bring in Mike Nolan, works for me 47rocksurworld.
Allmost all pretty good ideas.
But one thing sticks in my ribbs the most.
Trade in the fishing pole for golf clubs Thats recockuless!!!!!!!!!!!!
One more thing GET WELL SOON BRONCOS
GO BRONCOS ! ! ! !
Sorry one more thing,
move A.Hall to practice squad & bring up some D help and commit to Pittman he deserves 25 carrys a game.
I was displeased with this performance, but we’ve got to move on. Let’s beat the Dolphins and go on a roll. I believe the next four games are all winnable, Miami, Cleveland, Atlanta and Oakland should all be victories. While the Falcons and Dolphins are young exciting teams, the Browns and Raiders are train wrecks. If the Broncos don’t turn the ball over, the success will return.
I was as upset with this game as any of you were. I drove 30 minutes HIGHWAY to my friends house to watch the game. At half time we went and got food at a restaurant I can NOT stand 10 minutes HIGHWAY away, 10 minutes HIGHWAY back. Then I left after our offense didn’t ammount anything on their first drive in the 4th quarter!
The thing is though, like I have said since the chargers game. Each ref will be sure to EVEN THE SCORE against the Broncos! One bad call like that in a teams favor OTHER THAN THE BELOVED PATS, equals one bad call against that team in every game remaining that season!
I have to say Lowry wasn’t much better, but I have to defend the guy because even though he missed the tackles that would have been HUGE! He was in position to make the tackle CORRECT? Can you really say that on key plays for McCree? Although McCree has had his moments, Manuel has not! Let’s find a combination of our “competition at safety” that works!
Also the defense gave up 6 points on two huge turnovers, I mean we were driving, had momentum and were gaining steam. It was a poor showing, but we are mostly looking at the end result! Effort = Results or whatever you said, we lost effort near the end. So you can’t put that whole result on the teams effort! It’s like Rice said, we like to think what would have happened if this or that, but we really don’t have any way of knowing or telling guys!
Think back a bit in the game, defense allows 6 points early on turnovers. Ok? Now correct me if I have this first part out of order, did we allow the rushing touchdown before or after Champ went out?
I have to say that I think it was before because we couldn’t stop the run as good as the college ref in the South Carolina v.s. LSU game! AND THATS SAD!
But when we really fell apart was when champ went out, we didn’t allow a passing touchdown til then. AND DID YOU NOTICE THEY WEREN’T RUNNING TOWARDS CHAMP EITHER? When they ran, they ran left, and they lined moss up on the right! They knew our plan, they knew we wanted to take Moss out of the game, so they planned around that which we didn’t expect the run as much as we got it.
Hey you said our defense is quick and a little mis direction and the offensive line wins!? Yeah that’s true probably most the time.
I have an anology for our defense, tell me what you think here. Now I don’t think Alex Smith is the best qb, not even close! But everyone jumps on his demise so much especially now that Nolan is gone. I say give the guy a break because he was injured a lot, his line didn’t play consistantly well, had he not been injured so much I’m willing to bet he would have battled David Carr as a Texan for the most sacks in a season!
BUT THE BIGGEST REASON TO GET OFF HIS BACK, is he has had a different offensive cordinator EVERY YEAR! Inconsistency at qb is lethal, but incosistency behind him is just as bad in my mind! When you are trying to learn a system in the nfl, it’s hard enough of a curve to begin with. Now imagine starting to pick it up, then at the end of the season you’re getting good at it and bam! New system to learn because of a new coach = a new system = a new game plan = a new philosophy!
The anology I am making that may have gotten lost is:
We have the same inconsistency in our Defense Cordinator! I remember DJ saying this year was a scheme where we wouldn’t have an O lineman on the MLB each time. A system they were more use to. I haven’t seen that because we ran the 3-4 so much. Our defense has the right players for the system we had back with Al Wilson! I think they need some consistency and time to develop and committ to a system. You keep injecting something into yourself for a year solid, then the next year you are injecting something else, your body is going to remember the previous stuff and be like well we use to do this, even though you’re trying to get it to do something else.
I think our team can turn this around, I think you take away the turnovers, 2 JUST TWO terrible calls the refs had, and the momentum never swings to the pats. And it’s a MNF’s 600th game to remember!
GO BRONCOS!
You could even just take away the first 2 turnovers with the 2 calls, and I think we honestly win the game. Maybe in overtime, but we win.
It would have been maybe anywhere from 14-6 to 6-6. I wont take away that the pats get atleast a field goal out of their first two possessions. But we would have got atleast 6 too if we didn’t have the first two t.o.’s and then the 2 calls that you take away: The Pass Interference on Marshall???? I MEAN WHERE WAS THAT CALL? That keeps a drive going and swings some much needed momentum, I mean it was what a 3rd and 12 that should have stayed being converted? And the second call being: If you call that on Marshall HOW DO YOU NOT CALL THE PUSH OFF MOSS HAD ON BLY FOR THE FIRST PASSING TD? I mean bly fell to his knees because of it!
That being said Rice, I think some things we can change as team would again be ball security, the madden fumblia bug has bitten and infected us. We can easily be back in games with that fix alone. We can also keep working guys to come back from injuries, that gives us a lot of options for valuable mis-matches.
Everyone says lynch to come back, it would be a good pick up for his vocal leadership on the field. I loved the audio feed of Al Wilson in that huddle we had on here when he announced his retirement! We need someone out there inspiring and barking orders that you fear in the huddle if you miss a gap. We aren’t containing our gaps, and as Al said “it’s not about you, it’s about the man next to you! Fly hard and play smart”
Lynch can do that, even if it is as just a safeties coach maybe? That being said I think bring Al on as a Linebackers coach! I don’t know who holds that spot, but Al would do one hell of a job! I think we just need to find something that fits our team, players, scheme, and goals THEN STICK TO IT!
Keep the faith guys, not many teams go from a sub .500 record to win the super bowl the next year. We are a work in progress and will be a force to reckon with for many years to come! I’d prefer a middle round draft pick after an improved season, to add more talent to our team to really contend next year! Going far into the post season is awesome and would love to see it, but with how we’ve struggled I would hate to see the season after that with LATE round picks all draft.
Why would we want to fire Shanny? They guy has gotten us two Super Bowl wins. A lot of times blame gets put on the coaching staff, need a new head coach, o-coordinator, d-coordinator, etc. Lets look at the real issue here, the PLAYERS. Shanny hasn’t changed the way he coaches, hasn’t changed his philosophy, his staff has changed some but he still coaches they same way he coached when Elway, Sharp, Atwater, Smith, and a number of other Broncos were playing but have since retired. I think the players just need to step up and start playing. They are just playing sloppy football now, penalties, turnovers, not getting off the field on 3rd down.
I know the coach has a lot to do with trust and motivation and off course coaching. The coach can only do so much, the players have to take responsibility and play to their potential.
I played high school football and our coach would always have comments or stories to get us motivated. The best one is the mirror test. If you can honestly look at yourself in the mirror and say I played my hardest and gave everything for my team, and left nothing on the field, than that is all you can ask for.
I know this is the NFL not high school but the same principles apply, I think we aren’t playing as a team. It looks like their playing just to get paid, or playing for their stats. I think we will regroup, and refocus and come out the 2nd half of the season the same team we were in the first quarter of the season. Healthier, more focused, and more cohesion as a team.
Go Broncos!!!!!!