Much like the preseason opener against San Francisco, the Broncos took some steps forward and also showed they have plenty to work on in preseason game number two.
For the second straight week, I liked the way the first-team offense moved the ball. That unit drove 78 yards in 12 plays and took nearly six minutes off the clock on its first possession and scored a touchdown after the Seahawks had taken an early lead.
Quarterback Kyle Orton completed passes to four different receivers on that drive and the Broncos gave a glimpse of how potent this passing game can be. Orton looked to be in total control on the drive and did again in leading the Broncos to a field goal on their second possession. An uncharacteristic penalty on tackle Ryan Clady put a serious damper on that series.
We know that Ken Lucas intercepted Orton’s awkward, left-handed pass in the Seattle end zone on the Broncos fourth possession. Let me again state the obvious: Orton cannot make that mistake. He knows that; we all know that.
At the same time, I take comfort in the fact that the drive was 14 plays, 86 yards and consumed seven minutes and 36 seconds. That is a terrific drive. Yes, I accentuate the positive. Despite the interception, Orton again showed me a lot on that drive. We know he has to clean up the turnovers and I believe he will.
Orton’s numbers and overall play was better than it was against the 49ers. All we have to go on is a couple of pre-season games and 18-of-26 passing for 182 yards with a touchdown and an interception is, in the big picture, a pretty good night in my book.
Was the offense great? By no means. Are there things to work on? You bet. But with two preseason game to go, I am encouraged by the way the offense has played. I would like to see the running game kick in a little but I’m not too concerned right now. There are likely a multitude of reasons the Broncos threw the ball more than they ran. I still believe they’ll have a more than effective rushing attack.
Defensively, I thought the Broncos were fine. The turnovers put the defense in a tough spot at times and nothing to this point has changed my thought that the defense is a work in progress.
The D did a good job keeping the Seahawks in check for most of the first half. It broke down on Seattle’s touchdown drive late in the second quarter and then the Seahawks took advantage of great field position early in the third quarter.
I saw enough from the defense the leads me to think it can be a better unit than it has been the last couple of years. That may not mean drastic improvement but at least it would be a start.
No doubt it would be good to see the defense start to create turnovers. I won’t pretend to know why that hasn’t happened yet. But I know it is an area the Broncos work on regularly. At some point, I believe it will start to pay off in games.
After two preseason games, I am neither abounding in excitement nor wallowing in discouragement by what I have seen out of the Broncos. I see a team that is working to install brand new systems. In that process, the Broncos have both shown progress and also the need to improve.
They’ll have the chance to take some more steps forward Sunday night against the Bears.
What did you take away from the Broncos’ performance against the Seahawks? Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Best,
Mike
Tags: Postgame, Preseason, Seattle Seahawks
i have a good feeling cutler is going to choke and throw a int to the house……I Just feel it.
We have got to run the ball more!! that’s the major problem I see from Sat. I think if we can do that Orton will be more effective in the end. God, after Jabar missed that ball on 3rd down I was hoping McD would just line up with Larsen and Hillis and freakin pound the ball in. I’m mean come on, your not gonna stop Larsen and Hillis at full speed and there was only a yard to go.
I think in the 2nd half the Seadogs got the hang of our throw screen after screen strategy and thats when Orton stoppped being effective. Run the ball more and throw a deep ball every once in a while to mix it up.
Am I the only one here who watched the game on Saturday night, if so you guys missed a hell of a first half. On the same token we tried running the ball I believe on 5 first downs in a row and in each of those attempt we only returned futility. We struggled to run the ball on Saturday, but beyond that why try to run the ball when you can get Orton some extra reps in the spread offense, which right now seems to be the bigger issue. We already know that our run game is going to be just fine but the passing game still needs some fine tuning. QB and WR need to adjust to each other and get the timing down. I wish I could watch a football game and not think logically about the situations and whats really going on behind the scenes in preparing a team for the long haul of the regular season.
Yeah, when it was 10-7 and the Broncos were on the Seahawks 4 yard line to start 1st and Goal and Jordan ran for a 2-3 yard gainer to set it at the 1 they should have really just ran the ball with Hillis to get the TD. Instead, they call three pass plays after that and it ends up being Kyle Orton’s interception. It was a bad idea for Kyle Orton to throw the ball like that but still, you got to pound the ball in when its 2nd and Goal with the ball on the 2. Hillis couldve got the touchdown.
I agree, In Hillis we trust.
Honestly, I was happy to see Orton at least throw the ball up for someone. It was an INT but at least he threw the ball to the endzone (even if it was only 2 yds.) and did not take a sack. So many times you see a 4th down play where the QB ends up taking a sack because they couldn’t pull the trigger. Pulling the trigger left handed is still better than taking a sack on 4th down.
Well, it was a typical pre-season game. Nothing mind blowing to say the least. I wouldn’t put too much stock in evaluating the team’s performance as many of you have stated, they are trying various schemes, plays, etc.
With some more tuning up I feel confident that they will be ready for the season opener. I would like to see more plays to the TE though, and more screens with our quick WR’s. Just remember you can’t judge a team by pre-season……the true test is yet to come so I prefer to save my judgement til then.
GO BRONCOS!
Anyone hear of what happened to Thomas? Is he okay???
Eddie Royal is a MONSTER and is going to be in the top 10 in every receiver category this year.
i think coach mcdaniels was jsut trying to show everyone orton can make plays like cutler could, but i dopn’t think 3 straight passes on the 1 is the time, Hand it to Hillis
Orton’s definitely underrated, but I hope by the end of the preseason he learns how to avoid those int’s.
This is random, but last year I thought Royal was better than Marshall. Not so much against San Diego, lol, I don’t think we’d function as well without marshall, but just a thought
There are “trade rumors” (I know they are only rumors) of the Jets possibly interested in Marshall. So what do you think we would get from the Jets..draft picks..players..both??
I’m just going to say this right now. Denver does not look good at all this pre season so stop lying to yourselves. We are in for a year of pain. McD has ruined this franchise. I promise. I predict nothing better than a 5-11 record.
brian_schneider the jets have kris jenkins whose an incredible d lineman
HukedOnFonicks…
It’s preseason. Denver isn’t playing for the win, they are playing to put their players in situations that they will see in the regular season.
The Colts go every year almost losing every preseason game but end up in the playoffs - what does that tell you?
First of all I agree with TXBRONCOFANATIC, it would be nice if we had a more balanced attack, and able to run the ball more. However, Buckhalter is a one yard and a cloud of dust, Jordan is three yards and a cloud of dust. As it stands right now, we don’t have a huge running threat in our backfield. All of the backs we have, are more known for being pass catching running backs, especially Buckhalter. Maybe Moreno will be that complete RB like Ladanian Tomlinson, but for right now that is a major concern that I have for the offense.
Everyone is making a big deal about the “left handed pass.” Here is my take on it. It is preseason, and so the game is played a little different. Had it been a regular season game, we would have seen Marshall have that pass thrown to him on Second down for a TD, and we arent having this conversation. If it did get to third down then Hillis gets fed the rock, and boom we aren’t having this conversation. Or we don’t see the Broncos go for it on 4th down, and kick the field goal, and we aren’t having this conversation. One of the things I like about this offense, I don’t think we are going to see as many three and outs, as we did last season. That will help our defense out immensely. I always grew tired of hearing how bad our defense was last year, when it was Cutler and the offense who were always going three and out, and keeping the defense on the field. Even if an offense doesn’t score, if they can chew up 5 or 6 minutes off the clock, that helps your defense alot. I like the 21-12 record as a starter, so I am going to be guardedly optimistic.
Pre-season record 2 yrs ago:
New-England Patriots, 0-4 (regular season, 16-0)
Pre-season record last year:
Detroit Lions, 4-0 (regular season, 0-16)
Any questions?
Really, who cares?
Use those games to find out who you got and what you can do with them, win, lose, it means less than nothing.
baylinorcrush ,
Those are some good stats! Great knowledge!
Guys during the regular season we will run at the 1 yard line, but right now we need to get the receivers and the QB’s reps. Tailbacks, QB’s and lineman have been running straight dive plays since pop warner football. Don’t worry JMAC knows what he’s doing.
Wow…That second half had me rubbing my ears and saying “woo-sah” til my ears were bleeding…..im not giving up..HELL NO!! Heres to a positive look to sunday night..We still got alot of bugs to work out folks,be patient..
STAY POSITIVE PEOPLE!!
Ah, that is refreshing. Finally some fans that agree with me and can look past the “W-L” column for preseason football. Thanks guys for backing me up on this one.
Alright football stud, you made some good points but you took some of my comments the wrong way.
1. I never said couldn’t throw the deep passes. I think he could pull it off, I got faith in the guy. He just hasn’t really tried the deep throws. He needs to take it one step at a time. He needs to practice at it more. But he’s got an offense to learn and get used to and I’d rather have him start off getting good at that first THEN go into the deep passes. Oh yes, I LOVED watching Cutler throw the deep passes as you well know. I’m more worried about Orton becoming a strong QB in this offense for us. Yeah I’d love to see him do the deep passes but that can wait.
2. I still think that had to be one of the worst 2nd halfs of a game I think I’ve seen but I do recognize its only a pre season game. I’m not stressing over it too much. I’m not about to lose sleep over a pre season game. But we 100% sucked in that 2nd half. Why it worries me to a certain degree is because should anything happen to some of our starters, those are the guys that will be their backups… in regular season games! Now it was only 1 game, no need to completely freak out about it but if that is how they are going to play the duration of the 2 pre season games we have left… we got a problem. I hope nothing happens to our starters for their sake.
I had a bad night on Saturday so I took my anger out on here. Made it seem like I have had enough but I’m good. I’ve calmed down, haha.
Can’t wait for our game against the Bears. Will be an awesome game to watch. If Cutler does play, our D needs to be all over him like dip on a chip!! Show NO mercy whatsoever. Just don’t get a bunch of silly penalties doing it. lol
With faith…
GO BRONCOS in ‘09!!!!
baylinorcrush, not trying to say anything, preseason really doesn’t matter and I think the broncos will do well but the 2007 patriots won two games in the preseason, again, not trying to say anything
Go Broncos!!!!!
07 elway,
Look even if its pre-season i always want to see this team win, and at first i was so pissed about the second half too i couldnt even believe it. With fumbles and turn overs i was sick. Not to mention the constant runs. But then i realized we were just trying to finish the game. Simms got hurt not that long after going in, and tom didnt know what to do with anything. It was just to get things done and go home. I dont like the mentality of just giving up like that, but it makes perfect sense. I wouldnt want any more injuries, specialy to another QB.
IMO, The Bears game this week will be very important for both teams, NOT because of the off season soap opera, but simply because it’s the third pre-season game. As most of you know, in the 3rd game it is standard practice in the NFL to play out your starters the most of any pre-season game and lay out a fairly complete game plan to find out where you stand. The final pre-season game is used to see where to make your final mandatory cuts, and the starters play very little if at all.
That is why this will be a good game, NOT because of the Orton-Cutler thing, they won’t even play against eachother. Many people are making this issue way to big a thing, and the sooner we all move on to realize that Cutler no longer means anything to the Denver Broncos the better.
I, for one, choose to embrace whoever we have on the field and root for them and leave the rest ( the dirt) to the media.
Like DD says: Get in that stadium, be loud and cheer your team, and if you choose to boo, please don’t do it at your team. We have been headed in that direction in our new stadium for awhile now, and it is grand time that we turn that around and class up the joint. Don’t you think?
Mile high is long gone, I’m sad for that. My only hope is to see Invesco turn into something that will scare other teams the way Mile high used to. Not enough South Stand crazies, too many quiet luxury boxes. Progress is’n ‘t always what it’s set out to be. My two cents.
cutler sucks, you’re right, it was last year the Patriots went
0-4 in the preseason and 11-5 in the regular season. My bad.
It still makes the same point.
Progress isn’t… meant to say.
I see what you’re saying bronco-blaze. I ALWAYS want us to win, even in pre season no matter how pointless it seems. And yeah I know they were just trying to finish the game but they could’ve done it with a little more class. It just looked like they weren’t trying at all cause everything that could’ve gone wrong for us pretty much happened. It makes sense only when you’re trying to avoid injuries. Again, I’m not going to stress myself over a pre season game, not worth the head injury I’d get. lol
And baylin… it will always be Mile High in my book. They may have come up with the dumbest name for a stadium but I never call it Invesco. But I get your point. The fans need to make the stadium a threat to other teams, again. The Mile High Magic lives on at Invesco we just need to make it more present to visiting teams.
I loved the way offence moved the ball in the first half. I’m not sure if anyone else agrees with me but I totally believed that Orton should have held the ball and moved across the line himself. He had a clear path as far as I could see and I know someone would have stepped up to block. I’m really looking forward to Monday’s game with the Bears in our house.
We all know that preseason is for trying out plays and various players under something like battlefield conditions. It’s to help the starters get into a rhythm and get to know each other better. Coach knows we have a good running game, regardless of who’s in the backfield. That’s why he’s calling so many pass plays. He wants to get Orton used to throwing to his bevy of receivers, especially Gaffney, cuz that looks like the way it’s gonna be with no #15 hauling in the rock this year…at least for the time being. Love the intensity and optimism of the players. The D will gel with playing time and will be much improved on the previous 4 years. Tough schedule, but we will acquit ourselves admirably.
Stop beating up the broncos because of the preseason. Good news: Orton starts out every game stellar. Bad news: if he throws an interception, he just can’t kickstart back up. BUT! we still have chris simms and this is only the preseason. Every turnover has been caught by someone who no one knows if they’re good or not, or by an ex-bronco who still is pretty big ballhawk (lol).
baylinorcrush what you just corrected with the Patriots going 0-4 in the preseason, and 11-5 in the regular season makes better sense a reason most of us may have over looked…..
They went 0-4 in preseason with Tom Brady playing in those games.
They then went 11-5 in regular season with Matt Cassell playing in those games!
Proof that preseason is for situational play, and try outs for positions. Mainly for the backups, gives them valuable reps that they only get in practice otherwise, or the horrid injury bug!
With that said, lets make the bears play with their backup qb from here on out!
Final note, trading #15 to the Jets for Kris Jenkins. He is a far better talent than the last guy we got from them. Dewayne Robertson, I’d prefer to have #15 here, but if that were to happen let’s just hope he does better for us than bustful Robertson.
Stay thirsty my friends!
I wish people stop comparing us to the Partiots and Colts bc we are no where near their level. As a matter of fact we haven’t been on their level in a few years. The Patriots and Colts can go 0-4 in preseason and end up winning 12+ games. Yeah anything can happen and anything is possible, but right now there’s alot of uncertainty till the season starts and really gets going.
Also if preseason is used to measure our backups then….. our backups aren’t that good with the exception of a few here n there.
I am hoping to see Bronco fans roudy to the opposing team and supportive of our Broncos this Sunday and throughout the season. It would be nice to go to a game where the crowd affects the other team for once. Mile High has lost its edge as of late. Too many fans are too willing to turn on our team. Lets bring back that home field advantage!
Crush Cutler! Bring your signs. Mine will read “Orange Crush Crybaby Cutler!”
i just watched the 1st half again, and im sorry, but i think we are doing just fine! the score isnt what counts anyway, its the repetitions. minus one play reminiscent of jake the snake, i thought orton played good. the defense minus a couple plays looked good. and dont worry about the turnovers, if our defense keeps playin aggressive the turnovers will come!
go broncos
I think that our starters played pretty well in the first half. The defense did have three sacks on saturday as well, totaling seven in two games. In the regular season we would have kicked the field goal instead of going for it on fourth down. I think we did improve from the first game, but still have plenty of work to do. I will never count the Broncos out. Just believe in the power of positive thinking and all will come together.
—GO BRONCOS—
Fools who place all their hopes and desires in winning preseason games have their reward. Personally, while it’s great to win all the time, I’m more concerned that we get ourselves sufficiently ready for the regular season wherein we will “shock the world” and at the least earn a wild card berth. I like the progress of this team and things are going to be excellent in Bronco Country for those of us who have the faith in what great things this team can do! GO BRONCOS!!!
Broncs4life80 I am glad to see that someone besides me was getting a bit on the edge about the Dlines troubles. that said I think maybe I AM GETTING A ON EDGE ABOUT ORTON I hope that McD is just doing Situational things..I hope but I think that some where in that game they showed a stat about us haveing 15 passing plays to 5 running plays in the second qtr. No team has ever won even an divisonal title with that kind of play calling. You can not open up a passing game if the opposition does not respect the run and you cant disguise play action either. we one 32 and 33 because of TD as much as Elway one can not have one without the other, Dont the running backs and full backs need to practice with the pads on too? And BMarsh needs to suck it up if he EVER wants to get the payday, look what happened to Ashley Lelie in the NFL the squeeky wheel dont get the oil, the one that drives over Ds does!
Balinorcrush you are absolutly right about the crowed at mile high as of late, it does seem that the the crowd is a bit anesthetised. Once back in the 80s I whent to mile high and camped out over by mcNichols arena in the freezin a$$ cold to get a ticket all night!!and it was so loud I could barely hear myself think, at home my tv used to wobble Now all I hear is INNNCOOMMPLEEAT wa wa wa waaa! If I lived in Denver I would by a loud speaker and give the Opposition some what for..My friend seen a Broncos game in oakland once and got a Dcell battery between the eyes just a couple o years ago..I like to think Denver has more class than that but mile high used to be just as Raw…Can we get at least some of that back SEASON TICKET HOLDERS!!!
i’m not convinced yet that the season will be anything but painful. hope i’m wrong but too many unanswered questions.
Can you please announce that some of us fans don’t want to see that female reporter fawning allover cutler during the show…..good lord…I dont care what he has to say while the game is going. I want to watch the GAME!!!! Poor little crybaby coming to brandon marshalls defense. Leave the turd off my TV. go home and choke like you did with us…..