Broncos Team Report
INSIDE SLANT
One win was all the Broncos needed to feel a lot better about themselves.
Denver turned around its four-game losing streak with a 26-6 win against the New York Giants. Now the Broncos are 7-4 - with two games left against Kansas City and one at home against Oakland - and appear to be in a good position to make a run for a wild-card spot in the AFC at least, with a chance to catch the Chargers in the division.
“You want to put yourself in a position by Thanksgiving to compete to make the playoffs,” Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said. “That’s what we hopefully have done.”
The Broncos have been tough to figure out all season, and it was tough to predict such a dominant performance against the Giants. New York did have to travel west on a short week, and it showed. The Broncos simply had more energy and played with more emotion in the rout.
A key for the Broncos was playing better on defense. This time, they didn’t wear down in the second half, in large part because the running game was effective and helped Denver win the time of possession by 11 minutes.
“I know that we have been on the flip side of that now for a few weeks, where we’ve had very small time-of-possession, and then we fall out of the running game as the game goes on,” McDaniels said. “We knew that they had dominated time of possession a lot through the course of the season. If we allowed them to control and maintain possession, we knew it could be a problem.”
NOTES, QUOTES
—Receiver Brandon Marshall(notes) thrilled the crowd and even his teammates with two sensational catches. His first came in the second quarter on a one-handed grab over Giants cornerback Corey Webster(notes), and he had a juggling one-handed catch against Webster in the second half.
“He said I was going to see ‘The Beast’ tonight,” Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said. “I guess that’s what he meant.”
• Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton(notes) came out of Thursday’s game no worse off after being sacked only once. He still is dealing with a left ankle injury but it is improving and he looked fine against the Giants.
“I probably feel about as good as everybody else does,” Orton said.
STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
Player Notes
• RB Knowshon Moreno(notes) left Thursday’s game with what appeared to be a hand injury, but he did come back in the game late. There didn’t seem to be much concern about his injury after the game.
• WR Eddie Royal(notes) suffered a thigh injury against the Giants and didn’t play in the second half. He has a few extra days to recover before the Broncos play Kansas City in Week 13.
• OT Ryan Harris(notes) was inactive for Thursday’s game but could return for Denver’s next game. He has a few more days to get ready. He has missed four games with a toe injury.
• LB Elvis Dumervil(notes) added two sacks against the Giants, increasing his league lead to 14 this season. He is on pace for 20.5 sacks this season, which puts him just short of Michael Strahan’s(notes) single-season record of 22.5.
• LB Robert Ayers(notes) was active after being a healthy scratch last week. The first-round pick resumed his role as outside linebacker in passing situations. Jarvis Moss(notes), who played in that spot last week, was deactivated.
Report Card Vs . GIANTS
Passing Offense: B-plus - Kyle Orton was efficient and there was no sign of an ankle injury that kept him from starting four days earlier. Orton spread the ball around and had 245 yards passing. His receivers did a nice job, with Tony Scheffler(notes) having a solid game in a good matchup and Brandon Marshall making two highlight one-handed catches.
Rushing Offense: B - The Broncos were able to do something they hadn’t for most of their four-game losing streak, and that’s stick with the run. In previous games they fell behind and had to pass every down, but were able to run 40 times against the Giants. Knowshon Moreno had a nice game with 88 yards on 19 carries and a touchdown. He held onto the ball and is showing a lot of confidence. Correll Buckhalter(notes) chipped in 51 yards.
Pass Defense: A - Eli Manning(notes) had 117 yards in the fourth quarter when the game was decided. In the first three quarters he had 113 yards as the Broncos did a good job blanketing Giants receivers Mario Manningham(notes) (two catches for 23 yards in the first three quarters) and Hakeem Nicks(notes) (one for six yards before the fourth quarter). Denver also had a good night getting pressure on Manning.
Rush Defense: A - Brandon Jacobs(notes) was stuffed all night. He had 27 yards on 11 carries and his longest gain was seven yards. The Broncos were physical with New York’s line and swarmed to the ball all night. A forced fumble on a carry by backup Danny Ware(notes) was a turning point in the game.
Special Teams: A - Mitch Berger(notes) has punted very well in two straight games after a slow start to his Broncos career. Two of his three punts were stopped inside Denver’s 20-yard line. Matt Prater(notes) also had a great night kicking, with four field goals and five touchbacks on his seven kickoff attempts.
Coaching: A - In a short week, off a very tough loss to San Diego, on a four-game losing streak, Josh McDaniels kept his team focused. They played hard and with a lot of emotion, and overwhelmed a Giants team that looked flat the entire game. At 7-4 the Broncos are still on San Diego’s heels in the AFC West and definitely in the AFC playoff picture.
Mile High Report
554 Comments
1 - 25 of 554
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
—Albert Breer, The Sporting News.
Maybe it has more to do with the players than the scheme? BTW - The (Red Miller) Orange Crush ran the 3-4. In the future, you might want to do a little research, before you put forth a "theory". Nice try.
Bottom-line: With the exception of the first half against Washington, the Broncos do not throw the ball down field. Thus the defense can put 11 players within 10 yards of the ball and not be threatened by the deep ball. If you can't control the ball on offense, you are going to put your defense in bad spots and on the field too much. Take a look at the time of posession over the 4 game losing streak. And, and it's a big and, we are not putting any pressure on the QB in the 2nd half. The only way to remedy this situation is to turn those things around. It' a hope we can at this point. Go Broncos!!!!!!!!!
Report Abuse
Hpefully, Josh can see that he needs to ... Grow UP!
The Broncos have a great tradition and a good group of players... They have come a long way with a new system and new coaching staff. Now we will see if there really is leadership in the head coach for we have a spoiled little boy waiting to grow up...
Report Abuse
Proof? NE loses to NYG in the Super Bowl. Arizona loses to Pittsburgh in the Super Bowl.
Broncos? Beat bad running teams Cleveland, Oakland and the like. Dallas and New England are not physical rushing teams (despite having a guy like Barber, which is why Philips should be fired). But when physical rushing teams (even missing Portis) play against a 3-4, wow, big bodies beat up little ones. Hmmm.
This is why I think we'll lose to NYG, but stand a really solid chance of beating Philly...assuming that we don't onside kick randomly or play Chrissy Simms.
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
I think you might be on to something with the "conditioning" comment. McD made the Broncos practice in full pads from the start. Shanny always went easy on them so they would be strong to finish. We will see which was a better idea, huh?
I think if we can get rid of all the penalties and get some turnovers of our own, we are gonna be alright. My wife is watching football for the first time in her life, and knows very little about the game, and even SHE said "Man, it seems the Broncos never get any calls from the refs that go their way." Glad to know it's not just me feelin' that way. Our luck is bound to change.
Report Abuse
All that said, the Broncos need to work harder, play better, coach better and make some of their own luck. Put all that trash talking/team mate pushing energy to work against the other team in the trenches! My biggest beef against Shanny at the end of last season, was he couldn't evaluate who the best 22 guys were and get them on the field. Well, in fairness to Mike, Coach McD seems to be having some of the same struggles. How in the world you could have watched Chris Simms practice all week and not realize he is no where near ready for a regular season NFL game is beyond me. BTW - SD couldn't stop the toss sweep, so we decided not to run that play anymore? Frustrating!
Well, here's to hoping we've hit rock bottom and can pull out a win on Turkey Day! I'll be there giving thanks for the rest of the Broncos fans and for (my money) the best team in the NFL.....win or lose!
Report Abuse
To Bronkoz:
In spite of your angry prediction that the Raiders would not win four games combined this year they have. They still are a bad team though. Not as bad with a different QB.
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
I agree on Branstatter and Simms. Did you happen to seen Simms in the locker room after the game? I'm pretty sure that guy has never even sniffed a weight in his life. He looks like a complete non-athlete. I hope I am soooo wrong, but if he plays against SD, I don't think we even have a chance.
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
You're right, the offense needs to hold on to the ball longer...but at the same time, much ado is made about the fact that teams have a hard time playing in Denver because of altitude. Heck, olympic athletes train in Colorado to take advantage of that fact. So when Denver goes to play a team sitting only slightly above sea level, their conditioning should put them at an advantage. This is part of why I questioned if they are well enough conditioned. Perhaps they are, I'm just asking the question.
The problem, in my mind, is that the Denver defense is no longer playing the physical type of football they played earlier this season. Ladell Betts had a career game because he was pounding away at our defense, and they couldn't respond.
I'm totally agreeing with you on Simms. The guy looked awful. It's one thing to get picked on a deep ball (which never should have been thrown), but he couldn't even hit the short passes. I was disgusted with his performance, and I felt that Brandstater should have at least been given a chance...he couldn't have played any worse than Simms.
Report Abuse
There have been times over the past 3 games where we got out coached. How many BIG special teams plays have we given up this year? The entire Baltimore game changed for the worse, when we gave up the TD return. McD needs shoulder the blame and/or get rid of the "Special" teams coach. He should cut Simms on principle alone. Christ, he's stealing from the team at this point. Your one job as a backup QB is to be ready when the starter goes down. There are HS QBs here in CO more prepared.
The reason they have been outplayed in the second half is partially due to coaching. The D can't get off the field. Take a gander at the time of possesion in the 2nd half of the last 3 games. It doesn't matter if you are playing the Raiders.........If the offense can't sustain any drives, the defense is going to give up some points. McD is to blame here. They had not been throwing the ball downfield and teams were putting 11 guys within 10 yards of the ball. It looked like they had remedied the situation against Washington. That is until Simms stepped on the field.
Report Abuse
I agree, though...for all of the promise Simms showed in the preseason, he looked pretty bad in the 2nd half. In his defense, though, the offensive line didn't seem to do as good of a job in pass protection as they have been doing. Even Clady gave up a sack...which doesn't happen very often. The entire team needs to start playing better. I'm still wondering what the heck was up with Orton's injury, because it looked like he was walking around the sideline just fine in the 2nd half. I understand that you need to protect your starting QB, but Washington was really a must-win game, as the Chargers are starting to nip at the heels of the Broncos.
The one thing that really puzzles me is how Denver had been an excellent 2nd half team in the first 6 games, but in the last 3 games, have been dominated in the 2nd half. I don't know if it's conditioning, or if we're getting out-coached...but something has to change in that department.
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
Playing KC 5 weeks apart in December and then in January is not a good thing. Even the current awful lot has a good chance of stealing a game from Denver. (I hope they don't, but we'll see).
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
The Chiefs (yes, perhaps even this year's sorry team) are usually tough at home when the weather turns cold. If Larry Johnson can stop pouting and flinging slurs at people sent to interview him and instead refocus on football, KC could pull off a couple of surprises later in the year. I do worry what this 2009 experience is doing for Cassel, however. He's not 22 years old and right out of school, but still, this has got to be disheartening and confidence-sapping.
Re: JaMarcus - I think it's time to throw in the towel and recognize that despite his abundant physical talent, he's not a QB who can play in adversity and he will not develop into such a player in the current situation. MAYBE if he played for a good team he'd begin to develop a rhythm such that when times get bad, he'd still be serviceable, but he kind of needs to be put in an football incubator, develop a bit and then get READY for the inevitable bad periods that any team faces. He cannot turn the current situation around himself. It's kind of like my golf swing (I'm TERRIBLE) --- there is too much for JaMarcus to think about because not enough of his game is functioning on autopilot yet -- and he's not going to get there because he plays panicked so much of the time.
Re: Nolan. I agree with your comments. I worry that someone will lure him away for another head coach stint -- but just hope we can get a couple of years out of him first. Adding Brian Dawkins seems like a master stroke. I remember a couple of years ago we had Lynch, who was already too slow to be effective in deep pass coverage, but who still had a superior sense of the game such that he was a stud in run defense. More importantly, he kept that D together. In one game where he had to come out with a shoulder/neck stinger, the handful of plays he sat out the D absolutely fell apart. They were calling time outs because guys couldn't figure out their assignments and when they did play, they were out of position A LOT. It was very eye opening.
I think Dawkins is serving that sort of a chief organizer role (as well as being an emotional leader, which is what gets talked about most of the time). You kind of need a Safety to do that (especially if your MLB can't or won't) -- after all, other than the QB, safeties are the only guys on the field who can see the entire scheme of both teams at a glance.
Chargers - the window is closing. The window is closing.
Report Abuse
Report Abuse
1 - 25 of 554