Denver Broncos Thread

Jolly Red Giant

Almost 39,000 fans turned up at Mile High yesterday for the last of the three public training camp sessions this off-season.

Morrisseeee

Good solid win esp with our rivals all losing. The goal line stands were impressive. Ball was workmanlike, Anderson looked quick. Demaryius had an off night but the other Thomas made up for that We need Travathan back tho, asap, that was a cheap hit on Bruton.

All-in-all I'm happy with where we are atm.

poldebruin

It's only week 1, but I wasn't overly impressed by the performance. Offence looked out of sync, and even in the first half, wasn't flying like the previous year. I thought the Colts stopped Ball and the Denver running game pretty well, with Peyton back there I would expect to see a RB avg more than 3.5 per carry. I thought the O line wasn't as good as I had hoped, especially in the second half.

But one week is not enough to judge on, the Defence has a lot of new pieces that need to play together, but I wouldn't be as confident of winning a SB as I was last year. A lot of AFC teams got off to a bad start though, Chargers, Colts, Chiefs, Patriots were all playoff teams last year and all lost. A weak AFC effort might see Denver in the SB again this year. Week 3 vs Seattle should be telling. I can't really see beyond a healthy Seattle repeating though.

spiralism

Cards is gonna be a prick of a game for us but in hindsight the wins at home over Indy and Kansas look quite a bit more impressive now. This one should be an interesting litmus test of the Broncos D, it dealt with Indy better than anyone else has to date, did alright against KC and cracked against Seattle after being out on the field for half the day.

On the other hand, the offence has taken a dramatic dive from last year so far, really only Manny Sanders and OJ has impressed and the run game sorely misses Moreno.

In all actually, 4 out of the next 5 weeks are hugely important in how this season will play out and in showing where this team is at. AFC doesn't look particularly amazing at the moment so a run is possible again if we get our **** together. Again though, mentality is my main worry.

Son Of A Vidic

Breaking News: One Josh McDaniels, free to go to a good home.

Any chance you guys might take him back?

dub_skav

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Breaking News: One Josh McDaniels, free to go to a good home.

Any chance you guys might take him back?

He's not quite done ruining the Pats yet, I'd say 2 more seasons to completely kill all confidence in the Hoodie

Son Of A Vidic

dub_skav wrote: »

He's not quite done ruining the Pats yet, I'd say 2 more seasons to completely kill all confidence in the Hoodie

And probably hospitalising Brady before then.:(

Jolly Red Giant

Corvus Maximus wrote: »

Breaking News: One Josh McDaniels, free to go to a good home.

Any chance you guys might take him back?

ROTFLMFAO

Jolly Red Giant

spiralism wrote: »

Cards is gonna be a prick of a game for us but in hindsight the wins at home over Indy and Kansas look quite a bit more impressive now. This one should be an interesting litmus test of the Broncos D, it dealt with Indy better than anyone else has to date, did alright against KC and cracked against Seattle after being out on the field for half the day.

On the other hand, the offence has taken a dramatic dive from last year so far, really only Manny Sanders and OJ has impressed and the run game sorely misses Moreno.

In all actually, 4 out of the next 5 weeks are hugely important in how this season will play out and in showing where this team is at. AFC doesn't look particularly amazing at the moment so a run is possible again if we get our **** together. Again though, mentality is my main worry.

The defence is a major upgrade on last season - the new FAs, Roby and getting Miller back.

I don't agree that the offence has taken a major dive. The Broncos had an easy schedule last season - this season they have to play some of the toughest defences in the league. There will be few if any blowouts. The primary concern is the running game - moving Franklin to LG has not worked as well as it could. He is not as mobile as Beadles and not as good as a pulling guard. Clark is a downgrade at RT. On top of that Ball appears somewhat hesitant hitting the holes. It has been suggested that he is behind schedule because of lost time in pre-season and is expected to improve. Improvement in the running game is the key to the offence being more effective.

spiralism

We just released Matt Prater. You have got to be ****ing kidding me. Don't anybody try and defend this move, it's flat out Mc Daniels level of ****ing horrible

dub_skav

Removes salary and cap, plus he's facing down a suspension for another minor infringement. Mcmanus has a big leg.
I can see the logic, but prater is a proven clutch kicker, hope this doesn't come back to bite

Jolly Red Giant

Stack of records today in Denver -against one of the better defences. Welker makes a big difference to this offence.

dub_skav

Bit of a stuttering performance in the first half, but great to see Von, Ware and Harris stepping up in a big way, Trev getting through the game and looking good too.

Crazy that Peyton seemed to struggle early and still put up such amazing numbers.

DT with a monster game that could have been even better if JT knew his blocking assignments.

It's funny that it still feels like the Broncos haven't hit on-season mode, but blew away a previously unbeaten team with a great D.
Onwards and upwards I suppose.

Morrisseeee

Prater release is obviously a money thing, as McManus' cap figure for 2015 is less than 15 percent of what Prater's would have been. It gives us a chance to re-sign other players who's contracts are coming to a close. It'll be interesting to see if he gets a chance at a loooong FG attempt !!

I think our results so far show that we are that little bit better than last year. Our only worry atm is at RB, Ball is our no. 1 and he's struggling & now injured and we are now relying on Hillman ! The offense would so much more potent if we had a RB who could average 4.5 or more ypc or at least take more advantage of our pretty decent O-line. I know the O-line is more set-up to protect Peyton but they should be able to open holes for a decent RB to exploit. I'm (very optimistically) thinking of the Elway/Davis duo.

I'll repost this interesting link, milehighreport/mhr-film-study, it gives an interesting look at our performances as we progress through the season.

Jolly Red Giant

Tough game last night. Jets were very physical and dared the Broncos to run the ball - the Broncos ran the ball and exploited the gaps in the Jets defence.

Apart from last week against the Cards, the Broncos have been less than fluid. However, they are getting the job done, now 4-1 and have played several of the better teams in the NFL. If I was offered 4-1 at this stage before the start of the season I would have snapped the hand off.

Biggest concern is the injury to Trevathan (MRI today)

dub_skav

Danny T gone to IR designated to return.

Not as good a result as we would have hoped, but all in all the extra games he misses are against some of the weaker opposition and he should come back fully healed.
Time to see what Barrow and Nelson can do.

Really looking forward to seeing how the D manages against 49ers, they've looked good last few weeks, but Kaep, Gore, Davis and Boldin are a different kettle of crabs.

Morrisseeee

I'm really concerned about our O-line, the Jets really came at us and in the end we gave up over a hundred yards on penalties! and this 49er D isn't all that bad either. Manny, Vasquez and Clady are playing at a level below what they were at last year.
Getting back to the yellow-flags, we had 11 and they had.......2 !! Something doesn't add up there

But, if you (try to) look at it..............positively.............we have faced some pretty good defenses so far so maybe it bodes well for the future, if of course we learn from it and get stronger

Jolly Red Giant

Morrisseeee wrote: »

I'm really concerned about our O-line, the Jets really came at us and in the end we gave up over a hundred yards on penalties! and this 49er D isn't all that bad either. Manny, Vasquez and Clady are playing at a level below what they were at last year.
Getting back to the yellow-flags, we had 11 and they had.......2 !! Something doesn't add up there

But, if you (try to) look at it..............positively.............we have faced some pretty good defenses so far so maybe it bodes well for the future, if of course we learn from it and get stronger

You are right - the defences are a major mark up of what the Broncos had to play last year pretty much right up to the SB.

In relation to the OL - I think the main issue with the OL is that Clark is struggling badly at RT and Franklin is still not up to speed with the skills needed at the LG position. The others have suffered because they are trying to compensate and it's bringing the play of the entire OL down. As an aside - I have a sneeky feeling that both will be replaced next year (I think that Franklin is almost definitely gone with FA).

The upside to all this is that even though the OL is struggling the offence has still put up some major numbers against some of the toughest defences in the NFL. The OL will improve as the year goes on.

Morrisseeee

Must remember to set the recorder to Ch4 (HD) Sunday night
/looking foward to it

Jolly Red Giant

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Must remember to set the recorder to Ch4 (HD) Sunday night
/looking foward to it

Yep - should be a good one - and hopefully I can avoid hearing the result until I get home from work.

Morrisseeee

Congrats to Peyton, a living Legend, as Aldi (kinda) says: "once he's gone, he's gone", so...........enjoy him while it lasts.

poldebruin

....that didn't take long! (Is that a Brian Hoyer jersey in the background? I wonder what that's in for?)

poldebruin

Terrell Davis is the subject of A Football Life, airs 24th October.

Preview on NFL.com

I loved his story coming out of college. Seemed like such a humble guy, and was so talented. Could do it all as a runner. Such a pity his career was cut short the way it was.

PokeHerKing

Thursday night football against the bolts and im off tomorrow! Heres hoping for another thursday night blowout but im expecting Sd to live with us till the 4th and then a slight pull away. Ill say a relatively comfortable 10 - 15 point win

TO.

poldebruin wrote: »

....that didn't take long! (Is that a Brian Hoyer jersey in the background? I wonder what that's in for?)

Browns set a recorded a record season comeback by a an away team against Titans. I would imagine thats why its there.

poldebruin

TO. wrote: »

Browns set a recorded a record season comeback by a an away team against Titans. I would imagine thats why its there.

...so they did. Fair play to him. Hope they stick with him for a bit longer, but ultimately 1st round picks tend to play.

Jolly Red Giant

poldebruin wrote: »

Terrell Davis is the subject of A Football Life, airs 24th October.

Preview on NFL.com

I loved his story coming out of college. Seemed like such a humble guy, and was so talented. Could do it all as a runner. Such a pity his career was cut short the way it was.

+1

The Broncos SB winning teams had a number of very talented and very humble guys who were the ultimate team first players - Rod Smith being another example.

Living long in the memory will be Davis being forced to sit out the second quarter of the SB V the Packers with severe migraine and coming back to dominate the game and turn in an MVP performance.

Morrisseeee

Looking forward to the Davis documentary.

Good solid win last night, Manning was Manning with another 3 TDs, Hillman had another mighty game, he's really burst onto the scene, Thomas (88) with another 100+ game and then the MVP Sanders with 120 and 3 TDs !
Sanders catches are unbelievable, considering he's having to go high among defenders and still comes up with the catch, and he's as tough as nails to boot.
You'd have to be happy with the offense considering playing against the no 1 ranked scoring D and the defense holding a very potent offense and top QB to 21 pts. A few marginal calls went our way, but..........swings-and-roundabouts.

poldebruin

Well I managed to stay up until Denver went up 28 - 7 in the third, but with it being a work night, and getting on in the years, I bailed and went to bed.

A fairly comfortable win in the end, after a tough start to the game. I thought San Diego played a pretty good game themselves, and would expect to see them finish strong and make the playoffs. The Kickoff return fumble/non fumble may have turned the game, but from my view his forearm was down before the ball came out, and I can't see what the fuss is about really. The interception in the endzone is going to be called in today's NFL, it was a bit of a messy play, but not an obvious hold. I woke up to read about Manning being "handed the game" by the refs, but I can't see it myself.

Hillman is looking better by the week, and was unlucky (for him and me as he is my starting RB in FF) again to have 2 possible long TD's called back, although both were the correct decisions.

Sanders is delivering on some of his early season promise, he looks like a real upgrade over Decker at this point, he has great hands, has made some tough catches and taken some huge shots, but pops back up for more. A great compliment to the Thomas'.

Both sides of the ball are now playing excellently, the defence looks formidable, and really bottled up the SD running game, and looks like it might be able to keep us in games if the Offense isn't firing.

The only negative was too many penalties once again.

Once we can get the Patriots game out of the way, we will have navigated a really tough opening half of the schedule and can look forward to (on paper) easier matchups, but I would have taken 6-2 or 7-1 by mid-term at the start of the season

poldebruin

Looking forward to the game on Sunday night. I'm hoping (fat chance) the media doesn't play the Brady/Manning angle again, it feels quite old at this stage and it would be nice to hear something different.

I've noticed a couple of articles call attention to the fact that there may not be too many of these Brady/Manning matchups left though. It's amazing to think they have played each other 15 times during their time in the league, while Elway and Marino only matched up twice in the regular season and once in the playoffs (and both were far from their prime by then)

The Patriots have looked great the last 4 weeks, and were purring against the Bears (that might not account for anything though) and it looks like a terrible time to play them. Denver have looked pretty good though and win or lose it should be a good yardstick for both teams. There's no doubt it will have ramifications on home field for the playoffs.