Broncos vs Titans

The Denver Broncos had the Colts within their grasp. Until the 4th quarter. As earlier mentioned in my last post, in order to beat Peyton Manning, it would take risk. Our risks didn’t pay off, going 5-15 on 3rd down and 1-4 on 4th down. I appreciated the aggression by McDaniels but I disagreed with the play-calling. Denver’s redzone failures can be attributed to our inability to run the football. It seemed like McDaniels gave up on the run at moments instead of being fully committed to the ground; two times where McDaniels called a play for Orton to float it to a receiver, falling incomplete. Orton played a good game, throwing for 476 yards, but it only produced 13 points. It sure doesn’t help seeing the Broncos with their non-existent run-game and the same week witnessing Peyton Hills (traded from the Broncos for basically nothing) rush for 144 yards with Browns against a very formidable Ravens defense. So far in 2010 the Broncos are a stellar 30th in rush yards. You think the Broncos could use Peyton Hillis?
Okay, I’m done being negative. I like Denver’s match up vs Tennessee this week. So far the Broncos have proven to defend the run well (10th best in the NFL). We’ll need our best run-defense of the year vs 2000 yarder Chris Johnson. If Denver can contain Johnson I like our chances vs Tennessee who has a 30th ranked pass offense. Offensively, Denver is 1st in the NFL in pass yards, and Brandon Lloyd is actually 2nd in the NFL with 339 yards. We all know what Denver needs to do offensively to win the game; establish a respectable ground game and score in the red zone.

Broncos vs Colts preview

The Broncos have their hands full this week; in more ways than one. To start, my condolences go out to Kenny McKinley’s friends and family. Tragic. Not only do the Broncos have to deal with the death of their teammate, but they also have to deal with the Indianapolis Colts, whom they haven’t legitimately beaten since October 3rd 1993. Denver’s last two wins vs Indianapolis were in 2003 and 2004, which both games were thrown by the Colts so they could prepare for the playoffs. Peyton Manning is 7-2 vs Denver (including those 2 meaningless games). How can Denver win this Sunday? Keep Peyton Manning off the field. That means converting on 3rd down by running the ball and spreading the ball evenly on offense through the air, keeping Indianapolis off balance defensively. Indianapolis is very good on defense with all star pass-rushers Rashean Mathis and Dwight Freeney. Ryan Clady should be able to neutralize Freeney on the left side, however we might have issues on the right side with Ryan Harris unable to play due to injury. Facing Mathis might be too much for rookie Zane Beadles, so Denver must line up in the “bunch” formation utilizing Daniel Graham and Spencer Larson to help block these monsters. If the Broncos expect to score points we must keep Kyle Orton’s jersey as clean as possible. One thing Denver can lean on is the fact that Kyle is 1st in the NFL in QB rating on 3rd down (138.3) with 2 TD’s, a completion percentage of 73.7, and 181 yards. He is 8th in the NFL in winning percentage among active starting NFL Quarterbacks with at least 40 starts (30-20, winning pct .600). Cutler is not on that list. Defensively, Denver must create a pass rush. Robert Ayers must produce. He has shown improvement but must continue to wreak havoc in the pocket. Denver must find a way to hit Peyton Manning, considering the fact cornerbacks Andre Goodman and Champ Bailey are banged up. If they are unable to play, it will be up to rookie cornerbacks Perrish Cox, Syd ‘Quan Thompson, Cassius Vaughn, and veteran corner Nate Jones. Peyton Manning has a history of torching rookie cornerbacks and torching the Broncos so if Bailey and Goodman can’t go, it will be extremely difficult to win. In order to win this game, I come back to the fact that Denver must keep Peyton Manning off of the field as much as possible, not just by converting on 3rd down, but also through special teams; similar to how the Saints onside kicked in the Super Bowl. To win this game it’s going to mean taking risks like aggressive blitzes and onside kicks for chance to get the football back in Orton’s hands. For the sake of being positive I’ll mention some good historical stats, but honestly they have no bearing on this game! Since 1996, Denver is 1st in the NFL in the 1st month of the season with a record of 39-15 (ironically, Indianapolis is 2nd at 33-16). Since 2002, the Broncos are 14-1 at home in September (our one loss was vs Jacksonville on September 23rd, 2007).

The Rockies are in great shape right now. It's their favorite time of the year and they find themselves 4.5 games back from leading the NL West and 5 games back from leading the wild card. Ubaldo Jimenez finally got his 1st win since the all star break, bringing his total to 18 (1st in the National league, 2nd in the majors). After so many bailouts from Ubaldo early on in the season, Colorado's bats were able to return the favor yesterday vs the Reds, with 10 unanswered runs spanning from the bottom of the 3rd inning through the 7th inning, propelling Colorado to a 10-5 win.15 of Colorado's remaining 25 games are at home, which is a good sign since they are 44-22 at home up to this point in the season, 4th best in baseball. Carlos Gonzalez continues to play lights out with a .340 batting average (1st in the National league, 2nd in all of baseball), 31 home runs (5th in the National league), and 97 RBI's (3rd in the National league), which makes all Colorado fans forget about Matt Holliday. The Rockies currently are tied for 3rd in the National league in total runs this season with 645. This time last year the Rockies were 78-60 which is 5 games better than where they stand today. This means the Rockies must keep their bats going and continue not to leave games up to the bullpen. I like the Rockies' bullpen but they don't seem as strong as last year. The only positive has been Manny Corpas not blowing games. I'm sorry Manny, I hope you get better soon from your injury but with you not playing, it is simply addition by subtraction. Street had 35 saves last year, whereas up to this point in 2010 his save total is at 15, with many other opportunities left on the table. The season is far from over, and it looks like the Rockies' best hope for a postseason birth is going to be winning their 1st division championship in franchise history. And from the looks of San Diego losing 10 of their last 11, they aren't the team to worry about; it's San Francisco.

Final Preseason analysis

Finally, the 2010 NFL season is ready to start. The Broncos made their final cuts this past weekend and the 53-man roster is in tact. I was surprised by some of the cuts and other moves made. Lets start with Jarvis Green, who never played a down in Denver. Green signed a 4 year, $20 million deal on March 9, 2010, only to be released September 4th, of this year. Obviously McDaniels saw something great in Green in order to sign him, but what changed from March until September? The Green signing was a waste of time and money. The only positive thing I see from the Green signing was the emergence of Ryan McBean who eventually beat him out on the defensive line. One would have to think McBean would've stepped his game up with or without competing with Green for the starting roll. Alfonso Smith, who was acquired in 2009 in exchange for a 2010 1st round pick, was just traded to Detroit in exchange for tight end Dan Gronkowski, who originally was a 7th round draft pick. Green and Smith are two glaring examples where McDaniels failed to evaluate talent, which was why Mike Shanahan was fired at the end of 2008. Much like Shanahan, McDaniels has proven to be a great head coach and play caller, but he still has yet to convince me he knows how to evaluate and draft quality players. Last year's draft was a not good, drafting the likes of Alfonso Smith (no longer on the team), Richard Quinn (3rd string tight end), Tom Brandstater (no longer on the team), Robert Ayers (showing improvement), and Knowshon Moreno (wore down toward the end of the 2009 season). Until proven otherwise, David Bruton was the best player to come out of the 2009 draft. He is a promising safety who is great on special teams and gives us great depth in the secondary.
To McDaniels' credit, this year's draft was much better however none of these players have taken an NFL regular season snap. I love cornerbacks Perrish Cox and Syd'Quan Thompson. Both had a great preseason and if they play at that same level this regular season we have two great young corners to look forward to. Offensive linemen Zane Beadles and JD Walton also look very good. I was a little surprised to see them both take the majority of the snaps all 4 preseason games. If they play through all 16 games this regular season, they will have played 20 games in one season, which is unheard of for offensive linemen; at least since Ryan Clady did it in 2008. Wide receiver Eric Decker looked very good in the preseason and I look for him to be on Orton's radar all season. Eric Decker actually led the NFL this preseason with 16 catches. Demaryius Thomas has the build of a dominant receiver but he's been injured since Denver drafted him so I am not yet excited about him. And yes, Tebow showed flashes of greatness in the preseason, but he was playing against 2nd string defenses most of the time. He looked like a typical rookie at times against these 2nd stringers as well. I am excited for the potential Tebow has. He has a great attitude, he's physically gifted, and he has great coaching. Hopefully he will be patient learning from the sidelines until 2012.