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Broncos Mtnman
09-09-2008, 02:19 AM
In the world of poker, an ace-high straight flush such as A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠ is known as a royal flush, and is the highest ranking standard poker hand. In tonight's game, Eddie Royal was the "ace" that gave the Broncos a winning hand that "flushed" the Raiders in a lopsided win in Oakland.

With the Broncos #1 wide receiver (Brandon Marshall) sitting out this game courtesy of Roger Goodell, the young rookie took up the slack and gave Jay Cutler a productive target he would count on to take a big lead early in the game.

His 9 catches are a record for a Broncos rookie in his first start. He would tally up a total of 146 yards and a TD for the night. He also had two carries for 9 yards and 18 return yards.

Of course, the QB that was throwing the ball to Mr. Royal had a great game as well, going 16/24 for 299 yards, 2 TDs, no INTs and a QB rating of 137.36. His 18.69 yards per completion was tops in the NFL. For a little perspective, Tom Brady averaged only 12.1 yards per completion during his record-setting 2007 season.

This week's highs and lows.....


HIGHS :2thumbs:

1 - Eddie Royal. As I highlighted above, Royal demonstrated the ability to carry the load when called upon. His performance was literally one for the record books and his performance was instrumental to the convincing victory over the Raiders.

2 - Jay Cutler. He has assumed the mantle of leadership for this team. He is showing the ability to lead this team in ways we haven't seen in Denver since the days of Elway. Look for more performances like tonight's game as the season progresses.

3 - Offensive line. One of the question marks going into this season was how the line would perform considering all the new faces. The preseason seemed to indicate that they would put it all together, but it appears that they are doing so at a much faster pace than many thought would happen. They provided great pass protection and yielded ZERO sacks in their regular season debut.

4 - Running game. While the total yards weren't all that impressive (142 yards from 6 different players), it was very encouraging to see the short yardage runs for TDs from Pittman and Young. The Broncos have struggled for years punching the ball into the endzone in goal-to-go situations. In three trips, the Broncos netted 3 TDs. A great start.

5 - Special Teams. Kickoff and punt coverage was very strong. Except for the first kickoff, the Raiders return yardage totals were quite small. Prater was 2/2 in field goals and his kickoffs reached the endzone 4 of 8 kicks. The battle for field position was clearly in the Broncos favor.

6 - Run defense. Except for a big run in the last quarter when the team was basically doing mop-up duty, the run defense shut down the Raiders run game, holding them to under 100 yards for the game. Considering the rampage the Raiders had against them last season, this was very encouraging.

7 - Pass defense. Aided by the Broncos high scoring offense and the fact that they shut down the run, the pass defense was very effective in putting consistent pressure on the Raiders sophmore QB. While he would throw for two meaningless TDs (due to the big lead provided by JC and Company), they successfully kept him guessing through the whole game.


LOWS :2thumbsdown: (not that many tonight... :D )

1 - Dre Bly. While there weren't many big plays against him, he seemed to be out of position more than once in the Broncos nickel and dime packages.

2 - Defensive line. Early in the game when the linebackers were kept back, the front four wasn't able to provide consistent pressure on the Raiders QB. Hopefully, this will improve as the season progresses. Of course, if the offense keeps scoring big, the defensive line won't have to worry about it all that much.


It's only week one, but the Broncos are on top of the AFC West and have an early opportunity to go 2 games up on the Chargers when they come to Denver for the home opener next week. Considering the Broncos have the best win/loss record in the NFL over the past 11 years for September, the chance for an early lead in the division looks good.

Bring on the Chargers!!

LordTrychon
09-09-2008, 02:28 AM
All I have in response is...

Thanks! :salute:

Retired_Member_001
09-09-2008, 06:06 AM
I agree completely with everything you've said. As usual, your post-game write ups are a pleasure to read.

I agree with your inclusion of Dre' Bly in the "lows" section. I think all our CB's, apart from Champ, got beaten by a bad receiver at some point in the game. Maybe it was a mistake to dump Foxy? I'm starting to worry whether Dre' Bly has lost it. Our safeties did a fairly good job though which is good news.

I like your thread title by the way. ;)

Thanks.

Den21vsBal19
09-10-2008, 06:58 AM
I think the other thing I would include in the highs is the offensive play calling..............opening with a handoff to Royal, Royal's attempted pass (very mature decision making when it broke down, btw) Shanny looked from the off like he not only wanted to beat the Faiders, but embarass them on their own patch, and went right through the playbook to do it :D