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View Full Version : It Was Over At Halftime...



Broncos Mtnman
10-01-2007, 12:16 AM
Yeah, I know we were only down by one point at the half, but when you only score one TD in 4 drives against the QB who treats the Broncos like an unwanted, ugly step-child everytime he plays them, you had to know in your gut that the Broncos didn't have a chance.

After a promising 1st quarter, where Travis Henry ran for nearly 75 yards and Selvin Young coming up with 45 yards, along with a Jason Elam FG and a Jay Cutler TD pass to Marshall, it looked like the Broncos plan of keeping Peyton Manning off the field was going to work.

But alas, there are four quarters to a football game, and the remaing three belonged to the Colts.

As I expected, the challenge for the Broncos was going to be stopping Clark and Addai. I expected the Broncos to play alot of deep zone in order to keep the Manning Show in front of them. Past teams have shown that this strategy will work, provided you get the necessary play from the defensive line and the linebackers. The theory being that short run and pass plays can't beat you..... as long as you keep those plays "short."

But alas, there's the rub.

With the terrible tackling and over-pursuit that the Broncos defense is becoming famous for this year, plays that should have only allowed the Colts to gain a few yards each, were frequently going for over 10 yards at a time, and resulted in yielding a disturbing 226 net yards rushing.

But the onus doesn't lie solely with the defense. As mentioned above, the Broncos offense would once again struggle getting TDs when they reached the red zone.

But wait, it wasn't just the offense and defense that failed to perform in this game. Sadly, the Broncos special teams gave the Colts average field position close to the 40 yard line, while giving us a much worse 20 yard line average start.

I expected the result we got, but that didn't make it any easier to watch, nor does it make it any more acceptable.

Here are this week's 4 downs....

Most Glaring Weaknesses (I could almost paste and clip these)

1st - Tackling, or lack thereof. For the 4th week in a row, the Broncos would allow way too many yards after contact.

2nd - Run defense. I already covered this above. If the Broncos don't find a way to do a better job against the run, this season could be over by the end of October.

3rd - Red Zone production. This is something that I hope will get better real soon. Failing to score TDs in the red zone was one of the Broncos greatest weaknesses last year. So far, it hasn't gotten any better.

4th - Pass protection. Considering we were using ALOT of 2 and 3 TE sets, I found it very disturbing that Jay seemed to have the pocket collapsing on him way too soon. Only his ability to scramble and throw on the run kept the Colts from having alot of sacks.


The Good Things

1st - The running game. With Travis Henry gaining over 100 yards in just the first half, along with Selvin Young gaining over 40, the running game was clearly the highlight of this game.

2nd - Jay Cutler. As mentioned above, Jay was great at scrambling and throwing on the run, even across his body on a few occasions. His 1st TD pass was a scramble right to Brandon Marshall, and there was a great first down pass to Nate Jackson under similar circumstances. Jay also ran for a TD on a play that failed us last week against Jacksonville.

3rd - Daniel Graham. Great blocking and pass catching today.

4th - Shanny's offensive gameplan. While it didn't hold for the whole game, Shanny clearly had the right game plan on offense. For the third time in 4 games, the Broncos offense netted over 400 yards.


So now the Broncos find themselves in a three-way tie with the Raiders and the Chiefs at 2-2, with the Chargers coming in at 1-3.

The Broncos need to bounce back against the Chargers next week, then use the bye week to get healthy and ready for the toughest part of the first half of the season, with home games against the Steelers and the Packers.

Uncle Buck
10-01-2007, 12:21 AM
Yeah, I know we were only down by one point at the half, but when you only score one TD in 4 drives against the QB who treats the Broncos like an unwanted, ugly step-child everytime he plays them, you had to know in your gut that the Broncos didn't have a chance.

After a promising 1st quarter, where Travis Henry ran for nearly 75 yards and Selvin Young coming up with 45 yards, along with a Jason Elam FG and a Jay Cutler TD pass to Marshall, it looked like the Broncos plan of keeping Peyton Manning off the field was going to work.

But alas, there are four quarters to a football game, and the remaing three belonged to the Colts.

As I expected, the challenge for the Broncos was going to be stopping Clark and Addai. I expected the Broncos to play alot of deep zone in order to keep the Manning Show in front of them. Past teams have shown that this strategy will work, provided you get the necessary play from the defensive line and the linebackers. The theory being that short run and pass plays can't beat you..... as long as you keep those plays "short."

But alas, there's the rub.

With the terrible tackling and over-pursuit that the Broncos defense is becoming famous for this year, plays that should have only allowed the Colts to gain a few yards each, were frequently going for over 10 yards at a time, and resulted in yielding a disturbing 226 net yards rushing.

But the onus doesn't lie solely with the defense. As mentioned above, the Broncos offense would once again struggle getting TDs when they reached the red zone.

But wait, it wasn't just the offense and defense that failed to perform in this game. Sadly, the Broncos special teams gave the Colts average field position close to the 40 yard line, while giving us a much worse 20 yard line average start.

I expected the result we got, but that didn't make it any easier to watch, nor does it make it any more acceptable.

Here are this week's 4 downs....

Most Glaring Weaknesses (I could almost paste and clip these)

1st - Tackling, or lack thereof. For the 4th week in a row, the Broncos would allow way too many yards after contact.

2nd - Run defense. I already covered this above. If the Broncos don't find a way to do a better job against the run, this season could be over by the end of October.

3rd - Red Zone production. This is something that I hope will get better real soon. Failing to score TDs in the red zone was one of the Broncos greatest weaknesses last year. So far, it hasn't gotten any better.

4th - Pass protection. Considering we were using ALOT of 2 and 3 TE sets, I found it very disturbing that Jay seemed to have the pocket collapsing on him way too soon. Only his ability to scramble and throw on the run kept the Colts from having alot of sacks.


The Good Things

1st - The running game. With Travis Henry gaining over 100 yards in just the first half, along with Selvin Young gaining over 40, the running game was clearly the highlight of this game.

2nd - Jay Cutler. As mentioned above, Jay was great at scrambling and throwing on the run, even across his body on a few occasions. His 1st TD pass was a scramble right to Brandon Marshall, and there was a great first down pass to Nate Jackson under similar circumstances. Jay also ran for a TD on a play that failed us last week against Jacksonville.

3rd - Daniel Graham. Great blocking and pass catching today.

4th - Shanny's offensive gameplan. While it didn't hold for the whole game, Shanny clearly had the right game plan on offense. For the third time in 4 games, the Broncos offense netted over 400 yards.


So now the Broncos find themselves in a three-way tie with the Raiders and the Chiefs at 2-2, with the Chargers coming in at 1-3.

The Broncos need to bounce back against the Chargers next week, then use the bye week to get healthy and ready for the toughest part of the first half of the season, with home games against the Steelers and the Packers.


Superb post, mntman!

:2thumbs:

Deltagbear
10-01-2007, 02:16 AM
:dito:

Have to agree!

BroncoBJ
10-01-2007, 04:42 AM
I had a feeling it was over when we kicked the FG and made it 13-7. I was eating Pizza and I threw it at the wall. I was pissed that we couldn't get a TD and I said Its over, Peyton will just pick us apart from here on out and it will be catchup time. The people I were with thought I was nuts about being mad while up 6 points but I know what the Colts are capable of.

omac
10-01-2007, 05:33 AM
Another highly entertaining read, broncos_mtnman. Thanks. :cheers:


So now the Broncos find themselves in a three-way tie with the Raiders and the Chiefs at 2-2, with the Chargers coming in at 1-3.

The Broncos need to bounce back against the Chargers next week, then use the bye week to get healthy and ready for the toughest part of the first half of the season, with home games against the Steelers and the Packers.

Wow, who would've expected that ... the mighty Chargers who a lot of analysts were expecting to make the Superbowl, not only not-first in the AFC West, but dead last? Guess we can now agree that Marty did make them a better team.

The encouraging part is this .... I'd rather be competing with the Raiders and the Chiefs for 1st place in the AFC West, than the Chargers; I'm sure the Raiders and Chiefs feel the same way. The Chargers have way too much firepower, and when they're not clicking, it gives the rest of the division a better chance.

Another encouraging bit of news is that the lowly Arizona Cardinals beat the steamrolling Pittsburgh Steelers, so that's pretty hopeful.

The Packers are on a roll, but lucky for us and our suspect run-defense, they haven't gone to the run much this season, and hopefully, they continue to try to pass against Denver. Also, not sure if their main rb is healthy again. Also, the Packers are playing better than they really are. I'd rather have them than go against a SD team that's playing the way they should be.

dogfish
10-01-2007, 05:39 AM
BOOOOO, ENVER EFENSE!!




HOORAAAAYY, MTNMAN!!



well written, very accurate. . . .

Retired_Member_001
10-01-2007, 07:55 AM
Great article Mtnman.

I'm glad you have mentioned the pass protection as a weakness, it's been a big weakness all season, something I predicted would happen back in April. Montrae Holland made an improvement, he went from completely useless to terrible. Erik Pears proved more and more he is the next George Foster and Matt Lepsis continues to get thrown around by the opposing DE (this time it was Freeney).

As for the lack of production in the red zone, it is something that is really killing us. I agree.

Great article.

Medford Bronco
10-01-2007, 08:43 AM
Another highly entertaining read, broncos_mtnman. Thanks. :cheers:



Wow, who would've expected that ... the mighty Chargers who a lot of analysts were expecting to make the Superbowl, not only not-first in the AFC West, but dead last? Guess we can now agree that Marty did make them a better team.

The encouraging part is this .... I'd rather be competing with the Raiders and the Chiefs for 1st place in the AFC West, than the Chargers; I'm sure the Raiders and Chiefs feel the same way. The Chargers have way too much firepower, and when they're not clicking, it gives the rest of the division a better chance.

Another encouraging bit of news is that the lowly Arizona Cardinals beat the steamrolling Pittsburgh Steelers, so that's pretty hopeful.

The Packers are on a roll, but lucky for us and our suspect run-defense, they haven't gone to the run much this season, and hopefully, they continue to try to pass against Denver. Also, not sure if their main rb is healthy again. Also, the Packers are playing better than they really are. I'd rather have them than go against a SD team that's playing the way they should be.

Arizona is not lowly, please watch some of the games before commenting. They could very well be 4-0 and that team is talented on both sides of the ball.

Also for those who say Oak is bad, please watch them. They are not bad at all.

I think SD is extremely overrated IMO. sorry Sanluis but this team has a horde of problems just like our Broncos do. I am worried that LT runs
for 200 against the Highschool like run defense that Denver has.

Is is the personel or scheme. :confused:

This is a transition or rebuilding year. IMO
I honestly can see us as 2-5 really soon and this place will explode.

Bronco Bible
10-01-2007, 08:53 AM
I had a feeling it was over when we kicked the FG and made it 13-7. I was eating Pizza and I threw it at the wall. I was pissed that we couldn't get a TD and I said Its over, Peyton will just pick us apart from here on out and it will be catchup time. The people I were with thought I was nuts about being mad while up 6 points but I know what the Colts are capable of.

I could not agree more JC4,a week ago they go for it with forever to go in the 4th qtr but yesterday they could have made Indy have to work for a win and they didnt.lack of any running :defense:did not help.

silkamilkamonico
10-01-2007, 12:42 PM
I had a feeling it was over when we kicked the FG and made it 13-7. I was eating Pizza and I threw it at the wall. I was pissed that we couldn't get a TD and I said Its over, Peyton will just pick us apart from here on out and it will be catchup time. The people I were with thought I was nuts about being mad while up 6 points but I know what the Colts are capable of.

I agree.

We virtually dominated up to that point. And after all the good we did, we were up 13-7 and giving the ball to Indy.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm looking at this schedule, and with KC/Oak playing well, this could be Denver's worse football team since 1999. Kind of a change from the beginning of the season, and it has to make you wonder where Denver goes from here.

omac
10-01-2007, 01:00 PM
Arizona is not lowly, please watch some of the games before commenting. They could very well be 4-0 and that team is talented on both sides of the ball.

I watched the game against San Francisco; horrible offense at the time, and that probably influenced my judgement. I agree that they do have talent, but until recently, Leinart hasn't been getting it done, such that Whisenhunt played the backup Warner so that they'd produce better on offense, and they did. I am glad that they're putting it together and have beaten some quality teams in Seattle and Pittsburgh.


Also for those who say Oak is bad, please watch them. They are not bad at all.

I aggree; I have posts on this forum where I've acknowledged that the Raiders offense under Kiffin is much improved from last season, and that they were showing signs of becoming a pretty good team, despite their losses. Their defense, however, looks like it's taken some steps back.


I think SD is extremely overrated IMO.

San Diego is probably one of the most talented teams in the NFL on both sides of the ball; they underestimated the value of a great coach, Schottenheimer, and now they're paying for it.

Medford Bronco
10-01-2007, 01:39 PM
I watched the game against San Francisco; horrible offense at the time, and that probably influenced my judgement. I agree that they do have talent, but until recently, Leinart hasn't been getting it done, such that Whisenhunt played the backup Warner so that they'd produce better on offense, and they did. I am glad that they're putting it together and have beaten some quality teams in Seattle and Pittsburgh.



I aggree; I have posts on this forum where I've acknowledged that the Raiders offense under Kiffin is much improved from last season, and that they were showing signs of becoming a pretty good team, despite their losses. Their defense, however, looks like it's taken some steps back.


:
San Diego is probably one of the most talented teams in the NFL on both sides of the ball; they underestimated the value of a great coach, Schottenheimer, and now they're paying for it.

Great post :salute:
excellent points and very concise :beer:

topscribe
10-01-2007, 03:04 PM
Once again, good article, Mtnman.



(Why am I getting this growing feeling that we will be selecting high in the first round of the draft?) :confused:



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