Broncos head to Buffalo feeling good about short practice week

[Denver Native (Carol)]

With their playoff hopes tucked into their luggage to go with all of their cold-weather gear, the Broncos worked around today's snowstorm and left for Buffalo feeling good about the week.

The team piled into its conditioning center for their morning practice, using a smaller field, before boarding buses for the airport.

"It wasn't bad," head coach John Fox said. "... I thought we got our work done and didn't risk injury going out on a snow-covered field. I think we got done what we normally get done in our in-season Friday practice."

rest - http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_19601942

[Denver Native (Carol)]

Broncos safety Brian Dawkins doesn't anticipate a "hangover," and he's not talking about eggnog.

Dawkins was talking Wednesday about the Broncos rebounding from a loss, a bad loss, and refocusing for Saturday's game at Buffalo. They can't afford to feel any aftereffects from last weekend's 41-23 disappointment against New England, he said.

"There's no hangover," Dawkins said. "We played a really good team in the Patriots. We understand that. We left a lot of things on the field, mistakes-wise. Those are the things you cannot allow to happen.

rest - http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_19597908

[Joel]

rest - http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_19597908
I sure hope so; the biggest reason I wanted to beat NE was because I worried our VERY young team has gotten used to relying on "Tebow Time," EXPECTS an impossible come from behind victory every week, and would completely deflate the first time that didn't happen. I'm still worried about it, and hope they come together and show more of the unexpectedly high levels of discipline and character that got them to 8 wins (and were so appallingly lacking in last weeks loss.) We've had the first loss since "Tebow Time" really took hold and convinced so many people the team could overcome any obstacle. This week is a gut check: When the team DOESN'T overcome an obstacle, does it roll over and die, or pick itself up and resume its winning ways?

Now I'm also worried about Fitzpatrick lighting up our crappy secondary; I really hope Dawkins plays this week. He may no longer have the speed to shag flies all over the field, but still closes fast on the ball so guys don't get far after a catch, and when he hits a receiver, said receiver will go DOWN, not shrug him off and run for 20 more yards. We need his savvy as much as his tackling against the run, since Miller blitzing often leaves him out of position to make those plays. Likewise, his presence as a blitzer in his own right up the middle increases the chance that Miller or Doom gets around the edge without getting picked up by a running back (and the odds of that aren't really great against the Bills line in the first place.) And, of course, Dawkins can help out our abysmal rookie DBs in coverage a lot more than any of them can help each other.

This, once again, is a game playoff teams win, and one we should win, but neither of those facts guarantee we will. Buffalo is a hard place to play on the road in December; in many ways, it's Mile High without the altitude. We will have to bring our A game; if we do that we might come home for Christmas as AFC West champions. If we don't, we could get embarrassed and the whole season to this point tossed out as a statistical anomaly all the pundits told us couldn't last. We control our own destiny, but it remains undefined until we define it.

[dogfish]

Broncos head to Buffalo feeling good about short practice week

Reports also indicated that the team is "pumped" about their new Christmas sweaters, and feeling positive about the odds of getting hot wings.