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EastCoastBronco
09-15-2009, 12:36 PM
Just some reading material to get us through until Sunday...;-)

Link: http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Articles/11_2817_Monday_Hangover%3A_gunslinger_edition.html

Denver 12, Cincinnati 7
We promised you a snoozer and the Broncos and Bungles delivered – well, at least for 59 minutes.

After boring the holy hell out of the fans in attendance at Paul Brown Stadium for the better part of three hours, the Broncos and Bengals gave NFL Films a classic clip for their next “miracle finishes” video montage: with just seconds to play, Broncos receiver Brandon Stokley hauled in a deflected desperation pass from Kyle Orton and raced 87 yards for the game-winning TD.

As one CHFF reader said last night, "Orton must be the luckiest quarterback in history."

The gut-wrenching loss for the Bengals was even more painful in light of the fact that Cincinnati had taken a 7-6 lead on Cedric Benson’s 1-yard TD run with just 41 seconds to play. But as we said yesterday, never underestimate Cincinnati's ability to grab ineptitude from the jaws of comptency. And this loss was a classic example.

Cincinnati QB Carson Palmer missed the pre-season with an injury and has over the last few years has been in and out of the lineup more times than a rich hedge fund manager at the Moonlight Bunny Ranch.

He showed significant rust (21 of 33, 63.6%, 247 yards, 7.5 YPA, 0 TD, 2 INT, 61.0 passer rating) in his return, but he did lead the Bengals on an 11-play TD drive in the final minutes of the game that at the time appeared to provide the winning margin.

On the other hand, rookie head coach and alleged offensive guru Josh McDaniels’ debut in Denver wasn’t exactly the stuff of which legends are made. His Jay Cutler-less offense struggled all day, registering just 10 first downs and, sans Stokley’s miracle play, just 156 gross passing yards.

But at least Orton (17 of 28, 63.0%, 243 yards, 9.0 YPA, 1 TD, 0 INT, 104.4 rating) protected the football, which is something that his predecessor, Cutler, had trouble doing in 2008, especially in the red zone and at critical times of the game. (Cutler, of course, had that same problem Sunday night in Chicago’s loss to Green Bay.)

Orton takes a lot of heat – but he’s now 22-12 (.647) as an NFL starter.