View Full Version : Larry Fitzgerald: Broncos will be in AFC Championship
Denver Native (Carol)
10-06-2014, 07:39 PM
Denver Broncos stars Peyton Manning, Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker all reached milestones or set records in Sunday's 41-20 rout of the Arizona Cardinals.
The team's brilliance on both sides of the ball left an impression on Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
"Everyone talks about Peyton's offensive weapons, but what they did on defense has made a huge difference, too," Fitzgerald told NFL Media columnist Michael Silver on Sunday. "Their pass rush is a whole different animal now. (DeMarcus) Ware, Terrance Knighton ... those guys are good. They're going to be in the AFC Championship Game."
rest, plus video - http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000406880/article/larry-fitzgerald-broncos-will-be-in-afc-championship
MOtorboat
10-06-2014, 07:40 PM
Well, they should be.
Its nice seeing the d get some attention! :D
What else can he say? "An average team outscored us 2:1"? Heading into the SB, lots of folks here went on about Seattle being "soft" on the road and pretenders who only went 13-3 thanks to a "weak" schedule; that team got INFINITELY better in just one short week, because AFTER the game it was all about "no shame in losing to a better team."
We're AFC favorites on MERIT: We're defending Conference Champs and 3-1 after stomping the only visiting team to win @Seattle since 2012, right after we forced OT there. Now that Miller and Harris have their legs back, Ware's settled in and Trevathan's healthy, our D looks as lethal in games as it does on paper: It's SOLID at EVERY position; even the depth is good across the board. The offense still has a first ballot HoFer coming off a record-shattering season and throwing to a receiving corps that may actually be BETTER since we upgraded Decker to Sanders.
There's only one real hole, but it's so glaringly obvious and I've ranted about it for so many years I'll just skip it. Hopefully we either correct it or overcome it through the talent we're STACKED with everywhere else. But we're the AFC team to beat because we're genuinely that good, and no one else (except MAYBE SD) is even close. The AFCS favorite looks pretty soft on D, the AFCE favorite has a shaky offensive line and D with NO WRs of note, and they just stomped the crap out of the AFCN leaders accident-prone offense.
Unless SD challenges or we stumble, we're in the AFCs drivers seat, DESPITE a brutal schedule. Not because an All Pro opponent needs that to console him for an embarrassing loss: We just ARE.
Simple Jaded
10-06-2014, 10:44 PM
Apparently Fitz never heard of a running game. Doomed!
Apparently Fitz never heard of a running game. Doomed!
See, I knew I didn't have to say it outright. Three plus PARAGAPHS on how the Broncos are the AFC favorite because we earned it, not because Fitzgerald crowned us, yet you managed to seize on the two SENTENCES alluding to my one big criticism. That's what's so great about my cheering section: The unbiased objectivity. :tongue:
sneakers
10-06-2014, 11:02 PM
Larry's scholarship to Phoenix University is starting to pay off
Simple Jaded
10-06-2014, 11:09 PM
See, I knew I didn't have to say it outright. Three plus PARAGAPHS on how the Broncos are the AFC favorite because we earned it, not because Fitzgerald crowned us, yet you managed to seize on the two SENTENCES alluding to my one big criticism. That's what's so great about my cheering section: The unbiased objectivity. :tongue:
Doomed!
Doomed!
Speaking of Doom, where is that guy? I haven't heard 2 full sentences about since he left Denver.
silkamilkamonico
10-06-2014, 11:43 PM
Like i said all along, i dont see how we dont waltz into the Super Bowl. Rematch with seattle hopefully!
DenBronx
10-06-2014, 11:53 PM
Doomed!
Speaking of Doom, where is that guy? I haven't heard 2 full sentences about since he left Denver.
He already has about 4 or so sacks this season.
tomjonesrocks
10-07-2014, 12:21 AM
Speaking of Doom, where is that guy? I haven't heard 2 full sentences about since he left Denver.
He's seen playing really well. Ware has been good, but Doom has been more disruptive this season IMO comparing the two of them.
Cool, I Dont track the Ravens and its been quiet.
silkamilkamonico
10-07-2014, 07:27 AM
Dumervil isnt anything more than a rushing specialist there. He plays in just over 50% of baltimores defensive snaps.
Northman
10-07-2014, 08:16 AM
Doom does what Doom does best but his team isnt as well rounded as us.
Al Wilson 4 Mayor
10-07-2014, 12:10 PM
Dumervil isnt anything more than a rushing specialist there. He plays in just over 50% of baltimores defensive snaps.
That's an ideal situation for him, but unfortunately, Denver felt like they needed to make him an every down player. I always felt like he wore down as the season progressed playing that many snaps at his size.
Doom does what Doom does best
He's working the fax machine in the front office?
blamkin86
10-07-2014, 01:25 PM
He's working the fax machine in the front office?
Now that's funny.
That's an ideal situation for him, but unfortunately, Denver felt like they needed to make him an every down player. I always felt like he wore down as the season progressed playing that many snaps at his size.
I think it was after Dooms rookie year that some posters here asked if he was worth paying the high price great pass rushers command when he only played 3rd down. It's still a valid question; defense only runs roughly half a teams plays (often less for us) and a 3rd down specialist who can't play the run only plays a third of THOSE. How many millions is a guy who spends 80% of downs on the bench worth?
The knock on Doom then was he was barely 250 lbs. and a liability vs. runs; he's bulked up and improved vs. the run since, but is still mainly a speed-rushing 3rd down specialist. I prefer the elite pass rusher big and strong enough to play 1st and 2nd down. It's not always better; those speedy edge rushers DESTROYED Clark (and then Manning) throughout last year, but @Dallas he stonewalled Ware (who was admittedly making his first start since a back injury) so consistently the commentators noted he switched sides—and got stonewalled by Franklin! Yet overall, Ware brings FAR more to the table.
I still think Phillips (last years team sack leader) was plenty good enough, equally versatile and far less expensive, but in terms of Doom vs. Ware? They're both very pricey, but Ware's far better.
Al Wilson 4 Mayor
10-07-2014, 02:02 PM
I think it was after Dooms rookie year that some posters here asked if he was worth paying the high price great pass rushers command when he only played 3rd down. It's still a valid question; defense only runs roughly half a teams plays (often less for us) and a 3rd down specialist who can't play the run only plays a third of THOSE. How many millions is a guy who spends 80% of downs on the bench worth?
The knock on Doom then was he was barely 250 lbs. and a liability vs. runs; he's bulked up and improved vs. the run since, but is still mainly a speed-rushing 3rd down specialist. I prefer the elite pass rusher big and strong enough to play 1st and 2nd down. It's not always better; those speedy edge rushers DESTROYED Clark (and then Manning) throughout last year, but @Dallas he stonewalled Ware (who was admittedly making his first start since a back injury) so consistently the commentators noted he switched sides—and got stonewalled by Franklin! Yet overall, Ware brings FAR more to the table.
I still think Phillips (last years team sack leader) was plenty good enough, equally versatile and far less expensive, but in terms of Doom vs. Ware? They're both very pricey, but Ware's far better.
Ware is definitely a more dominant player. He has at least one TFL every game. He almost single handedly took over the Seattle game. First, he sacked Russel Wilson near the goal line, then he caused Lynch to get stopped for a safety, even though two other players got credit for the tackle.
Davii
10-07-2014, 02:28 PM
Doom does what Doom does best but his team isnt as well rounded as us.
**** Dumervil, and his shitty fax machine.
tripp
10-08-2014, 12:44 PM
There's no reason why we shouldn't be. Look at the state of the AFC right now. The Bengals are who we thought they were *Queue Dennis Green*. They're great at home, suck away. Dalton looked horrible, I get it that elite QB's have an off day, but he is an slightly above average QB with a good defense and good receivers. The Patriots would be a force if the front office would equip Tom Brady with a good wide out. How is it that the 3 best receivers on the Patriots are a Tight End, and 2 slot receivers? Although the 2 things that will always make the Patriots a SB contender are Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady. So long as they're in New England, they have a shot. With that being said, we should blow that team out of the water, and going to Foxboro in November should be a good sign where we stand in the AFC, if we didn't already know.
The Chargers look impressive thus far, and everyone will argue they're the real deal because they beat Seattle in SD. But let's be real, aside from the Seahawks, they've played the Bills, Jags, Jets, and Cards. The first 3 teams are arguably one of the worst teams in the NFL. Let's see where they are once they've played us twice, the Chiefs twice, San Fran, and New England.
The Colts look decent, and with Andy Luck, I think they'll always be a contender. But we've beat them playing our best football in 1 half of the game, the 2nd half we looked like the Jags and still beat the Colts. With that being said, I'm curious to see how we match up against them in mid-season form, because you can never really tell how good a team is week 1 in the NFL.
Northman
10-08-2014, 01:09 PM
**** Dumervil, and his shitty fax machine.
http://lowbrowsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/fax-machine.jpg
There's no reason why we shouldn't be. Look at the state of the AFC right now. The Bengals are who we thought they were *Queue Dennis Green*. They're great at home, suck away. Dalton looked horrible, I get it that elite QB's have an off day, but he is an slightly above average QB with a good defense and good receivers. The Patriots would be a force if the front office would equip Tom Brady with a good wide out. How is it that the 3 best receivers on the Patriots are a Tight End, and 2 slot receivers? Although the 2 things that will always make the Patriots a SB contender are Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady. So long as they're in New England, they have a shot. With that being said, we should blow that team out of the water, and going to Foxboro in November should be a good sign where we stand in the AFC, if we didn't already know.
The Chargers look impressive thus far, and everyone will argue they're the real deal because they beat Seattle in SD. But let's be real, aside from the Seahawks, they've played the Bills, Jags, Jets, and Cards. The first 3 teams are arguably one of the worst teams in the NFL. Let's see where they are once they've played us twice, the Chiefs twice, San Fran, and New England.
The Colts look decent, and with Andy Luck, I think they'll always be a contender. But we've beat them playing our best football in 1 half of the game, the 2nd half we looked like the Jags and still beat the Colts. With that being said, I'm curious to see how we match up against them in mid-season form, because you can never really tell how good a team is week 1 in the NFL.
The Bolts' only loss was by a SINGLE point on the road against a Cards team that still had Palmer and hadn't lost half its defensive starters to injury or suspension: San Diego's for real. That said, the best offense they've played so far was probably Seattle, which is balanced, but not elite, and defense has been SDs Achilles heel the past two years, so I'll wait and see whether our former OFFENSIVE coordinator has fixed that problem yet. Once they've played a few teams that average >20 pts/game, we'll know what kind of contender they are.
The rest of the AFC looks so weak now though that SD in turn looks like the biggest threat to us, however relatively big that threat is/n't. If nothing else, even if we ignore the bye SD would STILL have the nominal lead in the AFCW by virtue of the SoV tiebreak, so we need to take care of business against them to secure the division crown and an automatic playoff berth.
tripp
10-08-2014, 01:59 PM
The Bolts' only loss was by a SINGLE point on the road against a Cards team that still had Palmer and hadn't lost half its defensive starters to injury or suspension: San Diego's for real. That said, the best offense they've played so far was probably Seattle, which is balanced, but not elite, and defense has been SDs Achilles heel the past two years, so I'll wait and see whether our former OFFENSIVE coordinator has fixed that problem yet. Once they've played a few teams that average >20 pts/game, we'll know what kind of contender they are.
The rest of the AFC looks so weak now though that SD in turn looks like the biggest threat to us, however relatively big that threat is/n't. If nothing else, even if we ignore the bye SD would STILL have the nominal lead in the AFCW by virtue of the SoV tiebreak, so we need to take care of business against them to secure the division crown and an automatic playoff berth.
I just looked at the Chargers defensive stats and I was going to mention how great they are at pass coverage and total defense but... again, they played the Jets, Jags and Bills. Like you said, we'll wait and see how they match up against the Chiefs I guess, considering this week they play the Raiders. I'm not sold so far. In terms of the Seattle game, I think everyone tends to put Seattle on a pedestal including myself. They don't look overly dominant, but they do know how to close out games.
Ravage!!!
10-08-2014, 02:22 PM
ITs hard to tell on the Bolts, but they are looking pretty good. They DID beat the 'Hawks, so they need to be taken seriously...especially the way the are putting the beat down on the other teams. They ARE for real, as far as I can see.
I just looked at the Chargers defensive stats and I was going to mention how great they are at pass coverage and total defense but... again, they played the Jets, Jags and Bills. Like you said, we'll wait and see how they match up against the Chiefs I guess, considering this week they play the Raiders. I'm not sold so far. In terms of the Seattle game, I think everyone tends to put Seattle on a pedestal including myself. They don't look overly dominant, but they do know how to close out games.
Seattle's a defensive run first, pass when needed team, so 17-6 is a blowout for them. They didn't just stumble backward into a true blowout in the Super Bowl, especially since they had to play SF and Arizona twice EACH plus Carolina, NO and Indy just to post the NFCs best record. People said they were only good at home, but they didn't earn playoff homefield losing lots of road games.
The thing is, SDs secondary was awful two years ago and only slightly better last year, bad enough it's hard to believe just stealing Flowers away from KC was enough to solve the problem. Their other starting CB is Shareece Wright, who's made 100 tackles, defended 13 passes and had just ONE Int; those would be great numbers for a season—but not a 3+ year CAREER. Manning throwing to Sanders should shred that dude. They've got Weddle, but I just don't think Weddle+Flowers is significantly better than Weddle+nothing.
The good news for them and bad news for us is their schedule has few offensive powerhouses, so we'll just have to beat them straight up so it doesn't matter what they do against other teams. Worked against KC last year; we were both 11-3 against everyone else, but our 2 game sweep gave us playoff homefield and made them a wildcard.
Ravage!!!
10-08-2014, 04:53 PM
They've got Weddle, but I just don't think Weddle+Flowers is significantly better than Weddle+nothing.
Wait... so you don't think Flowers is better than nothing??? :confused: Because he's a DAMN good CB.
tripp
10-08-2014, 07:00 PM
Seattle's a defensive run first, pass when needed team, so 17-6 is a blowout for them. They didn't just stumble backward into a true blowout in the Super Bowl, especially since they had to play SF and Arizona twice EACH plus Carolina, NO and Indy just to post the NFCs best record. People said they were only good at home, but they didn't earn playoff homefield losing lots of road games.
The thing is, SDs secondary was awful two years ago and only slightly better last year, bad enough it's hard to believe just stealing Flowers away from KC was enough to solve the problem. Their other starting CB is Shareece Wright, who's played 100 career games but averaged less than ONE tackle in each, with 13 defensed passes and just ONE Int: Those are his CAREER TOTALS through 3+ seasons; Manning throwing to Sanders should shred that dude. They've got Weddle, but I just don't think Weddle+Flowers is significantly better than Weddle+nothing.
The good news for them and bad news for us is their schedule has few offensive powerhouses, so we'll just have to beat them straight up so it doesn't matter what they do against other teams. Worked against KC last year; we were both 11-3 against everyone else, but our 2 game sweep gave us playoff homefield and made them a wildcard.
They did draft Jason Verrett, and I'm pretty sure he was on the Broncos board at the time until he was drafted. I'm not sure how he's played so far. Roby seems like a steal for us at the moment regardless. The Chargers have some weapons in Gates, Allen, Royal and Floyd. It's done us a world of good having Woodhead out due to injury, although they've now discovered their new Sproles in Oliver. All I have to say is good luck to the Chargers playing us.
Wait... so you don't think Flowers is better than nothing??? :confused: Because he's a DAMN good CB.
I don't think he's SIGNIFICANTLY better, as in "he's a fine CB, but I doubt ONE GUY singlehandedly turns around an awful secondary." He's good, but not Champ Bailey ca. 2005. Wright's still "Manning" the other side, and, again: 95 tackles, 13 passed defended, ONE Int and ONE forced fumble in his 4 year CAREER. Manning throwing to Sanders/DT should carve him up like a Christmas ham.
They did draft Jason Verrett, and I'm pretty sure he was on the Broncos board at the time until he was drafted. I'm not sure how he's played so far. Roby seems like a steal for us at the moment regardless. The Chargers have some weapons in Gates, Allen, Royal and Floyd. It's done us a world of good having Woodhead out due to injury, although they've now discovered their new Sproles in Oliver. All I have to say is good luck to the Chargers playing us.
They've definitely got better WR talent than a couple years ago, when Gates' only help was Vincent Jackson. Rivers is having a second straight great year so far, and if they can find a decent healthy RB to keep on the field their offense is as good and versatile as it should be with a respected former OC as head coach. It's defense that's been killing them for a while though, and I just don't think Flowers is a one-man defense. Last year they were the classic example of a team that blitzed a lot (and well) because they COULDN'T cover long; it'll be interesting to see how much that's still true.
The frustrating thing is it probably won't be tested much before WE test it, so there's no way to be sure how big a challenge awaits Manning and our WRs and TEs. I think we're "significantly" better at QB, WR offensive line and defense though, so I feel pretty good about the matchup as long as we do our job every down from kickoff to gun. It's just that, in terms of AFC competitors, SD looks more credible and complete than NE (brutalized more than one,) Cincy (brutalized by NE) or Indy (whose defense is as bad as ever and already lost to us once.)
The nice thing about the schedule is it looks like all last years AFC division champs (except maybe NE) will repeat, so we'll play and thus control own destiny against all challengers, including SD.
LRtagger
10-09-2014, 12:50 PM
Its nice seeing the d get some attention! :D
Where are all the OGs to comment on this?
dogfish
10-10-2014, 09:24 PM
Where are all the OGs to comment on this?
i see what you did there. . . :heh:
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