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BroncoWave
11-24-2014, 10:20 AM
So this was a really good game to do this for and I'm chomping at the bit to post again so here goes...

Good:

Manning: Was still off on a few throws, but still had a really good game overall.

CJ: I seriously love this guy, probably my new favorite player. Such a hard runner and really has some deceptive speed.

DT: Another beastly effort from him.

Sanders: Continues to make spectacular catches week after week.

Von/Ware: For being held all day long, they were putting some good pressure on the QB.

Harris: He did get beat once but still a good game.


Undecided:

Ward: I just can't decide what to think of him. He is a great physical presence who can blitz and help in the run game, but he just sucks in coverage. I know he had the pick, but it was on a pass tipped right to him that I could have caught. I guess you just have to take the good with the bad here.


Bad:

McManus: Cut this guy today. Seriously. I don't want to hear about how prater sucked early then improved. This guy isn't prater. He is 32nd in the NFL in field goal accuracy. Pass.

Burse: You just cannot fumble in that situation. Inexcusable.

Fox: He seriously needs to be banned from challenging. At the very least he needs to fire whoever in the booth tells him to challenge.

It seems like there should be more in the bad column as poorly as we played for three quarters, but that last quarter really made up for a lot of the bad. It's really encouraging to see us win that type of game.

Ziggy
11-24-2014, 10:28 AM
Manning missed at least 3 TD throws where the receiver was open. It wasn't his best day despite the numbers.

CJ is what we thought he was.

The offensive line manhandled a very good front 7.

Virgil Green is our best run blocker regardless of position.

Emmanuel Sanders was one of the steals of free agency.

This team may still win a super bowl despite the coaching staff.

ForgettingBrandonMarshall
11-24-2014, 10:44 AM
I would say the addition of Virgil Green is both good and bad. Good in the sense that he really helps seal the edge in the running game, but bad that we have to rely so heavily on one player to get it done. When he has not been in the lineup this year, we have struggled to run the ball. We need a plan B.

VonDoom
11-24-2014, 10:51 AM
Sanders is just freakin' phenomenal at this point. Not even the most optimistic fan (or GM) could have predicted how lethal he'd be out there. Our best FA pick up by far.

We had a 50/50 run/pass ratio. We controlled TOP and despite the defense acting like a sieve in the first half, only gave up 313 yards. Let's stick with this new look offense. I know they had Cornick out there as a sixth o-lineman at times, Virgil Green can block and CJ and Juwan just pound the ball. As I said in the game thread, that's the kind of thing that will win playoff games.

I normally don't advocate cutting a guy and I'm not good at predicting things like that, but I'd be surprised if McManus is our kicker next week. I gave him a pass before, as he tried to get his feet under him, but you can't miss a 33 yarder, at home, under any circumstances. Give me any wily veteran for the stretch run.

MasterShake
11-24-2014, 11:12 AM
So this was a really good game to do this for and I'm chomping at the bit to post again so here goes...

Good:

Manning: Was still off on a few throws, but still had a really good game overall.

CJ: I seriously love this guy, probably my new favorite player. Such a hard runner and really has some deceptive speed.

DT: Another beastly effort from him.

Sanders: Continues to make spectacular catches week after week.

Von/Ware: For being held all day long, they were putting some good pressure on the QB.

Harris: He did get beat once but still a good game.


Undecided:

Ward: I just can't decide what to think of him. He is a great physical presence who can blitz and help in the run game, but he just sucks in coverage. I know he had the pick, but it was on a pass tipped right to him that I could have caught. I guess you just have to take the good with the bad here.


Bad:

McManus: Cut this guy today. Seriously. I don't want to hear about how prater sucked early then improved. This guy isn't prater. He is 32nd in the NFL in field goal accuracy. Pass.

Burse: You just cannot fumble in that situation. Inexcusable.

Fox: He seriously needs to be banned from challenging. At the very least he needs to fire whoever in the booth tells him to challenge.

It seems like there should be more in the bad column as poorly as we played for three quarters, but that last quarter really made up for a lot of the bad. It's really encouraging to see us win that type of game.

I thought Foxy's challenge was ok given the circumstances at the time and the fact it was the first half, but I see your point.

Good:

A balanced attack that never seemed to panic (35 runs/35 passes!)

O-Line was on a mission and blocked with authority, also Virgil Green was a huge lift

CJ Anderson had the best RB performance I've seen under Manning. He didn't dance around, he bowled people over and always fell forward

Our Sanders/Thomas are a better 1-2 punch than Decker/Thomas was last year and this game cemented that for me

I LOVED that we converted a short first down yardage with the run game!

The Bad:

Defense was on their heels the first half

Special teams mistakes (missed FG/fumbled punt)

PENALTIES ON OFFENSE!


All in all I loved this game. I never thought I would see a Manning led team just destroy a physical defense by outmatching their physicality. I think this bodes well for our playoff push. Our Run D needs to find itself again next week in KC though!

Zweems56
11-24-2014, 11:25 AM
Manning missed at least 3 TD throws where the receiver was open. It wasn't his best day despite the numbers.

CJ is what we thought he was.

The offensive line manhandled a very good front 7.

Virgil Green is our best run blocker regardless of position.

Emmanuel Sanders was one of the steals of free agency.

This team may still win a super bowl despite the coaching staff.

Going through New England? Not how we're playing right now.

Buff
11-24-2014, 11:43 AM
Good -

This was exactly the offensive performance I was hoping for... We actually let CJ tote the rock, we let the o-line find a little rhythm, the play action game was working as a result.

It makes the St. Louis performance all the more puzzling - like why wouldn't you give the ball to CJ after his performance in Oakland? Hopefully that miserable Rams game goes down as a turning point/learning experience for this team.

I liked seeing Omar Bolden returning kicks. He deserves the job over Caldwell.

Bad -

Talib's play has fallen off considerably. He doesn't seem like the force that he was at the beginning of the year.

In general, we don't seem to be disrupting offenses as much as we were earlier in the season. I'd like to see more blitzing to keep offenses on their heels.

Orlando Franklin is incapable of having one complete game without screwing up something.

John Fox sucks at game management. His challenges are consistently bad and so is his clock management.

GEM
11-24-2014, 11:57 AM
At the same time of having Orlando on your bad for one penalty, I thought he had a damn good game yesterday. He opened up a lot of holes for CJ to run through. Shlereth even directly tweeted him last night telling him what a good game he had.

jhildebrand
11-24-2014, 11:58 AM
Great- CJ. The guy made people miss, doesn't go down at the first contact. Made some amazing plays and extended runs. Best of all he falls forward. I remember how so many of us who clamored to see more of CJ last year based off his preseason performance were told we were stupid, and it's just preseason, and the coaches know more. Maybe not eh? This guy has been here the whole time while the staff and FO have been painfully working through Ball and Hillman. If this team is going to go RBBC, it needs to be CJ and Howard for the rest of the year. If and when Ball and Hillman are healthy they should know their role is to spell those guys.

Ward-You could see how disruptive and effective he can be with the reigns off.

Good-Game Plan and clock control. We finally saw a team that showed they can take a punch and punch back.

Bad-defense. This team has to find a way to get pressure when playing from behind or tied. More importantly, they have to start getting some takeaways

jhildebrand
11-24-2014, 12:07 PM
I forgot to mention Special Teams. They have been quietly horrible all season. Yesterday it was on full display. Consistent penalties on kick/punt returns. Long returns for the other team. Fumbles.

#comeonman!

BroncoWave
11-24-2014, 12:08 PM
Buff, Talib hurt his hammy early in the game yesterday, so I give him a pass for that game.

GEM
11-24-2014, 12:12 PM
Buff, Talib hurt his hammy early in the game yesterday, so I give him a pass for that game.

Eh on Talib...for the $ he's getting paid he's #77 out of DB's in the league. That's not great. Then again, I wish we would have found a way to keep Rodgers-Cromartie over Talib to begin with.

BroncoWave
11-24-2014, 12:38 PM
What metric rates him #77? Just curious.

underrated29
11-24-2014, 12:47 PM
the oline first and formost was stellar!

Cj ran like a stud.

Sanders runs so hard. I wish DT would run as hard as sanders does. DT would then be unstoppable.

Did I mention the Oline?

Gase- brought in an ENTIRE new game plan. New packages. Not the same stale crap we always see (about 15 plays), but we still went to the WR bubble screen a lot.

Roby, he got beat a few times, but he freaking lays the lumber on fools. If we could just get some luck on our side to recover all of these fumbles.



BAD:
Defensive play calling. Talib is a press man corner. Not a zone guy. He needs to be lined up on the man to jam him and slow him down.
When we blitz we are very effective. We never blitz.
Peyton had several bad throws that could have been tds. A little off for him. Normally thats cash money.
Not recovering these fumbles we make
Stupid challenge by fox.
Zone defense. Mix zone and man is fine, but straight zone adn we get burnt.
I am not a fan of how they are calling the defense until they have to. It seems like when they must get a stop, we bring the heat, press the wr and attack. And we are more successful then not. All other times, we seem to just rush 4 straight ahead and hope they get there.

NightTrainLayne
11-24-2014, 01:07 PM
Regarding Fox's challenge yesterday, since I've defended him in the past. Two things:

1. That challenge was pretty inexusable imo. The only redeeming factors was that it was the first half, and a potential turnover. But it was obviously incomplete.

2. The call had to come from someone above in the booth. I say this because it took so long to challenge. Fox barely got the flag out before the Dolphins ran their next play, and they were in no special hurry to do so. Since it took so long to make that decision, I have to think that someone above talked him into it. Whoever that person was, needs a change in job description.

Mike
11-24-2014, 01:11 PM
Regarding Fox's challenge yesterday, since I've defended him in the past. Two things:

1. That challenge was pretty inexusable imo. The only redeeming factors was that it was the first half, and a potential turnover. But it was obviously incomplete.

2. The call had to come from someone above in the booth. I say this because it took so long to challenge. Fox barely got the flag out before the Dolphins ran their next play, and they were in no special hurry to do so. Since it took so long to make that decision, I have to think that someone above talked him into it. Whoever that person was, needs a change in job description.

I don't know, NTL. Fox has a history of horrible challenges. He is by far the worst at it than any coach I have ever seen.

chazoe60
11-24-2014, 01:12 PM
The good: Broncowave coming off of suspension

The Bad: BTB posting again.


;)



J/K

Nomad
11-24-2014, 01:16 PM
chazoe.....you have a little brown on that nose.:D

chazoe60
11-24-2014, 01:18 PM
chazoe.....you have a little brown on that nose.:D
Hey, you don't just fall blindly into one of these union gigs.

jhildebrand
11-24-2014, 01:19 PM
In fairness to our DB's, their job is a lot more difficult when the front 7 can't get pressure.

NightTrainLayne
11-24-2014, 01:19 PM
I don't know, NTL. Fox has a history of horrible challenges. He is by far the worst at it than any coach I have ever seen.

I don't disagree.

But I think he's been much better this season outside of that call yesterday... and again, it took so long for him to throw that flag that I have to think that there was a lot of other input from someone else.

Wave hammered on him a few weeks ago on a call that I thought was absolutely the right call. Other than that, I don't remember very many "bad" challenges this regular season.

Nomad
11-24-2014, 01:19 PM
BRONCOS are gonna have to tune up quick, and bring their A++game on Sunday Night. I hope they don't fill up on too much turkey and gravy.

BroncoWave
11-24-2014, 01:22 PM
The good: Broncowave coming off of suspension

The Bad: BTB posting again.


;)



J/K

Have you forgiven me yet for calling you emo? That was out of line, it being your birthday and all.

Buff
11-24-2014, 01:23 PM
Regarding Fox's challenge yesterday, since I've defended him in the past. Two things:

1. That challenge was pretty inexusable imo. The only redeeming factors was that it was the first half, and a potential turnover. But it was obviously incomplete.

2. The call had to come from someone above in the booth. I say this because it took so long to challenge. Fox barely got the flag out before the Dolphins ran their next play, and they were in no special hurry to do so. Since it took so long to make that decision, I have to think that someone above talked him into it. Whoever that person was, needs a change in job description.

A 3rd factor that I was considering at the time, Jeff Triplette was the referee and is a total goober who is prone to making weird replay calls. I doubt that actually factored into his decision, but I was thinking that after we challenged it.

OrangeHoof
11-24-2014, 01:23 PM
It was so frustrating I finally had to turn it off. There was one play in the third quarter where the Dolphins had a 3rd and 7 or 8 in their own territory and Tannehill went back to pass. A lineman broke free and was about to clobber Tannehill when he let loose a floater toward the sideline. The receiver caught it about three yards short of the first down and we have two defenders there to stop him but both defenders knock each other off the play and the receiver gets the first down. Now we have another guy in position to knock him out of bounds but the receiver cuts back toward the middle and runs past him then another defender catches the receiver further downfield and knocks the ball loose. We have two guys there to fall on the ball but it gets away from both of them and a Miami player trailing the play falls on it.

So we *almost* had a sack, we *almost* stopped the receiver short of the first down and *almost* recovered a fumble but managed to do none of those things. I could take it anymore. Glad they came back to win it.

Nomad
11-24-2014, 01:25 PM
You missed a damn good 4th quarter, OH.

capt. Jack
11-24-2014, 01:48 PM
I liked the way they didn't freak out, and fought hard to get the win!

GEM
11-24-2014, 02:03 PM
What metric rates him #77? Just curious.

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=1&statisticPositionCategory=DEFENSIVE_BACK&season=2014&seasonType=REG

Defensive Backs per NFL Player Rankings.

I'm just not that impressed with him for the money we spend on him. Roby is rated 10 spots higher than him.

capt. Jack
11-24-2014, 02:14 PM
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=1&statisticPositionCategory=DEFENSIVE_BACK&season=2014&seasonType=REG

Defensive Backs per NFL Player Rankings.

I'm just not that impressed with him for the money we spend on him. Roby is rated 10 spots higher than him.

But, Talib is going to pick off Brady for us in the playoffs!

:)

7DnBrnc53
11-24-2014, 02:16 PM
Going through New England? Not how we're playing right now.

Well, this team got their doors blown off at KC, and now they are unbeatable? I am not buying this. If the Broncos can run the ball effectively like they did yesterday, and if they clean up their defense a little bit, they can beat NE. They aren't this good. Yesterday was about how bad Detroit sucked as well.

VonDoom
11-24-2014, 02:25 PM
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=1&statisticPositionCategory=DEFENSIVE_BACK&season=2014&seasonType=REG

Defensive Backs per NFL Player Rankings.

I'm just not that impressed with him for the money we spend on him. Roby is rated 10 spots higher than him.

I agree that he hasn't been as good as we had hoped so far. But I don't know how they measure stats on the link you posted. According to that, Ward is our best DB, and Harris is listed as #100, tied with Revis and some others. So I'll take that with a grain of salt.

GEM
11-24-2014, 03:03 PM
I agree that he hasn't been as good as we had hoped so far. But I don't know how they measure stats on the link you posted. According to that, Ward is our best DB, and Harris is listed as #100, tied with Revis and some others. So I'll take that with a grain of salt.

I didn't look too far into it. My dad and I were just talking about Talib and he pulled that up and we wondered how Roby tested higher, but didn't go too much further into it....probably because it fit into our negative talk about not liking what he has brought to the table for the money spent. :laugh:

Mike
11-24-2014, 03:06 PM
http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=1&statisticPositionCategory=DEFENSIVE_BACK&season=2014&seasonType=REG

Defensive Backs per NFL Player Rankings.

I'm just not that impressed with him for the money we spend on him. Roby is rated 10 spots higher than him.

I read somewhere that Talib does best with press man coverage but we don't have him playing that style.

GEM
11-24-2014, 03:07 PM
Did some more digging and the first thing I see is DT is at #1 and Sanders is at #4 in Receivers. :D

GEM
11-24-2014, 03:08 PM
I read somewhere that Talib does best with press man coverage but we don't have him playing that style.

That is something I don't understand. If you are a good DC, wouldn't you key in on each players strength and build around that. Is Del Rio so tied into HIS style that he won't make changes to get the best out of the guys actually playing?

VonDoom
11-24-2014, 03:18 PM
I read somewhere that Talib does best with press man coverage but we don't have him playing that style.

That's what I'm thinking. I'm not sure why they're not playing into his style. They got him here, shouldn't they allow him to do what he does best?


Did some more digging and the first thing I see is DT is at #1 and Sanders is at #4 in Receivers. :D

Well, I can't argue with those numbers :D I believe for WR's it's based on yardage, and DT is indeed number one in that category to date.

DenBronx
11-24-2014, 05:15 PM
Picking up Sanders was pure genius and I don't know what else to say on that.

BroncoWave
11-24-2014, 05:39 PM
Picking up Sanders was pure genius and I don't know what else to say on that.

He is just crazy good. I don't know if he just wasn't trying in Pittsburgh or if they were just horribly misusing him.

HORSEPOWER 56
11-24-2014, 05:44 PM
It was so frustrating I finally had to turn it off. There was one play in the third quarter where the Dolphins had a 3rd and 7 or 8 in their own territory and Tannehill went back to pass. A lineman broke free and was about to clobber Tannehill when he let loose a floater toward the sideline. The receiver caught it about three yards short of the first down and we have two defenders there to stop him but both defenders knock each other off the play and the receiver gets the first down. Now we have another guy in position to knock him out of bounds but the receiver cuts back toward the middle and runs past him then another defender catches the receiver further downfield and knocks the ball loose. We have two guys there to fall on the ball but it gets away from both of them and a Miami player trailing the play falls on it.

So we *almost* had a sack, we *almost* stopped the receiver short of the first down and *almost* recovered a fumble but managed to do none of those things. I could take it anymore. Glad they came back to win it.

The play that was worse, IMO, was when the Dolphins were in the red zone and Jackson batted a 3rd down pass that Von intercepted. Von then tried to run and break tackles instead of just falling on it and giving the offense the ball and he was stripped and the Dolphins recovered it. I was so pissed I was screaming at the TV.

It didn't matter much because there was a ticky tack defensive holding that nullified all of it but it was another one of those mental errors that changes games. Miami got there TD anyway.

Someone pointed out that Miami's offense didn't get a single penalty yesterday. There's a reason our pass rush wasn't good yesterday. They were being held and not flagged. Von got tackled at least 3 times.

Buff
11-24-2014, 05:51 PM
The play that was worse, IMO, was when the Dolphins were in the red zone and Jackson batted a 3rd down pass that Von intercepted. Von then tried to run and break tackles instead of just falling on it and giving the offense the ball and he was stripped and the Dolphins recovered it. I was so pissed I was screaming at the TV.

It didn't matter much because there was a ticky tack defensive holding that nullified all of it but it was another one of those mental errors that changes games. Miami got there TD anyway.

Someone pointed out that Miami's offense didn't get a single penalty yesterday. There's a reason our pass rush wasn't good yesterday. They were being held and not flagged. Von got tackled at least 3 times.

The weird thing to me is that on that play the referees didn't seem to treat it as a change of possession. Maybe they already knew that it was going to be a defensive holding call, but it's as though they were treating it as a fumble that Von never fully possessed, even though he clearly did. If I'm not mistaken, they initially marked it down like it was going to be 4th down for Miami, even though it should have been 1st and 10.

The holding call might have been slightly less mentally deflating than Von fumbling, even though the outcome would have been the same either way.

weazel
11-24-2014, 06:06 PM
He is just crazy good. I don't know if he just wasn't trying in Pittsburgh or if they were just horribly misusing him.

I liked him in Pitt, I was elated when we signed him. Pitt is a weird team to judge receivers on because Ben hangs on to the ball for so long its usually the guys that are coming back towards the ball that get targeted.

Hawgdriver
11-26-2014, 01:51 AM
Plus Ben's not the leader that Manning is. So I'm told.

Al Wilson 4 Mayor
11-26-2014, 01:39 PM
At the same time of having Orlando on your bad for one penalty, I thought he had a damn good game yesterday. He opened up a lot of holes for CJ to run through. Shlereth even directly tweeted him last night telling him what a good game he had.

I agree, the O had a monster game.

Cute avy pic Gem! :D