Thread: Broncos' notes - Patriots Week

Andrew Mason @MaseDenver · 6m

... Knighton 27th among DTs, Irving 8th among ILBs, Harris 2nd and Talib 21st among CBs, Moore 28th among safeties (2/2). (per @PFF)

Andrew Mason @MaseDenver · 6m

Notable @Broncos in @PFF rankings (D): Miller 1st & Marshall 4th among 4-3 OLBs, Jackson 9th, Wolfe 11th, Ware 19th among 4-3 DEs (1/2) ...

Andrew Mason @MaseDenver · 10m

Notable @Broncos in @PFF rankings (offense): DT 5th & Sanders 7th among WRs, Vasquez 12th among Gs, JT 8th among TEs, Manning 6th among QBs.

Andrew Mason @MaseDenver · 15m

Your weekly Von Miller @PFF update: he's still the No. 2-ranked player in the NFL (26.4) behind only Houston's J.J. Watt (49.4).

Andrew Mason @MaseDenver · 20m

Denver has the only offense to score on all of its red-zone series (23/23), including 19 TDs. It averages 6.3 points per red-zone series.

Andrew Mason @MaseDenver · 27m

In yardage per game, the @Broncos are 6th on offense, 3rd on defense. But in yardage per play, they're 2nd on offense and 1st on defense.

Andrew Mason @MaseDenver · 30m

In total yardage gained & allowed, there are only two teams in the top 10 in both: the @Broncos, and ... Washington, believe it or not.

Andrew Mason retweeted
Chris Bianchi @chrisdbianchi · 2h

#Broncos-#Patriots game on Sunday looking at very least cold and windy…even with a 4:25pm ET kick, game-time temps below 40 likely. #mawx

Jeff Legwold @Jeff_Legwold · 2h

For #Broncos LG Orlando Franklin and DE Derek Wolfe held out of Monday's practice because of illness, will be on field Wednesday.

Andrew Mason @MaseDenver · 1h

In accepted penalties per game, the Broncos as a team are 27th (8.1 per game). The best is Jacksonville (4.6), so take that as you will.

Denver Broncos @Broncos · 34m

On-field snaps from Monday as #Broncos begin @Patriots prep. HAVE A LOOK: http://dbron.co/568


Denver Broncos @Broncos · 1h

Head coach John Fox talks @Patriots, as #Broncos get back to work at Dove Valley. http://dbron.co/567

Okay, I like to think that I'm generally positive about my team on a week to week basis, but I'm getting pretty nervous about this game next week for a number of reasons:

1. It's in New England. I'm not going to bitch about how we "always" play there, because that's more of a schedule quirk than a conspiracy (to wit - we will potentially host NE three straight times starting next year). That being said, I would feel much more comfortable about this game if it were in Denver. Since 2009, Brady is 41-3 at home in the regular season (though strangely only 4-3 in the playoffs) and all of those losses have come to NFC teams. The last time Brady lost a home game to an AFC team in the regular season was 2006. People can talk about Seattle all they want, but winning in New England is no joke.

2. The weather. Last year's game there was crazy due to the conditions. This year's doesn't look that bad, but as of now, the high temp for the day is 42, dipping potentially below freezing as the sun goes down, with 17 MPH winds. Obviously we'll have to win some games in the cold this year, but we've had a run of playing in very comfortable temperatures so far. Will it be a shock to the system? Can our running game come through again? I can't take more "Manning can't win in the cold" stories.

3. The hype. Both teams are playing really well right now, but the Broncos have been given the designation of "best team in football" by many of the national football websites. Even Patriot boot-licker Bill Simmons had this to write recently:

Shaping up to be a historically great juggernaut, as our friend Aaron Schatz broke down even before last night’s San Diego win. I see them finishing 14-2 overall — they’ll lose in San Diego or Kansas City, but that’s it. And if Manning can’t win the Super Bowl with THIS team, then I don’t know what to tell you.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/we...ling-epiphany/

This is a classic "waiting for the other shoe to drop" worry. I don't want to see articles next week about how Brady with no weapons again trumps Manning with his Star Wars offense.

4. Gronk. How do we stop him? Based on the performance so far, I don't think it's TJ Ward.

5. Even our resident pessimist Joel was doing some downright trash talking in the SD game thread about this game. Have we gone into bizarro world? How can I know how to feel when Joel is confident in a win??

So, people, make me feel better about this game.

We'll be fine. We dominated 6 of the 8 quarters we played against them last year. This year's Broncos are better and this year's Pats are worse. They won't be able to run at all against us allowing us to focus on stopping their passing game. They don't have the weapons on d to even pretend to show down our offense. This will be a 10-14 point won for the good guys. Don't let their blowout win over the Bears scare you, that team is in shambles.

It'll be a tough game. As long as the BRONCOS come out with the W, I don't care how they do it.

Bears have been a joke this year, Cutler has been a joke this year, Bears defence is one of the worst in the NFL, after last week's game Brandon Marshall is chewed out his entire team, including Cutler. Bears are a train wreck.

Patriots have lost Ridley, and Mayo for the season, Chandler Jones is done for atleast a month. This team is hurting. The only bright spots on the team is Gronk and LaFell, and even then I bet you Gronk is terrified of hurting his knee again, so I bet you TJ Ward can scare him quite a bit with a few big hits early to set the tone. New England's run D sucks, has even last year. Edelman is seeing less and less targets by the week, Amendola is just as productive as I am on the Patriots right now. This is a beat up Patriot team who got man handled a couple of weeks ago on Sunday Night against the Chiefs.

If we were to play the Patriots earlier in the season when we couldn't play a complete game, I would say this is a close game, but now we've ironed out most of the problems, I see this as ATLEAST 2 TD win for the Broncos. The best part is, Peyton doesn't even have to stand on his head to win this game. Ronnie Hillman will be explosive, along with two ex Patriots looking to get a last laugh at their former team. 41 - 17 Broncos.

We are as good as them at every position and have far superior WR's, D line, run defense and pass rush. If we lose this game against New England, it will be because we got outcoached. Bank it.

The broncos have also had a few extra days of rest since they played a Thursday game. All of the pats wins have come against sub-par teams and they needed a last second blocked fg to beat the jets and just barely beat Oakland. I am not concerned.

During the SD game (at least its second half) I was euphoric, because I told myself after SF I'd believe this a championship team if we played a full 60:00 4 days apart against two good teams: We did just that apart from SDs EoH drive and desperate rally at the end. Also, that was about when I read NE lost Chandler Jones. They'd already lost Mayo and Ridley, their WRs are still so weak a TE's by far their best receiver and they have a couple rookies starting on the inside of their offensive line: The #3 overall D and passing attack should SHRED that.

Once I came down though, all your other points re-emerged. Historically, Foxborough OWNS Denver AND Manning, apart and together. The forecast now's not much better than the freezing gusty conditions of Manning only truly bad 2013 game (and he was BAD, barely throwing for triple digit yardage: 101, IIRC; he had less in FIVE FULL QUARTERS @NE than ONE quarter vs. many teams.) And NE knows as well as we how big this game is; needs it more, given the standings: As bad as Manning and Denvers record is @Brady, his playoff record's just as winless @Denver and @Manning.

It may be time to let Gronk show us just how good Brandon Marshall is/n't, with some help from Ward over the top. He's one of the few things other than the location/weather that worry me:

1) Gronk: Hopefully we double cover/bracket him; we can spare Talib or Harris to help if needed, because I'm confident the other plus Roby and Webster can handle the likes of Edelman, LaFell and Wright.

2) Passing D: NE fell from #1 to #2 in passing yds/gm, but only because the Bears ran 2:00 drills the whole second half; NE is still 8th in yds/att, 7th in Ints and 9th in sacks (FWIW, we're better in all but Ints.)

3) Brady: The Pats WRs range from average to poor, and our D's much improved, but we still tend to dominate 1st and 2nd down only to give up 3rd and long and up with our backs to our own goal line.

I hope our improved running the past 2½ games is for real and fully exploit it against a 25th ranked run D (per attempt and per game) missing it's best LB and DE. Both secondaries are good, and our WRs far better, but the QB who LIVES in unpredictably intermittent 15-20 mph winds handles them far better than the one who just visits 1 wk/yr. And since our run D's so much better than theirs, it's a great way to wear out their secondary and pass rush while keeping ours fresh. If a sudden gust grabs one of Mannings long balls, Revis or Dennard's like to grab it next.

Other than that, let VonWareWolfe work Solder and Vollmer (who are both GOOD OTs) while Knighton, Sly and Austin push those rookies into Bradys face and we stuff Vereen repeatedly. DON'T BLITZ BRADY; trust all your excellent CBs to do their jobs while Ward helps Marshall and Irving with Gronk, with Moore guarding the end zone (that means no freelancing, hotdogger.) Remember: A coverage sack is STILL a sack, and our DTs plus maybe a few stunts with WareWolfeman Jackson could abuse those rookie guards to create pressure up the gut where Brady and Manning hate it.

It should go without saying OUR line needs to come up big, especially against Ninkovich (who seems to always terrorize our backfield;) the line must come up big EVERY week to do well.

This game's HUGE, as always: Yet again, the two most popular picks for AFC Champ are squaring off in a game with big implications. The playoff tournament makes truly historic regular season games rare, but this is could be one of them, is a potentially defining contest for both teams, deciding whether Mannings Broncos are finally Champions and whether the Pats dynasty is truly ended. Y'know, not to oversell it.

Originally Posted by biddy1030

The broncos have also had a few extra days of rest since they played a Thursday game. All of the pats wins have come against sub-par teams and they needed a last second blocked fg to beat the jets and just barely beat Oakland. I am not concerned.

That could work against rather than for us though: We just gritted our teeth to play complete games against two good teams four days apart, and beat both authoritatively, but it's hard enough to maintain the level of focus and intensity for three games straight; doing it with a 10-day gap before the last one's even harder. But if anything can hold our attention, it's @NE, especially after what they did yesterday.

Playing the Pats always makes me nervous.

Originally Posted by aberdien

Playing the Pats always makes me nervous.

I dont blame you. BRONCOS have lost 4 of the last 5 against them, or something like that.

Originally Posted by aberdien

Playing the Pats always makes me nervous.

If we were hosting, I'd confidently predict we blow out NE, but in Foxborough... never a good place for us, nor for Manning. All the more reason we need to win Sunday so we aren't tied, with them holding the tiebreak. The last half of their schedule's so much tougher than ours we could still wind up with homefield even if we lose—but at least Belicheat must know that, too, and that there's no WAY they could catch us if we WIN: We'd be two games up plus the tiebreak. Expect NE to come out like they're playing for playoff homefield, because they pretty much are.