Originally Posted by
broncos_mtnman
There's an old adage in sports that says, "It's never over until the fat lady sings."
Well, thanks to the pathetic display of ineptitude displayed by the Broncos against the "cellar-dweller" Raiders this afternoon, she's on stage and clearing her throat.
After a stretch of three weeks where it looked like the Broncos were finally getting some of their act together, the Broncos looked more like the team that went 3-5 in the first 8 weeks, than the team we've been seeing the past few games.
An offense that was really starting to click coughed up the ball 4 times.
An offense that was averaging slightly more than 30 points a game the past 3 weeks, managed to score only 20.
An offense with one of the best rushing attacks in the NFL ran for only 86 yards against the worst defense in the NFL against the run (the Raiders were ranked 32nd going into today's game).
A defense that looked like it was finally learning how to stop the run, gave up 146 yards to the Raiders 3rd string RB.
A defense that had held opponents to an average of around 20 points per game the past three weeks, gave up 34 points to a Raiders team that was ranked 25th in total scoring.
And last, but not least, after today, a team that was in a tie for 1st place in one of the weakest division in the NFL this season, finds itself 2 games out of 1st place with only 4 games left to play.
This week's four downs...
The Good Stuff (there isn't much)
1st - 3rd down efficiency. After only converting 1 out of 12 third downs last week, the Broncos converted 7 of 15 (46%)
2nd - Red Zone and Goal-to-go. The Broncos were 2/4 in the Red Zone and 2/2 in goal-to-go. Another encouraging stat is that the 2 TDs were rushing TDs.
3rd - Brandon Stokely. This guy is proving to be the greatest free agent acquisition we've seen at Dove Valley in several years. He had 102 yards receiving on just THREE catches. He's a keeper.
4th - DJ Williams. The guy had 13 solo tackles and 3 assists. Runner-up for the defense would be Nate Webster who had 9 solo tackles and 1 assist. Together, they accounted for nearly 42% of the defense's total.
The Bad Stuff
1st - Run defense. A weakness that appeared to be partially fixed showed up again with a vengeance. I mean really, other than being the son of "Huggy Bear" from the old Starsky and Hutch TV show, this guy is nothing but a 3rd string running back. Still, this "nobody" ran rough-shod over the Broncos defense like he's been doing it his whole life.
2nd - Turnovers. I already mentioned the total above. 3 came from Jay Cutler, who had what I would consider the worst game of his short career, giving up 2 INTs and a fumble on a botched handoff.
The fourth one came courtesy of the Broncos soon-to-be suspended running back.
3rd - Pass defense. The line score will show that the Broncos only surrendered about 200 yards, but they also gave up 3 touchdown passes to an Arizona Cardinals cast off (Josh McCown). I don't know about you, but I thought "shut down" corner meant that they shut down the opposing team, not the other way around.
And I'm sorry, but Foxworth may be a very nice guy with a great college education, but he's a HUGE liability in our nickel coverage. He was burned worse than my breakfast on several plays, one being a TD.
4th - Red Zone defense. The weaknesses above resulted in a defense that allowed the Raiders (remember, the 25th ranked scoring defense) to go 4/5 in the Red Zone. Pathetic doesn't come close to describing that.
Mathematically, the Broncos are still alive. Of course, the Chargers will have to stumble over the last four games. With Tennessee and Oakland on the road and Detroit and Denver to play at home, the chances of that happening don't appear too likely.
Add to that, the Broncos face KC, Houston (road), SD (road) and Minn. Even if they can run the table, that would still require SD to lose one of their games against Tennessee, Detroit or Oakland.
Like I said......
Next up, the Fat Lady.
BMM