The Denver Broncos are back at home again this weekend to take on the much hated Oakland Raiders. Denver is coming off now two weeks in a row where they come into the fourth quarter trailing by double digits and attempt a late fourth quarter comeback. But in each of the two games, the late effort was there, but it was not enough as the Broncos are sitting at 1-2 coming into this divisional game. This will be a good chance for Denver to get back on the saddle as they continue the brutal start to their season.
The Broncos will be going up against former defensive coordinator and now current Raiders head coach Dennis Allen. Allen, along with Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy were some of the hotter prospects of coaching candidates in the offseason. Of the two, Allen was hired away from the Broncos and now is at the helm for the Raiders. Allen will be facing a offense that is in no way, shape or form the same type of offense that we saw here in Denver last season. Denver for the better part of last season ran the option read offense. Now, with QB Peyton Manning in charge of the Bronco offense, this is an entirely new looking style of offense that Allen has to prepare for. Having Allen on their staff last season, the Broncos know his tendencies, so this could become a chess match as both the Raiders and Broncos have a little "insight" on what the opposing coach may be thinking.
Denver has the luck of playing the Raiders now, a team that is decimated in the secondary. Manning will get his first dose of the AFC West competition from a Bronco perspective this week. The Broncos have had luck with their no-huddle offense through most the season. If Denver catches Oakland in a situation where they have multiple matchups in their favor against the secondary, look for them to run that no-huddle to exploit the matchups as often as they can.
The Raider offense continues their trend of Jekyll and Hyde this season. Against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Sand Diego Chargers, QB Carson Palmer boasted a completion percentage of 70, four touchdowns to one interception with a QB rating over 94. But against the inferior defenses, such as the Miami Dolphins, his completion percentage was at 50, threw for a pick and a score and had a QB of 74.4. A bigger issue with the Raiders offense is the running game. He's got 167 yards on the season through 44 carries. Aside from his 64 yard TD run, hes got 103 yards on 43 carries, good for 2.4 yard per touch. This offense is now being lead by Gregg Knapp, who also a O.C. from 2007-2008, Run DMC's worst years in the league. Under Knapp, the Raiders employ the zone-blocking scheme, but while he has been gone, they Raiders went with power blocking. During that time, he ran for 2128 yards, held a 4.83 yard average and scoring 12 TD's. This offense is also going through a transformation, it will be interesting to see how well they can adapt as the season goes along.
For a second week in a row, the Broncos got a date with one the NFL's best, this time from the AFC. Denver played host to the 2-0 Houston Texans. In the previous week, the Broncos dealt with team that has become more known for their "high flying passing attack" in the Atlanta Falcons. Now the Denver Broncos had to try coral the Texan defense, lead by J.J. Watt, Brian Cushing and Jonathan Joesph.
Early on, the Broncos showed like they had put the tough loss and terrible officiating in Atlanta behind them and look to get the "home-cooking" going back at Sports Authority Field from Mile High. On the Broncos first defensive play, DE Elvis Dumervil easily beat RT Derek Newton for his first sack, that also resulted in a safety. Things looked gravy for this team right off the bat and fans were thinking they were in for a wild ride.
Wild ride is what the Bronco fans got, but a ride that had left them leaving the stadium at the end of the day in dismay. Matt Schaub and the Texan offense got the reigns off and opened up on the Bronco defense. Matt Schaub then connected with Andre Johnson for a 60 yard TD catch on run. It was apparent that on the play, DB Mike Adams should have played deep but had rolled down on the out route leaving CB Tracy Porter beat down field giving Johnson day light for the easy score.
This play in it self describes the Broncos as a whole for the day, miscommunication and out of place. On the next touchdown pass of the day, Matt Schaub had thrown a three yard screen pass out to RB Arian Foster in which DT Kevin Vickerson found himself the one that was tasked with having to cover and track down Foster. Advantage, Foster, result, Broncos down 14-5. The troubles continued for the squad, even on the offensive side of the ball.
The passing game continues to look like a "work in progress". The offensive line is struggling to give QB Peyton Manning time to look down field without pressure to make a play. The offense surrendered thee sacks and six QB hits. The line is dealing with injury currently as OG Chris Kuper is still re-coopering from a forearm fracture suffered in training camp/preseason. The Broncos also signed over the last week C/G Dan Koppen as insurance. Should the line continue to struggle with protection and C J.D. Walton not being able to comprehend audibles called out by Manning on the fly, I would not be surprised to see Koppen starting to get some reps with the first team in practices.
The receivers have their work cut out for them as well. They lack the separation and ability at times it seems to fend off DB's to get room to make a catch. Proof, 12 pass deflections on the day for the Texan defense. The main guys in Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker get hot and cold from series to series. One drive they can catch everything, and another they struggle. Six dropped passes in this game for the Bronco receivers, part of the issue may also be timing and chemistry. It is pretty obvious that the offense still needs to build that time and chemistry with Manning. There was plenty of passes that were made where the receiver did run the right route, got separation by just was a step behind in his route and Manning putting the ball where he thought his receiver would be when the pass was thrown; a habit that Manning developed playing in Indianapolis for his entire career.
On the Broncos second scoring drive of the day, Manning called a audible, looked to his left where Tamme and a receiver were in the area, by only five yards at the least, and the ball falls harmlessly to the ground for a Broncos incompletion, resulting in a field goal instead of a touchdown. Lastly, third down continues to be a problem for Denver. The offense converted 6 of 17 third downs while the defense let the Texans go 7 of 14 for the day. On the season thus far, the offense is only converting 39.5%, good for 15th in the league while the defense is giving up a whopping 50% on the season, 22nd in the league.
The season is young, but much work is to be made as the season moves on with the high expectations that this team is facing, this week, Denver has a chance to even their record as they face the 1-2 Oakland Raiders.
The Colorado Buffaloes are riding an emotional high right now. There is almost no words that can describe the feeling for the team to get the monkey off their back, especially following the recent harassment the team has been getting. ESPN had rated the CU football program as the worst of the worst in after week three following the losses to FCS Sacramento St. and a 69-14 throttling by Fresno St. Much turmoil was starting to cloud the program throughout the week leading up to the first PAC-12 game of the season.. There were murmurs floating amongst CU faithful that this may be a team that goes winless this season...
Understanding how frustrating it is to get a win, the Buffs remember being in this position all too well of being apart of a disappointing defeat. November 6th, 2010, Colorado travels to Lawrence to take on the Kansas Jayhawks, where dealing with the first season following several good years under Mark Mangino and at this point, had nothing to play for while CU still had hopes of getting to that six win mark and become bowl eligible. Start of the fourth quarter, CU is up 45-17 and just had to run the clock out to preserve the win. Long story short, CU ends up losing this game 52-45, eventually leading to the firing of then Head Coach Dan Hawkins.
Fast forward roughly two years, CU still is trying to regain respectability amongst the FBS as being a "worthy opponent" on any given week. Loss after loss, dealing with constant anguish, and seeing "new lows" for the program roll through, this most recent loss was a tipping point for this program.
Players and coaches all understood that they had become the "laughing stock" of D-I football. It was going to take some action for someone or something to wake this program up and show that the loss to CSUS and FSU were flukes. Mostly reserved OT David Bakhtiari stood up and made a statement. The Denver Post got Bakhtiari in what he said from the heart to the rest of his teammates.
"I told them that these coaches know how to
win. They're the best coaches I've ever played for. I was completely
distraught that we cannot execute what they set out for us. I told them,
'Look. If you're not willing to give 100 percent, to do exactly what
they tell you, buy into this program, be a Buffalo, then I don't want
you coming to practice, I don't want you suiting up, I don't want any of
that.' "
The Buffs fought valiantly and showed "grit" as they grind through the game against the Washington St. Cougars. This is obviously a team that lacks talent to keep up on a "week in-week out" basis to run with the rest of the PAC-12. After a field goal by the Cougars early in the fourth quarter, CU found themselves down 31-14 and on the verge of another crushing defeat. CU rose to the occasion, and it started with Jordan Webb, who was 29 of 42 for 345 yards, 4 total TD's and 1 INT, connecting with TE Nick Kasa for a 70 yard TD catch and run.
CU found themselves on the other end of a crushing defeat, this time...being the ones that dishes out the pain, and the comeback effort was on. Later in the fourth, Webb was forced to come out of the game due to new rules by the NCAA that should your helmet come off during play, you must sit out for the next play. Webb comes out and in comes backup Nick Hirschman. Handoff right side, a few good blocks, and RB Tony Jones gone up the right sideline for a 84 yard TD run. The defense played well for the fourth quarter, slowing down the aggressive and pass happy offense led by Mike Leach. On the first three drives of the quarter, the Buffs D buckled down surrendering only 61 total yards, and those three drives resulted in a interception, FG and a punt.
After forcing the Cougars to punt the ball, the Buffaloes found themselves down six points with just over three minutes of play left. The offense moved down the field using a good balance of runs with Tony Jones and Fullback coverted to Tailback Christian Powell, with the arm of Jordan Webb, and a little help from the officials, the Buffs scored on a Webb QB keeper to cap a 12 play-70 yard drive to go up one, leaving only several seconds for Wassu to mount a "comeback" of their own. And just like that, the Buffaloes end a day that showed another possible low of low to showing the raw emotion players were displaying throughout the comeback in the fourth, seeing the will of the players to come back and win this game 35-34. Following the game, Tony Jones explained the comeback effort the Buffs mounted to get their first win of the season.
"We told each other to just stay in it." "We definitely weren't going to let
go. We stayed up, stayed up. The offense was cheering on the defense,
and the defense was cheering on the offense."
Following the game, in the locker room, the players show the passion of CU football that is there within the CU locker room, the pride is there with this program as they look to get back to the ranks of the elite in college football.
The Broncos went into Atlanta riding a high after beating the Steelers as we watched and thought we were watching the rebirth of QB Peyton Manning. Denver struggled in the matchup with Atlanta, leaving the Georgia Down with the Falcons giving the Broncos the "Dirty Bird". Denver saw some signs of what this team is all about on Monday night, particularly on defense.
In the first quarter of the game against Atlanta, the defense was put into some tough spots. Following Mannings first three inceptions, the Falcons started at the Denver goal line, Denver's 43 and Atlanta's 47. The Falcons were able to put up ten points from those three drives. But given the fact the defense had short fields to work with, they held their ground. The longest play was a 15 yard pass to TE Tony Gonzalez down the middle, which was accompanied with a 15 yard facemasking penalty to help Atlanta get in position for a field goal. QB Matt Ryan struggled to get the passing game going and the defense held RB Michael Turner run for eight yards on four carries.
Credit is due to the Atlanta offensive line for giving Matt Ryan time to get the passing game into gear. The Broncos defense tried their hardest to get to Ryan, getting six QB hits on the day, and for the most part, keeping most completed passes short and in front of them. They also did a good job of stopping the running game as well. 28 carries for 67 yards. Two games into the season against some decent offenses, Denver is ranked 9th in pass defense and 7th in rush defense.
What most people are worried about is Manning. When was the last time that you can say that Manning may have been a problem for a team in their growing process. The two games played thus far are two different stories. The game against the Steelers, Manning almost boasted a perfect passer rating. The game against the Falcons, Manning was picked off three times in eight passes; first time since 2007 that he has had a three interception game, and the fewest amount of passes needed to get to three interceptions.
Relax...this offense is still a work in progress. Manning has had only several months to get back into football shape and several months to work out the new offense. The entire offense is in a learning process, Manning is learning Offensive Coordinator Mike McCoy's offense and the rest of the offense is still learning to play with Manning and vise versa. It was evident that the offense is still learning, particularly the no huddle. Some players looked out of position or ran the wrong play. Center J.D. Walton has even admitted to still trying to remember calls for audibles just before the snap.
While the offense is still learning how to work with each other and learn the system, Manning is trying to learn more about himself and his play. Some columists are saying that Manning is done for already after two weeks. Manning himself is still a work in progress, he says he's 100%, but what if he isn't. Should we take it away from him, doubt his ability to play the position. The answer is no. The Denver Post reports that backup and rookie QB Brock Osweiler was going to come into the game to replace Manning for a "Hail Mary" pass. Media outlets have started to then question whether Manning has "it" or not anymore.Manning at this point of his career is better than a vast majority of the QB's playing right now. There is much that is happening right now on the offensive side of the ball...the offense is very fluid to say the least. They are working out the "kinks" in the offense and once they get things together, this should be a potent offense...not to say that they already aren't.
Coming off of the Sunday night thriller against the Pittsburgh Steelers, The Denver Broncos will take their act on the road to the Georgia Dome to take on the Atlanta Falcons. The Broncos offense was put on full display against the Steeler defense. Denver did have their work cut out for themselves in that Sunday night game, but they also had a chance for the first time to impliment their offense for a full four quarters (Well...three quarters if we want to be technical as the Broncos held onto the ball for 36 seconds in the third).
What should not be over looked is the new look defense. Under new defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio, the Broncos D held the Steelers offense to under 300 yards, including 75 yards on the ground. But the Broncos have a new challenge they will face this week in the Atlanta Falcon offense. The question is can the Broncos slow down the explosive Falcon offense.
The Falcon offense erupted for 376 yards, but a majority of those yards came in the first three quarters when the damage had been done. The passing attack took flight for 292 yards with Julio Jones getting 108 and 2 TD's and Roddy White chipping in 87 yards as well. Matt Ryan was very efficient last week as well going 23 of 31 and the offensive line did a good job of keeping him up right, allowing only one sack.
Can the Broncos adjust to the Falcons passing attack? We know that Champ Bailey and Tracy Porter will do their job, but when Atlanta spreads the offense out and puts Denver in nickle defense, can the Broncos slow down Harry Douglas and Tony Gonzalez, CB Chris Harris and LB Wesley Woodyard will be X-Factors in the game.
Last week, the Broncos struggled to get of the field after third down, letting the Steelers go 11 of 19. If Denver can't stop them, the Falcons will be able to control the clock.
Being able to get the Falcon offense off the field will be key, this game will become a track meet, both teams will implement a no huddle offense to not allow for the other team to make defensive adjustments. The front four, including Elvis Dumervil, Von Miller and Derek Wolfe will have to get after Matt Ryan. If they don't sack him, they will need to rattle him after the pass to try and throw the rhythm off with the offense.
If this matchup moves towards being a shootout, the one thing that can help out the defense is the Broncos running game. They need to establish the run and keep the Falcon offense off the field, forcing them to score on every possession. Last week against Pittsburgh, the Broncos ran the ball 27 times for 95 yards, good for 3.5 yards per touch. That has to improve, and they may need to run the ball more often, whether the ground attack is working or not. They need to slow down the game and keep the ball out of Matt Ryan's hands.
Fortunately, the Broncos will face a Falcon secondary that just lost their number one cornerback in Brent Grimes for the season due to an Achilles injury suffered in the win last week against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Broncos will test out that secondary with Chris Owens and Robert McClain as the two DB's that will most likely be matched up with Brandon Stokley.
This game has "track meet" written all over it, this will be a good one as two high powered offenses go at it. This game will be most likely decided by who has the ball last and who makes the first mistake in the game.
The Broncos came, they saw, and they conquered the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first week of the 2012 NFL season...Peyton Manning was masterful in orchestrating the new look Denver offense. Manning himself was 19 of 26 for 253 yards and two touchdowns, good for a 129.2 QB rating. On limited carries, the running game looked good lead by RB Willis McGehee. McGehee himself ran the rock 16 times for 64 yards and a four yard per rush average.
The defense looked stellar for the most part. There's now a trio of pass rushers on the Broncos that will wreck havoc...Elvis Dumervil, Von Miller, meet Derek Wolfe. There three will be a problem on a weekly basis. We know what Dumervil and Miller can do, but Wolfe was on the scene from the get go, and the Steelers had made notice of him early. They were already starting to double team the kid. Three tackles, a sack and a tackle for a loss is how he made his NFL debut. One of the newest acquisitions this offseason was cornerback Tracy Porter. This was a move that went under the radar, but five pass deflections and pick six for the former New Orleans Saint.
But now that the honeymoon is over, the dust has settled and we start looking forward to week two, there were some things that the Broncos need to work on going ahead. One is the slow start. Several dropped passes again with the Bronco receivers early in the game. Starters Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas both have problems catching the ball on a consistent basis since they were drafted.
Another issue is getting off the field on third down. 11 of 19, that's how many times the Steelers converted on third down. Whether the d-line isn't getting to the quarterback fast enough or the secondary has a mishap and allows the QB to find the receiver makes it a problem for the team. This is a defense right now that is built like the Indianapolis Colts defense when Manning was there, when the team has the lead, they can let their defense run wild on the quarterback. That was evident on the last drive against the Steelers, but there will be plenty of time where the Broncos could have to play from behind and will have to help the offense by getting off the field after third down.
The Broncos have their work cut out for them, the victory against the Steelers was a good start, but the next opponent, the Atlanta Falcons, will surely put the defense to the test with Julio Jones and Roddy White on the outside.
The first week of the NFL is loadedwith many storylines coming out of the offseason, but one of the biggest ones is here in Denver. Several will be revolving around Bronco quarterback Peyton Manning. The Denver Broncos will be hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football, and one of the storylines that will be followedby NFL experts will be the critiquingof every movement of Manning. Everyone will want to see if this is the old Manning or the Manning that is still trying to regain form post neck surgery.
Another storyline in this game will be how well the Steelers can adjust to the Broncos offense. This is not the same Bronco offense that they lost to in the Wild Wildcard game in Denver back in Januarywhere former Bronco QB Tim Tebowexploited the Steelersecondary where he was able to hit WR Demaryius Thomas on a slant route that turned into the 80 yard catch-and-run for a TD and the win in overtime.
Now enter Manning, although he does boast a .500 winning record against the Steelers, Manning has had his way with the Steelers including his last contest against Pittsburgh in 2008. Manning was on the road in that game at Heinz Field in early November where he torched the Steelers for 240 yards, three TD's and no interceptions.
The Steelers defense will be somewhat short-handedin this game against this well mixed offense of youth and experience. Pitt will be without LB James Harrison and S Ryan Clark. Clark is essentially the quarterback of the defense and primarily the secondary. With him out, the secondary will be with Ryan Mundy in as his replacement, the same safety that was in the game for the Steelers in the loss to the Broncos. It will be a test for this defense to see how they prepare for the Broncos. The Steelers let Tebow torch their secondary, and now with Manning at the helm, it will be interesting to see how the Steelers can prepare and see what creativity they can come up with to make Manning think before he snaps the ball.
Last is the Bronco offense, which didn't have lots of time this preseason to get actualgame timeto prepare for the regular season. They can prepare all they want in practice for the real deal, but all that practice can mean nothing if they don't get to actually executetheir offense in realtime like actual game play. The Broncos got a game worth the time during the preseason to work on the new look Bronco offense.
Manning and the Broncos have been preparingfor this game against the Steelers for a couple of weeks, but sitting out that last game against the Arizona Cardinals can prove to becrucial. In most cases, teams don't play their starters in the lastpreseason game, in the Broncos case, it could have proved to bebeneficial. What the Broncos need to worry about in this game is whether the offense is on the same page and in a rhythm from the first snap.
The Steelers as well are dealing with adversity on the offensive side of the ball. How well has Ben Roethlisberger adjusted to new Offensive Coordiantor Todd Haley's run first offense. There was questions this offseason that the two did not get along and it could cause problems as the season moves along. The Steelers will not have Rashard Mendenhall in this game, so can the Steelers stable of backup running backs bring a level of consistency and production to keep the opposing defense honest and from dropping more players back and giving Big Ben problems with the passing game.
