My Thoughts from a Mental Confidence Standpoint.

       I have been reading the posts and just wanted to point out some of the positives that I saw last Sunday against the Jags.  First, I thought the defense played admirably considering the positions the offense kept putting them in.  There seems to be a pattern of toughness an heart emerging among the members of this team that I like.  Obviously we are talking about a young team here and that brings about some hairpulling moments while one is watching the games themselves.  I have pulled several out myself already this year.  However I have seen a lot of good things considering how young we are overall, not only the players being youthful but a couple of the coaches as well. 

       First of all, our offense came out and shoved the ball right down the Jag's throat in our first drive, that is becoming a habit this year and I like it.  The defense seems to be able to play decent when we can hold on to the ball and give them time between drives.  I wonder how much of this comes in to play when they don't have much time on the sideline to discuss with coaches what happened on the last drive and what adjustments they might need to make.  Maybe HT or styg could comment on this because as a coach I know that comes in to play some.  Also in the second half of the Jags game the offense a couple of times couldn't hold onto the ball long enough to let the D rest.  I really do think our D wasn't that bad Sunday, they were at least adequate and the special teams were much improved.  Our coverage units had their best game of the year, as did the return units when they got the chance.

       Now don't get me wrong, there are things I'd like to see us do more of, blitzing being one of them, but overall we were adequate on the defensive side of the ball.  Obviously there is no quick fix or we would have stayed a Super Bowl contender since 98.  I think we are ahead of schedule as far as the rebuild goes. 

      The thing I noticed the most last Sunday was the simple fact that we played hard, tough, physical football for 60 minutes.  Sure we made some mistakes and we let the game get away but remember this is the same team that came in here and ABSOLUTLEY manhandled us last year.  I guarantee you they felt lucky to leave Denver with a win this time.  There was no manhandling going on this time, there was a young explosive team that made just enough mistakes to lose the game.  That comes with the territory with a young team but I promise you Jacksonville knew they were in a football game and not a game of pattycake like we gave them last year.  We had several games last year where we just packed it in and got killed.  I haven't seen that yet this year and I hope I never see it again.  Say what you want, our boys are leaving it all out on the field.  We make enough mistakes to lose here and there but we are giving it all we have.  I'm seeing that across the board this year and that, along with better talent (albeit young) is the difference between this team and the 07 Broncos.  LOL I just hope I have SOME hair left before we get the next ring.  Anyway just a few thoughts from a colorado redneck that bleeds Orange.