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It is obvious I am no Nostradamous. In fact, Nostradamous is no Nostradamous. His quatrains are so vague and meaningless that no one can say with any degree of certainty that his predictions have come true. That said, I had dream last night. A terrifying dream. I dreamt the Buffalo Bills came into Denver and handed the Broncos their first loss of under seven points all season. The dream ended with Lindell hitting a 50 yard field goal with time running out under the screams of his coaches, "Toro Toro Toro!" to win the game 31-30.
The nightmare is driving me crazy this week. I just want the Broncos to clinch the division, get some playoff experience and build on that going into next season. In a strange ironic twist, I also picked the Chargers to win in Tampa Bay this weekend. The ultimate nightmare would be for the Broncos to lose out, which would sour my mood for ten months or more. The Denver Broncos need to take care of business and I mean right the hell now! For the record, I will be picking Denver to WIN this week...because I refuse to accept anything else.
As for the best match up between these two teams throughout history, I'd have to pick last years thriller. I give you guys the quick low down as I am not in the mood really to be nostalgic about the Broncos. I am still raging over this past weekend.
I was forever haunted by the David Treadwell debacle until last year. I never thought Jay Cutler and the Broncos could out do their last second rally to beat the Buffalo Bills in Week 1. At least in the regular season. Then the Charger game happened in Week 2 of this year. In any case, Jay Cutler's performance in the final minutes of that opening day contest will go down as one of Cutler's first flashes of brilliance in what will no doubt be a great career.
The Bills started off well, quickly driving down to the Broncos 30 yard line on the games first possession. However, the drive was stalled by a big sack by D.J. Williams for a fourteen yard loss that knocked the Bills out of field goal range. The punt was a good one though that pinned the Broncos down at the own one yard line. The Broncos first drive got moving after a thirty three yard rush by Travis Henry, but two negative running plays and an incomplete pass after that forced a punt.
In typical Todd Sauerbrun style, he kicks a line drive to one of the leagues best returners in Roscoe Parrish. Parrish broke loose for a 74 yard punt return for a touchdown to put the Bills up 7-0. On Denver's next possession, Jay Cutler and the Broncos would put together a ten play 68 yard drive that would stall inside the five yard line. The Broncos would run the ball up the middle three consecutive times inside the ten yard line. The result, a twenty one yard field goal by Jason Elam.
After another field goal by Jason Elam in the second quarter, the game nearly broke wide open for the Buffalo Bills. Jay Cutler threw an errant pass that was intercepted near the red zone and returned close to mid field. With the Bills in business, JP Losman did what he does best, he gave momentum right back to the Broncos. Elvis Dumervil intercepted his pass at the Broncos 40 yard line and returned 27 yards to end the Half.
With the score 7-6 at half time, neither team could have been very pleased with the score. The Broncos were dominating offensively yet had nothing much to show for it, while the Bills missed a field goal and blew a couple of scoring opportunities early on. The Broncos would come out with a nice drive to open the second half, but Jason Elam missed a fifty yard field goal attempt, giving the Bills good field position. Buffalo promptly moved down the field; scoring on a Marshawn Lynch 23 yard rush.
Jay Cutler would come out with a hot hand on the games next possession down 14-6. Cutler would engineer a ten play 81 yard drive that would be capped off by a nice grab by Brandon Marshall in the corner of the end zone. The two point conversion was no good, but the Broncos kept within striking distance at 14-12. Jason Elam would miss yet another field goal; this time from forty three yards mid way through the fourth quarter, but with the Bills being woefully inept on offense the Broncos would get one more chance after Buffalo punted just before the two minute warning.
Things didn't start out too well on the Broncos final drive either. After a penalty and a nearly disastrous fumble by Cutler that the Broncos luckily recovered, the team was a faced with a nearly impossible 3rd and 26, a fanatical crowd and a pumped up opponent. In true Cutler fashion, he hit Javon Walker for a huge game saving twenty four yard gain to give the Broncos a much more manageable fourth down and two. Cutler would then break loose for a seven yard run for the first down.
Then again, a couple of plays later the Broncos were faced with another big third down. This time they needed just thirteen yards. Cutler hit Javon Walker on another slant for eleven, setting up another fourth down and two. The slant worked once, and it worked again. Cutler hit Walker again for another eigth yards. Things started to get interesting at this point. Cutler would rush for no gain with about thirty seconds left, then after a hurry up to line with no timeouts he would hit Walker on a slant again for another eleven yards with about fifteen seconds left. In a crazy, coaches on the sideline began yelling, "TORO TORO TORO" sending the field goal unit onto the field in a panic as the crowd began counting down the clock. At two the ball was snapped and Elam sent the forty two yard kick through the uprights for yet another game winning kick for his illustrious career. The Broncos would win in true Bronco fashion, 15-14.