Curse of Attending Games

As a broncos fan living in St. Louis, I have only been to two regular season Broncos games in my life.  One was two seasons ago in the season opener in the STL in which Jake the Snake had three interceptions and a lost fumble and the Broncs lost 18-10 despite not giving up a touchdown.  The other was today- I drove the 4 hours to and from KC to see the game, only to be rewarded with the worst effort by the Broncos in who knows how long.  Pretty much anything that could go wrong could, and the game was about as demoralizing as one could be.  Some thoughts:

-Arrowhead probably hasn't changed in thirty years and is an awesome environment to watch a game.  Although the stadium is pretty shoddy, I was sitting was up in the nosebleeds and could still see fairly well. and the fan noise and atmosphere was great, much better than the dome in STL.  I plan on coming back, even if we lay an egg again.

-Brandon Marshall needs to run with the ball as little as possible.  He has fumbled the ball many times while running with it; ball security is not one of his good points, and he has a tendency to lose yardage while trying to make a play.  He should focus on holding onto the ball and not hurting the team by overextending himself.  On a similar note, Selvin Young several times kept sticking the ball forward at the end of plays, a boneheaded move given our several fumbles already.

-I think that the team should consider using Pittman as a primary back until torain returns.  He is the best receiver and blocker out of the backfield, he is the go-to back for short yardage, and I think he has proven that he can make plays between the 20's as well.  (Pretty much everything you could ask for in a RB)  In addition, he doesn't wear down because he's too small, and brings vet confidence and swagger.

-I think the team in general was intimidated by the road atmosphere.  Although the stadium was by no means full, it was loud, and I wonder if the noise was a factor in some of the plays that were made (nerves).  In addition, I think that the team is extremely dependent upon playing with a lead, and needs to develop the character to be able to trade shots or play from behind.  After losing the coin toss and giving up a big play, the Broncos were simply flat for much of the rest of the game.  If we had had possession first or had started out with a lead, the crowd would have probably left and not been a factor and the game could have turned into a blowout.

-Besides from his first fumble, Royal had a solid game between his receptions (9) and the punt return.  The same could be said for Marshall.  But fumbles are unacceptable.  One must accept some interceptions as coming with the difficult and split-second decisions a QB must make, but losing the football from your own hands is ridiculous.  That said, Cutler made some horrible decisions (2nd int) and his accuracy was off on many plays, including screen passes in which pressure seemed to scare him.

-If the offense seems to struggle, going to the two-minute no huddle offense may do the trick.  It settles cutler and the receivers down by getting many quick completions, putting the offense into a rhythm, and keeps the defense off guard, especially for run plays on second or third and short.  I think that the two minute drill with pittman kept in for protection and draw plays was one positive thing to take away from this game.  This worked several times during the game, although we failed to convert these productive drives into TDs.  I think that this was due partially to bad play calls inside the 10, where I think we should have tried to run it, given our success in short yardage so far this year.  Overall, I think that this is a good option for settling cutler down, moving the chains, and wearing down the defense.  We might even consider starting games with a no-huddle offense.

-We still had a chance after all our mistakes late in the game when Spencer Larsen bobbled the ball on the onside kick.  The fact that it felt like the Broncos had a chance so late in the game underscored how much of a waste this game was, that the Broncos could struggle so much and still have a chance to win- what a waste.

-The ball was not thrown Champ Bailey's way hardly at all, and J Williams and Dre Bly were picked on all day by Dwayne Bowe.  On a positive note, Bly actually made a couple good tackles, although LJ did drag him for a 1st down early in the game.

-Prater made up for a gimme FG with two 50+ yarders, one after a false start.  He is 9/10 so far, but the reason we got him is for kickoffs, and he is still inconsistent in getting touchbacks.  Another special teams note is that Eddie Royal inexplicably did not fair catch a punt that landed around the 25-30 yard line and ended up going out of bounds inside the 10.  Perhaps nerves after the fumble, but extremely dumb.

-Again we got no pressure on the QB when we did not rush an extra man, and Huard had basically all day to make his safe throws.  Our defense will struggle until we get a legitimate pass rush.  At this point not even DOOM is getting any pressure on the QB.  One positive thing about the defense is that they are fairly strong in short-yardage situations, as shown last week, and do fairly well at holding the opposing teams to field goals given their overall struggles in terms of yardage.  Not counting Marshall's fumble which gave KC the ball at the two yard line, the defense was decent until late in the game.  I definitely think that stamina is a factor because the D seems to wear down as the game goes on.  Some of this should have been avoided by not turning the ball over and by being ahead so that Huard would have had to throw the ball instead of just handing off to LJ.

-OVerall, this team is still going to have to win with its offense.  At the very least, we cannot afford to turn the ball over and play as weak as we did today.  We may want to consider mixing in the 2 minute drill into our normal offense.  During this drill I would use pittman as the RB full time.  In addition, I think that pittman should perhaps be utilized as the primary back.  I'm not afraid of him fumbling like I am everytime Young gets stopped for no gain.

-We deserved to lose this game.  Cutler made several boneheaded throws and decisions and was inaccurate on many throws.  Royal fumbled and dropped a pass in the endzone, and Marshall fumbled.  Stokely dropped a pass that looked like a fumble for a little bit.  While pittman was solid, the other rbs did not do much, and the running game was nonexistent.  That is partly the coaching staff's fault.  Graham and Scheffler both dropped passes that were catchable although not ideal.  The D-line has yet to generate any legitimate pressure this season.  The secondary is pretty much toast because other QBs have all day to throw.  Our linebackers and safeties got burned multiple times for long running plays, which is unacceptable, and coverage on special teams was blown again.  Prater was solid but could have done better on kickoffs and missed a short FG.  Kern shanked a punt.  The coaching staff did a poor job calling plays in the red zone and did not bring the team fired up and ready to play.  The Broncos better be humilated and play like they care next Sunday.  I'm tired of going to games to see them put forth a sorry effort.  I care too much, and it makes me feel like going to games is a curse and that I should watch on a screen, not live.

-I realize this post is pretty negative, but it was pretty depressing to watch this happen live with Chief fans all around me and then have to drive home for 4 hours.  Residents of La La Land need to come back to earth and deflate their expectations- the Chiefs hadn't won in almost a year.  That was a huge let down that could affect our playoff hopes down the line.  Heres hoping we pull it together