Sadaraine's Thoughts - Being in the Game

Here's just my running observations of the game.  If you have't noticed yet, I'll be doing this every week after our games to wrap up my thoughts on our team and give some insight to some of the things I catch when I watch the game.  I hope you cats enjoy this type of stuff, as I enjoy putting it down for us to discuss.

What I like about this year's Broncos:

Here's what I LOVE about this team.  We are in the game.  I don't care what happens to us going forward even if we do play a rotten game and get blown out.  Every week, I KNOW that we CAN win.  Last year I never felt secure in what the team was doing because our defense looked so bad and when things got bad it ended up making our offense look bad too.  Last year you spot the Patriots 10 points in the first quarter and I already am ready to throw in the towel as I wait for Cutler to push too hard and throw a pick.

I still felt pressured yesterday because I KNEW we couldn't let NE get too far ahead of us.  But it seems like every game we come out sloppy and our team starts "seeing" the game better as the day goes on.  Then the defense starts taking things away from the opposing offense...then the offense starts finding yards here and there that work against the defenses being played against us.  It makes for a very fun game to watch.

By third quarter I knew we were competing for real with the Pats.  At that point on, I would have been okay with losing because I knew our team was leaving it all out on the field.  Even if NE goes on to score 3 TDs in the 4th, I would have been proud.  :)

Offense:

• Let's start with a glaring weakness I'm seeing with this year's offense:  Short yardage.  I am VERY concerned about our lack of ability to pick up one yard here or there.  McDaniels needs to spend some time finding something that works (QB sneak anyone???  That is almost always good for a yard).  If this doesn't get fixed, we will lose a game because of it this year.
• Brandon Marshall is just plain sick and wrong.  I can NEVER get enough of that guy making the CBs covering him look like 4-year-olds trying to get their candy back from a 16 year old bully.
• Eddie Royal hasn't gone anywhere guys...I think he was just waiting for Orton to have more control over his passes to be able to get him involved more.
• Eddie Royal is week in and week out getting taken to the cleaners by the refs.  I've seen at LEAST one pass interference / illegal contact on him each week so far and the refs are right there and not calling it.  It is getting old REALLY fast.
• Opponents in the last half of our schedule had better start worrying about Moreno.  He's just getting better EVERY week.  This kid is going to break a long TD soon if we stay committed to the run.
• I love me some Daniel Graham.  Clone this guy and give me two more for a 3 TE set and I will make a defense's head spin.  He blocks like a truck, has soft hands, runs good routes, and is too big for LBs / DBs to cover in the short game.  Love it.

Special Teams:

• The Punt Return group needs to get their crap together.  They obviously FELL APART in the second half with the penalties for 1st downs and the defense BAILED them out twice against one of the best quarterbacks of this age.  This is unacceptable, dumb football.  You have to KNOW what the distance is and what a reasonable risk is.  Anyone else notice for the rest of the game they didn't really try to pressure the punter at all?  McDaniels is going to have plenty of rear-end to chew with this group and they deserve it.
• Our kick-offs were pathetic yesterday.  NE's punter made us look like chumps...we have altitude, etc...those should be reaching the end-zone or out of the back EVERY time.  CMON Man!
• Prater misses a 48 yard FG at home...I know it is a semi-tough kick, but it wasn't even close.  There was no gusting to excuse it this time...he just missed.
• That being said, Mad props to Prater for kicking his first game-winning FG.  I told him (via my TV of course) that it was time to "DO YOUR JOB" right before he kicked.  Good start kid...keep it up.

Defense:

• This is what I am talking about.  This defense is tough and smart.  They were superheroes in the second half shutting down the NE offense.  Great great asset to the team vs last year being a liability.
• Pass rush, where art thou???  The thing that truly amazed me about our defense was the lack of pressure we were getting on Brady all day long.  He had time to bake a cake and put candles on it back there.  Good thing his arm was a little off today for at least a couple of those throws.
• Other than two throws that we all saw would have been easy TDs, the D did a GREAT job forcing the NE passing game into short throws that were difficult to complete / make good yards on.
• I was amazed that they didn't have Bailey shadow Moss.

After playing the Cowboys and the Patriots the last two weeks, I am PUMPED to see this team go play the Chargers in what is a "must-win" for THEM!  This season is far, far from over, but we are in a superb position to compete with the big dogs this year.

If learn to be on our "A" game off the bat in the 1st quarter instead of having to warm up every week teams are REALLY not going to want to be playing us because we absolutely will put people away with this type of ball-control offense / hard-hitting stingy defense.  (The flip side being that our slow starts are going to bite us in the rear if we can't figure out how to play better)

Let me close out my post with this VERY scary thought:

This team is nowhere near its potential