Buckhalter's return can only help the Broncos

by the Bradfather on Oct 15, 2009 4:05 PM MDT

It's not that the Broncos' running game has been horrendous in Correll Buckahlter's absence, but with his apparent return occurring this Monday night at Qualcomm Stadium against the San Diego Chargers, a rapidly improving offense has just earned an incredible shot in the arm (no, I'm not referring to the steroids Shawne Merriman took in case you're wondering).

Anyway, to honor Bradley who said I needed to break my posts into paragraphs, I will definitely honor a Broncos fan who has been in the fold since 1965, especially since I was only born in June 1982. Let's start at the beginning, however. Before Buckhalter was injured and missed the New England game, he was averaging 7.2 yards a carry and an instrumental cog in an offense that thus far has amassed 376 yards a game this season and just below 20 points per contest.

While Kyle Orton, Knowshon Moreno and a resurgent Brandon Marshall have all been major impetuses in our offensive success, it's important to note that while the offense generally struggled against the Bengals in Week 1, Buckhalter was still making big plays as he averaged 5.8 yards a carry in our supposed "miracle" win at the Natti.

Although the Eagles perhaps felt all right about letting Buckhalter go, due to his significant injuries in five seasons with the club, he still showed that, when healthy, he could fill up the box score as he has amassed 3,448 all-purpose yards and 23 touchdowns throughout his career.

As Sterling Sharpe, on NFL Network's excellent show, Playbook, mentioned: San Diego's defense (27th against the run, surrendering 151 yards per contest) has been listless and shows no signs of improvement. Merriman can talk all the junk he wants but he has done nothing to help the Chargers play better.

When you compare this to the Broncos' lack of brashness (at least in terms of talking to the media) and resolute commitment to playing solid football, it's easy to see why we're on the verge of going 6-0 (provided we remain humble) and for all intents and purposes wrapping up the AFC West.

Hopefully, everybody enjoys and appreciates my efforts and of course, GO BRONCOS!!!

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR

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Is Buckhalter healthy?

I’ll wait til I see the injury report. His return will be a big boost to our running game that I hope we shove down their throat til they stop it.

2009 NBA Champions L.A Lakers
2009 NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant

by weazel on Oct 15, 2009 4:12 PM MDT reply actions

MHR Said So on Twitter

which was the impetus of my column today. If I’m wrong, we’ll win anyway. Moreno was too tough for the Pats, imagine what he can do to the Dolts.

Brad James

by the Bradfather on Oct 15, 2009 4:23 PM MDT up reply actions

Awesome.

Nice 1-2 punch all night long

2009 NBA Champions L.A Lakers
2009 NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant

by weazel on Oct 15, 2009 4:39 PM MDT up reply actions

From what I hear, Buckhalter will be back but on a limited basis. If Buck and Moreno combine for 150+yds, it’ll open up the passing game and Broncos should dominate. They need to focus on special teams and shut down Sproles as well.

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by brohamm1978 on Oct 16, 2009 11:34 AM MDT up reply actions

Stop Sproles for sure.

2009 NBA Champions L.A Lakers
2009 NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant

by weazel on Oct 16, 2009 7:26 PM MDT up reply actions

Trying to guess McD

The Jedi has nothing to redeem from last year personally, although more than a couple players may think they do. Personally given the match ups my bet is that this will be a Denver runfest with only enough passing to keep the chargers from stacking the box. Everyone knows Denver can run the ball, I think McD will want to really give upcoming coordinators a lot to look at in that department – and try to keep them in the dark on the passing attack that really has not been shown yet.

by Flunkie on Oct 15, 2009 5:15 PM MDT reply actions

Flunkie....right on...great take my friend! REC"D

Those that cant coach, compete!
Failing to plan is planning to fail.
All I want is 53 Rod Smiths. Is that asking too much????
"Peyton Hillis didn’t rip the sleeves off his jersey, they flew off out of fear."
Calijoefornia.

by boydy2669 on Oct 15, 2009 7:03 PM MDT up reply actions

I agree

The basic strategy I’ll be looking for is for Denver to come out in 3 or 4 receiver sets and force them to take positions that they can’t win defensively. If you stack the box Orton eats you alive, if you don’t Moreno and co. will bruise you all night long. With our personnel and SD’s lack thereof we really can’t lose offensively though, so I won’t be surprised if we just do it brave-heart style or even if we go pass happy for part of the game. As many have said our only weakness is the short running game, but SD doesn’t have a lot of trust on the D-line as far as I can tell, so that will allow us to use misdirection a lot IMO.

by RaRaDonk89 on Oct 16, 2009 12:13 AM MDT up reply actions

Sterling Sharpe

I thought it was pretty amusing seeing him decide to take the Chargers and then justify it by showing how bad their LBs have played at times this year. Seriously, his reasoning seemed to be no more than “well, no one else is taking them so I might as well pick them”.

by Timimus on Oct 15, 2009 5:22 PM MDT reply actions

Rich Gannon was the same....and I like Gannon....

he said he was going against his head and heart and taking the Chargers….weird!

by boydy2669 on Oct 15, 2009 7:04 PM MDT up reply actions

Thanks for the paragraphs

Much more readable. Although maybe it’s my old eyes, or that I’ve become a COG.
Broncos will be 6-0 by Monday at midnight. (Whatever time zone you may be in).

IT is, and it's impossible for IT not to be.
Parmenides (5th Century B. C. Greek)

by bradley on Oct 15, 2009 7:30 PM MDT reply actions

Somehow I feel I’m supposed to know what a COG is but I won’t make you spell it out.

by RaRaDonk89 on Oct 16, 2009 12:05 AM MDT up reply actions

Cranky Old Guy

IT is, and it's impossible for IT not to be.
Parmenides (5th Century B. C. Greek)

by bradley on Oct 16, 2009 7:30 AM MDT up reply actions

All I want to see is a pass from Moreno to Orton for 6.

How freaking awesome would that be?

by bfree2bronc on Oct 16, 2009 1:54 AM MDT reply actions

That would be sweet.

Bringing Bronco love from 1,112 miles away

by Troy Hufford on Oct 16, 2009 6:28 AM MDT up reply actions

100 yd rushing game

It would be awesome if Buckhalter and Moreno each had a 100+ yd rushing game Monday Night. It could setup some play action fakes.

by Beer30Bronco on Oct 16, 2009 10:37 AM MDT reply actions

Yeah, but just a few.

Hopefully, we will just keep pounding the rock on the porous run defense known as the Chargers. Moreno and Buck will have a big night. I see a few play action passes (maybe even a naked bootleg a la Jake Plummer??), but I see lots and lots of runs inside and out.

This broncos team is going to beat on the chargers all night long. They’ll wear them out with the run and have the chargers defense running ragged by the fourth quarter.

Bringing Bronco love from 1,112 miles away

by Troy Hufford on Oct 16, 2009 1:20 PM MDT up reply actions

I'm not a very good film study

but if I remember, one of the things that made Jake’s bootleg so dangerous was the fact that he would rollout after the handoff on running plays, without the ball. This meant that the QB didn’t give any reads with his movement after the fake/handoff. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think Orton has been moving around much after running plays. I have a hunch that the naked bootleg isn’t really McD’s game, but if he starts implementing it I’d expect to see him coaching Orton to rollout after the handoff on running downs.

by RaRaDonk89 on Oct 17, 2009 11:25 PM MDT up reply actions