Even though no Broncos football this week I can go back and watch the last 6 games again. Although I might skip the faders game. I shouldn’t have to subject myself to Jamarcus Russell again. But ah what the heck!

and some completely meaningless. What would you think of a stat telling you that The Broncos is the only team in the NFL in this and the previous century who hasn’t allowed a score in the 8th minute of the second quarter? Not much I bet. While stats can cast a light on certain aspects, they are mostly of no value at all. It is my belief the focus on stats originated with baseball which is such a boring and slow moving “sport” that the spectators needed something to occupy their minds with in-between the long waits for actual action.

The most overrated of all stats is time of possession. Yes, holding on to the ball is better than three and out which then equates with longer possession being preferable but even better is a 20 second Eddie Royal punt-return for a touchdown. It is often stated that as long as you hold on to the ball the opponents are not scoring. While that is entirely correct, it is equally true that as long as you are holding on to the ball, you are not scoring.

It is also often stated that if you can keep your defense off the field they won’t get tired. That makes sense but even so, you have never heard of a team that chose not to score in order to keep their defense fresh. Yes I know, sometimes when you are ahead you would rather run out the clock than risk a turnover but that is only because that is easier to do than is scoring. So while there are exceptions to everything such as the end of the game example, it still holds true that every team would like to score as soon as possible on every possession.

A fan of a team that typically scores in short order could proudly point to the stats saying: "Yes, we are really good. Just look at how short our time of possession is."

Elvis Dumervil leads the NFL with 10 sacks. He is the second-fastest player (6 games) to reach 10 sacks since they became an official statistic in 1982 (fastest since Michael Strahan in 2001, 6 gms.).

Sure. Fast players are the ones who will get the sacks. :o)

Would anyone else like to see McD run the “wildhorse” with Moreno on third and short situations? Third and short seems to be the one glaring weakness of this offense. It has been mentioned by the media and McD and Orton. They said they were going to make changes to get better, but it has not appeared that they have done anything differently. I’d like to see how the wildhorse would work in those situations. It was good for at least 4 or 5 yards a pop when we ran it. I like that it instantly gets the ball to the RB so that he can pick up the hole quicker and just hammer it. No wasted time with the handoff. Especially since it seems the defense is constantly getting great penetration on these situations. The only problem with running the wildhorse is that we have yet to show that Moreno can pass out of it and keep defenses honest. So if they were crowding the box before, they will especially load it up for the Wildhorse. But if we don’t do something to fix our troubles, we could come to really regret it in a close game. Its frustrating that we can drive the ball right down the field consistently, but whenever we get into short yardage situations, it’s like we hit a wall. I’d even consider running the QB sneak more. (It picked up 4 yards on Monday). Thoughts?

For the 2 week break betwen the AFC Championship and the Super Bowl

It seems that when Denver runs a short yardage play it is slow developing and our smallish guards,namely Ben Hamilton and sometimes even Clady get blown up.Maybe Hochstein should replace Hamilton at Left Guard and place Graham,an excellent blocking tight end at FB or even Graham and Hillis in a full house backfield formation with Moreno as the halfback?

The other option that I have been screaming for is a hurry up QB sneak.Orton is big enough to get the lean for the first down.If not why not think completely out of the box and line up Orton out wide and line up Marshall under center?We all know how Marshall can run after the catch and he would probably have to take some snaps under center,but have Denver run the play a few times in short yardage and part of the time have him hand it off to Moreno on some downs and run the keeper on other downs to keep the defense guessing.

As for Moreno going over the top at midfield I did like it at the time but in retrospect it is a risky play.Whereas a fumble in the end zone in nonconsequential in the end zone as long as the ball breaks the plane,at midfield it can be devastating expecially on fourth down where NFL rules state that the only player who can recover a fumble on 4th down is the player who fumbles it(we can thank the Raiders and the Holy Roller against the Chargers back in 78 I believe for this rule)

  “You take a look at what we’ve done, some of the tendencies we’ve created ourselves that we want to change and adjust going forward,” McDaniels said. “I think it’s important that you try to protect yourself from becoming predictable and that’s part of the process this week. Hopefully we’re not too predictable this week, but we’re going to try to change the things we need to change, and fix the things that we need to be fixed.”

  When asked about the great second half performances he answered, “One of our goals in the bye week is to start faster,” McDaniels said. “I’d much rather play like that in the first half and feel better at halftime. We are in a competitive league and playing against competitive teams. But if we could start faster, that would help some.”

Why is everything stacked against the Broncos. First everyone doubted the team. Then they get rewarded with one of the toughest schedules in the league. Now we play the next two games against teams coming off their byes to prepare for Denver. Can we get anything to go in our favor? Good grief….

Darrell Reid on First Take right now.

Pretty simple interview.

Asked about one reason they are 6-0: McDaniels and the fact that he brings a winning attitude. Said they make those throwbacks look good. Everyone asking for those socks.

On why he chose Denver: He was told he would determine his role and he would play defense and speciall teams. That was perfect for him because he said he is a versitile player.

Just thought this was interesting. Each of these opponents has two weeks to game plan for the Broncos.

(except for that grouchy remark of course:)