Over the past four games reality has decided to encroach into my previously perfect world.  For six weeks I lived high on the hog in LaLaland where the economy was great and the Broncos did not lose.  Yuck!  I hate this reality crap!

In the haze of LaLa Land induced delirium some of the great things about this years team were lost, or at least greatly minimized.  Some of the bad things were gloss over, or even made to seem a great asset.  Now with a full dose of reality and a good nights sleep I think I can see this team a little bit more clearly.

First observation, life is clearly unfair.  Chris Simms is a good quarterback that is capable of starting for many NFL teams.  Due to an unfortunate accident and poor performance in the last 2 games he will most likely never be given the chance to show what he can still do.  He was not mentally prepared for either game.  Much of this has to do with the complexity of the offense and, I suppose, the amount of time that the staff spent preparing our starter to the exclusion of the back ups.  Simms will collect the rest of his contract from Bowlen, but will most likely never see the feild again.

On a related note: The is an old saying that if you don't like your home just go away for awhile ... but keep the key.  I was very content with Kyle Orton, based mostly on the won loss record and protecting the football.  After watching Simms for three quarters I was estatic to see Kyle return!  I saw things in Orton that I had come to expect and therefore did not appriciate.  WE HAVE A GREAT QUARTERBACK!!!  Crisp clean passes, great placement, good velocity when needed, and an ability to see and read the whole feild.  Oh yeah, he is a tough guy also ... maybe not as tough as Simms or McMahn or a couple others, but still a tough guy.  After his first drive they showed him on the bench just cringing in pain - come back from commercial and there is Kyle up and staying loose.  QB controversy settled!!!!

Moreno, not there yet - but if this is as close as he ever gets then he is still a keeper!  8 yards per carry against a very good and very hot SD team.  Tough up the middle and willing to take a hit - explosive on the corners - elusive in the open feild.  He reached for and got that touchdown.  It is just very hard to ignore a ball popping up in the air, and there was no film to definatively show the goal line.  Moreno has figured out the speed of the game.  Now, with more carries, he will develope the vision and anticipation that makes backs great in this leauge.

Brian Dawkins - just got to love him.  Unfortunately we will be seeing less and less of him.  While on the feild he brings it, each and every play, and is the core of the defense.  But he cannot rewrite the basic rules of physiology.  As you get older you get hurt more easily and it takes longer to recover.  He will either need to hold back on his play (which is not his personality) or accept that he will continue to collect these minor injuries.

Where to from here?  The schedual starts to turn in our favor.  We have a tough game in just three days.  A tough physical game.  The big question for the Broncos in this game is can they put aside the mental errors - penalties - and sustain long drives to keep the defense off of the feild.  If they can do this one thing then our aged secondary can play all out for the whole game.  If we cannot dominate the time of possession then I fear lose number 5 is coming our way.  We must avoid the drive killers - penalties, low percentage passes, and traps behind the line.  We won in the first 6 weeks by taking small chunks at a time and letting our defense rest.  We lost by going three and out and putting the defense back on the feild.  I will accept a feild goal after an 80 yard drive - having watched the last 4 games that is about the same as depriving the opposition one complete scoring drive so it is a +6 to a +10 drive by itself.  I have fears for this game because we have not been prepared for the last 4.  Here is hoping I am proven wrong.

I do not see us playing up to the level of the Colts.  They simply know how to win, they are hot, when a team is hot it seems as though all the ball bounce their way - and that is exactly where Indy is right now.  OH, but lady luck is a fickle lady.  She can leave you lonely and not even give you a kiss goodbye.  Here's hoping!

Right now.  We my guess is we finish 11-5 or 10-6.  A very special thanks goes out to the Bengals and KC for keeping the Steelers within reach - we may be competing against them for a wild card spot.