Wow…local news just bashed the hell out of Orton and then suggested they bench him for Simms. Ouch.

I do like this team. But I’m not a fan of McD’s offensive strategy. Like you, I’ve always been a fan of a strong rushing attack. It will take a lot of getting used to an offense that doesn’t run the ball up and down the field to wear out opposing defenses.

consistent running attack, QB that can throw the ball farther than 10 yards. The rest of the season you are going to see 8 men in the box and dare Orton to beat them which he has neither the talent or ability to do.

Only the Chiefs, Jax and Raider games will propel this team to the playoffs.

Sorry, but he looked horrible tonight

You don’t have to be a Kern or Cutler back to wonder if Berger and Orton are not the answer.

Berger is a joke and needs to go. Does that mean anything about Kern… no. It’s just a fact saying Berger sucks. He does. Period.

Orton is having a rough go of it right now. 10 offensive points in 8 quarters. Has nothing to do with Cutler, but I’m worried that we can’t score points against good D’s. We didn’t score much vs Cincy either. Our O is simply not very good in 2009. We get a good amount of hallow yards, but we have a hard time scoring. A lot like 2008. The running game is terrible and Moreno looks awful.

Cause he looked like his old sucky self when on defense, basically run into the arms of the OT and give him a hug.

The O-Line looks disoriented. Moreno looked lost. Orton still has not stretched the D, which is critical in games where they put 8 in the box and take away the run. The offense has really not scored much the entire year, with a couple of exceptions. At some point, it has to become a concern. Hard to complain with only 2 losses though.

The punting has been just awful. If field position and turnovers are the key for McDaniels, then he cannot be happy right now. The D continues to look good, but has failed to finish games twice in a row. Bailey looked human tonight.

I still love this team, but so much to work on this week…and a short week. If you told me at the beginning of the season that they would only lose 2 games through Pittsburgh, I would have taken it in a heartbeat, but this is tough to take given their start.

Seriously. Our run game is going NO WHERE. The blocking is atrocious, most of the time KnoMo is running into a Bronco and falling down. We need to go back to a Zone blocking scheme and utilize Hillis. KnoMo and Buckhalter can run inside the tackles but they’re more suited to swings outside and catches in the backfield

Why didn’t we take a page out of Pittsburgh’s play book and play hurry up, gas their defense, force them to feel the altitude.

That meaningless touchdown by Ward at the end lost me my Fantasy Football game. Jawarski (sp, who cares) made a good point. When the Steelers were blitzing, Orton could not stretch the field to make them pay. Anyone who thought this would be a run first offense was kidding themselves. Then entire time McDaniels was in New England it was a passing attack. For my money we have all the tools to do that except the QB. Now I think Orton is a serviceable QB when he has time but not when he has to move. Moreno better learn how to block a blitzing LB or he could have a short career.

The final score is in no way indicative of how good a game this was. No gloating or showboating from me and I mean that. As a fan of football I had a blast watching this game. At one point I commented to a friend, right after the red zone interception, that I wouldn’t mind losing this game because it had been so good.

You guys still have a hell of a football team, dont feel bad about the run game. Nobody ever runs on us. Ever. I dont think anyone has broken 150 yards on us since the 70’s.

So seriously, great game tonight.

As has been stated numerous times on this site. McD’s O takes a long time (2 seasons according to Tom Brady) to master. We have some holes to fill no doubt. For one, we may have to get used to no more zone blocking, however if we are going to use a power running game then we need to get power blocking O-lineman. I think we are fine at tackle but need to get stouter on the interior, namely Hamilton and maybe Weigman. Weig’s has been good for us but is nearing the end of his career and is getting old. Hamilton just does not fit the new style we are apparently adopting. As I said, we have some holes but nearly as many as we had at this time last year, you don’t fill that many holes in one season, we filled a bunch this offseason and hopefully we will fill the rest between now and the next training camp. I’ll take where we are right now, it’s a hell of a lot better than any of us thought we’d be.

Simply put it’s headed towards another year of excitment for nothing. I have remained a loyal fan all my life but this is SAD. Defense is good, but missing too many tackles lately and wont be the same team next year, we’ll be lucky to keep Dumervil and others will naturally be gone. We as a team have been too much of a let down to often over the years, even like last year Offense starts out great people start talking and we fizzle same this year with D. We are a constant let down and it will be YEARS before we can emerge into anything, we need a complete QB overhaul and CONSTANT discpline on D, until then, we will continue to get excited all week over watching OUR team in a good game that should highlight our skills, only to be let down by our team. It’s sad and I can’t justify wasting another Sunday watching piss poor Offense led by Orton.

I mean why won’t he let the O line zone block, when clearly that is what they are suited for? Is that six points in two games now? That’s pretty bad, I don’t care who the opponents were.

If you had put Mendenhall behind that line with those calls he would have been stuffed. It’s the run calls (inside, every time) and the line. They are a shadow of their former selves. The last two weeks have been terrible. Terrible pass protection, terrible run blocking. And I believe in Karma…bad karma came our way because of Kern. And if you defend Berger’s punting tonight I can’t in good faith return here. It isn’t being a bad fan to see that those punts SUCKED! Don’t give me…“who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?”

somewhere todd sauerbrun is laughing while eating a chicken drumstick and peeing on an orphan.

I wasn’t expecting a win tonight, and there’s no crime in losing to the Champs. Is Baltimore THAT much better than us? I don’t think so, but are the Steelers? Yes, they’re the Champs and they’re playing even more like it than last year.

The haters will be out, you can bet. But any way you look at it 6-2 and one game division lead is better than anyone expected from this team. There are going to be at least a couple more really ugly games this year folks. Brace yourselves.

But look at it this way. We hung with the Champs for a half. Our offense has yet to get it together but there are signs. The reason our D got gassed tonight is they were on the field the whole second half!

I am sticking with my 8-8 prediction but honestly when I look at our schedule I see one or two more embarassing losses and in the end, nine possibly ten wins. I know I am not the first to say that but I think I believe it.

We just got owned by both the AFC Champs and the runners up. Now we know where we are. Either way you look at it we’re in better shape than we had a right to be considering the mass overhaul this team has undergone.

We’ll be ok people. Hats off to the Steelers too. That’s what a Championship team looks like, my friends.

I won’t say too much cause I know it hurts after a loss. However, you guys are a great set of fans and I had to thank you for the hospitality all week. It’s been fun. I am sure I will poke around a bit tomorrow and answer any last call questions.

Don’t get too down on your team right now. You are still 6-2 and first in your division.

I am not going to be tagged as one of the “here they come” gang.
I realize that we are a work in progress but being very honest and very clear on one thing and that is we don’t play very well against top tier teams.
Tonights game showed many holes and weaknesses that we were aware of after last weeks game. But many more became very apparent. Kyle is struggling very badly, our defense has been all but man handled in the second half, our shutdown corner #24 was exposed and disrespected to the poing he was not even on the field, even so much that he couldn’t even make a tackle at the end of the game.
Glaring weaknesses are showing that we are not there yet. I love this team and have for 35 years but we need lots of work and a few more pieces to be added before we will be able to go to the big dance.

I am very curious tho, how long will Josh put up with Kyle making the kinds of mistakes he made tonite and last week before he replaces him. I like Kyle way better than Cutler because he is a team guy, but he does not have what it takes to compete with the big boys. Our offense scored 10 pts in the last two games.
Running game missing, defense getting beat up and disrespected, special teams are not very good….. We have lots of work to do to get better….I only hope I am not banned for being one of those guys…. just my opions of tonights game and the way it mimicked last weeks performance……Except this week our QB not only didn’t show up but crumbled, and our shutdown corner was abused beyond belief….I truely hope we can get that magic back that we had in the first 6……the glass slipper looks to be cracked

Agree with above, primarily about offense. But you can’t expect the defense to play all but 3 minutes of a half and expect to complete. Complementary football was not seen….the offense didn’t do Jack.

from the first time I saw an NFL game on television, I’ve been loyal to the Broncos. As is customary my facebook “friends” (a-holes) are mocking me left and right, but that’s to be expected whenever the Broncos lose. I’ll admit the second half was really agonizing to watch, but give the Steelers their props. It’s time to focus on the Deadskins anyway.

Moreno

five carries for three yards? Awful blitz pick up as well. Terrible last few games for the rookie.

First of all, I’d like to call out the ship jumpers and Orton hater’s. C’MON MAN is what CC would say to you guys. We just played the world champions for chrimeny sake! Orton looked great early on, and that first pick was not on him. May I remind you Moreno ran into the ref. Second of all, I don’t care if you put Peyton Manning back there with no running game and the world champs breathing down your neck, your not going to look good.

It was very simple really; Pittsburgh got a lead and made us one dimensional, how many times have we won this year by doing that to our opponent. I personally don’t think Orton was all that bad.

I would like to hear from the great football minds like Zappa, HT, Broncobear etc… as to why our running game sinks so bad. I’m not a x’s and o’s guy but it seems to me like we’re trying to run a power run game with a zone blocking o line. I fee some interior line changes next year. I also still call for Zappa for Punter!

I still believe we will win 10-11 games this year; who would’ve thunk it at the beginning of the season. C’MON MAN stay on the wagon with me!

The voice of reason is always good at times like this. It’s nice to be first in the AFC west right now.

however we are better than that. Not to take anything away from the Steelers. The Redskins are up next so I expect for us to kick the crap out of them so we can get some momentum/confidence going into what will be a really big game against SD. Not that they arn’t already, it is just that SD is right back in this thing. A sweep of them would be huge.

Our offense needs to get going. The Ravens and Steelers have good defenses, but come on now.

what a 2-game losing streak will do to your fanbase. Lets just trust our leadership. Do the math…..how many teams have you seen win a superbowl that didn’t hiccup at some point in the regular season!?

two ugly whoopings in a row. Chargers are only one game back now. This does not bode well.

This may be slightly over exagerated but we did just play the world champs coming off their bye week. That is a tough draw for any team, but still the team didnt play the flawless brand of football they had been playing earlier in the year…..they need to get back to that brand of ball.

and we still have SD at home

to win tho. Our offense hasn’t been able to put up many pts this year so if a bad team comes out and scores 21 or so pt we could be in a world of hurt. I am not taking any games for granted at this pt. All teams have the ability to knock anyone off week to week.
Have to show up to win. We have a lot of work to do in all 3 parts of our game. The mystery of the Broncos is no longer there. We just need to figure out how to move the ball into the endzone and take the pressure off of our defense. and hope we get a coupl of breaks on special teams until we can fix it

A lot of things have been said and I just feel the need to add my two cents….as a Bronco fan, I never expected the team to go undefeated, even though I did think they would be far better than the national pundits had pigeon holed us….that said, there is still room for constructive, and in some cases, exasperated criticism….

1) I’ll grant that Orton was going to throw some picks eventually and he did not play his best game to be sure, but it does seem that either McDaniels needs to open up the playbook for a bit more downfield stuff, or good teams will be able to bottle up Orton. There really seems to be no reason to worry about anything past 15 yards downfield…and I think that is a problem….I am not sure if this is a KO problem, an OL problem or a JMcD problem, (or some mix of all three!) but somehow we need to stretch the defense of the other team…

2) For all the successful early season adjustments at halftime, it does appear that we have been “out adjusted” the last two games….I’ll give credit to the opposition, but it does concern me.

3) We lost to two good teams and at least this week, the final score was not indicative of how close the game actually was….that said, there is no column for moral victories. We lost a game where we had the lead in the 2nd half….with a highly touted defense and a QB not prone to turnovers….some concern is warranted to be sure.

Frankly, at the outset of the season looking at the schedule ahead, most of us, in fact MOST TEAMS would gladly accept 6-2….we are near the top of the AFC in terms of record, so the season has been a success as we hit the half way mark…however, our early season success raised the stakes…8-8 or even 10-6 would be a let down….but this is hardly a perfect team….I have faith that adjustments will be made and hopefully they will be successful….The Chargers game of course looms HUGE….but I hope not so huge as to detract from the importance of taking care of business against an inferior team next week…

Orton is who he is. That is all. The supporters AND the haters need to know this. He is neither great nor terrible. He is a perfectly average quarterback. However….

You saw in the late second quarter, and into the third, the limitations of who Kyle Orton is. At one point he panicked and ran into a sack (the O line has looked awful the last week) and as Jawarski pointed out several times on the broadcast, the lack of down field “threat” is becoming a big concern.

Remember you don’t have to COMPLETE a pass down field in order for it to become useful. You merely have to ATTEMPT it probably twice a game to stretch the secondary. Right now defenses don’t respect the threat, so they bunch the middle and blitz alot…therefore the Broncos get bogged down after one first down

The running game sucks because we have an o line designed for zone blocking that is doing straight ahead power blocking, and they are getting overpowered.

No ship jumping, however, these are real concerns. Orton isn’t going anywhere, and if we are going to have short passes we MUST get a better running game because this offense won’t start changing. Id say a return to the zone blocking scheme would be welcome

let’s not forget about the title of this thread. I think we should all agree.

It has been mentioned a lot above, but I couldn’t agree more with it being a key to the game. Pittsburgh’s O was out there like they had a purpose. Close to hurry up, able to change plays at the line, looking like they wanted to stick the ball down our throats. Our offense? Horrible, plodding pace. Orton looked confused and bewildered between plays. No pace. No sense of urgency. No sense of confidence.

We were dominating the 2nd half early on. Now we are layin eggs in the final 30 minutes.

we out scored our opponents by 133 – 59 that is 26.6 pts/gm to 11.8 pts /gm, the last to losses we were out scored 58 – 17, that is 29 pts / gm for our opponents to a miserable 8.5 pts/gm for us
this is very very bad problem only getting worse as we go. I know it is only two games and they were against two good teams, or at least one good team, but the point is that we are not just flat or having a bad game, we are getting tossed and destroyed.
Don’t know what the answer is but that is an ugly set of stats. We all know we should be getting better as the year progresses but we are not.

We can say well, “we just lost to the world champs” and we lost to another good team (that was handled pretty easy by the bengals Offense)
yes, we can say that but we did get throttled by and avg of 29 pts a game and that is not good no matter how you look at it. We have deep problems and our momentum is starting to get away from us.
We better not even consider the Redskins next week as an easy win because they will not be an easy win over any team that has only scored an avg of 8.5 pts that past two games or an avg of only 18.7 pts for the year. We really need this win before we meet up with another good team having its problems…. The Giants…. I just don’t want to be the team the gives new life to the redskins or the giants….Lets Go Bronco’s

How can we forgive Orton for laying out Buckhalter with the game decided already? Inexcusable. THAT was Kyle’s worst play of the night— good luck running the ball without Buck in there.

A couple comments:

1) I’m asking all Broncos fans to get off the ledges, rooftops, boulders, whatever their about to jump off of. You have a decent team. You are 6-2. You have a rookie head coach. He’s a rookie. He’s a kid. You’re riding a rookie running back. You’ll be fine! But you won’t be going deep playoff this year. But be encouraged!

2) The crying about the refs is pathetic, and shows little class. For every hold that wasn’t called on the Steelers, I’m sure there’s a hold that wasn’t called on the Broncos. I’m not here to argue. I’m just saying, good teams can, and do, deal with adversity, even if it is from a source outside the other team.

3) This quote from the intro above says the most, and I couldn’t agree more:

I won’t even extrapolate.

4) You guys have a good team. The Steelers did to you what they do to many good teams. Occasionally, we have it done to us. It happens, and it’s life in the NFL. You have a good team.

Overall, I’m generally pretty impressd with the way Denver fans handle themselves. Stay classy, and know that you are fine. Lots and lots of things to look forward to.

Good game, and hopefully we see you in the playoffs.

When your LG is a turnstile all night and the gap b/t C and RG is open to interpretation, your running game is going to be non-existent.

Instead of blaming Moreno and Buckhalter, let’s be real here and admit that our OL is shaky.

The running game was non-existant, but when the Steelers play well that is what we do, and last night was as good as we’ve played since Baltimore in the AFCCG. Our DE’s played monster games and Troy was doing his thing all night, it was the first time we’ve seen that this year. So some of your pain is running into the best defense in the league finally putting a complete game together.

As for the short passes, that will work against most teams, and with Marshall and Royal able to do so much with the ball in their hands it’s a good system. When you run the ball well it can take you far, Seattle made the Super Bowl like that. The Steelers are built to pressure and force short passes, our CB’s might not intercept passes much but they are good tacklers. So you also ran into a defense designed to stop your offense, there aren’t many designed like that out there.

Lastly like many are saying, the Broncos look like a team that believes in themselves and wins despite not having the talent other teams have. You have play makers, but not the overall level of talent that the Steelers or Ravens do. This team is building up, a lot of your weak points are young guys who will get better. Your coach looks like a great one, I have a feeling Denver’s Super Bowl window is coming soon, it just isn’t here yet. Enjoy watching your team grow and get back to being a dominant force in the league.

And please kill San Diego, they need to stop making the playoffs.