Might the Colts be the Perfect Matchup for the Broncos?

McD has been building a team that can play in the playoffs and the Colts are one of those potential opponents. Hence our seasoned secondary.

1) I think McD will still not show us (or them) the full package on offense OR defense, as a possible post-season meeting awaits.
2) I think we need to give Mcd/X more time to work more magic on the roster to really be able to claim an equal team to Indy
3) Don’t undervalue their defense at Indy- they do quite well on stopping teams long enough for their own offense to make it a passing game, then nail down the coffin lid.
4) I doubt our pass rush will get too close—— Manning is the master of adjusting to what the defense is doing when it comes to pass rush. The most we can to is hope to interfere with his efficiency by making him check away from the big plays and hope for the longer drives to stall.
5) We are going to beat ’em anyway.

Is just about exactly how I’d put it. I do agree that there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic— ranging from intangibles like Indy’s ownership of the Broncos during Manning’s career and the tendency for those things to balance out over time in the NFL, to favorable on-field match ups. Most particularly, I like Denver’s o-line against any 4-3 out there and Denver’s ability pressure Manning. I think this one could shape up into a vintage game, at least.

This is such an awesome post. You already know that, because you wrote it but here is why I think that it is so awesome:

I’ve been contesting the opinions of my most football-knowledgable family members this whole last week. I’ve was telling them how badly I wanted Indy to win this week against Tennessee. Indy’s win this week kept them up in the clouds; and that is just where we need them to be for Sunday. How else are we gonna blow them out of the sky?

I was trying to communicate all the things you illustrated so matter of factly here, only I was riding on mostly emotions with my arguments. I made the comments about matchups but all to no avail. None of them believe we’ll have a shot this weekend, but I totally feel the possibility and even more.

We’ve got a huge shot here, and it does seem like the stars have aligned. Great post Sayre, you’re onto something i’ve been feeling since last week and i’m willing to bet that we will both be proven right!

I couldn’t agree more. The Colts have really struggled in several games recently. We could very well be catching them, maybe not sleeping, but unprepared just enough to blow them out early.

1. The Broncos committed three turnovers against the Chiefs – we have to win the turnover battle against Indy to have a shot
2. Ten came into the game putting up huge running game numbers and consequently scoring a lot of points. Indy was able to limit Johnson to a very pedestrian 4.2 YPC (he averages 6.2 on the year) – 27 car 113 yds. In fact C. Johnson’s had two of his worst three games of the year against the Colts (other agn Pit) with only a long run of 11 in the two games (34 yds, 3.8 YPC, long of 8 in first game). If Indy was keeping 8 in the box to stop the run against Tenn, whose WRs don’t scare anyone other than Tenn. fans, I don’t think that they will be able to do this against Denver. Indy has shown the ability to at least slow down the run, but my guess is that they did this by walking a safety up agn Tenn. The Broncos will make them pay for that with play action.

I am feeling a great game this weekend with a result that may surprise a lot of folks. I think Prater provides the game winner late.

an uncanny combination of great physical skills and a very quick and adaptive mind. No magic involved. His skills are so extraordinary that the whole offense revolves around him. No need for the running game or even a shut down defense – Peyton will get the points need for the win. It is simple to shut down the colts – just have some Colombians kidnap Manning. If you let him on the feild it becomes much harder to shut him down as he is so adept in spoting threats and seeing oportunities. He has seen so many packages thrown at him that it becomes increasingly hard to disguise anything. Manning is not infallable, nor are his recievers. The defense must play nearly perfect ball and not allow Peyton any ‘do overs’ thanks to a penalty. The secondary must be able to hold coverage long enough for a 4 man rush to get to Peyton. Sending a fifth man is very risky due to Peytons ability to read. The good news is that Denver does have the secondary most likely to be able to do this. The game will really come down to a chess match between Peyton and Dawkins, Baily et al. I think our guys are up for it – but there is very little room for error.

We haven’t seen it since the first quarter of the first Sandy Eggo game (if memory serves), and it seemed that Miami had great success with their Wild Cat formation all those weeks ago. Perhaps this would be an opportune time to showcase that formation again. It should help to confuse the Indy defense, if nothing else.

In any case we need to play sound, fundamental defense to win this game, and do our best to keep the ball out of Manning’s hands. We need good to great pressure on Manning so that the receivers have less time to get open, score a lot of points and have the ball for the last 10 minutes of the game, so that Manning doesn’t have a chance to make a comeback.

Denver is poor against no huddle offenses

They know that they have the division and playoffs in hand, they don’t want to get beat up in any way especially when they have to play a division game on Thursday. They know they can’t afford to lose key players this Sunday and may play a more finesse type game to try and win. It would behove them to play at half throttle or the consequences could be dire for them going into the playoffs. We have to win this game to keep up with SD and it may weigh heavier on us to beat them than they us. Should be a good game either way.

We have to remember that Manning took advantage of inexperiance in the secondary against us. Whether it was Roc Alexander, D Will, Foxworth, and even Dre Bly. He exposed them BIG TIME. This year, he will have to challenge a veteran secondary who will make him pay.

I am not going to be so bold as to say the Broncos will go into Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday and beat the undefeated Colts, but I would say it is a definite possibility.

I’m really looking forward to this game to see if the Broncos can continue to play at a high level, and how they match up with one of the best teams in the NFL.

I’m not expecting a win, but I am expecting a good game.

It’s all good to prepare for Wayne and Manning, but IMO Dallas Cark is their MVP. He constantly gets the tough yardage with great hands and hard-nosed running after the catch.

We will be in for a LONG day if we can’t shut him down….

I do agree that we match up well with Indy overall however. :)

It seems like we’ve faced a string of big/young/quick QB’s recently, Cassel, Manning (2), Big Ben….

…it’s kind of amazing Elvis has has many sacks as he does. But Peyton isn’t exactly the speediest QB in the league. I don’t think he will be able to out run Doom like some other QB’s have.

We win. I have no more substance than that, but I feel it (and I don’t always feel it.) See, men can talk about their “feeeeelings”.

I’m a big fan.

I thought that the Colts would play hard for one more week and then lose to Jacksonville next week, but they might tank this one anyway. To be honest, as a Colts fan, the Broncos are not a team that worry me. The Colts running game is highly under-rated and would gouge the Broncos D. Indy’s best game of the season was against Tennessee last week. They dominated in all phases of the game. If they get up early it will nullify Denver’s rushing attack like we saw against Chris Johnson. Put it on cruise control and win by 10. However, the Colts probably played their worst game in Houston the week before. They looked totally disinterested and just decided to win at the end because they could. If they follow this second model, the Broncos running game could put the game on ice and Denver could very easily come out of this game with a win.