Thoughts on the 1st Team(Two Games in)
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Some might say the Broncos season is going to be the worst one in history, but me, I have been quite pleased by what I have seen out of the first team on both offense and defense. Lets get right into it!
The Offense: The offense has been pretty muchh what I expected heading into the preseason. Tonight, Kyle moved the ball with solid efficiency and great pace. He put great zip on the ball, and was extremely accurate with almost all of his throws. He had a great check at the line on the touchdown pass to Stokely, and threw the screen pass very effectively. Look for Orton to take Denver on drives the consist of many runs, screen passes, and quick throws. Time of possession is what is going to win the Broncos a lot games this year. That way, the defense can stay fresh. That fact alone will improve the defense
The runningbacks have also impressed me with their play in these first two games. Buckhalter seems to be a great guy to split carries with. Moreno had a few good runs before he got hurt. Can't wait to see what he does this season. Peyton Hillis is true Bronco! What doesn't this guy do?!?!
The widereceivers are going to cause defenses a lot of problems this year. Royal is showing he is in for a BIG year. Gaffney seems like he is going to be targeted a lot as well. He has done better than I had expected of him. McKinely seems to have developed a great chemistry with Simms. I see him being a great slot guy in a couple years.
Now lets take a look at the Defense!
The Defense: The defensive line has been the biggest surprise to me so far! That was the biggest question mard coming into the season, in my opinion. I don't remember how many sacks they have gotten in these first two games, but the d-line seems to have gotten a good amount of pressure. Chris Baker has potential to become a great NT. Kenny Peterson also seems like he can become a decent player in this system.
The linebackers are going to be the strong point of the defense. DJ and Andra are solid inside, and Doom has shown he is going to be a great rush LB. Andre Goodman had some poor technique tonight, and was out of positoin on both of the touchdown passes. Good thing this is preseason :)
Now for the most important topic I wanted to address.....
Coaching: I have been so impressed with Josh McDaniels and the rest of the Broncos staff. The thing the I love about what McD has been doing is evaluating, not winning . Now some of you might say, Well this, Josh McDaniels clearly does not know football! He is not even trying to show his players how to win! Well you, my friend, have no clue what preseason is all about. Preseason is a time to put certain players in certain situations and evaluate them. Who cares about the score, as long as you can get a better feel for what your team can and can't do. Take that interception by Orton tonight for instance. It was 4th and goal on the two, i believe. McD could have easily just had a running play, but he decided to experiment and put Orton in a unique situation. Instead, Orton was put in a shotgun set, and had to throw the ball. No one was really open on the play, so he tried to make a play. I wouldn't have chosen to throw it with my left hand, but at least he was trying to make something out of nothing. Why not? It's preseason! Now of course in the regular season, Hillis would have ran the in for a TD(IF they went for it), but McD is figuring out the limits of his team. How can you disagree with that?
Also, Mike Nolan has been doing great with the defense, IMO. He actually has a scheme and a system. Something Slowik lacked as a d-coordinator. Now that the Broncos have a WORTHY defensive coordinator, the Broncos defense will surprise a lot of teams this year.
Bottom line, it does not matter what the score is. Preseason is a time to see who can and can't do certain things. Winning does not matter, as funny as that might sound. If the offense can continue to move the ball down the field, and be in the top 10 in points, which is very possible, and the Broncos can be in the middle of the road in defense, look for the Broncos to make a nice playoff run. Probably resulting as AFC West champs baby. 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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ORTON'S INTERCEPT
Did it look to anyone like KO"s right arm/shoulder was being grabbed, and that’s why the Plummer style pass?
Actually, I agree with the assessment—- Baby steps each week, and we still have time to correct more problems. I really thought we had made good strides from last week, and expect the same next week.
i couldnt really tell. im not upset about it though. kind of made me laugh lol. i miss plummer
"It means nothing to throw for 4500 yards, 25 touchdowns, and you dont win"-Brandon Marshall
GET TO CAMP BRANDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Idaho
Yes, when he decided to throw it with the left, he had the guy pulling on his right shoulder pad, so he was taking the chance on a 4th down. The replay is clear on this.
Smokey, my friend, you are entering a world of pain.
I had hopes for 10-6
but if Denver keeps turning the ball over like the last 2 weeks, it might be closer to 6-10 or even 5-11.
Any word yet on injuries?
It turned the game around and out of control.
If your going to go 4th and goal make sure you can make the play or else take the 3 points. I hope we don’t see that in regular season.
In the regular season they would have kicked a field goal
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
+1
I think that was MacDaniels practicing a situation, which, with no real risk, makes sense to me.
Orton should have just thrown the ball away, though…or tried to run.
by PredominantlyOrange on Aug 22, 2009 11:59 PM MDT up reply actions
of course,
he makes the throw he is a hero…
"I want this team to be tough, smart and prepared to play well under pressure...Everybody here in this organization is going to be held accountable to do their job — their piece of the puzzle to make this team a competitor for a championship every season." J-Mac
by Jay Fin Anderson on Aug 23, 2009 12:03 AM MDT up reply actions
I'll bet you if he'd made that throw
McDaniels would have chewed him out. A bad idea is a bad idea even when it works (unless it’s the last play of the game and you’re trailing by 4). McDaniels will coach him up on when it’s okay to take chances and when it’s not, as well as how much of a chance to take.
p.s. I went and saw Inglorious Basterds before the game. Great movie. Love that Tarentino.
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
In regular season, they don't pass it 3 times from 1st and goal either.
"You give 100 percent in the first half of the game, and if that isn't enough, in the second half you give what's left." – Yogi Berra
"No, I'm from Iowa, I only work in outer space."
Unless the year is 2008!
Zing!
"If only I wasn't a cat, my curiosity affliction wouldn't be so deadly."
by Tempestuous Binary on Aug 23, 2009 8:56 AM MDT up reply actions
Agreed
They would have kicked a field goal if this had been a regular season game. I think McD was simply testing the 1st teamers with a 4th and goal scenario. The team failed this time. But if I have to answer the same exam question that I got wrong the first time I usually get it right the second time. I think Orton may have been trying to throw the ball away but his left arm is too noodlely and can’t make the deep throws ;-)
Especially when someone is pulling back on his right arm
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
i agree. i doubt we will see that in the regular season
"It means nothing to throw for 4500 yards, 25 touchdowns, and you dont win"-Brandon Marshall
GET TO CAMP BRANDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m not woo worried about the regular season play-calling. I think we well see much more interesting play design as well. BTW, did McD call plays for NE?
yes he did
"It means nothing to throw for 4500 yards, 25 touchdowns, and you dont win"-Brandon Marshall
GET TO CAMP BRANDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well, if he did, I doubt he will go suddenly stupid during regular season. This is just preseason assessment time.
yep. no completely random calls like jeremy bates lol
"It means nothing to throw for 4500 yards, 25 touchdowns, and you dont win"-Brandon Marshall
GET TO CAMP BRANDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RE
In the regular season, Denver would have ran the ball on second-and-goal from the two and most likely would have scored then or on third down. Like you said, the Broncos would have kicked the field goal more than likely on fourth down had it been a regular season game. I am sure Josh McDaniels sure was doing some play evaluation by going into the shotgun spread on second, third and fourth downs on that drive.
what i meant to say is that IF mcd went for it, i would just expect them to just let hillis run over everyone
common sense
"It means nothing to throw for 4500 yards, 25 touchdowns, and you dont win"-Brandon Marshall
GET TO CAMP BRANDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Was it my imagination
or did I see Woodyard playing ROLB some with the first team?
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
And i think he made some solid plays on the ball too...
"I want this team to be tough, smart and prepared to play well under pressure...Everybody here in this organization is going to be held accountable to do their job — their piece of the puzzle to make this team a competitor for a championship every season." J-Mac
by Jay Fin Anderson on Aug 22, 2009 11:57 PM MDT up reply actions
I was impressed with WW tonight
"Really, I'm a high-motor guy. Tough, hard-nosed, a hard runner, can make you miss at times. And just competitive. I love to play the game and I bring that energy to my team. So, we'll see how that goes." - Knowshon Moreno
Knowshon Moreno=ROY
Me too
It seems like he’s always around the ball, which speaks well of how quickly he reads and reacts. But I was surprised at how well he fought off blocks, given that he’s only around 230 or so.
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
1st team is improving.
Looking at the game against the 49ers and tonight’s game, there have been some solid improvements on both sides of the ball. The defense is getting better at stopping the run. I mean in the two games so far I haven’t seen many run plays turn into really big gains.
Orton really improved and that TD throw to Stokley was perfect…..nice tough throw. The play-calling is pretty simple, however this is preseason and McDaniels, like I am sure Belicheck does, will hold a lot back.
GO BRONCOS IN 2009 AND BEYOND!!
2009 NBA Champions L.A Lakers
2009 NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant
I think once they establish a competent run defense
then they’ll back off that a little and try to limit some of those long pass plays. What I find encouraging is they are, from time to time, stopping drives before they reach the zero yard line.
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
It is nice to see some 3 and outs from time to time.
GO BRONCOS IN 2009 AND BEYOND!!
2009 NBA Champions L.A Lakers
2009 NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant
I get the feeling that McD is holding the running game close to the chest.
I have a hard time believing that spread formations inside the 3 are going to be a regular staple. We are seeing very little of what the Broncos will really do when live bullets start flying.
by PredominantlyOrange on Aug 23, 2009 12:01 AM MDT reply actions
althought that 3 wide set got Gaffney wide open at the back of the endzone..
which i think was a pivotal play.
"I want this team to be tough, smart and prepared to play well under pressure...Everybody here in this organization is going to be held accountable to do their job — their piece of the puzzle to make this team a competitor for a championship every season." J-Mac
by Jay Fin Anderson on Aug 23, 2009 12:02 AM MDT up reply actions
It seemed like Orton made his reads pretty fast
I’d like to see him with some deeper plays where he has to wait a bit longer for it to develop
i would imagine those are the ace's in McD's hole.
"I want this team to be tough, smart and prepared to play well under pressure...Everybody here in this organization is going to be held accountable to do their job — their piece of the puzzle to make this team a competitor for a championship every season." J-Mac
by Jay Fin Anderson on Aug 23, 2009 12:03 AM MDT up reply actions
It is easy to want to burn everything orange and/or blue in my house right now...
but all i asked at the beginning of this game was to see some improvement. that the things that were weak last week were improved on this week.
i think i saw that. Orton looked far more comfortable in the pocket, his feet were better for this throws, and save for one incompletion he didnt half arm anything.
Secondary looked better, i was worried they would get eaten alive this week, but the solid coverage lead to at least 1 of the sacks.
Special teams came back down to earth a bit, Mckinley needs to hold that ball.
all in all it just makes me want to be able to see a game that matter so i know i am watching the “real” Broncos, not he “preseason” Broncos.
"I want this team to be tough, smart and prepared to play well under pressure...Everybody here in this organization is going to be held accountable to do their job — their piece of the puzzle to make this team a competitor for a championship every season." J-Mac
by Jay Fin Anderson on Aug 23, 2009 12:02 AM MDT reply actions
Probably the special teams came down to earth
(in the second half) because McDaniels was evaluating players on that unit, too. He just doesn’t put as much emphasis on winning in the preseason as Shanahan did. He experiments, he puts players in situations to see what they can do, he moves people around like he did with WW. All of this lessens our chance of winning the game but enables McDaniels to learn more and prepare the team better for when the games start counting. I’m encouraged at what I’m seeing. Orton was really throwing some heat, and the first team front three looked pretty good, too.
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
by spock on Aug 23, 2009 12:36 AM MDT up reply actions 2 recs
kickoff covverage looked great from what I saw
looked like Prater was getting more hangtime in xchange for yards but we were downing them at the 15
Our kickoff coverage with (I assume) the starters in
has been solid in both games so far, and our returns have been pretty decent, too. People are making blocks at the point of attack and the runner is breaking through for another ten yards. But the coverage especially is improved.
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
Not evaluating... Giving 'real time' reps
I’m far from a conspiracy theorist, but I do believe that Coach didn’t run much only because he feels comfort there. Kyle needed extra work, so that’s what he got. I was impressed today with the 1’s, on both sides. Love the sacks we’re getting. Hoping some of those third downs and longer plays are out of their systems now. But…. that said…. Kyle seriously needs some stick time for that left handed ri-tarded throw in the end zone. Let’s call a pencil a pencil. It was unacceptable, but fixable.
apparently his right arm was being held. that why he switched it. i need to look at a replay
regardless of what really happened, good thing its preseason lol
"It means nothing to throw for 4500 yards, 25 touchdowns, and you dont win"-Brandon Marshall
GET TO CAMP BRANDON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, the defender had his arm or shoulder
and that’s what made the ball a wounded duck. He’s actually surprisingly good with his left hand but he has no business doing that unless there’s nothing to lose. And I don’t doubt that McDaniels told him that.
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
I'd rather seem him take the sack or toss it out of bounds....
at least then we give up the 4th down conversion and points, but we guarantee they have terrible field position.
"FLAG! Fail on the field. Re-do." -Disco_Stu
No doubt McDaniels explained it that way
with a little extra verbal emphasis.
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
I agree
I think he didn’t call many runs because that part of the offense doesn’t need work as much as the passing game does. He’s using preseason as an extension of training camp. Am I the only one who got tired of hearing their homers talk about how tired their players were? Must have been the only team in the league to have had training camp. Couldn’t have been the Broncos causing them to miss those tackles. (But when we missed tackles it was because they made great plays. Ahem.)
"Surprised to see you, Captain, though pleased." — from Star Trek episode Space Seed.
You aren't the only one.
I don’t really like listening to an opposing team’s announcers either. Those interviews near the end were quite annoying so I just muted my TV at that point. Their players were tired of being pushed around. Tired legs in the first half? Are they serious?
GO BRONCOS IN 2009 AND BEYOND!!
2009 NBA Champions L.A Lakers
2009 NBA Finals MVP Kobe Bryant
I think that
is why maybe the 1st teamers struggled a little against their 2nd team D. could be they were a little tired also. Plus I Don’t think they were expecting to play in the 3rd quarter. Seemed to be a little flat and unprepared mentally. 3rd game of preseason is when they get the majority of the reps. It might have caught the off guard expecting to sit and have 2nd team take over. Good evaluation spot for McDaniels. and something he can work on.
Just my opinion.
in frisbee
We call that a poorly executed bad decision. Even in pre-season he should have taken the sack. He gave up 19 yards of field position which enabled the ’hawks to change the momentum of the game and score.
If people aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made out of meat??
Coulda, shoulda, woulda
Yes, it was a terrible decision not to take the sack, but who’s to say that the sack would’ve changed anything? Instead of being pumped over a pick in the end zone, they’d have been pumped over a sack on 4th & goal. It did give up about 17 or 18 yards, but who knows? I’m not too worried about that play because I don’t expect to ever see that kind of foolishness again. :)
by BroncosBassist on Aug 23, 2009 5:49 AM MDT up reply actions
Gotta wonder also
whether his throw was affected by the guy pulling on him. Of course, he should have anticipated that. Anyway, I agree, he should have thrown it away – woulda been fun to see our D facing them at the one.
He felt like the man who drew the first circle. Perfect, and complete.
If Orton takes the sack then it wouldnt have been 19 yards more like 9 yards as he was at about the 9-10 yard line when he threw that ball. So now it becomes a matter of not taking a last shot at points to give the defense an additional 10 yards . If Mcdaniels was thinking conservatively he wouldve just kicked the fg.
I think in his evaluation of his goal line offense he counted Gaffneys miss as a score and used the next two downs as if the offense was going for two.
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