Things We All Knew...About the Broncos

I still have concerns about;
- Offensive play calling. When inside the 10, RUN THE BALL. Kyle is terrible throwing a fade pass. I saw ONE screen, thanks Marshall for HOLDING (are you trying to lose?).

- Somebody use the stupid stick up along side Prater. When you are beyond the 45 then yes , try to hit it hard and drive it. Inside the 35, just kick it straight. Bring in another kicker to wake him up.

I’m not as thrilled with the O-line play a you are, but absolutely it was a great game. I loved that while it we squandered some opportunities early we put them away before the very end…..something our teams have struggled with in the recent past.

Orton looks good enough. You could see he was more comfortable today, and I expect to see more improvement from week to week. If it wasn’t a fluke and the fact we played two awful offenses, the defense may be good enough to take us places with a slightly above-average offense. That would be great to see.

How long’s it been since it was fun watching one of our defenses? I didn’t look forward to it even with our super bowl winning defenses. I love that our team has a little nasty, and our defense has an identity.

I haven’t seen the game yet on NFL Rewind, so maybe I’ll actually have something to add a bit later. Good write up bear.

i love reading your pieces. keep it up

Great write-up BB, thanks…

What a fun game to watch… I was “stuck” at the Hooters (stuck in TX, they have good screens) where it was school-girl dress up day… without going into too much detail, I’ve never had such a hard time keeping my focus on a Broncos game.

Loved what I saw today, my biggest worry was keeping Cribbs in check, and we did that in spades. Our special teams coverage unit is anywhere from 7 to 28 times better than last year. Defense, what else can I say, I’ve been saying these guys were going to be good for several months now, but I never thought they would gel this fast and be destroying teams in quite this manner this quickly… Awesome. I feel like credit should be given to 3 people for the state of the D right now: McD, Nolan, and Dawkins.

I agree with your assessments on offense BB. We saw today what kind of explosive offense we can have, and we’ll only improve with time. This unit will hit its stride around week 7, and at the point I think we will be one of those offenses that people are just plum scared to defend against.

Overall, I know we just played the Browns, but we pretty much dominated them. This team is far ahead of where I thought we would be at this point, and I am more excited than ever to see where we go from here. 13-3 baby!

What a fun game to watch! It probably helps that I’ve always been a defense guy. These guys will win us a lot of games this year and the offense will continue to improve. As DLMyers stated: When inside the 10, run the ball"! Hillis can pound it in!

Overall a fun game to watch.. except at the half when the camera panned into the stands and the booing fans. We were up 10-6.. you’d have thought we were down 30-0. Kind of disappointing.

Thanks and rec’d, sir.

I’d say the ST’s did a very good job. They held containment and Cribbs wasn’t a factor. The wind was the only danger there. Oh yeah, the Hillis fumble at the beginning of the game. But that was handled well by the Defense. We probably should kick off to start all games if we have that option. The Offense held on to the ball and had an improved ToP, and the Defense was terrific for a 2nd consecutive week. Look out faders.

I couldn’t believe the boo birds ignorance when Orton threw the ball away or miscommunicated with a receiver….who was at fault I don’t know but they weren’t bad passes. I miss the 60’s and 70’s when Denver’s fan base was arguably the most knowledgeable in the league, IMOP.

No idea who posted them, but it was the same kind of thing – Orton stinks, the guy can’t play, take him out, put in (whoever)…a couple of hours later, and we’ve got 27 points, which is a pretty fair day’s work. I’ve never seen Denver fans so volatile. Orton’s improving as we watch, we’re 2-0, the team looks great. McDaniels, at this point, has got to get some credit from those who’ve been trashing him up one side and down the other.

Nolan – geez, who’d hire him? After SF, you know the guy’s washed out…..lol. I really don’t mean to be snarky – I just started writing these and giggling. I realized what a long list it is…and how far from reality the list has been. We’re a long way from a resolution on things and much can still go wrong, certainly. But the Broncos have come so very far in such a short period of time that I hope that folks will step back from the edge, take a deep breath and give our players and our coaches the kind of respect and the round of applause that they richly deserve.

i’ll respond to the ones I commented on earlier:

1. The front 7 has been a nice surprise. Davis has played well, all the no-names on the line are doing their job, and Dumervil has shone. A better scheme has cured a world of ills. Robert Ayers looks terrible though, big bummer.

2. Are you really telling me Lamont Jordan is a better fit for this team than Ryan Torain or Selvin Young? We could use some returner help from this position badly, instead we’ve got nothing. Buckhalter was good pickup though, I’m impressed. We’ve got to get a returner in the draft or something next year.

3. Orton sucks. His stats are nice, sure, but they’re inflated by a fluke TD and some great YAC. He’s got no accuracy passing downfield, he locks on his receiver like fricken John Hessler, and he’s got those happy feet still. He’s been worse than I anticipated, I really thought he’d be better in this offense. I will say the 0 turnovers are nice, been a long time since that’s been the case around here, and with a better D it’s working. He still needs to get it together though. Hopefully the glove coming off will help.

6. I’m a touch worried that we’re experiencing a bit of a honeymoon from the complete lack of a “book” on Denver’s D right now, but for now it looks good. Big props to Nolan.

18. I’ve liked the Nolan hire from day 1. It’s exactly the reason Shanny had to go — he couldn’t get a good DC like Nolan.

I’ve been a 4 – 12 guy on this team. I’m still there. these 2 games were 2 of my wins. I’ve got us splitting with Oakland and KC, and that’s it. this team is better than that, but the schedule is seriously brutal. I still hope I’m wrong, but while the D is way better than I thought, the O is way worse too. We’ll see! For now, I’m happy they’re taking care of business.

Versus last year’s nonsense? This was a complete and utter demolishing. Yes I still don’t like Orton. I don’t like the offensive scheme… yet. It’s growing on me. But I love the effort, I love the special teams, and I LOVE the defense. If I see a blocked punt/field goal this year, I might soil myself with joy.

I’m still suspect because Cleveland might not be that good, but to physically whip any team in the NFL is hard to do. I’m glad we haven’t played to the level of competition at this point (Cincy definitely justified themselves at GB)

Are you implying that I may not have to use this bullet I bought? Do you think it may not be necessary to finish tying the knot on this noose? That’s great because this cliff is taller than I thought it was, and I’m kinda scared of heights, and having second thoughts about jumping. Then again dedication has never been my strong suit, I should have known I’d give up on my suicide just like I gave up on my team. But it’s hard to have faith when so many experts like Dukes & Willcotts, Clayton, Stink, and all those other distinguished gentlemen tell me that my team sucks. If only there was a place I could go to get some information on my team; then I could form my own opinion. It’s really hard being a fickle fan. I need to go watch ESPN again so they can tell me what kind of team this is. They have experts there you know.

As always Doc, rec’d, and love your stuff. Thanks for taking the time.

i remember pulling out hair because of games lost to inferior competition…..this is so much better.

Does anyone have a download link for the game(s)?

I am going to bring up that tool all year. The Broncos defense is going to be ‘horrible’.

I know, they just beat the Clowns today but as I pointed out to someone, the Bungles team that they almost shit out last week just put up 34 on the Packers. Coincidence? I think not.

The Broncos are a better team than people think. How good? Beats me but we’ll know in a few weeks.

It’s pretty obvious to me that we are no longer giving away our altitude-related home field advantage by showing up with less-than-great conditioning. “Da Browns” were gassed by the 4th quarter, leaving the offense to really get some confidence with thir success.. Kudos to the coaches for that one also!

The team just flat out

looks

If we get to 4-0 I wonder what the MSM will be saying. They surely won’t still be predicting a 4-12 season (Dukes)!

I’d just like to point out that this same offense, for all intents and purposes, put up 30 points on our D last year. In Quinn’s first start no less. Yes, I would say that our defense has improved. By how much? I don’t know. It’s a good point that other teams are just now compiling a video record on how to beat this defense, so we’ll likely see higher scores as the year goes on, but I like to think that we will maintain our gaps and responsibilities, keeping the scores manageable for the rest of the season. Hopefully our O won’t have to score 30 a game to win.

I thought that Orton looked more comfortable in the pocket, I didn’t see the dancing feet as much as in the first (and preseason) games. He seemed to set himself better and I noticed that he even moved up in the pocket to avoid a rusher, keeping his eyes down field the entire time on one play in the second half. Those are good signs. To me, anyways. I don’t know if we can expect him to bring us back from 2 scores down in the fourth quarter, but if he can manage the game like this, he may not have to.

It’s been an absolute joy to be a member of this site. Thank you to everyone who contributes, the perspective the people have here is awesome, and the insight and examination of this team is second to none.

Bengals averaged 12.75 points per game in 08 (without Palmer, for the most part) and the Browns averaged 14.5 points per game. FWIW.

Although Royal caught 3 passes he was thrown to 9 times. Cleveland tried to take away Royal and Stokeley and Gaffney stepped up. If a team decides to take Stokeley away then Royal will get his.

I thought that the Bronco fanbase were a lot smarter. I was taken back by how stupid the majority of fans were. Orton gets booed for throwing the ball awy on 2nd down! Orton gets yelled at like I yell at raider fans when he doesn’t force the ball on 3rd down, and let Prater(miss or not) at least put points on th board! If Stoke catches a perfectly thrown ball, we probably would have seen anothr TD!
  Bronco fans better get used to situational football because that is what the Broncos are all about, and will win that way. I know it takes some knowledge about the game, but come on. I couldn’t believe the fans booing when we are winning by 2 td’s.
  On a britter note. It feels a little funny winning a game we should win. Don’t know how to handle that just yet.

GO BRONCOS

I was impressed that last week Orton took a sack and took us out of field goal range. Ok i wasnt impressed with that. McD had a pretty stern talk to him about it, but he didnt hang his head, he stood there and listened. This week we get close and the D starts closing in. Now this is what I was impressed with – he kept his cool and got rid of the ball. He is a fast learner. And after each series, he walks to the side lines, talks with McD. You never see Orton pointing or arguing with him. He listens and nods his head, but never blames others. He takes it all in.

One other thing. The way Orton talks to his team out on the field. When the receiver drops the ball, he doesnt get yelled at or put down, Orton pats him on the shoulders and says we can get it next time.

I think the way that he handles the situations (learning lessons, rebounding from mistakes) is making a huge difference. I know they have a ways to go to get it together, but I think that his attitude about it and his interaction with his teammates are helping speed up that process.

His defensive prowess is growing on me every time I watch his play. Awesome, here’s hoping it continues.

I’ve been going back and looking at the Cutler issue, off and on, so I thought I’d post something related to that subject here before this topic languished.

Much of the MSM’s negative coverage of the Broncos began with the Cutler issue so the ‘why’ of MSM attitudes is easy to ascertain. And many attitudes, although not all, are better understood through what motivates them.

The umbrella term that I like to use for all cognitive heuristics & biases is “motivated cognition.” Attitudes are frequently not a logical process of working from premises to conclusions by carefully evaluating the evidence. In fact, as often as not, people will seek out premises that support their conclusions, in a backwards looking process that presumes to know the answer before conducting the investigation.

The motivation element of these motivated cognitions is often below the surface, so the person advocating a certain point of view is not necessarily fully aware of why they believe what they do. Moreover, much of rationalizing in which people engage is designed to give the appearance of carefully considered logical process, and this only obscures the why of attitudes. Being good at argumentation allows one to skillfully defend one’s point of view — it doesn’t make the logical foundation of one’s beliefs less troublesome.

Sports journalists aren’t known for their critical thinking skills, so much of the Cutler issue was fairly transparent in its quasi-logical evolution from a ‘McDaniels wanted to trade Cutler’ to a ‘how could he be so stupid; ergo; they’re doomed’ story.

There were a few instances where something resembling actual reporting aided this quasi-logical progression of thinking. One of these was Chris Mortensen’s report on Feb. 28, the day the story broke. He reported the terms as the proposed trade between Tampa Bay and Denver as a swap of QBs and 1st picks, with Tampa Bay getting Cutler with Denver getting T.B.’s 1st, which would then be sent to New England for Cassel.

Mortensen’s original video report is no longer available on ESPN but numerous articles are written that reference it. [ see excerpt below ] [DEAD LINK TO MORTENSEN VIDEO: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3943257 ]

[ESPN article by Tim Graham] http://espn.go.com/blog/afceast/post/_/id/1396/why-would-pats-turn-down-12th-pick-for-cassel

[Also, for context, Mortensen on March 4: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=mortensen_chris&id=3952535 ]

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen has since reported there was a much better offer on the table, that the Patriots passed on the 12th overall pick in a three-way trade that would’ve sent Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

From my recollection, which I believe is quite accurate, Mortensen jumped on the story later on that first day (time of the day is the only uncertain aspect here). At that point, there was pressure on ESPN to ‘reveal’ more details of what had become at that point a very hot story, and Mortensen delivers — sort of. However, it’s what Mortensen added to the story that gained my attention.

If you based your opinion primarily on what ESPN & Mortensen offered on the Cutler issue then there was a reason — although not a particularly good one — to believe the ‘McDaniels hasn’t a clue’ storyline. Of course, part of the problem with believing the Mortensen story, which in turn sets off a chain of ‘clueless McDaniels’ stories, is apparent in how ESPN sourced its stories for this issue.

Later that day, another ESPN article, this one by Bill Williamson, buttresses Mortensen’s earlier report but appears to be taken from a single source, whom Williamson refers to as “a source close to the situation.” This source seems to know everything about the trade talks, which is actually quite curious. Even more interesting, this source purports to know the Broncos’ intentions, as well as Cutler’s. And most interesting, from my perspective, this source is clearly advocating for Cutler’s point of view, and part of the narrative emphasizes how badly the Broncos wanted Cassel — which is a point the Broncos adamantly denied.

There was a crossroads here in terms of who you could believe. Accounts differed. Schefter’s original report had Broncos receiving offers and rejecting them after some consideration, which is fairly close to what the Broncos had been saying. ESPN’s reporting portrayed the Broncos so intent on obtaining Cassel that we willing to trade Cutler nearly straight-up (gaining a 3rd), but there were problems with that account since New England accepted far less for Cassel from Kansas City, so why would they turn down a better offer?

The ESPN article by Tim Graham (excerpted below) exemplifies motivated cognition. Obvious inconsistencies with Mortensen’s original report bear explanation, and Graham complies by supplying some fantastic speculation. Graham examines the idea that Mortensen’s report could be wrong but rejects that possibility. Other possibilities, such as the offer being a bargaining ploy, don’t seem to have occurred to him. And what’s also not considered is why McDaniels, if he was so intent on obtaining Cassel, would neglect to obtain him during the the three weeks he was available, especially since we were purportedly willing to offer so much.

This one defies logic, but a source I really trust tells me it’s true: The Broncos were willing to offer their own first-round pick (12th overall) to the Patriots for Cassel. Obviously, it was conditional upon Cutler being traded and Tampa Bay was the most likely destination, the Bucs willing to part with their first- and third-round picks.

    But Belichick never embraced a trade with the Broncos, even though it was a head-scratcher on the value part (second-rounder versus a first-rounder). It suggests two or three speculative thoughts:

       1. Belichick has always valued second-round picks (he now has three) and didn’t want to be stuck at No. 12 financially for whatever reason;
       2. Belichick had an agreement with Pioli all along and wouldn’t break his word;
       3. Belichick isn’t about to help another former assistant.

    The Broncos sensed resistance all along, which is why they held the Bucs, Lions, Vikings, etc., at arm’s length and allows McDaniels his plausible deniability on trading Cutler (and logic supports his denial).

    However, despite intense efforts to keep this run at Cassel under wraps, enough damage has been done that Cutler may now be on the block.

    The Broncos/Cutler aspect of the trade was reported by the Boston Globe. A Patriots’ leak? Why? To mess with McDaniels?

I hadn’t planned on this long of a post so let me try to sum up here.

A substantial portion of the anti-McDaniels attitude took root through some questionable reporting during the early days of the Cutlergate issue. Notably, ESPN’s reporting is apparently sourced through Cook (Williamson article), who’s pushing the McDaniels wants Cassel angle (see below).

A source close to the situation confirmed the Broncos were trying to acquire quarterback Matt Cassel from the New England Patriots by dangling Cutler, their Pro Bowl quarterback.

Notice that in the source’s narrative (or Cook’s), the Broncos’ motivation for trade talks is to acquire Cassel and they use Cuter (purportedly) as bait, which is the opposite of what Schefter originally reported, where Cassel is the bait that Detroit and Tampa Bay use when approaching Denver about a trade for Cutler .

Cook’s (apparent) usage of McDaniels wants Cassel (i.e., “his guy”) becomes a motif in Cook’s PR campaign against the Broncos. This type of PR campaign is geared to hit the public at a raw emotional level rather than convince them through reason. Specifically, loyalty is invoked, and McDaniels purported crime was that he was disloyal to “our guy,” rather than being a poor trader, which is where the reported story becomes implausible. What makes little sense at the logical-rational level, makes much more sense at the emotional level, which is where ‘decided’ what had happened.

There’s no way for me to adequately address the Cutler issue in anything less than a mammoth post so I’ll have to leave it here and address whatever aspects I’ve left uncovered in future posts.