Ravens 31 - Broncos 17 - Game Notes

It is fun to open MHR and find something positive about the complete thrashing that Baltimore put on Denver yesterday.

Orton did look solid, and his arm was strong in those two touchdown passes.

However, for those of us who attended the game, Denver looked like a team that was tired and gave up early. Now some of that you can attribute to the three games on the East Coast in hot environments after travel, but some of the rest of it you just have to say this team was not ready to play. The game plan looked ill-conceived and the execution was not there.

Some bright spots, yes. Orton should be the undisputed leader. Lloyd has turned into a beast. Thomas has potential. Cox can cover, only sometimes a bit too aggressively. DJ had a big game.

The lines, well, Denver looked like boys versus men. It wasn’t lack of mental toughness, they just didn’t have it. Running is a lot desire and Baltimore had a lot more of it both ways. Hillis and Cleveland ripped Baltimore open two weeks ago, but lost because of a weak passing game.

Next weekend at home will be a very big game. Hope we can find some positives in a win next weekend.

i was disappointed that one time we needed his leg early, McD decided to punt instead. it was about 53 yards, i believe, and coach couldn’t trust the kicker. it was early in the game while it was still competitive. we has a chance to put points on the board before we got into 0-17 hole, but no. that coach only trusts our kicker from under 40 is not good. this season already had some pretty long kicks made, so the standard for kickers is higher then that.

denver didn’t give up early because if they did, then the score would have been 40 something to 3. but they didn’t give up, and thats what you have to like about this team. if this was a bad team, then they wouldn’t have fought back in the 2end to middle of the 4th quarter. if you look at it, they shot themselves in the foot with penalties. they had good share of nice drives just hault because of penalties. the one that sticks out in my mind is the drive in the 3rd quarter, and they converted a 3 and 11. instead of a first down in the redzone they get a holding call followed up by a delay of game. not to mention the next drive gradwoski dropped a pass on 3rd down that would have given the broncos 1st down in the red zone as well. at the point of the game, even if those drives turned into field goals the broncos were in it.

at the end of the day, this was a good test for the broncos because let’s face it, it’s tough stretch of games right now. i said after the seahawks game that if the broncos win at least 2 out of the next 4 games that the broncos would go 10-6. they’re 1-2 during this stretch so far. the season is still alive yet, and there’s too much talent on this team to just packup the season already.

Why did Ross Hochstein start at Guard? He was called for at least one of the holding penalties (don’t know about the rest because I got stuck at Applebees with a tv that had no sound…. blah!!!)

Our D played good about 50% of the time, but the three 70 yard drives at the beginning and then the end of the game was just painful! I was proud of DJ and how our front 7 handled the first 70 yard drive with Hunter and Haggen tracking down Flacco for a sack. The key though was the previous play where DJ came flying across to smash Rice on the one to set up the 4th down.

Passing Game looked good, Orton is moving around in the pocket like he’s Tom Brady’s older brother. The only time it is an issue (which happened like 3-4 times) is when he runs instead of steps up/to the side because then he takes his eyes off of the receivers. I’m hoping we do more 4 and 5 WR sets.

And Maroney showed to be a bit better this week (though he couldn’t have gotten worse..). Moreno needs to get back soon. Buck looked better, in spite of the fact that their front 7 beat us up on the ground.

Again, my main question is why is Huchstien starting at LG???? I about flipped out when I saw the starting O-line that CBS puts up at the beginning. We need consistency on the O-Line, and Huch is a swing player, similar to Beadles (though Beadles has way more potential).

I think this team is literally one player from being 4-1 or better. And that player is out because of injury. Imagine this team with DOOM adding to the pass rush. How many times have we watched QBs just hang out in the pocket on 3rd and 5 or more? Add DOOM who can by himself prevent that either through pulling extra blockers and opening up room for Ayers. Even better, because he makes the Roster we don’t have that joke of a player Jarvis Moss. I know he managed to show something in preseason, but once he made it, he turned off the light switch pretty fast.

What I saw yesterday was a VERY good team that even with an absurd number of penalties, most of which we did earn, we actually stayed with them for a long time. Add in the fumble on a kick because of another DUMB move by a rookie (2nd time this season this has happened…) and our beloved Broncos had a huge hill to climb.

We have a chance to win a weak west, and we sure look like a team that doesn’t quit. We also have a very nice defense that is missing a critical piece and shows it over and over with little to no rush. That may be enough as has been speculated. Really though, I would almost prefer 8-8 this season. Let the pundits call for McDaniels head. let them call his young draft picks “wasted” because they are either rookies or 2nd year players. Because, add in another year of experience, to the talent we see out there now. Add in DOOM! Add in a new Special Teams coach…again. Plus a nice middle of the round set of draft picks and you have an amazing team. You have a team that has had some time and experience together.

Even if we win the West, we will not go deep in the playoffs. This team is not ready. I love the Broncos, and I want to watch them in the postseason, but even more I want to watch them win more Super Bowls. And the best outcome for this season is to miss the playoffs, get a better set of draft picks to build more depth, get healthy over the offseason, then come back and have a much more talented team than we have had in a LONG time play with the experience of a couple of seasons. Even better if they are “Not a playoff team” as then the pundits will write them off. That will help with the teams who read the news to get their opinion of other teams (I think these teams exist, 49ers) and themselves. Then we come in with what I think is a very good coaching staff who does a lot to prepare our team and we have one of those magical dominating seasons!

Go Broncos!