FanPost

Luff Rumblings, The Return

Hey folks! It's been way too long.... I miss you guys. I know my return coincides with our best win in years, apparently that's what it takes for a Luff to find the strength to write a fan-post. :)

Here, you'll find some random mind wanderings. Rumble with me to Luff-Land once again!

VINDICATION

I will freely admit, right here, that before yesterday's game, I was more down about the Denver Broncos than I have been at any point in my career as a fan. I saw an organization whose last bit of life-blood was swirling down the drain, leaving behind a nasty blue and orange stain to be cleaned up during a less depressing time. I tried my hardest to keep faith, those of you that remember me, might remember that I try to look at things in a positive light whenever possible... but I was quickly losing that ability.

Then, we galloped into the Black Hole, and the Good Guys won.

Cheesy-smile_medium

Throw a Broncos hat on that dude, and that's pretty much what I looked like yesterday. STRAIGHT CHEESIN'! What an absolute relief. We went into Oakland, and beat those sorry dogs at their own game. That win made my whole season, renewed my faith in just about every part of our organization (knee-jerk reaction, of course, but whatever), and just plum made me happy. Well done, boys! Allright, let's move on to some more detailed rumblings.

Nice to meet ya'!

You know when you see someone you think you might have met before, and you're about 60% sure that you do know this person, but that 60% is not enough impetus to actually say it, and then you meet that person again... and the conversation goes like this.

"Howdy, I'm a Luffabo, good to meet you."

"Yeah, you too. Wait, haven't we met before?"

"I think so, but I just can't place it... But, yes, I do remember you."

Well, that was Eddie Royal yesterday. Hi Eddie, it's nice to meet you again! I think we, as Broncos fans, die a little inside every time Eddie has a game that doesn't go a little like it did for him yesterday. Seriously, that little dude is too quick, with too much athletic ability, to not show up for at least a couple of electric plays a game. That punt return was silly explosive. The duck move he made when he turned the corner against the second wave of defenders was epic, and his ability to keep pace while finding running lanes is elite. We need him to use those tools to make an impact, every friggin' game.

While on the topic of receivers; Eric Decker is a super stud. He's fundamentally sound, he's fast, he's strong, he's smart.... He also has big, silly good mitts; check it here, where I talk about Decker right after we drafted him. Sidenote: Go ahead and read that whole column I just linked to. How hilarious is that? My official statement is that Perrish Cox was going to be the next Champ Bailey. Gee guy, miss much? That little piece I put together proves once and for all that I have no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to football; I urge you to take everything I say with a ginormous grain of salt. :) Anywho, back to Decker... You know who he reminds me of? Jason Witten. He's like a slightly smaller, significantly faster version of Witten. I'm not saying he's as good as Witten is, because Eric will need to play at a high level for a lot of years for us to have the luxury of saying that, but he reminds me of him, a whole bunch. Now I know you're saying, "Hey stupid, Witten is a tight end and Decker is a wideout, you don't know what the hell you're talking about!". Hear me out.

These are the type of guys who have an innate feel for finding a way to get open. You can have all the athletic ability in the world, but if you're not putting yourself in the right places to succeed against the coverages you're seeing, you're not going to be very successful. For an example, I think we're seeing this with Demaryius Thomas right now. Anyways, Witten and Decker both find a way to settle into the soft spot of a defense, an invaluable tool that can't always be taught. Also, these guys are major route-running technicians. One of Witten's best routes has him running straight up the field vertically, and then coming back to the quarterback. His technique in his chop-steps when slowing down is practically flawless; so while he's not the fastest guy out there, his technique and precision allow him to get open the majority of the time. Decker looks very similar to Witten in this regard, at least to me. Needless to say, I think Decker is going to be a goodun'. I can't wait to see him continue to improve and be with us for a long, long time.

Hi Carson, Welcome to Oakland! I'm Von, and I'll most definitely be seeing you around.

We've seen flashes of brilliance from Von Miller since he came to Denver. The game he played yesterday was his best yet, in my opinion. Dennis Allen let him loose like he hasn't before, and Von took that opportunity and ran with it. He beat the crud out of just about anyone who tried to block him yesterday, and then beat the tar out of Carson Palmer shortly after that, over and over again. Official Request to Dennis Allen: Continue to bring Von Miller up the A-Gap. Kthnbai. I guarantee you that Palmer is feeling what Von did to him yesterday, and wants no part of him in the future.

This guy has elite speed, terrific moves, great size, and most importantly; terrific football instincts. Denizens of Denver, we have reason to be overly psyched about this guy, he has GREATNESS etched all over him. And with Elvis and Ayers close by relieving the pressure, the sky is the limit for him.

I feel I should also say something about Elvis. He had his best game of the season so far as well, and is a huge reason why Von had the freedom to wreak as much havoc as he did. When we saw Von wrecking shop, we saw him also be single covered the majority of the time. Why is that? Because Dumervil garners so much attention from the other blockers. Shout out to the rest of the big guys on the defensive line, they played well also.

Are the fat guys gelling (read: Jelly Donuting)?

The interior of our offensive line had the best game that particular group of ours has had in a long, long time. Well, they did in the second half, at least. Zane Beadles had his best game, and so did J.D. Walton. Kuper played well also, and is quietly putting together a solid season. On the sobering side of things, our tackles scare me. Would the real Ryan Clady please stand up? 3 holding penalties... WHAT THE HEEZY? Watching Clady get beat repeatedly over the last couple weeks is very scary, and is something we used to see, like, never. I sure hope he gets his Groove Back, Stella style.

Orlando Franklin continues to play well in the run game as an accomplished mauler, and continues to get owned in pass pro. We can only hope he continues to improve in that area moving forward, or we're going to continue to struggle to have time to make downfield throws. The other answer might be to once again draft a right tackle or sign one in Free Agency, and move Franklin inside to guard, with Zane Beadles playing as a pretty solid insurance policy across the line.

Hopefully, that is rendered unnecessary by Franklin improving his overall game. The hope with these guys is that the game yesterday was the first sign of our young line coming together and turning itself into a force moving forward. This, more than anything else, would be a sure sign of success coming our way in the future.

More Random Than Usual Bullet-Point Rumblings

- Chris Harris: I dig your style. Cut down on the silly penalties, and we can be homies.

- Mr. Woodyard: keep bringing the wood. Love the way this guy hits; he's a human torpedo.

-Ryan McBean: You're starting to both insist on creating havoc and do so without getting a penalty every other down. Both are things you used to not do. Are you a testament to player development? I really think you are.

-Champ: Nice picks... now just play the whole game like the razor sharp assassin you've always been, and I'll be super stoked.

- Willis McGahee: I, and I'll just go ahead and change that to a "we", completely underestimated you. Kudos to EFX on this free agent pickup. On a scale of 1 to 10, how happy should we be that we paid significantly less for McGahee than we would have for DeAngelo Williams. I'm gonna go with a solid 17. Note; that was a very difficult couple sentences, and it was 100% because of the names involved. "OK Luff, lowercase that c, and go ahead and uppercase that G. M-c-G-ahee. Well done, sir. mmkay, here we go... I know we've got double capitals again, yep, same thing. lowercase e, uppercase A. Nailed it... Phew!" The answer is yes, I talk to myself often. Internally, usually.

- Whilst some folks, who are most definitely smarter than I, subscribe to the theory that cornerback is not a premium position, and therefore should never have premium resources spent on; I disagree. While watching Goodman try to cover people this season, and worse than that, tackle them... I've come to the conclusion that we should use our first rounder on either Morris Claiborne of LSU or Dre Kirkpatrick of Alabama. Claiborne can cover, and is mean as a copperhead snake. Yessir! A corner who can hold his own in coverage and be a physical presence opposite Champ in his last years would be more than welcome. At this point, I believe we have plenty of resources at every other level of the defense (yes, that includes DT, where I believe Bunkley, Thomas, McBean, Ayers, and Co. are plenty adequate moving forward), and a true playmaker in the secondary would be the last key component to building this defense for the future.

- Dearest DJ; I'm sorry. I talked more trash about you than just about anyone. I definitely would have traded you for a 4th round pick at the trade deadline a few months ago. It's a damn good thing I'm not GM, amiright!?! But seriously, I've never seen you play ball like this. You tackle people. You're in the right place. Again, you're tackling people. Please, feel free to keep doing these things... I kinda like you now!

-Coaching Staff; Improved playcalling, a willingness to rev the engine a bit, and a much-needed win in the pen are just a few of the things that have me back up high, swigging Kool-Aid with my feet dangling over the cliff. Let's keep this thing soaring in the right direction! Go Broncos!

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.