A Broncos Playoff Run

by SSinSD on Dec 6, 2011 3:08 PM MST

Wow. I can't even believe I just wrote that. But from the way things are shaping up these past few weeks I am beginning to believe. I wanna believe. I've had my football feelings hurt too much these past 6 years to write such a thing lightly though. Now that Denver has made the top spot in the AFC West, I can actually see something along these lines happening. It'd be a miracle for that to happen you say? Well what do you call the past 7 weeks ( Lion's game aside)? After the jump, I'll put in my 2 cents worth and what I'd like to see is a discussion on all the various scenarios that us MHR guys can think up.

For week 14 let's begin with Orton in KC. He had a normal appearance this past Sunday. Out with a dislocated finger. Ironic isn't it? I almost think that dude has a dark could over him wherever he goes. Week 14 I can't picture KC beating the Jets at their house. So down a notch. Probably can count them out for a playoff run too. The Raiders surprised me with Carson Palmer playing as well as he did so quickly. But I don't think he can be a match for Green Bay. Again, down a noitch. And SD? What can I say about them? Not surprised they won on Monday night against the Jags. But Buffalo at home? They have an excellent chance to win. So SD moves up a notch on the for week 14 most likely. And last Denver plays the Bears at home. I was very worried (as most of us were all season) about this meeting, but with Cutler out and his buddy out as well, I believe we will win there. Up another notch. That places Denver still in sole possession of the AFC West as well.

For week 15 we have KC facing Green Bay at home. Down another notch and out of the picture completely. Bye bye! Then Oakland faces the Lions at home. Could go either way, but I have to believe they will lose. Down a notch (we hope). SD faces the Ravens at home. I believe they will lose this game. Down a notch. We have the Pats at home. Yikes! This will be our toughest game. If we lose a game it'll probably be this one. Win or lose though, as long as the Raiders lose, we stay on top of the AFC West.

For week 16 it's the home stretch probably. Oakland at KC, Oakland wins, stays behind us by one game if we win in Buffalo, which I think is entirely possible. If we lose I believe we are still on top and it would have tp play out in week 17. I expect to see the Denver game similar to the Vikings game. Up a notch and with the Raider loss we clinch the AFC West.

For week 17 KC comes to us we smash them (and sit back and wait for the playoffs to begin so we can prepare for a SB run). Then SD plays Oakland at home. Who knows what will happen there. SD wins I suppose. If the Raiders win I think we are still the AFC West champs.

Playoffs anyone?

Okay. That's my 2 cents worth. Look forward to reading your comments.

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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Comments

That's the most practical way to see it

But who knows. I didn’t have Oakland losing to Miami this week though, so I thought we’d have a tougher time of it. Their loss to the Dolphins gives a much better chance to win the division. My only worry is if SD can win out going 9-7 and somehow we fall apart. Luckily, I think we’d have the tiebreaker over them if we go 9-7 as well. Even if we go 8-8 and Oakland goes 8-8 and SD goes 8-8 we somehow own the tiebreakers over them.

GO BRONCOS!!!

by go4broncos on Dec 6, 2011 3:30 PM MST reply actions

Bears game

The Bears game is played here in Denver – 3 of our last 4 are home games. I think we can do it. Go Broncos!

by BroncosRock! on Dec 6, 2011 3:33 PM MST reply actions

I fixed that.

For some reason I knew that but had a brain fart.

We conquered this territory with our bodies and souls, then we watered it with our tears.
Go Denver!

by SSinSD on Dec 6, 2011 6:19 PM MST up reply actions

I say we win out

Our team philosophy is built for this time of year and to play at mile high, we have a legit shot to win all of them, the NE game will be interesting if we keep it a low scoring long possession game and rattle Brady a bit, I believe we are capable of beating them, our guys look hungry this year, you can see they all want the playoffs bad

by Den97winben on Dec 6, 2011 3:45 PM MST reply actions

11 n 5...Until were not! As one blogger here said....

Sooo…I cant decide if I want the season to hurry up n get to the playoffs OR just take a looooooong sloooow time…one day at a time, one awesome play after another… and just bask in the run win after win……decisions decisions…

by Denverkewl on Dec 6, 2011 4:01 PM MST reply actions

I'm a big fan of the win

Coach Fox said something along those lines after the KC game I think.

We conquered this territory with our bodies and souls, then we watered it with our tears.
Go Denver!

by SSinSD on Dec 6, 2011 6:22 PM MST up reply actions

I know the Pats are the cream of the crop but ....

The Broncos are 16 – 4 against the Patriots since 1983. They are 12 – 2 at home against them including one playoff game featuring a Champ intercepting Brady to seal the win.

If the Broncos can beat New England in prime time, the sky is the limit.

by AttwaterForHOF on Dec 6, 2011 4:01 PM MST reply actions 2 recs

Tom Brady

is definitely having some sleepless nights thinking about Von Miller. If we can pressure him early, bump and cover Gronk, and keep decent coverage on Branch and Welker, I think we have a shot. Their defense is porous, and I think we’ll do just fine staying on par with whatever points they can score — we just can’t allow Brady the big plays and the clock-eating drives he’s used to.

The only teams he’s faced so far with a consistently stout pass rush are Pittsburgh and the Giants, and they lost both of those. If we can disrupt his rhythm, it’s certainly a possibility.

by H-bizzle on Dec 6, 2011 4:08 PM MST up reply actions

I'm with ya bizz...

Tom can be beat when he’s in a hurry.

It is better to keep silent, and appear to be wise, then to ramble on aimlessly and remove all doubt! The Wisest Man, Solomon.

by metalman5050 on Dec 6, 2011 4:14 PM MST up reply actions

And we Run! Broncos Run! and control the clock. Brady can’t score, if he doesn’t have the ball.

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." -Winston Churchill

by Kronis on Dec 6, 2011 5:23 PM MST up reply actions

Attwater I hope you're right

I can picture them going down, but… Tom Brady can PASS that freaking ball! Is our D-Line that good? Maybe. I’d love it, because that would serve rather well later during the SB run.

We conquered this territory with our bodies and souls, then we watered it with our tears.
Go Denver!

by SSinSD on Dec 6, 2011 6:25 PM MST up reply actions

Tom Brady Is 1-6--Including the Playoffs Against Denver

That is by far his worst record against any NFL opponent.

by RSH089 on Dec 6, 2011 6:38 PM MST up reply actions

In large part due to Shanny

In a lot of ways, this matchup is a great litmus test….

Perseverance, secret of all triumph.

by Jeremy Bolander on Dec 7, 2011 2:57 PM MST up reply actions

playoffs

i could be totally wrong but i would say if we win the west most likely we would meet either baltimore or pittsburgh (which ever doesn’t win the north) in the first round. not really who i would want to play. hoping we can win out and the south winner finishes behind us in wins. although doubtful. here’s hoping. although if someone told me that pittsburgh would only beat k.c. 13-9 i would have thought they were crazy. if k.c. had a better QB they probably would have won that game. pittsburgh doesn’t seem to dominate on the road. they almost lost to the colts. so i guess anything is possible.

by broncosfan1129 on Dec 6, 2011 5:34 PM MST reply actions

We hold the tie breaker

Because we beat the dolphins. and they lost to them!

by RichardBonco on Dec 6, 2011 7:14 PM MST reply actions

tiebreaker

One thing to keep in mind is that we don’t actually have the tiebreaker in all circumstances.

For instance, say that over the next three weeks, Oakland goes 2-1 after losing to Green Bay, and we go 3-0. Then, going into the final week, Oakland beats San Diego at home (not unheard of, they already beat San Diego in San Diego), and then we lose to Kansas City at home.

Denver and Oakland end up at 10-6, but Oakland has a 4-2 division record while we’re at 3-3. Oakland gets the division championship, and we might be out of the playoffs entirely.

Now, it may be that if we beat Kansas City, we can afford to lose another game or two, but I wouldn’t want to tempt that. Either way, we basically need help to keep Kansas City from being able to play a spoiler role – right now, beating Kansas City looks like a must-win.

by tunesmith on Dec 6, 2011 10:52 PM MST up reply actions

hrm...

We also have to worry about the NY Jets@KC, Cincinnati and Tennessee. This could be a very good week for us, though, because in addition to OAK@GB, Cincinnati is playing Houston, and Tennessee is playing New Orleans!

I think that no matter what, either PIT or BAL has the #5 seed locked up. If we just go by sane outcomes, then after this week we should see:

NYJ 8-5
DEN 8-5
CIN 7-6
TEN 7-6
OAK 7-6

So there, it would look like we’d have the inside track for the #6 wildcard spot even if Oakland wins the division. But read on, I don’t think that’s actually true.

The next week we have CIN@STL, TEN@IND, DET@OAK, NYJ@PHI, and NE@DEN. I think worst-case scenario is if they all win and we lose, even though I think there’s a good chance that Detroit and Philadelphia might win. But, worst-case:

NYJ 9-5
DEN 8-6
CIN 8-6
TEN 8-6
OAK 8-6

The next week is DEN@BUF, OAK@KC, ARI@CIN, NYG@NYJ, and JAC@TEN. I have to say that this week scares me the most. Buffalo has had some bad games but they were scary good earlier this season, and could be a major spoiler. I think they will be a tougher opponent than Minnesota, especially after a draining game against New England. The only saving grace this week is that I think NYJ might be likely to lose. We have the second-toughest game of the week, so a “reasonable pessimistic” view would be:

NYJ 9-6
DEN 8-7
CIN 9-6
TEN 9-6
OAK 9-6

We’re definitely out of the playoff picture in that case, and would be hoping for several things to happen in the final week. That week is NYJ@MIA, BAL@CIN, TEN@HOU, KC@DEN, and SD@OAK. That’s probably our friendliest week of the season, even more than this upcoming week. If we win and everyone else loses, we’re looking at:

NYJ 9-7
DEN 9-7
CIN 9-7
TEN 9-7
OAK 9-7

We would get the tiebreaker over Oakland because of the better division record. I have no clue who would get the #6 seed here, but the point is, if Oakland gets the #4, I have no clue who gets the #6, but it’s probably Tennessee from tying our conference record and beating us head-to-head.

In short? I think we don’t want to be hoping that San Diego beats Oakland in Oakland. And we have to beat Kansas City – it’s the only way we can ensure we have a tiebreaker over Oakland in all cases. Despite the difficulty of the other teams’ schedules, I don’t think we have an inside track here. Our early season performance put us under the gun and we really are in a bunch of must-win games.

by tunesmith on Dec 6, 2011 11:59 PM MST reply actions 2 recs

so Brady can't run..not like TT..

and the Pats are over rated right now..

Plus, we’re the Broncos and the Broncos are hot right now..and the intangible thing has spread like a case of herpes on the hottest chick in town to the rest of the Broncos..from TT.

They don’t sell intangibles at the 7-11, so that leaves the rest of the league out in the cold.

So far, all the teams that were supposed to beat us haven’t.

"We've clawed our way back in this thing," safety Brian Dawkins said."We're going to go out and give it everything we got."

by csason on Dec 7, 2011 3:39 AM MST reply actions