"This game was lost first, stolen second and only won third." I too like this comment by Wad and I like his attempt to simplify last Saturday's debacle for those that don't know, choose not to know or will never know.



Debacle, what a great word, it's the word that kept creeping into my head after the game. Of course it was not the only word on my mind and it was probably the longest word coming out of my mouth to be perfectly honest with you but I like it and I'm sticking with it...... Debacle: a chaotic failure: a sudden disaster...I think that about sums up the game last Saturday, don't you? FUBAR might also work but that lends it's self to a blowout game. Unfortunate might be a good word but it sounds soft.



Anyway, here is about the simplest and kindest way that I have found to explain last Saturday's debacle to ravens fans and the casual football fan. By the way, casual fans bug me after a lose. You only hear from them when your team loses or "their" team beats your team or has some sort of success. As a Bronco fan that travels a good bit I have been getting this one a lot..."hey, what happen to your team man, what happen to your Broncos in Mile High"? I slowly turn around and simply say..."what do you think happened to them"? And trust me, this throws them for a loop because they are expecting anger, stats, sarcasm, hate, the recalling of missed penalties but instead they are now forced to come up with a reasonable response. And yes, sometimes it's simply your Broncos got their butts kicked, which is a complete exaggeration and we both know it. Some are insightful, some stupid and some ridicules but to all I simply say..."that's exactly what happened to the Broncos" because the facts don't matter to these knuckle heads and anything else that I say will be turned into a sorry excuse or cast off as whining. I know I'm getting off topic but I really don't care and I might be able to help out some fellow traveling Bronco fans or some dis-located fans, fans that wish that they lived in Colorful Colorado but cannot. There have also been times when asked "hey man what happened to your Broncos man"? I simply say..."something bad happened to the Broncos, something very bad happened to them" and walk away.



And without further doo, the simplest and kindest way that I have found to explain last Saturday's debacle to ravens fans and to the casual football fan.



The Ravens Brought their A game



The Broncos Brought their C game and



The Refs Brought their F game.



That may be over simplifying it but it's easy for the deaf, dumb and blind to understand. And it's easy for stupid Ravens fans to understand. (isn't that right Hun?) I struggled with which grade the Broncos actually earned though. I thought about a "B" and I thought about a "D". I also thought about the grade that I gave the Ravens too. The Ravens aren't very good to begin with so giving them an "A" makes it sound like they are an above average team. I also think that the lack of holding calls on Elvis Von Doomermill may have been the catalyst to such a high grade. I think that the poor officiating as a whole helped the Ravens earn an "A" because without several of those bad calls the ravens and Joe Flacco are playing with a 14+ point deficit, which isn't good for any QB let alone Joe the Statue Flacco, who by the way "Is Not Elite, I repeat not an Elite"!! Frickin Agents, they are out of control and have done more damage to players and the NFL then Roger Goodell and Rodney Harrison ever have or ever will.



Anyway. Several of those bad calls literally ended Bronco drives and literally extended ravens drives, literally gave the ravens the ball and or literally allowed the ravens to put points on the board. These are the facts and there is no need for speculation or discussion on these valid points. The ravens probably don't have what I would call an "A" game compared to the elite teams like the Broncos. The ravens "A" game is so far below the "A" game of elite teams like the Broncos that I almost want to make a Ravens "A" game a "B" game but I'll leave it as an "A" for arguments sake.



Just so you know, I never wavered on the refs "F" grade. It was very plain to see that the "all star" crew was completely lost, slowed the game for the ravens and as you know made several bad calls that favored the ravens team. I'm not into conspiracy theories like the NFL wanted to see ray lewis advance because this is, keep your fingers crossed, his last season, that the league wanted a rematch of last years AFC Championship game and that the NFL can have their Brady vs Manning next year, resulting in a win win for the shield. Having said that, I am starting to think that the Broncos "C" game is too low, I almost want to raise it to a "B-" simply because the refs did have such a devastating impact on the Broncos and the game. And yes there are those deaf, dumb and blind viewers that will say that the ravens had 9 penalties called on them during the game which is about league average for both teams in a "normal" game..a.k.a. a game that is called correctly. This now becomes sort of a quality vs quantity type of debate. True, based on the average the ravens did have a lot of penalties called on them but I don't like that argument so much because it shows the true ignorance of those making it and I feel bad for them.



In the case of last weeks debacle it was the sheer magnitude and bad timing of the penalties called on the Broncos that caused the pendulum to swing toward the lesser of the two teams and that's what bothers me and bothered the Broncos. As we all should know; leads and deficits greatly affect play calling on both sides of the ball so I still wonder if I should make it Broncos "B" game considering that the Broncos were able to keep it close for a game and a quarter despite being faced with 12 and sometimes 15 opponents on the field at any one time. Maybe there is a professor, instructor or teacher in the crowd that can help me grade the teams and refs?