FINAL

The Denver Broncos looked the part of a team that was lost.  Beaten and battered both physically and mentally after getting crushed by the Oakland Raiders last week.  Sometimes the best thing for a team that has the world against them is a trip on the road against a team that no one believes they can beat.  That's exactly what the Broncos had facing them this week and they did what any mentally tough team would do.  They played their asses off, took advantage of opportunities and overcame adversity to win a hard fought football game.

The last part might be the most important.  The Jets were able to score on two long running plays.  The Jets turned the Broncos over in the Red Zone.  Hell, the Jets had Brett Favre.  None of it mattered to the Broncos who got up early and never looked back.

There were plenty of heros today, but we'll start with Jay Cutler(27/43 - 357 yards, 2TD, 1INT), who came back from an awful performance last week to play extremely well in a very tough environment.  The Meadowlands is a tough place to play on a calm day let alone when the weather is bad.  Cutler looked good, threw the ball well, and with the exception of one play, made good decisions with the football.  The Broncos win when Cutler plays well and both happened today.

Peyton Hillis(22 car. - 129 yards, 1TD) was a stud all day and the Broncos committed to the run more today than in any game in recent memory.  Cutler is still the motor that drives the car, but sometimes he needs a good tow every now and then and Hillis made that happen.

The Broncos defense, save a couple of mental lapses, played strong and forced the Jets to go the long way to score.  The defense got the Broncos on the board early as well, and any time you can get 7 points from the defense good things are bound to happen.

The Broncos now sit at 7-5, 3 full games up on the Chargers with 4 games to go.  The team will likely be much healthier next week with Champ Bailey and Nate Webster likely to return.  We could see D.J. Williams as well.  Any one that Broncos get back will be a huge plus, but it shouldn't be overlooked how well these guys played and just how valuable the experience will be moving forward.  Great Job Men!

As for next week, and those that follow, we'll take them one game at a time.  No one really knows what to expect from the the Orange and Blue, and in a season of so many ups and downs, I hope you like roller coasters because this ride is far from over!

For Everything Raiders Related, Check Out Silver & Black Pride

Final

Games like today challenge your fandom. They challenge mine as well. The Broncos got beat, no, blown out by a hated rival, an Oakland Raider team that is as low as low can be. On the surface the defense will get killed, and much of it is deserved. The injuries are starting to take their toll, and the Raiders made some plays. What we have learned in 2008 about this Broncos team is simple -- they simply aren't good enough on defense to make up for mistakes on offense.

We have talked all year about the team being built around Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal and the offense. They need to make big plays and protect the football. When they have, the Broncos have won. When they haven't, well, you have games like today. The Broncos held the Raiders to a 3-and-out on their first possession and took the ball all the way down the field. What happens next has happened in other games this year. Games in Kansas City and against Jacksonville. The Broncos fumbled the football. Red Zone turnovers will kill you. A mis-direction play, the Broncos got a bit cute on a run call to Peyton Hillis and he and Cutler couldn't complete the QB/RB exchange.

Some might say that a play like that is ok because it leaves the Raiders in bad field position. It isn't a good thing. Turning the ball over in the red zone is never a good thing. It turned out to be a sign of things to come. There is plenty of blame to lay everywhere -- questionable play calling during most of the 2nd quarter, a special team's TD allowed, a close second to red zone turnovers in terms of being an absolute no-no, and of course, the Matt Prater misses. They were longer field goals, yes, but in a game like today's, when the game is close, each mistake you make is a confidence boost to the opponent.

The Broncos gave the Raiders all sorts of confidence today and the Raiders went out and won the football game, plain and simple.

It's too early to think about next week, and at this point, who really wants to. Again this year, the Broncos will have all off-season to live with what happened against Oakland, and a bitter taste it is. The Broncos need to regroup and think about what they want the rest of this year to be. The Chargers have the opportunity to gain a game tonight against the Colts, so much of what happens the rest of this year likely depends on that result.

Talk about the game here, and MHR Radio Post Game is coming up at 7:30.

For Everything Falcons Related, Check Out The Falcoholic

FINAL

Guts, Heart, Determination. All three can be used to talk about our football team. Other teams and fans will talk about injuries and use them as an excuse. We will not.  We will only persevere and overcome.  The Denver Broncos were 4-4, coming off a tough home loss to the Miami Dolpins.  A season was on the brink.  People were questioning the coach, the quarterback, the stat wide receiver.  Everything seemed to be caving in on the Broncos.  All hope seemed lost.

Heading into the Cleveland game, many were starting to question Mike Shanahan.  Was his message being tuned out after so many years in the same locker room?  After falling behind by 13 in the 2nd half to the Browns, things looked bleak.  Then, like the Phoenix, the Broncos rose from the fiery ashes of a season on the brink and beat the Browns. 

Today, with the injuries continuing to pile up.  With a rookie 7th round draft pick forced to start on offense AND defense, the Broncos once again rose form the ashes, on the road, and snatched victory from the grasps of their opponents.  It wasn't pretty, but it was a W.  The Broncos had everything working against them, injuries, mental mistakes by young players, and "The Streak".  Teams traveling from the MST or PST and playing a game at 1:00PM EST had lost 15 games in a row.  Make that record 1-15, as the Broncos got it done.

The Broncos sit at 6-4, and at the end of the day, when we convene for MHR Radio Postgame, it could be a 2 game lead in the AFC West with 6 games to go.  Oakland comes to town next week, while the Chargers host Indy.  Much more to be made about those games this week.  Until then, talk about a huge win right here, as well as the Chargers/Steelers.

NOTE:  A Tip of the MHR cap to Dave the Falconer and everyone at The Falcoholic for a great week of cross-blogging.  It was a pleasure to cross-blog with such a classy fan-base.

Final Game Stats

41-7.  It is pretty hard to say it.  Even harder to spell it out - Forty One to Seven - yikes.  I am going to try not to pile on the negativity, that seems to be handled over in the Fan Posts.  I can't say I blame anyone, it was hard to watch.  In the end, it is one game, one loss.  We can talk about the trends, like the downward spiral of the offense, or the inability of the defense to stop the run, those are all valid points, but this game only counts as one loss and the BYE week allows a beat up Broncos team to hopefully regroup and get healthy.

The stats are above, so I don't need to rehash them for you.  I will mention that the Broncos are averaging over 3 turnovers a game the past 4 weeks and that is a certain recipe to fail.  It is even worse in the 3 losses the Broncos have earned over the same period - 12 turnovers(4 per game).  In short, the Broncos are literally giving games away.  Tonight was no different.  Two drives into New England territory, two fumbles, two field goals by the Pats.  At the least, it was a 12 point swing.  At the least.  At that moment, everything changes, especially for a team that is thin at running back to begin with.

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So much hope after the Broncos beat the Buccaneers.  After a great start, the Broncos offense struggled and the defense gave up too many big plays in losing to the Jaguars.  The Broncos now face a tough road trip to New England and a prime time match up with the Patriots.  Before moving full steam ahead to the Pats, let's take one more painful look back at the loss to the Jags..

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DENVER BRONCOS HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN

Opening statement

“So I think we had a chance to take control of the football game early after the first drive and the turnover and we didn’t take advantage of it.  Unfortunately we had three turnovers which gave them ten points and that got us behind the eight-ball.  In the second half, give credit to them, they made plays and had a couple long drives and they did what they needed to do to win the football game and we couldn’t respond.”

On injuries at the wide receiver position

“Hopefully we’ll have them back.  [WR Brandon] Stokely had a concussion and we’ll see how serious that is.  Hopefully [WR] Eddie [Royal] can come back next week.  He’s got a bone bruise, and hopefully that will clear up.”

“I thought [WR Glenn] Martinez made plays in there.  For the first time, [WR] Darrell Jackson was back.  We had those guys play a lot of plays in the second half.  We lost a couple guys and a couple guys stepped up and unfortunately we didn’t get it done.”

On the defensive performance

“I think we wore down a little bit.  We got a little tired.  At the end we were trying to strip the ball when they were pushing.  They made the big plays.  They had a big run for a touchdown and a pass.  We responded to one of those but couldn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”

On RB Michael Pittman

“I have a lot of confidence in Mike.  He does a great job.  He better be able to step up because we only have two guys left.”

On the interference call on the Broncos in the fourth quarter

“I didn’t think it was interference.  I was right there, right on the spot.  I’m not sure what it was like on the replay, but I didn’t think it was.  In fact, being right there, I’d better a dollar to doughnuts that it wasn’t [pass interference].  It doesn’t really matter.  We had a lot of opportunities to do things throughout the game.”

On Jacksonville QB David Garrard

“He makes plays.  The one quarterback draw at the end versus a blitz…I give credit to him for showing what type of athlete he is.  He got away from a few sacks and he’s a heck of an athlete.  [He is] very strong.”

On the defense

 “We had a chance to control the football game but we turned [the ball] over three times, and it’s hard to win those kind of games.  But we did get two turnovers on defense and a couple of sacks, but we just couldn’t keep it going.  We had improvement on both sides of the football and special teams.  We just have to keep on working, we know what our record is, and get ready for New England.”

On going for it on fourth down in the second quarter

“It was not a bad choice on my part.  I would have went for it again.  I wish I could have chosen a different play.  You second guess yourself on that, but I take total credit for the mistake.  Sometimes you’re going to make it and sometimes your not.  I thought we could get the fourth-and-one.  I’d probably go for it most of the time, and probably make it some of the time.”

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Final Game Stats

HOME WINNING STREAK SNAPPED

* - The Broncos, who entered Sunday’s games vs. Jacksonville with an NFL-best six-game home winning streak, lost at in Denver for the first time since a 19-13 overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers on 10/29/07. With the loss, the Broncos fall to 3-4 (.429) all-time against the Jaguars in the regular season, including a 2-2 (.500) mark at home.

RB MICHAEL PITTMAN

* - Broncos RB Michael Pittman, who made his first start as a Bronco and the 80^th of his career against Jacksonville, finished with 20 rushes for 109 yards (5.5 avg.), becoming the first Bronco to rush for 100 yards in a game since RB Selvin Young had 156 yards vs. Kansas City (12/9/08). His 109 yards marked his highest rushing total since he had 127 rushing yards as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2005 (15-127, vs. Mia., 10/16/05).

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FINAL GAME NOTES

WIN NO. 150 FOR SHANAHAN

* - With the win, Broncos Head Coach Mike Shanahan earned his 150^th overall career victory (150-96-0, .610) and became the 17th coach in NFL history to reach that win total. His overall record with the Broncos improves to 142-84-0 (.628).

SIXTH IN A ROW AT HOME

* - The Broncos extended their home winning streak to six games with their victory against Tampa Bay. It is their longest such streak since posting 13 consecutive home wins in the regular season from Dec. 12, 2004, through Oct. 15, 2006.

CUTLER MILESTONES

* - Broncos QB Jay Cutler completed 23-of-34 passes for 227 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions for a 96.1 passer rating.

* - His 10-yard touchdown pass to WR Brandon Stokley in the third quarter moved him ahead of QB Steve Tensi for sole possession of seventh in Broncos history in career touchdown passes (39). 

* - Cutler also became the eighth player in Broncos history to reach 6,000 career passing yards, finishing the game with an even 6,000 for his career.

* - The victory improved Cutler’s career record as a starting quarterback to 13-13.

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The Broncos fell flat, there is no other way to describe it.  Before closing the book on Week 4 and looking forward, with nervous anticipation, to a visit by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, let's take one last look at the (lack of)performance by the Broncos in yesterday's loss to the Chiefs, in something I like to call, "Making The Grade"  As always, the most important "grade" is the one on the scoreboard, and for that, the Broncos earned a big, fat F.  What about the players performance?  Let's take a look....

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FINAL

REMEMBER -- MHR Radio coming up at 8:00 PM est / 6:00 PM mst

Hard to decide on a place to start, so I'll go the classy route.  A big tip of the MHR cap to the Chiefs, who campe out and played 4 quarters of inspired football.  Congratulations to their fans over at Arrowhead Pride who joined us for a great week of cross-blogging.

Now, for the game.  First, I picked the Broncos to win, and picked them to win big, but I can't honestly say I am "surprised" by the outcome.  The Broncos have had one of the winningest frnchises in football the past 40 years, and still we are only 13-35 all time in K.C.  Mike Shanahan has won alot more football games than he has lost as a Head Coach, but overall he is only 3-11 in K.C.  It just hasn't been a good place for the Broncos to play.  Worse, they rarely play well in Kansas City, whihc is why today's performance was so disappointing, if not surprising.

I have called 2008 "Year 3 of a 5 year rebuild".  There are several reasons for that, most notably the holes that exist in 2 of the 3 phases on the team - defense and special teams.  When there are holes on 2/3 of the team, the other 1/3, in this case the offense, better play lights out when the other two struggle.  That didn't happen today, with the offense turning the ball over 4 times.  This defense cannot make up for that.  For three quarters, the defense kept the team in the game(16-13 Chiefs), despite being on the field 8 minutes longer than the Chiefs defense(26:15 - 18:35).  I'll take that, but we can't expect the defense to hold out forever.

When the offense wasn't putting the defense in tough spots, it was the coverage teams, who seemed to allow big returns every time the Broncos scored in the 2nd half.  The Chiefs offense has trouble moving the ball, but when you give them a short field, when only a couple first downs are needed to get into FG range, that puts the defense in a tough situation.

Lastly, I won't mention any names, but I was bashed for saying the Chiefs had the advantage at Running Back in my "EDGE" post, and for saying the Broncos running game hadn't been as dominant as they needed to be as we moved through the season.  Well, today, you saw exactly what I was talking about.  This was a game where Jay Cutler was struggling and the Chiefs pass defense, ranked 4th in the League coming in, was doing a great job forcing the Broncos to make alot of plays to move down field.  The Broncos needed to be able to run the ball, first to give the defense a rest, second to control tempo and set up the passing game.  They couldn't do it.

The play calling left something to be desired as well.  I know Brandon Marshall can't fumble the ball in that situation, but we should expect a wide receiver to run like a running back.  Marshall is used to being tackled by DB's, not linebackers or defensive linemen.  He's used to being the strongest guy in any confrontation on the field, against linebackers and defensive lineman, he isn't.  Should Marshall have held on to the ball, yes.  Should the play ever been called in the first place?  Absolutely Not!!

There are many reasons the Broncos lost, and blame can go alot of different directions.  Keep this in mind, however, Broncos fans - the Broncos are 3-1 and no matter what happens the rest of the day the Broncos will be alone in 1st place.  If I had said before the season that the Broncos would be 3-1, in first place, after the first 4 weeks you would have been ecstatic.  Well, that is exactly where we find ourselves.  As bad as the Broncos played, this is only 1 loss.  We need to focus on what's next, including two home games.  Everyone must take a look in the mirror, players and fans alike, and evaluate who and what the Broncos are, but in the end, the Broncos are 3-1, in 1st place in the AFC West.  Not a bad place to be at all.