Broncos 31, Jets 17: Instant Reactions

Why Denver, why do you find a way to make certain "blowouts" become way too close? Why?

Something had to have been wrong with Peyton Manning. Early on he was throwing more ground balls than a baseball coach during practice. He also threw more wounded ducks than at any point outside of his 2012 Broncos debut. I'm not sure what's wrong with him, but he needs to get it right.

Our offense as a whole also needs to clean up all of these penalties. There are way too many mistakes made up front to be a serious Super Bowl-contending team. Coaches are either a) coaching this horribly sloppy brand of football, or b) allowing this horribly sloppy brand of football to continue. The only common denominator here is the word "coach." This sloppy play is 100% on them. This roster is way too talented to put it all on the players. They need to be coached better, period.

Ronnie Hillman, you did okay. Juwan Thompson, you did better. Give that man the starting nod. Thompson looks like the best running back on the Broncos roster, healthy Montee Ball or not. I'd love to see C.J. Anderson in action, but honestly, I think Thompson is still better. He can break tackles and hit holes like certain other former Broncos running backs throughout the last 20 years of history. Plus, he doesn't appear to fumble like certain "less talented #23's".

Von Miller is back. Two sacks today, one of which should have been a safety; when he's healthy, he's impossible to defend. He and Ware are a force to be reckoned with.

Here is where I drop a little bit of reality on us all, and please don't hate me too much, but, the Broncos aren't the best team in the AFC West. Yes Tim, some power rankings had it correct. The Chargers are #2 (giggle), and the Broncos are #3 in the NFL. This game was way too close for way too long to be the second best team in the league. Yes, the Broncos thoroughly out played the Jets, but the Jets had too many chances to either a) stay in the lead, or b) tied the game in the 4th quarter for this team to be a team that we can all pound our chests for. They have too many holes. I'm going to say it right now, on a neutral field, the Chargers whip us worse than the Seahawks would; And make no mistake, they'd both whip us.

I'm going to spit out another bit of harsh reality for you all. We are beginning to see the decline of Peyton Manning. I'm not saying he's going to nose-dive like Brett Favre did, but he is too sloppy this year. His time as a super-elite QB are dwindling. Again, don't mistake that as me saying he isn't the best of the best still, because he's still there, it's just that he's starting to fall back to the "elite" pack. He no longer isn't head and shoulders above the rest. He's simply "one of the few elite QB's" right now. This is still amazing, but not nearly as amazing as he has been.

I think that if the Jets got rid of Rex Ryan, the Broncos should pick him up in the offseason and dump Fox. I'm beyond sick and tired of Fox ball. Yes, I'm happy Elway got him to stabilize the unstable ship known as the Denver Broncos, but Fox isn't a Super Bowl winning coach. He just isn't. Rex Ryan is. For that matter, so is Mike Shanahan ,but he'd have to agree to be "only a coach", and sadly, I don't think his ego would allow that. Too bad, because John Fox simply isn't a champion coach. What's even worse is that the Broncos are squandering their talent and championship window with him as the coach. I just hope that the Broncos can somehow win it all despite having Fox as their coach, because they sure won't win it because he's their coach.

All in all, this was an okay game. It was way too sloppy (just like all the games this season), but the end result was what we are use to; A win. For a roster that up and down is "on paper" more talented than any team in Broncos history, I'd take the 2013 team over the 2014 team, and do you know what? I'd take the 2012 team over this team too. This team needs a wake up call. I'm not sure how to do it without firing a coach, but something major needs to be done to make this team realize that it can't sleepwalk it's way into the playoffs.