Von Miller followed through on his promise. The Denver Broncos went to the desert and laid the wood to the Arizona Cardinals. It was like medicine for the soul in Broncos Country. A big win in a road game against an opponent that they should beat 10 out of 10 times.
The defense looked like the defense of old. They bottled up the run game. They harassed the rookie quarterback. Josh Rosen hardly had a chance under center. Miller and the rest of the defense took out their frustration in a big way.
As Ian St. Clair and I said on the MHR Radio Podcast: You watched the game. You saw the final score, and you know that there is still considerable work to be done by the Broncos. However, this game could be more important to the psyche of the team than anything else. After a tough losses to the Ravens and the Chiefs, the team seemed to collapse against the Jets and Rams.
Did the #Broncos win in the desert on #TNF show they are back to their winning ways, or only prove how putird the #Cardinals are? @AdamMalnati16 and I break down the dilemma facing #BroncosCountry and the game on the latest @MileHighReport Radio Podcast. https://t.co/T7f97UtblX
— Ian St. Clair (@IanStClair) October 20, 2018
Von Miller’s proclamation leading up to the game against the Cardinals seemed to kickstart the defense. Being embarrassed two weeks in a row may have also helped. The one big takeaway has to be that Denver still has pride in their work. It may have seemed that they were about to give up the season, but this short week showed their true character.
Everything seemed to work against the Cardinals on Thursday night. Many of the fans will want to point to this game as proof that the Broncos are back. They are not. This is still a flawed team. The talent is there. This game was proof of that. The question mark still hangs over the coaching staff and John Elway. It is a big question mark, too.
A friend just texted me, saying he heard through the grapevine, after tonight’s game the @broncos are giving Vance Joseph a 10-day contract extension. #broncos
— Les Shapiro (@LesShapiro) October 19, 2018
This mini bye will be incredibly important moving forward. With a big division matchup against a team they could have beat, will the coaches be able to put their players in a position to win? They accomplished that feat on a short week, although that probably had to do more with the pride of the players, and less to do with the coaches.