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Broncos vs Seahawks: No Bull Answers

Going into the game, I pointed out some questions I was looking at heading into week one. Here are my insights on what answers we got to those questions.

NFL: Seattle Seahawks at Denver Broncos Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

In case you missed it last week, I posed some questions that I was specifically looking at going into this game. Let’s run down the list and see what insights we got about this team from week 1:

Is Case Keenum a real step forward for our offense?

Answer:

No Bronco fan was thrilled with the 3 picks. That’s the kind of stuff that will lose you a game. But it is early in the season with a new team and the whole team is running a new offense in its 1st year under a new offensive coordinator.

What I saw from Keenum that makes me answer this question with a solid “Yes,” is the confidence and competence with which he went about his business. Much of his passing was accurate. He answered the call for every moment that started looking bad (including the moments he largely created).

The leadership alone we saw from Keenum is a huge step forward for this team and offense. Any of the scrub real estate salesmen masquerading as NFL players we had last year in this game would have folded like a cheap lawn chair while the Seahawks rolled us by double digits.

Is Bradley Roby able to hold it down on the outside?

Answer:

Nope. Bradley Roby had a stinker of a game. His tackling was a sack full of weak sauce. His coverage was at times decent below the waist, but Brandon Marshall scored a TD on him where he was in position to knock the ball away. I am not encouraged much at all by what we saw in week 1 from our #2 cornerback.

Adam Jones may end up taking his spot if this is the level of play Roby brings in his contract season.

Does Bill Musgrave have a rabbit in his hat?

Answer:

He’s got a colony of rabbits in his hat. I can’t remember the last time I was watching a Bronco game and caught off guard so many times by what the offense did. He used a ton of personnel (big plus in my books), he mixed up formations, and he designed great deception plays to scheme players open in positive match-ups.

Also, I loved the ebb and flow of the game and how he adjusted his play calling. We ran a bunch of shorter routes to keep the chains moving against the opponent’s cover-3 scheme. Seattle switched to some cover-4 looks and he countered with flooding areas with more routes than they had players. Late in the game with a lead we brought out some real old-school mano a mano smash mouth running to run the clock off.

Bill Musgrave is a big reason that we won the game and why the Broncos offense looks like it could be a legit worry for their NFL opponents in the coming weeks.

Can our ILBs play at a higher level than last year?

Answer:

Yes they can. Both Brandon Marshall and Todd Davis were flying all over the field making plays against both the run and the pass. Leading up to the season I’d mentioned that I thought the ILB talent on the Broncos was a weakness and boy was I wrong. I’m excited to see Davis and Marshall bring it next week!

Your turn!

What questions did you get answered in this game and what did you take away? If you posted questions in the comments last week, hop over and copy and paste them here with your takes. Let’s keep the discussion going on the best place for Broncos Country to talk football on the Internet here at milehighreport.com!