A Few Good Questions With a Broncos Blogger...Greetings from MileHighReport

That has actually been one of my beefs this season – the lack of action for Stokley. He has made some huge plays(Cincy and SD come to mind) but is the 4th WR and doesn;t get on the field much. He does provide excellent depth, however, and is the ultimate professional.

He was a victim of the personnel that Mike Shanahan provided him with. Coyer took the fall for not being able to use scheme, smoke and mirrors to cover up for the lack of talent the Broncos had. He uses an aggressive defense, and likes to blitz, but in 2005 and 2006 the Broncos HAD to blitz to generate any type of pressure on opposing QBs. That works great against most QBs, but the best of the best, like Manning, will kill you if you send pressure.

In a lot of ways, the firing of Coyer set in motion the downfall of Shanahan. After Coyer came GM Ted Sundquist, dozens of players, Jim Bates, etc. After a while, there was no one else left to take the blame.

I don’t think there is anything different, per se. The recipe for beating the Colts is likely the same as the last time the Broncos beat Manning – run the ball, control the clock. In 2003, the Broncos traveled to the RCA Dome and beat the Colts 31-17. That night, Quentin Griffin ran for 156 yards, the Broncos ran for 227 yards, and kept the ball for nearly 45 minutes. That game was also played in December, and also had playoff ramifications for both teams.

Of course, Miami did all of that earlier this season and the Colts still won the game.

The Broncos need to avoid giving up the big play – something they have done well this season – and cannot beat themselves with turnovers and penalties. If that happens it could get ugly.

Depends what you mean by ‘Franchise’. Can he be the starting QB, beyond this season? Certainly. You’ll realize one days that guys like Manning, or Elway, don’t grow on trees, and you can’t simply go get another one. That’s why they are Legends. Kyle Orton has played good enough to win. The one loss that really stings – the Washington game – the Broncos were winning when Orton got hurt and likely win if he stayed in the game. He was moving the ball against SD as well, until Moreno fumbled at the goal line – that opened the flood gates.

I still think it is a question what the Broncos will do. For now, he is a $900K risk. The Broncos could possibly do better, but they could also do ALOT worse.

Yes. I was always highly critical of Cutler – he simply makes too many poor decisions – and wasn’t well regarded in the locker room. I don’t think it is a coincidence that he is having many of the same problems in Chicago – with lessor offensive talent.

Sure, Cutler has all the physical skills, but success in the NFL goes far beyond that. I could go on and on about Cutler, but people’s opinions are already set.

As for Orton, I think the main thing is he is coachable and will take responsibility and be accountable. Something Cutler was not and did not do.

I agree with Bena whole-heartedly. When Plummer was benched in favor of the rookie Cutler, it touched off something of a firestorm amongst the fan base. Some of us…including me…have harbored resentment about the move ever since. My argument against Cutler was the same then as it is now…he just does not seem to know how to win. Where some QBs win at every level, some just don’t seem to be able to.

Cutler’s red zone and attitude problems are nothing new. If you look at the tape from the last 2+ years, he has always thrown a lot of RZ picks, and he always seems to have a bad attitude, just from outward appearances. He’s very Marino-ish in that he seems to have a complaint with the ref after just about every play. He had a ton of yards last year, but Shanahan tailored an offense designed to give Cutler big numbers. In addition to setting the team record for yards, he also set the team record for attempts. It’s a chicken-or-egg kind of deal, but I personally think the talent around him bailed him out quite a bit last year. He had one of the best lines in the league, and Marshall and Royal had huge years. The D did not do him any favors, but I would also argue that part of the D’s problem might have been the fact that they were on the field too much. Between Cutler and Marshall, we seemed to have a contest to see who could have the most costly turnovers.

Sorry, that was my long-winded rant, but I think Cutler is overrated, and I think he has been since Day 1. Maybe these are just growing pains like Manning and Aikman went through, and he might turn it around. However, I think those two had much better attitudes than Cutler seems to have.

I avoid predictions because, as a Broncos fan, I can rationalize reasons that the Broncos will win every week. I’m not foolish enough, however, to think the Broncos can win the game if they don’t play well in all 3 phases. It is obviously a huge challenge, but one I am interested in seeing the Broncos undertake.

Good Question. Obviously Champ will be on one side, with Andre Goodman on the other. Goodman has had a solid season given the fact he gets a lot of attention.

We have seen in the past that if Manning wants to get the ball to Reggie Wayne, he will, but in watching tape I have been impressed by Garcon(as an NE Ohio guy I was well aware of him at Mt. Union) and Manning’s ability to get the ball to him. That will be the key, finding a way to stop the Colts other weapons – easier said than done.

As for Clark, I would bracket him – Safety Renaldo Hill over the top, with a LB(Wesley Woodyard) or DB(Ty Law or Alphonso Smith) underneath. A nickelback or safety will not cover Clark 1-on-1, so the hope would be to make sure you have him over/under and make it tough to get the ball to him – again, easier said than done.

The Broncos like to rotate players, especially along the defensive line, depending on down and distance. By going no-huddle, the Broncos are unable to do this, and teams have been shredding them. Of course, teams need the personnel to do it, which the Colts have, and at least some element of surprise. I’m hoping the Broncos have something planned when, no if, the Colts go no-huddle.

For awhile it was a rotation of punters as whipping boys on the Broncos, which in a way is a good sign. If that’s the worst you got… But first Kern was pretty bad and allowing some good run backs due to short hang time. Then they signed veteran P Berger who was bad to start, too, though he’s been generally much better over past few weeks and at least for me seems to have stabilized kicking a bit.

Other than that I haven’t heard of any specific player getting the ire of the fans, which is again a good sign. I guess some fans are disappointed in Alphonso Smith so far but he’s a rookie and talented and not a starter, etc.

Oh! And Ben Hamilton, veteran guard was terrible this season. He was definitely a whipping boy. But the coaches felt that way too and benched him for Russ Hochstein, who has been better.

There was actually a segment…I’m not sure if it was a significant part of the base or not…calling for Orton to lose the starting spot to Simms a few weeks ago. Then came the second Chargers game….

Incomplete, right now. The Broncos still have another 1st Round pick coming from Chicago. Once that pick is made the trade can be looked at completely.

Sorry, but even with a pending draft pick to go in retrospect I would have traded Cutler for Orton straight-up and been happy with these results we’ve had this year.

Clady is awesome, hands down. He didn’t give up a sack his first 19 games, a record, and had only 1 penalty all of last season as a rookie. Now, he has given up a couple of sacks this year, but that has a lot to do with Orton – sometimes a QB should take a sack instead of forcing a ball into coverage. He has still dominated some of the best in football – DeMarcus Ware, Osi, Richard Seymour, etc.

Will he shut down Freeney? Hard to say – Freeney is quick, but Clady has the footwork to do it. Should be fun to watch.

My bigger concern is the other side. The Broncos lost RT Ryan Harris for the season and will be starting Tyler Polumbus. Polumbus has started 5 games this season, but Mathis is a handful as well.

Many of us thought he had a pro bowl year last year…and if you are a fan of O-Line work go back and watch him from last year…you will be impressed.

I believe Clady CAN shut down Freeney one-on-one. Will he? Dunno…he had a shaky game last week. But he has the tools and has been very VERY impressive.

Probably not. Champ never really switched sides – much to my chagrin – and the Broncos are confident in Andre Goodman. It will be quite a challenge, but Peyton has shown that he has no problem going to his other weapons.

I’ve seen Champ switch a few times here or there (he did a lot against Vincent Jackson when we played the chargers), but for the most part he doesn’t like Guru said.

As I stated above, the no-huddle gives the Broncos problems because they like to rotate players, especially along the d-line. The key is to avoid the big-play and limit Peyton’s opportunities. Easier said than done, of course, there is a reason this team is 12-0 and has won 113 games this decade. But that is how it is done.

Used to have problems with Patriots, but that hasn’t been a problem lately.

They have been shaping up lately quite well. We got Berger to come in and punt for us and he is getting great hang time on punts. Kick-offs are superb by Prater. Prater is no legend, but his FG kicking game has been solid this season and he even kicked his first game-winner vs NE.

Our coverage has been spotty earlier in the season, but they have been looking very solid lately and keeping the opponents to more difficult distances.

don’t kick your computer. You should toss it out a window instead. Just make sure that the window is closed.

for a six foot drop test!

Great QB and yet also thoroughly unlikable. Though after dealing with Cutler’s antics this year I began to at least see Rivers’ side of that “feud” (such as it was). But I still find him beyond obnoxious. Merriman, too. They can both make like lemmings as far as I’m concerned.

Matter of fact…how about the landslide follows him off the cliff. Dude is an arrogant punk that talks too much for having no rings on his fingers. One of the highlights of each season for me is watching the chargers lose in the playoffs…it is inevitable and delightful to us.

He is the player that could kill the broncos for the longest. His talent is hard to come by. So, although there are plenty of chargers players that I’d love to throw off of a cliff, it would benefit the broncos the most for me to shove number 17 off the cliff.

I think he’s lived up to expectations…we expect him to be a RB of our future and he has been getting better and better as the season has wore on. Lately he has a real nose for the end-zone and is starting to show much better vision than earlier in the season.

Moreno seems more like a grinder / all purpose back to me. Buckhalter is a little bit more of a speedy guy…he can take a hit, but he just seems a little quicker than Moreno. That being said, they compliment each other really well. I’ll take that stat line every week to be honest with you. 150 yards rushing = win for us most of the time.

In my opinion, yes. He was a hold out, then got hurt on the 3rd or 4th carry of his career in a Pre-Season game against the 49’ers. Came back, got nicked again and took some time to get healthy. All that said, he’ll likely get to 1100 yards, mostly splitting carries with Correll Buckhalter, and has done a really nice job in pass protection. I am very excited to see what Moreno becomes.

I’m ashamed

I Love this guy! This guy is a football player!

Seriously…we love the Stokmeister here. Great guy, great receiver.

Is a very hot button topic for me. I think all the “miracle” talk takes away from what a phenomenal play Stokley made. He made about 5 great plays at once during that play. To me, he should be with Josh Cribbs in the dictionary under “Football player.” Those two should be models for any youngster just discovering the game.

I think the biggest holes are along the offensive line. McDaniels wants to run a more power running attack and get away from a lot of the zone stuff – not entirely – but the running game won’t be predicated upon it. Early on this season the Broncos tried to run the ball in that manner and struggled. Now there is a lot more stretch stuff, similar to the way they ran before, and the Broncos are having success.

I think McDaniels wants to get a bit bigger, more stout, inside along the line. Most of the other positions seem to be in decent shape moving forward, though I would like to see the Broncos get a true deep threat at WR.

What? You think the Colts will beat the Broncos because, well, just because? De-rec’d.

Here’s what you do. Play the 3-4 and get a really dominant NT, like Hampton or Ngata. That will neutralize the broncos interior running. Then you just have your OLBs focus on the outside runs. It also helps you pressure the QB.

On offense, get a QB that buys lots of time by getting out of the pocket, Roethlisburger or Flacco. Make sure you can run the ball, Parker or Rice. You win.

The way that the redskins beat us was by taking our QB out of the game at the end of the first half.

The supersparklers beat us because Chris Simms was atrocious in the first quarter and we had to battle back from a double digit deficit, which isn’t the strength of this team.

So, unless you can do those things, it isn’t going to be a walk in the park against the broncos. I expect it to be a pretty close game, but don’t expect a blowout AllInd.

Of course, IND just has to look at the success other teams have had against us, especially running the no-huddle. However, Nolan has proven himself to be a pretty good D coordinator, and McDaniels seems to be a pretty good game-planner. I’m fairly certain they are also looking at film of IND and coming up with what they feel are great game plans. As they say, that’s why the game is played on the field.

about the coaches and gameplanning, you are completely discrediting the other team. Do you think they are just sitting around and doing nothing? They are creating a game plan too for the Colts..If football games were as simple as using the same game plan as other teams that beat the team you’re about to face, there would never be any upsets. Thing is, most professional football games come down to talent, execution, and luck. It seems like you’re ignoring those vital elements.

Denver can absolutely win this game Sunday. Do I think they will? Of course not. But it’s still a possibility.

Oh, and thanks for the cool new nickname. I always wanted a nickname.

And we’re trying to see what the Colts coaches and players see. That’s the fun in analyzing games. It’s great that you have faith in your coaches, but that’s not really fun for a blog, is it? We’ll win because our coaches know how to win is not really adding anything to the discussion.

You have a supremely talented QB over Denver, and that is it. I’d match talent across the board everywhere else…recievers, both lines, RB (Denver win), CBs, LBs, etc.

I do hope Indy’s staff and players are thinking along the same lines you are. Don’t expect anything different from McDaniels and the Broncos…that rookie coach, rebuilt defense, and inept QB won’t be able to do anything against the Colts…they aren’t smart enough to do any damage whatsoever.

;)

That’s funny, I thought each game was 60 minutes long, and Denver had won 8. Included in there are wins against (division leading) CIN, (division leading) SD, (division leading) NE, and always-dangerous DAL. Figured that would generate at least…I dunno…8 minutes of film?

Thanks a lot.

Yes, they’ve lost games, but they’re still a fantastic team. Two of the games they lost had a lot to do with Orton being hurt. They have second best passing D in the nfl. They’ve not allowed more than 250 yards to any quarterback this year. That’s a very good team. Their secondary is experienced and Mike Nolan is a great coordinator – especially w/ his situational packages. Peyton will have his toughest challenge of the season. He can definitely overcome it, he’s Peyton Manning, but of course their own fans are going to have faith in their team.

Clady had a bad day against KC, but from what I hear from the Broncos fans, he has been otherwise fantastic. I still think that our D will win us this game, so Peyton won’t have to do as much.

The Broncos have their faults and obviously I believe we can come out on top, but it’s not going to be easy.

Several sources are reporting that fans of a football team think their team has a chance at winning, will root for team this sunday!

Most fans think their teams have players who got to the NFL by not possessing the talent or drive to win a game against other opponents. I forgot, everyone is supposed to pray not to lose TOO badly.

Are you SURE you’re not a NE fan, with that entitled thing you got going on?

the 4th is a Thursday.