CJ1K vs. PFM5K
(Andy Reid calls his father on Thanksgiving)
Did I skip the write-up last week because I was enjoying the holiday with friends and family or because I couldn’t bring myself to give any measure of credit to Brady and Belichick after that horrendous punt fiasco?
A lady never tells.
Speaking of those cheating weasels in New England, I’d like to wish all of Broncos’ Country a happy third anniversary of the day the franchise’s greatest scourge was removed from office: Josh McDaniels. Happy Anniversary, all. I hope Hillis banged his wife.
…Aaaaaaaaaaand the Denver Broncos come off another satisfying and likely-division sealing game against perhaps the most annoying fan base in the NFL. The Broncos, missing several key players to injury, experienced a good portion of adversity early and gave fans a chance to learn much about the team. Perhaps most importantly, we learned that the 2013 Colorado Flood disaster was caused by whoever gave Knowshon Moreno a copy of My Girl.
The Sodomy of Marcus Cooper
Step aside Vernon Davis. Yours was not the most blatant display of public molestation. The Chiefs defense tried to steal a page from the Patriots playbook and played a significant amount of quarters coverage (four deep) with three underneath zones. Unfortunately, they forgot the 30 mile per hour winds. The Broncos plan of attack? Find Marcus Cooper and nationally molest him on CBS’s Game of the Week to a franchise record setting tune of 4 touchdowns and 174 inches I mean yards.
Right now, the Denver Broncos don’t even care if the other team knows exactly what’s coming. Look at how blatantly Denver telegraphs play selection by substitution:
Jacob Tamme – 19 plays: 15 passes
Joel Dreessen – 7 plays: 5 runs
That’s twenty unbelievably obvious tendency plays in that example alone.
And still, no one can stop it.
In Defense of Defense
The Denver Broncos took a page from the Belichick book of defense and game-planned to take away what the opponent does best: run the football. The Kansas City Chiefs were able to have a modest measure of success throwing the ball because the Denver Broncos defense dared them to through formation, coverage and stacked boxes. The Kansas City Chiefs, who lead for most of the game, called 25 runs in comparison to 42 passes. This is the same Chiefs team who leads the league in run:pass ratio with 323 runs to just 261 passes. Even more amusingly, the Denver Broncos think so little of Alex Smith, that they incorporated this game plan while missing half of their secondary to injury… and it worked swimmingly (once the offense cut down on turnovers).
This game-plan did expose some low-lights. Duke Ihenacho was pursued and attacked in the passing game. Reid was again able to manipulate substitutions and formation to isolate Bowe and Nacho at the line of scrimmage. I would point out that this more of a coaching mismatch than a fault of Duke’s, but how can you fault coaching when taunting Alex to throw all day was the Broncos’ best defense? It is somewhat concerning that Champ was nowhere to be seen on the field in the last game-sealing series of the game when both Tony Carter and Omar Bolden hit the field, but–and I can’t emphasize this enough–it is far too early to draw definitive conclusions about a first ballot Hall of Famer.
And after essentially sealing up the division and with it, a first round bye, the Broncos turn their attention to…
The Tennessee Titans? Yawn.
How anti-climactic. The ineptly coached Tennessee Titans lead by perennial backup and the inspiration for Good Will Hunting, Ryan Fitzpatrick (Unbelievably coincidental fact: his homosexual lover is named Patrick Fitzryan. Check-mate, athiests.). Also, anytime you put any letters before “2K”, it makes the subject unbelievably disappointing.
Expect the Denver defense to tighten back up with the likely return of DRC enabling the Broncos to apply more pressure and force Fitzpatrick into making some Cornell-level mistakes. Meanwhile, there’s no reason to believe the Titan’s solid but unspectacular defense will be able to matchup with the Denver Broncos offense where better talent and coaching have both failed. I expect Demaryius to burn Verner with a double-move (likely on play action) on at least one occasion and Peyton to cut the distance between his 41 TDs and the 50 TD record in half. Lastly, expect Knowshon Moreno to do significantly less uncomfortable-to-watch things.
But truly, I look forward to this game for one reason: It should be an ass-kicking so colossal that the Broncos offense inches closer to the history books (to further immortalize its legacy after winning the Superbowl), and in the hopes that it helps shut up the Seattle craze. Seriously, you’re a great team, but as good as you are, you’re still far more annoying than good.
Becoming a Juggernaut
Time and time again, the Denver Broncos have proven that their greatest enemy is the Denver Broncos. Far too many turnovers, blown assignments, and (insert any other mental lapses). These are the inconsistencies of youth. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that this dominant team is incredibly young at every position but quarterback. Similarly, many other inexperienced players have seen additionally significant playing time due to injuries in many key spots—including left tackle and both starting corner backs. It’s also important to note that the team is not just physically young, it’s systemically young having experienced significant turnover in the coaching staff in the last two years.
Why draw confidence from this? Because every week, the game slows down a step more for the young guys and because every week, the system and post-snap reads become more instinctive.
A mistake free 2013 Denver Broncos football team is absolutely unbeatable.
Speaking of cringing at the thought of turnovers, does Welker know he can fair catch punts? Having him back there has proven no safer than the Denver Broncos own Elf-on-a-Shelf, Trindon Holliday, something that will need to be corrected if they want to compete with Mike Tomlin for the AFC’s special teams player of the month.
Free Money (The Alex Smith of ATS picks)
Redskins +3
Baltimore -6.5
Tampa -2.5
Chargers -3
Dallas +1
Cumulative: 16-21-1 (Wooooow! First winning week in months. Time to take out a second mortgage degenerates!)
That’s Good Broncos
Don’t you dare skip this glorious episode
