The Chiefs Wrecker was Decker

Eric Decker had a career day in Kansas City.

The Chiefs game was a very important one for the Broncos for 3 reasons. The first was that if they could beat the Chiefs for the second time they would have the inside track to the AFC West Title and take a 2 game lead over them with 4 games remaining. The second was that if they won they’d maintain a 1 game lead over the Patriots for the all important position of home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

But the most important reason for winning had to be rehabilitating Peyton Manning and his confidence. After coming off a lack luster performance the week before against the Patriots Manning needed to regain his composure and win a big game on the road against a divisional opponent.

The game didn’t start out well for him; the 2 interceptions in the 1^st half gave the Chiefs an early 21 to 7 lead. The devastating 108 yard kickoff return by the Chiefs Knile Davis, then the follow up drive by Alex Smith for another TD after the second Manning  INT had the Chiefs Fans at Arrowhead Stadium in full roar. It could have been the turning point of the entire season for him and the Broncos and gave momentum to the Chiefs if the lead held up in the second half.

But Manning was not going to give up that easy. He came back with an impressive drive late in the 2 Quarter when he threw what turned out to be the 1^st TD pass to Eric Decker who would later catch 3 more in the 2^nd half. The Broncos were able to go into half time only down by 7.

As Manning and the Broncos Offense have proven all season they own the 3^rd Quarter. Manning threw 2 TD’s to Decker in the 3^rd and only took 44 seconds off the clock in the 4^th to give Decker his career high 4^th TD catch. The 21 consecutive points were enough for the Broncos to hold onto the victory despite a valiant effort by the Chiefs.

It was Decker’s day to be sure but Knowshon Moreno made some key plays and Montee Ball rebounded from the big fumble last week to run for 117 yards. Demaryius Thomas didn’t record a TD but racked a 106 yards.

Thankfully the biggest news was Manning had his redemption and the Broncos jumped back into the top spot as the best team in the AFC but it wasn’t easy especially on Defense.

The Broncos secondary didn’t play well even with the return of Champ Bailey at Left Corner. He was actually benched on the final drive of the game. RCB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was out with a shoulder injury. Corners Chris Carter Jr., Quentin Jammer and backup Kayvon Webster who had a bum ankle didn’t cover well, and neither did Free Safety Mike Adams. You have to wonder how the game may have turned out had the Chiefs Receivers not dropped so many passes. The 2 big drops by Donnie Avery were killers but Dwayne Bowe and TE Anthony Fasano both dropped catchable balls too. Going forward you have to wonder if the Broncos can improve on this part of their Defense because at the moment it’s their Achilles Heel.

The Defense Line was without Derek Wolfe and when the Broncos went after Alex Smith with a 4 man front they didn’t touch him. Even when they blitzed they still didn’t get Smith for a single sack and Smith’s scrambles kept drives alive. The D did keep Jamaal Charles to 91 yards but those yards were ones that continued drives and moved the chains.      

The Defense, mainly the Secondary, must improve in the next several weeks as playoff time approaches. If they play well and Manning plays his A Game late in the December and January cold in Denver they’ll be unstoppable.

The Nightmare in New England

I like many Broncos Fans this morning woke up with a horrible hangover trying to forget what happened last night. Forgetting and moving on in the end is all you can do in this situation because it’s only 1 game and the Broncos season is far from over.

Looking at the remaining schedule they should be more than capable of winning 3 of their last 5 games. The Titans, Texans and Raiders are all winnable games. But the games against the Chiefs at Arrowhead and a hot Chargers team at home are not going to be as easily won.

Despite that, I honestly don’t see any scenario where the Broncos DO NOT make playoffs.

You’d think that’d be enough, just to get to the 2^nd level with the possibility of getting to the 3^rd which would be a Super Bowl but in my opinion as a long time diehard fan it isn’t. Winning the whole thing is the only thing. Another playoff appearance, another playoff win, another AFC Championship title just isn’t good enough. Having another early playoff exit and calling it a “good season”, if that’s what happens this year for many fans would be satisfying enough. Having a “great season” and winning the whole thing is the only outcome that will be satisfying for me.

So as I try to clear my head today and attempt to be optimistic about the possible future outcome for the Broncos this season it’s impossible to not look back at this game last night and relive the devastation.

The Montee Ball fumble swung the momentum to NE in the 2nd half.

Football is and will always be a team game and the Broncos in the second half made numerous mistakes as a team to blow a 24-0 half time lead. The big fumble by Montee Ball, the poor pass rush, the awful pass coverage by a banged up secondary and the horrific game by Wes Welker contributed (Dropped passes and Punt Flub) to the epic meltdown.

Despite all the miscues and with the help of an amazing performance by Knowshon Moreno (A career high 224 rushing yards and 1 TD) they did have a chance to win it in the 4^th quarter.

But…the one key element to finishing the game and winning it in the 2^nd half was Peyton Manning and he shrunk with the responsibility while Tom Brady rose to it.

Manning vs. Brady

I pointed out in a pregame blog yesterday that Manning Must Master Brady and the COLD. In it I said despite having a bum ankle, a 2-9 career record against Brady in Foxboro and a 2-8 record in games that were below freezing, NOW was the time for Manning to put up or shut up. Unfortunately Brady put up and once again can say he shut up Manning in a side by side QB comparison.

If you watched the game in full you couldn’t help but notice that the cold was clearly bothering Manning. When the cameras took close ups of his red face you could see it contort not just from the cold but from his lack of confidence. On the sidelines he looked like the coldest player on the field.

The cold windy conditions affected his ability to make pass plays both short and more noticeably long. His balls were off target and had no zip when he delivered it. He threw too many balls into double coverage and missed throwing to open Receivers.

Manning has never been a scrambler or nifty on his feet and the bum right ankle adds to that deficiency but it can’t excuse his poor play and decision making. The truth is Manning looked like a really old man and a sometimes dead armed QB in this game.

Brady on the other hand didn't have any trouble with the chilly windy weather, looked 10 years younger, moved well on his feet in the pocket, had zip on his throws and exhibited the confidence in his abilities that he’s had from day one of his career.

Brady won this go around and maybe Manning will get another shot at him, hopefully at home in the playoffs but now he and the Broncos will have to regroup, leave this one behind and win this week in KC. Their playoff destiny still lies in their own hands, if they can have a short memory. It’ll be hard to forget this one but they will have to and so will the fans. So will I.

Broncos 9th Victory of the 2013 Season the Best Team Win So Far

I said before the game that the Chiefs offense was no match for Peyton Manning and if the Broncos Offensive Line protected him they'd win. I also commented that the Broncos had to run the ball straight at the Chiefs with Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball to control the clock. Both of these key parts of the game played out for the Broncos but the big momentum change came down to just a one key play in a hard fought game that was much closer than most Broncos Fans would have wanted.

In the 1^st quarter Manning and Ball botched and fumbled a simple hand off exchange that gave the Chiefs the ball on the Broncos 18 yard line. It looked like the Chiefs were in a perfect position to score a TD, go up 7 to 3 and take control of the game early.

Then the game changing play sealed the Chiefs fate. The Chiefs 1^st play from scrimmage after the Ball fumble was a screen pass to FB Anthony Sherman. Sherman run down the field and was quickly grabbed by the ankle by CB Quentin Jammer. Within a split second LB Danny Trevathan came crashing into Sherman’s chest with a hard text book tackle that forced a fumble that Jammer recovered.

That play devastated the Chiefs, had they scored on that possession, their confidence going forward might have possibly changed the outcome of the whole game. Even after the swap of back to back turnovers the Chiefs played some D in the first half and gave QB Alex Smith and the Chiefs opportunities to score but they couldn’t convert.

The Broncos D had a lot to do with limiting the Chiefs scoring opportunities and played very well. They had an outstanding goal line stand, shut down RB Jamaal Charles and sacked Alex Smith 3 times. It didn’t help the Chiefs either that WR Dwayne Bowe dropped multiple catchable balls.

The good news for the Broncos was that Manning didn’t get sacked or knocked down or around. The other interesting part of this game is that Manning didn’t have a big game statistically as in many of the other games this year. He missed a few throws short and long but he did manage the game well enough to let his teammates help him win.

Wes Welker didn’t get in the end zone but he caught 8 passes in the game and after almost every catch he was absorbing big hits. Despite his small size he proved once again he’s a warrior over the middle and will make the important receptions to move the changes.

I was so thrilled that the Coaching staff didn’t give up on Montee Ball after the fumble in the 1^st half. He did have some fumbles early in the season but the one in this game belonged just as much to Manning. Each time he gets playing time he produces on the field. In short yardage, goal line situations (he scored 2 TD's on the Chiefs) and in this game finally he had the opportunity to catch some passes from Manning that moved the chains.

Ball is going to be the every down RB for the Broncos by next season. Moreno has played his best football this year but he doesn’t have the speed, power or the big play ability of Ball. He can’t make guys miss and usually goes down with the 1^st hit. Once Manning has more confidence that Ball can block and be a reliable Receiver out of the backfield, Moreno will go back to the bench as a situation RB. Moreno is playing out of his mind right now to hold onto his starting job but his game just isn’t consistently good enough for him to keep it.

This was the best team win of the season for the Broncos by far but in the next 2 weeks they play the New England Patriots at Foxboro and then have a rematch with the Chiefs in KC. Neither one of these games will be gimme’s. Manning historically has had hell against Tom Brady in New England and the Broncos almost always have a fight on their hands at Arrowhead. If the Broncos win both of these games they’ll be in the driver’s seat for home field advantage throughout the playoffs because their remaining schedule is a fairly soft one.

The best strategy of course is just to take them one at time and when the playoffs come play the best football of the season. If they do that and maybe just maybe it’s our year.

Chargers win comes second to Peyton's ankle

Manning in the air is far better than Manning on the ground hurt.

The Denver Broncos win without John Fox on the sidelines over a much improved San Diego Chargers team yesterday was a critical milestone. It completes a season sweep and buries the Chargers at the bottom of the AFC West standings with the Raiders. YES! It gives Jack Del Rio his first win as interim Head Coach, an 8-1 record and sets up a very important Sunday night match-up against the undefeated division rival Kansas City Chiefs in Denver.

This is all welcome news to Broncos Fans but why I’m I feeling apprehensive and nervous this morning? You’d think it’d be a time of excitement, exhilaration and much anticipation. It’s simple, am I the only one who could care less about what happened in the game yesterday or about the pending one this week and actually more concerned with Peyton Manning’s future health long term?

The hit Manning took yesterday with less than 2 minutes to go in the game to the back of his legs that aggravated a previous injury to his right ankle immediately deflated my enjoyment of the win. The pass Manning completed on that play give the Broncos another 1st down and helped them to run out the clock for the victory but with Manning lying on the ground in obvious pain my heart stopped.

Manning is a tough guy and he did get up and finish the game with a noticeable limp. Just because Manning is a great player and is 38 years old doesn’t make him any less immune to risk of an injury. Football is a very violent game dominated by much younger men that take no prisoners and should make no apology for hitting anyone in the mouth, even if he’s Peyton Manning. I know some will say the hit Manning took was a cheap shot but it’s a reach, it was a bang, bang play with the Chargers D desperately attempting to stop the Broncos to get the ball back. Unfortunately for Manning the blow came below the knees like some do but that’s football. Had the shoe been on the other foot and this was Rivers that went down instead would it have been a cheap shot then?

What I immediately was asking after the hit was why Manning throwing the ball in that situation to begin with? The better strategy right then would have been to hand the ball off to Knowshon Moreno even if he couldn’t run for the 1st down. Time was on the Broncos friend and the Chargers enemy and even had the Broncos had to punt the ball back to them, they probably would have had bad field position with less than a minute to go with no timeouts remaining to score 8 points. From an odds standpoint even then the Broncos had the upper hand and had been getting to Rivers with the pass rush. It was unlikely the Chargers could have tied the game.

I know Manning is a competitor and he really believed the only way the Broncos were going to win was if the ball was in his hands. In the heat of the moment you can’t blame or fault him for it but I believe Manning can still be a winner and survive to fight another day if he slows the game down just a bit and let’s some of his teammates do the heavy lifting.

Manning is only going to be a QB for the Broncos for a finite period of time and maybe that’s why he’s sometimes impatient and desperate I get that but he’s not immortal and he can’t do it all alone. From here forward let’s hope he thinks a little more of self preservation because there are still 7 games to go. The Chiefs game will be no gimme'.

The Chiefs O may be winning ugly but they’re an efficient unit with of Jamaal Charles as their stud. Their aggressive D is the real deal and they’ll be going after Manning early and often. Let’s pray that the Offensive Line can handle the onslaught and that Manning’s quick release can protect his tender ankle. I hope that Manning ego let's him hand the ball off to Moreno and Montee Ball often to slow the game down and kill the clock.

It was reported this morning that the MRI came back negative and Manning will start against the Chiefs Sunday. You know he'll be sore and have to wonder how mobile he'll be. The Broncos have won 8 out of the 9 battles so far but they haven’t won the war and without Manning out there as the Commanding General the war would be lost. So please Peyton, protect yourself.   

Jim Irsay's comments on Manning were not unreasonable

If someone would have told me the Colts would have convincingly beat the Broncos after their miserable performance against the Chargers last week I’d of said they were crazy. But this is the NFL and week to week you never know what’s going to happen on any given Sunday. As it turns out the Colts wanted the game way worse than the Broncos. 4 turnovers, penalties, a flawed offensive game plan and the worst Defense unit by the numbers in the passing game in the NFL finally brought the high flying Broncos back to planet earth.

You combine this with Peyton Manning having his worse game of the 2013 season and even a worse game still by Knowshon Moreno and it was too much to overcome.

A lot credit has to go the defense unit of the Colts they shut down Moreno and got after Manning when he tried to throw downfield. The Manning fumble that went into the end zone was a big play but I don’t see that moment as the turning point. The real one came when Offensive Coordinator Adam Gase or maybe it was Manning called 2 running plays up the middle on 3rd and short to Moreno and he couldn’t convert either one. The Broncos had way too many quick 3 and outs and it never gave the Broncos weak Corners and Safety’s a chance to catch their breaths against Andrew Luck who played a great game.  

Up until this game Moreno had played well beyond anything he has in his career thus far but in this one he played like the old RB that was on the horrible Josh McDaniels teams when the best he could do was pick up one or two yards per carry, showed zero quickness, no cut back ability, no power and would go to the ground after the first hit. Why Manning kept calling his number is a mystery. Not only was he totally ineffective on the ground, he was even worse when Manning used him as a check off Receiver in the flat and he still couldn’t make a play.

I don’t know how many times Manning chucked the ball to Moreno but the play wasn’t working. I have a hard time believing that the coverage was so good downfield that he couldn’t find either D. Thomas, Welker, Decker or J. Thomas open.

Manning was clearly feeling the pressure of the game early and once the Broncos got behind in the first half the crowd noise and his emotions hurt his ability to run the hurry up or get into any kind of a groove. In this kind of environment I almost wonder if it wouldn’t be better to slow the game down a little and huddle up to make sure the Receivers know exactly which routes to run. When Manning was trying to change the play at the line of scrimmage it had to be next to impossible for them to hear what play was being called.

Make no mistake after Manning coughed up the football and was sacked 4 times his confidence was rattled. He was throwing the ball into tight coverage and many of his balls had too much air on them without much zip. The absence of LT Ryan Clady became crystal clear because his replacement Chris Carter had no answers for the hard charging Robert Mathis, he sacked Manning twice.

"We've changed our model a little bit, because we wanted more than one of these," Irsay says, flicking up his right hand to show his Super Bowl XLI championship ring. (Tom) Brady never had consistent numbers, but he has three of these," Irsay adds. "Pittsburgh had two, the Giants had two, Baltimore had two and we had one. That leaves you frustrated. You make the playoffs 11 times, and you're out in the first round seven out of 11 times. You love to have the Star Wars numbers from, Peyton and Marvin (Harrison) and Reggie (Wayne). Mostly, you love this."

As many of you know that regularly read my blog I’ve been very cynical and skeptical about Manning’s ability to get the Broncos to a Super Bowl and win it. The comments Jim Irsay made about Manning this week have been the same ones I’ve been making since they signed him.

This loss had to really have an effect on Manning's headgame; it gives fuel to the doubters and naysayers that claim Manning buckles in big pressure games and the playoffs. Can he recover; can he still lead the team to Super Bowl win? Maybe, but now he and Broncos Fans can see he isn’t infallible or unbreakable.

The 2 immediate solutions seem easy. I believe they have to get Montee Ball on the field as their primary RB even if he isn’t as good a Receiver as Moreno he’s a better power runner than he is and they need the threat of a running game to execute the offense. More important still is John Fox and Jack Del Rio must find a way to get better play out of the Defensive Secondary because without it the Broncos cannot and will not go deep in the playoffs.  

Manning 172.10 minus Spiller 25.45 = Epic Fail!

A big goose egg for wins and 4 losses in the Fantasy Money League I play in every year. The $700 payday for 1st place is slipping away from me fast. To think I had the opportunity and passed up Peyton Manning for CJ Spiller with the 5th pick in the 1st round of the draft is really haunting me. 

Going into the fantasy season Aaron Rodgers was the QB that was projected to be the first QB drafted and not until late in the 2nd round. Manning was going in the 3rd round on most draft boards I researched. If you’re keeping score at home Manning has 172.10 fantasy points and Spiller has a whooping 25.45 in the scoring format we use in our money league. Ugh! I have to get my mind around the idea that the NFL is a QB driven league and is in fantasy football too. The old school formula was always to draft RB's early and often, not anymore, at least not early this fantasy season.  

Another big mistake that I made and should have known better not to do was draft Rookies at the RB position. I took Eddie Lacy and Montee Ball, both have 11.65 points respectively in our scoring system. I really believed both would be starters on opening day and both would score big as the season progressed. Ball has been the odd man out in the 3 RB rotation that the Broncos employ and then Lacy fumbled his way out as a starter, and then gets a concussion.

I took CJ Spiller with my 1st pick, Eddie Lacy was my #2 pick and I took Russell Wilson as my QB in the 3rd round. The way he scored at the end of last season I thought Wilson was a great sleeper pick and could explode, instead he's imploded, through 4 games he has only 64.58 points. My backup QB is Andrew Luck. I sat Wilson in week in week 4 and Luck did get a few more points (Season total of 82.32 points) but not near enough to compensate for my under performing RB's

Maybe Lacy and Ball will emerge by mid-season but the lesson to be learned here is don’t draft Rookies high, they may not contribute anything until you're buried at the bottom of the standings.  

I’ll keep battling and hope I put enough wins together to make a run for the 4th and final playoff spot but right now I just hoping I can win at least one freaking game. Hey CJ, thanks Buddy you’re my Fantasy Hero.