Manning "Manned Up" as Broncos secure Playoff Spot

With a game time temperature of 18 degrees in Denver yesterday the big question going in was could Peyton Manning break the huge chunk of ice frozen around him regarding his past performances in cold weather games. Instead of using an ice pick to chip away at that criticism he used a massive sledge hammer. He shattered that ice into tiny shards and in the process with the help of his teammates secured a playoff spot.

Matt Prater kicked a 64 FG in the cold to set a new NFL Record.

Unfortunately I didn’t get to see the first 2 ½ quarters of the game yesterday but when I did drop in during the 3^rd quarter it was very clear that Manning was in complete control of his game. He didn’t look anything like that cold, unconfident and sometimes weak armed old QB in New England a few weeks ago.     

He was in total command, his passes were crisp, on time, he was never sacked and the OL gave him plenty of time to dissect the Titans D. Manning was sensational; he was a remarkable 39 out of 59, for 397 yards, and 4 TDs. After a slow start in the 1^st half he came out in the 2^nd and played as well as he has in any game for the Broncos. Each of the his stud WR’s Demaryius Thomas, Wes Welker, Erick Decker and TE Julius Thomas caught a TD pass. The combination of Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball had 155 yards on the ground and both of them scored a TD. It was a well executed and balanced approach by the O.

In short “Manning Manned Up” and proved he can be a real warrior in tough weather conditions and he deserves every bit of praise for this win.

That said, I hate to be a broken record again but Manning has been in this position many times in his career. He’s got to be considered maybe the best regular season QB to ever play the game but in the playoffs he still has one of the worst records there is when you stack him up against other NFL QB greats.

They still have to play them one at time and beat the Chargers this week and work towards the next step which is to secure home field throughout the playoffs. The final step will be taking the Broncos to and winning the Super Bowl. When he, with the help of his teammates, can accomplished that feat his legacy will have been a truly amazing one.

Much will depend on how well they play D down the stretch. The Broncos will have to improve defensively, especially in the secondary. As of this week of the 32 teams in the NFL they’re giving up 274.3 passing yards per game which is 29^th in the league. They’re 26^th in the league in points allowed with 26.5 and they’re giving up a total of 374.2 yards per game which 25^th in the league. Their best ranking is against the run, they’re ranked 7^th giving up just 99.8 yards per game. That stat should be taken with a grain of salt because in most games teams have had to play from behind and air it out to keep up with Manning’s O.

Giving up 28 points to a below average team like the Titans at home is not what John Fox had in my mind when he returned to sidelines this week. He more than anyone understands that won’t be good enough come playoff time. At times it's like they relax a little bit because they know Manning is on the bench and they know he can rack up a score in a hurry if they need it. In the NFL you can't take plays off.

The D did have some injuries this week to Rahim Moore, Derek Wolfe, and Kevin Vickerson. Duke Ihenacho, Champ Bailey and Wesley Woodyard (still hurting from his neck injury) played banged up but that’s no excuse. Every team this late in the season has injuries to deal with on both sides of ball and the good team’s find ways to win with their bench.

The next step to a Championship is to beat the Chargers this and move closer to home field throughout. It’s been an amazing season but there’s still work to be done.

Denver Broncos Suffer a Titanic Loss

I’m sitting here trying to find a silver lining in the Broncos immediate future and not finding one. They blew another game yesterday in Tennessee in the same redundant fashion they have over the last 5 years.

The D did a great job of keeping the game close and holding Chris Johnson in check. That’s an amazing accomplishment because for the last 2 years the Broncos have been dead last or near the bottom of the league in rush defense. Still near the end of the game when they needed stops in the 4 Q they didn’t materialize. As always it has to be said football is a team game, the OL didn’t play well in the running game and McGahee who was effective some last week couldn’t break out. The mouthy Lloyd was invisible and couldn’t get any separation and he’s supposed to be our best WR (Decker will soon take over that role) on the team.

The big moment in the game was when the Broncos had the ball inside the 5 yard line of the Titans and ran 4 unimaginative plays resulting in zero points and that was the turning point in the game. It was horrible play calling to be sure and in hindsight the FG would have been the right decision but I understand why Fox wanted to score 6. With first and ten and 4 chances to score a TD inside the 5 an average offense can usually find a way to get it into the end zone but not this team and not with this QB as the starter.

This hard headed and brutal fact says it all. Orton sucks in the red zone. You have to score TD's to win games. Maybe some of the haters on Tebow hate him because they believe he's not ready to be a starter because he isn't experienced enough but believe he can help score 6 points near the goal line.

So I 'm totally confused. How then, is Orton’s experience a bigger plus than Tebow’s when he can’t help the team put points on the board? So then the next question would be why should Orton be allowed to continue to start if can’t help the team scores TD’s? In 2 ½ seasons of football he’s been mostly ineffective, if Tebow can score why shouldn’t he be put in during those situations or better yet give him the starting job altogether?

It can’t be explained away; Orton can complete a short pass when he has 5 minutes of protection and can stand like a frozen statue in the pocket to complete maybe one or two short dump off throws between the 20’s. And most of the time he doesn’t move the ball between the 20’s, more often than not it’s a 3 and out or a 6 and out and never comes close to the opponents 20. On the far too rare occasions he does get the ball inside the 20 he rarely leads the O to a score. Since Orton is so one dimensional and predictable in the red zone and the passing game of the Broncos or the threat of a rushing TD is greatly diminished why in the hell would he continue to keep his job?

Here’s the bigger question, is a lot of bad experience better than a young player with no experience? If Tebow comes into a game and throws 3 INT’s and scores 2 TD’s on a rush or a TD pass and the Broncos win the game isn’t that the goal? Tebow may be ugly in there at times during a game and win ugly but that’s far better than playing ugly and losing ugly which is what Orton has been and will continue to do for the Broncos.

Next week it’s the Packers my friends and the Broncos will find themselves at 1-3. I’m not sure I’m even going to watch this game live because this one is going to be a slaughter of mind bending proportions. I’ll probably do what I did this week and flip between the better games playing on the Sunday ticket such as the Loins and Vikings or the Bills or Pats and that Texans/Saints game which was a hell of a ball game too and watch the Broncos on the DVR later.

It’s cool to see teams like the Bills and Loins get things turned around, I love it when underdogs win but in all honesty even though the Broncos are underdogs they don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating a team of the Packers caliber. As I said last week, we’re in for a long, painful and very boring season of discontent especially if Fox lets Orton keep his job.