A Tale of Two Teams!

Now that I've cooled down a little bit, just a little bit, from watching my Broncos lay a giant egg, again, against a team they should have beaten with ease, it has become clear to me and probably everybody that was watching that there are some serious issues with the Broncos right now. Now, I'll bring up what I see as a die hard fan/arm chair quarterback and say what I would think is the best way to solve the problem.

First and foremost, I think that we can silence an argument that was around in the Bronco nation from the start of the season about who should be the starting quarterback. After the way Simms "played" during the second half of the game today, I think the only quarterback debate that should be left in Denver is whether or not Simms should even be the back-up anymore. He had 2 locations for his passes; at the receiver's feet, or well over their head. I think Woody Paige won't be calling for Simms to start ever again.

Secondly, the defense is still playing well enough to win games. However, they have made a total switch in their performance. The first 6 games, they weren't great in the first half but were lights out, give away nothing in the second half. Last 3 games, they've played very well in the first half, but have allowed teams to walk through them in the second half. I go back to the game against the Steelers to show this. Right after they had caused a huge fumble and returned it for a touchdown to put them ahead in the game, they allowed the Steelers to go 75 yards in a total of 4 plays, leaving some rather gaping holes. What happened to making adjustments? Where were all of these great changes that the D was making when they were winning these games and keeping people off the score board in the second half? They shut teams down in the first half and then what, assume that they arne't going to make any changes in the second half? It's been ridiculous! They let the Washington Redskins walk all over them this week. The defense needs to take a big look in the mirror and decide that they still want to be that group that was so feared after the first few weeks.

Thirdly, the offense has been just pathetic. We had 2 big plays in this game that got us our points. 2 long passes to Marshall, plus one pass that was overthrown to a ridiculously wide open Eddie Royal. The rest of the play calling has been just awful. I know that this offense thrives on the whole 5-15 yard pass plays that just keep the chains moving, but when teams realize that that's what you're going to do and you never deviate from this, you're going to have issues just like the ones we've seen from the Broncos for the past 3 weeks. Teams are going to load up against your screen passes and let the people who do the hardest hitting come at you. The result of that is fumbles, receivers seemingly afraid to come across the middle, and a flustered quarterback that just makes bad passes. All of those thing have happened for the Broncos, and they still have not changed. The times we did open up the playbook more this week, look what happened, 2 huge TD passes. Any coach will tell you that the second you become predictable you need to either find some way to change what you're doing, or get used to losing. The Broncos haven't changed what they've been doing, and now they've lost 3 straight. McDaniels seems to not realize how much talent he's got on this team. Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal, Brandon Stokely, Tony Sheffler, Knowshon Moreno. You can't just stick them in a box 5-15 yards deep and expect that they will always win you the game, you gotta turn them lose at some point. Even if that 20 yard play doesn't connect, at least now the defense knows that you're willing to run those and have to respect it. Right now, They just sit 15 yards deep and come forward.

Fourth, after you lose three games in the fashion that the Broncos have just lost, you need to call out the coaches. The coaches have got to prepare their team for the game and make sure that they know that they will be tested and held accountable for what happens. I remember seeing McDaniels reem Orton during the first week of the season because he took a sack at a place on the field where you just can't take a sack. I haven't seen him get into somebody's face like that in the past few weeks. If somebody isn't playing well, bench him. The way that Simms had thrown the ball, there is no reason he should have been in when somebody needed to move the ball at the end of the game. He had shown he didn't know what was happening, and that he was not going to be anywhere near effective. Berger has been a horrible punter these last few weeks, and showed us even more today with a whopping 16 yard punt! Kern might not have always placed the ball in ideal positions, but more of his problems were from poor tackling on the special teams as opposed to punting poorly. Now while you don't usually look at the punter as having a huge effect on the game, when you consistently can't pin the other team in their own zone, you need to be held accountable. Kern was held accountable, now why won't not with Berger?

I digress. The coaching staff needs to be smarter and prepare their team better, bottom line. If they can't hold their own players accountable, then they need to hold themselves accountable.

Last point. The Broncos have hit a spot where things need to be said. People need to be told what they're doing wrong. I remember many times, while watching the Colorado Avalanche during their Stanley Cup years, if they were in a spot where certain people were not pulling their weight, the doors were closed and the players called each other out. People came out and said, "You are letting your team down, and we cannot get back to our winning ways if you continue to drop the ball. So what's it gonna be? Do you want to win, or not?" We need to call out the Bronco offensive line. We need to call out Orton for playing scared. We need to call out the defense and tell them to stiffen up in the second half. And we need to call out the coaches and tell them to do their jobs better. Otherwise, this Broncos team is going to be standing still as they watch other teams that they should have been able to put away go past them and push us out of the playoffs.

So what's it going to be Broncos? Do you want to once again prove people wrong? Or do you want to be the team that is remembered for blowing leads?