dragondawg
10-28-2006, 12:36 AM
Indy averages 28 points a game, while Denver is giving up only 7
Updated: 7:50 p.m. PT Oct 27, 2006
DENVER - A blizzard covered the Mile High City during the week, so maybe it’s not too early in the NFL season to start talking about really significant games.
And Indianapolis at Denver is about as colossal as an October game can get.
“I love a game like this because it doesn’t get any bigger,” Broncos wide receiver Javon Walker said. “It reminds me of back in college with Florida State getting ready for Florida or Miami. It’s a big game. It’s going to be magnified. People are talking about it.”
Despite some flaws on one side or the other, the Colts (6-0) and Broncos (5-1) are so good at what they do well that they’re harkening to the league’s formative days of leather helmets and two-way players.
The Colts can become the first team to start 7-0 in consecutive seasons since the 1929-31 Green Bay Packers, who did it three straight years. No one else has done it twice.
The Broncos have already made history, becoming the stingiest team to start a season since the 1934 Detroit Lions shut out their first seven opponents.
Denver has allowed just two oh-by-the-way touchdowns this season, both coming in the fourth quarter after they had built 17-0 leads on New England and Cleveland. They’ve held their last five opponents to single digits, a franchise best.
Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer, the biggest beneficiary of Denver’s stifling defense, which has taken some heat off his season-long poor play, said this one feels like a playoff game.
“Any time you have an undefeated team coming to your place and we’re 5-1, it’s a big game,” Plummer said. “(Winning it) sends a statement. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win the Super Bowl by any means, but it just sends a statement to everybody that you can beat the good ones, too.”
Plummer’s job got harder this week when left tackle Matt Lepsis was lost for the season with a knee injury, leaving Adam Meadows, Erik Pears or right guard Cooper Carlisle as candidates to face Colts star defensive end Dwight Freeney.
The Colts have their own injury issues, with defensive tackle Montae Reagor (eye socket) missing his second straight game and safety Mike Doss being placed on injured reserve with a torn knee ligament. The Colts expect to have Pro Bowl safety Bob Sanders (knee) back for the first time in a month.
The Colts are averaging 28 points; the Broncos are allowing just seven a game.
“We believe we can score on anybody, and I’m sure they like to believe they can stop anyone,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said. “Everybody’s going to focus on that matchup, but special teams, our defense against their offense is going to be just as critical.”
What everyone really wants to see, however, is Indy’s prolific offense going against Denver’s dominant defense. Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark vs. Al Wilson, Champ Bailey, Darrent Williams, John Lynch and Ian Gold.
“They are just playing excellent fundamental defense right now,” said Manning, who spends most of his waking hours dissecting defenses and has found few flaws to exploit in this one. “Their tackling is exceptional. That’s one thing that just jumps out at you.”
In many ways, the Broncos have the Colts to thank for their defensive dominance, the seeds of which were planted following the 2003 and ’04 postseasons when Indianapolis spanked the Broncos by a combined 56-point margin.
After Indy’s 41-10 whipping following the 2003 seasons, the Broncos traded running back Clinton Portis to Washington for Bailey and signed Lynch in free agency.
Following their 49-24 loss to the Colts in the playoffs the following year, the Broncos brought back Gold, their speedy linebacker who was on injured reserve for the first Indy debacle and in Tampa Bay for the second.
Then they used their top three draft picks on cornerbacks Williams, Karl Paymah and Domonique Foxworth.
“We play hard together and everybody’s accountable,” Denver defensive coordinator Larry Coyer said. “And we’ve got some skill. You’d be stupid not to say that.”
The Colts? Well, they’re the same high-scoring bunch that’s been tearing up the AFC for years.
“They are the best at what they do,” Coyer said.
And that’s pretty much what many are saying about Coyer’s crew, too.
“The big thing is they have confidence in their personnel,” Dungy said. “They’re not blitzing as much. They’re probably creating a little more pressure with their front four and they’re not putting those guys in predictable man-to-man situations. ... And they’re making teams go the long route. It’s ’See if you can get an eight- or 10-play drive.’ And most teams that have played against them so far haven’t been able to do it.”
For once, the Broncos, who own the league’s longest regular-season home winning streak at 13 games, won’t have to rely on trickery to match up with Indianapolis’s offense, as they did in the two wild-card fiascos. They’re better prepared in personnel, scheme and psyche to challenge the Colts this time.
“I would think is kind of what you live for. And I’m sure they feel the same way,” Coyer said. “Let’s crank ’er up and go.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15433919/
Updated: 7:50 p.m. PT Oct 27, 2006
DENVER - A blizzard covered the Mile High City during the week, so maybe it’s not too early in the NFL season to start talking about really significant games.
And Indianapolis at Denver is about as colossal as an October game can get.
“I love a game like this because it doesn’t get any bigger,” Broncos wide receiver Javon Walker said. “It reminds me of back in college with Florida State getting ready for Florida or Miami. It’s a big game. It’s going to be magnified. People are talking about it.”
Despite some flaws on one side or the other, the Colts (6-0) and Broncos (5-1) are so good at what they do well that they’re harkening to the league’s formative days of leather helmets and two-way players.
The Colts can become the first team to start 7-0 in consecutive seasons since the 1929-31 Green Bay Packers, who did it three straight years. No one else has done it twice.
The Broncos have already made history, becoming the stingiest team to start a season since the 1934 Detroit Lions shut out their first seven opponents.
Denver has allowed just two oh-by-the-way touchdowns this season, both coming in the fourth quarter after they had built 17-0 leads on New England and Cleveland. They’ve held their last five opponents to single digits, a franchise best.
Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer, the biggest beneficiary of Denver’s stifling defense, which has taken some heat off his season-long poor play, said this one feels like a playoff game.
“Any time you have an undefeated team coming to your place and we’re 5-1, it’s a big game,” Plummer said. “(Winning it) sends a statement. It doesn’t mean you’re going to win the Super Bowl by any means, but it just sends a statement to everybody that you can beat the good ones, too.”
Plummer’s job got harder this week when left tackle Matt Lepsis was lost for the season with a knee injury, leaving Adam Meadows, Erik Pears or right guard Cooper Carlisle as candidates to face Colts star defensive end Dwight Freeney.
The Colts have their own injury issues, with defensive tackle Montae Reagor (eye socket) missing his second straight game and safety Mike Doss being placed on injured reserve with a torn knee ligament. The Colts expect to have Pro Bowl safety Bob Sanders (knee) back for the first time in a month.
The Colts are averaging 28 points; the Broncos are allowing just seven a game.
“We believe we can score on anybody, and I’m sure they like to believe they can stop anyone,” Colts coach Tony Dungy said. “Everybody’s going to focus on that matchup, but special teams, our defense against their offense is going to be just as critical.”
What everyone really wants to see, however, is Indy’s prolific offense going against Denver’s dominant defense. Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark vs. Al Wilson, Champ Bailey, Darrent Williams, John Lynch and Ian Gold.
“They are just playing excellent fundamental defense right now,” said Manning, who spends most of his waking hours dissecting defenses and has found few flaws to exploit in this one. “Their tackling is exceptional. That’s one thing that just jumps out at you.”
In many ways, the Broncos have the Colts to thank for their defensive dominance, the seeds of which were planted following the 2003 and ’04 postseasons when Indianapolis spanked the Broncos by a combined 56-point margin.
After Indy’s 41-10 whipping following the 2003 seasons, the Broncos traded running back Clinton Portis to Washington for Bailey and signed Lynch in free agency.
Following their 49-24 loss to the Colts in the playoffs the following year, the Broncos brought back Gold, their speedy linebacker who was on injured reserve for the first Indy debacle and in Tampa Bay for the second.
Then they used their top three draft picks on cornerbacks Williams, Karl Paymah and Domonique Foxworth.
“We play hard together and everybody’s accountable,” Denver defensive coordinator Larry Coyer said. “And we’ve got some skill. You’d be stupid not to say that.”
The Colts? Well, they’re the same high-scoring bunch that’s been tearing up the AFC for years.
“They are the best at what they do,” Coyer said.
And that’s pretty much what many are saying about Coyer’s crew, too.
“The big thing is they have confidence in their personnel,” Dungy said. “They’re not blitzing as much. They’re probably creating a little more pressure with their front four and they’re not putting those guys in predictable man-to-man situations. ... And they’re making teams go the long route. It’s ’See if you can get an eight- or 10-play drive.’ And most teams that have played against them so far haven’t been able to do it.”
For once, the Broncos, who own the league’s longest regular-season home winning streak at 13 games, won’t have to rely on trickery to match up with Indianapolis’s offense, as they did in the two wild-card fiascos. They’re better prepared in personnel, scheme and psyche to challenge the Colts this time.
“I would think is kind of what you live for. And I’m sure they feel the same way,” Coyer said. “Let’s crank ’er up and go.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15433919/