Thoughts on the Cowboys Game -- Looking Better!

[TheSportsGuru]

The Broncos picked up their first win on 2008 in a solid effort against the Cowboys.

Here is MHR's breakdown --

http://www.milehighreport.com/2008/8/18/596016/denver-broncos-23-dallas-c

Enjoy!

[Paladin]

Good read. Thanks. I also think the team is improved over last year. We shall see where it goes.......

[Tombstone RJ]

The running game is still a work in progress, with the running backs and offensive line equally to blame. Selvin Young had better step up his play or he may find himself with the 2nd team. It is not a secret that Ryan Torain was catching the eye of the coaches before his injury. Now its Andre Hall that is pushing Young. It's more than just stats, so don;t focus on them. Hall was the man behind Cutler for two "crucial" running plays in the 1st Quarter, not Young. The first was a 4th and 1 inside the 10. It was a similar play to another 4th and 1 last season against the Jags. On that play, Selvin Young took a hand off and tried to break it outside. He was stopped, and so were the Broncos. IN Saturday, it was Young that got the call, pikcing up the first down and nearly getting into the end zone. He scored on play later, crashing into the end zone for a 7-0 lead.

I think you meant Hall got the call on Saturday and picked up the first down on the 4th and 1.

[socalorado]

The safety play seems a lot stronger. John Lynch was a great player at one time, but the combination of Marlon McCree and Marquand Manuel is a better unit than Lynch/Ferguson or Lynch/Abdullah. On two separate running plays, Manuel made plays in the running game near the line of scrimmage WITHOUT lining up in the box. If the Broncos can disguise its defensive backfield coverage, it is a huge advantage. Domonique Foxworth needs to improve his reaction while the ball is in the air, but he may be the best tackler on the team.

I liked what i saw from Manuel in the game. He didnt get credit for his play in the box score, but i thought he played well.

[Kaylore]

Good stuff.

I actually agree that the Cowboys weren't trying as hard as the Broncos. The intensity level was much higher for Denver and the Cowboys heads weren't in the game. Romo missed some easy throws and the full effort wasn't there. I think the Broncos wanted to look good at home and not get spanked and the Cowboys were pretty "what ev" about the whole thing.

I think the penalties were a result of the officials being more anal during preseason as per normal. The holding call and pressure on Cutler when rolled out Ware got flagged for PI were both on Kuper and largely a result of his club hand, which I'm surprised no one is really talking about. They were both on swim moves to his outside shoulder. He can't grab with that hand so he would have to reach across his body with the left arm, which is worthless. Basically it's going to be a weakness until it heals, but once he gets his hand back he'll be a better player.

[Jason in LA]

Good stuff.

I actually agree that the Cowboys weren't trying as hard as the Broncos. The intensity level was much higher for Denver and the Cowboys heads weren't in the game. Romo missed some easy throws and the full effort wasn't there. I think the Broncos wanted to look good at home and not get spanked and the Cowboys were pretty "what ev" about the whole thing.



That's why I don't get excited over preseason games. Whether the team does well or not, it doesn't really matter. The games are meaningless. Who ever wants to win usually is going to win. The game plans are really vanilla, so it's not really a true indicator of who good the teams are. I'd say it's pointless to even analyze these games.

[broncofan2438]

Good stuff.

I actually agree that the Cowboys weren't trying as hard as the Broncos. The intensity level was much higher for Denver and the Cowboys heads weren't in the game. Romo missed some easy throws and the full effort wasn't there. I think the Broncos wanted to look good at home and not get spanked and the Cowboys were pretty "what ev" about the whole thing.

I think the penalties were a result of the officials being more anal during preseason as per normal. The holding call and pressure on Cutler when rolled out Ware got flagged for PI were both on Kuper and largely a result of his club hand, which I'm surprised no one is really talking about. They were both on swim moves to his outside shoulder. He can't grab with that hand so he would have to reach across his body with the left arm, which is worthless. Basically it's going to be a weakness until it heals, but once he gets his hand back he'll be a better player.


Dont really agree that the Cowgirls wern't trying. Thats just a copout to me. Dont tell me the first string got out there and wasnt trying to put some points on the board. I just think Denver came out firing and with more hype from the crowd

[Gcver2ver3]

That's why I don't get excited over preseason games. Whether the team does well or not, it doesn't really matter. The games are meaningless. Who ever wants to win usually is going to win. The game plans are really vanilla, so it's not really a true indicator of who good the teams are. I'd say it's pointless to even analyze these games.

i disagree...

we couldn't stop the run in the preseason last year and it clearly correlated to the regular season...

this preseason we are stopping the run...i believe that may correlate as well...

[no-pseudo-fan]

Good stuff.

I actually agree that the Cowboys weren't trying as hard as the Broncos. The intensity level was much higher for Denver and the Cowboys heads weren't in the game. Romo missed some easy throws and the full effort wasn't there. I think the Broncos wanted to look good at home and not get spanked and the Cowboys were pretty "what ev" about the whole thing.

I think the penalties were a result of the officials being more anal during preseason as per normal. The holding call and pressure on Cutler when rolled out Ware got flagged for PI were both on Kuper and largely a result of his club hand, which I'm surprised no one is really talking about. They were both on swim moves to his outside shoulder. He can't grab with that hand so he would have to reach across his body with the left arm, which is worthless. Basically it's going to be a weakness until it heals, but once he gets his hand back he'll be a better player.

I don't know about the Cowboys not trying. The Cowboys cared enough in practice to fight, but not that much in the game?

[Kaylore]

I don't know about the Cowboys not trying. The Cowboys cared enough in practice to fight, but not that much in the game?

I don't mean they weren't trying at all. I just don't think they got up for the game the same way the Broncos did. You can just tell that the Broncos played with more intensity than the Cowboys. I'm not saying it means what Denver did means nothing, just that things would be different if the Cowboys were making the same effort Denver was.

[Crushaholic]

That's why I don't get excited over preseason games. Whether the team does well or not, it doesn't really matter. The games are meaningless. Who ever wants to win usually is going to win. The game plans are really vanilla, so it's not really a true indicator of who good the teams are. I'd say it's pointless to even analyze these games.

OK. Now you did it. You offended about 75% of the board who takes things like training camp and preseason games SERIOUSLY. If a player is a stud in a preseason game, he MUST be a stud when the regular season hits... Darius Watts ...Apologize. Now.:clown: ;)

[TheSportsGuru]

That's why I don't get excited over preseason games. Whether the team does well or not, it doesn't really matter. The games are meaningless. Who ever wants to win usually is going to win. The game plans are really vanilla, so it's not really a true indicator of who good the teams are. I'd say it's pointless to even analyze these games.

I disagree, to a point....

I don't worry about the final score at all. Too many factors. How the team plays for 60 minutes, the effort, the execution, etc. are all very important to me. I don't believe a team can just turn it on. Play well in August, and you are likely to play well in September. It's an attitude.

Dallas is a great example. I expect more from a team that has been swept out of the playoffs in their first game the past 2 years. Instead, they have that "we'll turn it on when it counts" attitude. Typical Wade Phillips.

The Broncos are executing alot better this pre-season than in the past and I think it bodes well for the season. Will it mean more wins, we'll see, but I'd rather build confidence in the pre-season with sold play than have questions that have no answer week 1.

[SonOfLe-loLang]

Agreed. I don't think preseason results matter, but if your first teams are playing like crap, thats certainly not a good sign. And why are people trying to take away what Denver did on Saturday by saying "dallas wasn't trying." Sure, maybe denver's intensity level was higher, but that happens all the time in the regular season too. Only the Mane can look at a positive, find the negative in it, and convince themselves that the negative severely outweighs the positive.

[Kaylore]

The Broncos, maybe more than any other team, go the way their preseason does. When we play well in preseason we usually play well in the regular season.

[SonOfLe-loLang]

The Broncos, maybe more than any other team, go the way their preseason does. When we play well in preseason we usually play well in the regular season.

Very true. Actually, i remember sitting in a hotel room in 1995 watching the broncos/dallas preseason game. And after we pushed them around for an entire half I remember thinking we might actually be good this season..rest is history!

[Play2win]

Probably because it means the Offensive Line is locked-in and playing well together.Because, if not, it is usually a long season...

[Rabb]

The Broncos, maybe more than any other team, go the way their preseason does. When we play well in preseason we usually play well in the regular season.

agreed, I was telling my dad that if we play well next week...we have something to be looking forward to, if we play like we did against Houston I might be worried about some regular season inconsistency

[Jason in LA]

i disagree...

we couldn't stop the run in the preseason last year and it clearly correlated to the regular season...

this preseason we are stopping the run...i believe that may correlate as well...

Every preseason folks around here are complaining about something. In '05 the sky was falling during preseason, then the team goes 13-3. A while back the Cardinals would win damn near every preseason game and then go on to suck every year. The Bills under Marv Levy would lose just about every preseason game, but they went to 4 Super Bowls in a row. The Raiders usually look really good in the preseason, get their fans all excited, then finish in last place. The best example is Ryan Leaf. He looked great during his first preseason. He killed those vanilla defenses. When teams actually started to game plan during the regular season he sucked. Lets not forget about Darius Watts. Folks around here were ready to make him the #1 WR over Rod Smith after his second preseason because he played so well. He went on to have 2 catches for 22 yards that season.

You've pointed out one thing that did carry over, but there are many things that don't carry over at all. There are many players who play great during the preseason then suck during the regular season. There are many players who don't do anything during preseason and then play great during the regular season.

[Irish Stout]

That's why I don't get excited over preseason games. Whether the team does well or not, it doesn't really matter. The games are meaningless. Who ever wants to win usually is going to win. The game plans are really vanilla, so it's not really a true indicator of who good the teams are. I'd say it's pointless to even analyze these games.

Its pointless to analyze the game as to why we won or why we lost, but preseason is important for analyzing your team and your players, thats why we have it.

[gyldenlove]

I loved the game against the Cowboys, you need to play good teams to know where you are. Both units came out firing on all cylinders and it looked like Shanahan had a good game plan. I have to admit I have been somewhat skeptical of Shahans playcalling with Cutler under center, it has been timid at times and last year it seemed like especially late in games he was reluctant to let it all ride on Cutler.
This year Shahanan trusts Cutler and it seems like he is willing to put the ball in his hands and let him make the play. I think that is going to win us a lot of games, Cutler is clearly an upper echelon QB already and with an arsenal of weapons that is looking quite solid he should be able to get some real success going. With Cutler controlling the game it will open up the run, which for many years has not been the case, we have needed the run to open up the pass.


I think what we can take from this game is that in live play, we can keep up with the bigger guys, in 1 on 1 drills we get owned.

[Jason in LA]

OK. Now you did it. You offended about 75% of the board who takes things like training camp and preseason games SERIOUSLY. If a player is a stud in a preseason game, he MUST be a stud when the regular season hits... Darius Watts ...Apologize. Now.:clown: ;)

Actually I put a lot of stock in training camp. Position battles are won in practice, not in those meaningless preseason games. The coaches are getting a real look at the players in practice. They aren't using vanilla play calling like they do in the preseason games. Watts vs Leile is a good example of that. Reports out of camp were that Leile was looking great, but in the games Watts was the star. Leile went on to have a good year while Watts didn't do a whole lot.

Those games are money makers, that's all. If it were up to coaches they wouldn't even have preseason games. They don't need any tune up games.

But I will say that I don't care to read the bulk of the articles coming out of training camp. Way too many puff pieces. Most articles put too much of a positive spin on everything.

I really can't get excited until week 1, when it actually matters and everybody is playing hard.

[bronco militia]

what we should take away from this game and last weeks practice is that the broncos came to play and even punched some mouths along the way. It's something we never saw in last years pre-season.

[SonOfLe-loLang]

Every preseason folks around here are complaining about something. In '05 the sky was falling during preseason, then the team goes 13-3. A while back the Cardinals would win damn near every preseason game and then go on to suck every year. The Bills under Marv Levy would lose just about every preseason game, but they went to 4 Super Bowls in a row. The Raiders usually look really good in the preseason, get their fans all excited, then finish in last place. The best example is Ryan Leaf. He looked great during his first preseason. He killed those vanilla defenses. When teams actually started to game plan during the regular season he sucked. Lets not forget about Darius Watts. Folks around here were ready to make him the #1 WR over Rod Smith after his second preseason because he played so well. He went on to have 2 catches for 22 yards that season.

You've pointed out one thing that did carry over, but there are many things that don't carry over at all. There are many players who play great during the preseason then suck during the regular season. There are many players who don't do anything during preseason and then play great during the regular season.


People here were complaining about our preseason in 05? I thought we had a great preseason then...if i recall, didnt our second teamers beat the hell outo f AZ's first team that year? And that was the year of Mike Anderson's 95 yard run against the colts, right?

Well, people here will always find something to complain about. If we dont get a sack on every play, our pass rush is garbage after all

[Jason in LA]

People here were complaining about our preseason in 05? I thought we had a great preseason then...if i recall, didnt our second teamers beat the hell outo f AZ's first team that year? And that was the year of Mike Anderson's 95 yard run against the colts, right?

Well, people here will always find something to complain about. If we dont get a sack on every play, our pass rush is garbage after all

The sky falls a few times a year around here. Right after the draft and during preseason, and when ever the team struggles during the regular season.

[NFLBRONCO]

We are better then 07 no doubt but, how much nobody knows til real games start. Each year is different so its hard to get a gauge on anything. One thing nobody mentioned we actually play Dallas pretty well despite their more physical lines. If we do this against SD then I believe true strides have been made if not alot work is needed.

[cutlerfan]

I am very proud of our defense. I like how they are going after the ball and MAKING Tackles!!

I also af proud of our Offensive Line. They seem to be playing well!