CBS Sports: Pick The Denver Broncos To Finish 11-5

[Bronco Rob]

Manning likes 12 personnel (1RB, 2TE, 2WR) and a no-huddle attack. His former teammate Jacob Tamme told me he takes on the Dallas Clark role which he did for the Colts when Clark got hurt. Joel Dreessen, former Titan and jack-of-all-trades gives the Broncos the flexibility to build a spread set or a two-back set or any other formation in their attack package.

Don’t think the Broncos will ignore the run game. As Bill Cowher said to me, “Peyton likes the stretch zone run game to set up his play-action pass and he sees so much two high safety coverages he has to take the run.”

People tell me it was the Broncos' defense that carried the team in 2011, but all I know is that it ranked 20th overall and hemorrhaged 40 or more points in three of its last five games, including the playoffs. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is gone, replaced by Jack Del Rio, who reunites with coach John Fox for the first time since the two were together in Carolina, and his job will be to shore up a secondary that was burned too often down the stretch.

Hiring Tracy Porter to replace cornerback Andre Goodman is an upgrade, but the Broncos will miss the leadership and play of safety Brian Dawkins. Either Mike Adams or Rahim Moore replaces him, and, yes, that could be a concern. But when you have Elvis Dumervil and Defensive Rookie of the Year Von Miller coming off the edge, your pass defense starts with your pass rush -- and Denver's is effective. I'm a little concerned how the Broncos replace Brodrick Bunkley inside, but maybe, just maybe, Ty Warren or second-round draft pick Derek Wolfe is the answer. Warren sat out all last season after he was hurt.



http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/1...denver-broncos

[Requiem]

16-0.

[ColoradoDarin]

Originally Posted by Requiem

16-0.

This!

[DivineLegion]

Originally Posted by Requiem

16-0.

I always suspected you, your Woody Page!

[vancejohnson82]

18-0-1

[Garcia Bronco]

9-7

[oubronco]

19-0

[Crushaholic]

Originally Posted by oubronco

19-0

^ This

We wouldn't want to be the Patriots, and flame out...

[ppablo]

10-6 AFC West Champs and deep into the playoffs

[Archie]

12-4...15-4

[waz06]

Originally Posted by Archie

12-4...15-4

Ditto

[Jay3]

9-7

[Taco John]

11-5

[Bacchus]

Originally Posted by Bronco Rob

Manning likes 12 personnel (1RB, 2TE, 2WR) and a no-huddle attack. His former teammate Jacob Tamme told me he takes on the Dallas Clark role which he did for the Colts when Clark got hurt. Joel Dreessen, former Titan and jack-of-all-trades gives the Broncos the flexibility to build a spread set or a two-back set or any other formation in their attack package.

Don’t think the Broncos will ignore the run game. As Bill Cowher said to me, “Peyton likes the stretch zone run game to set up his play-action pass and he sees so much two high safety coverages he has to take the run.”

People tell me it was the Broncos' defense that carried the team in 2011, but all I know is that it ranked 20th overall and hemorrhaged 40 or more points in three of its last five games, including the playoffs. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is gone, replaced by Jack Del Rio, who reunites with coach John Fox for the first time since the two were together in Carolina, and his job will be to shore up a secondary that was burned too often down the stretch.

Hiring Tracy Porter to replace cornerback Andre Goodman is an upgrade, but the Broncos will miss the leadership and play of safety Brian Dawkins. Either Mike Adams or Rahim Moore replaces him, and, yes, that could be a concern. But when you have Elvis Dumervil and Defensive Rookie of the Year Von Miller coming off the edge, your pass defense starts with your pass rush -- and Denver's is effective. I'm a little concerned how the Broncos replace Brodrick Bunkley inside, but maybe, just maybe, Ty Warren or second-round draft pick Derek Wolfe is the answer. Warren sat out all last season after he was hurt.



http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/1...denver-broncos

That is a very good write up. I predicted Denver would go 9-7 and win the division with a tie breaker with S.D. I see no reason to change that. If Denver goes 11-5 I think John Fox should be coach of the year with this schedule. It's going to be a fun year.

[Bronco Rob]

12-4 - 3
11-5 - 8
10-6 - 9
9-7 - 5

[CBF1]

10-6 is my guess, hard to say before camp even begins.

[lonestar]

Personally Id o not think we will even win the 9 games.. Way to much "new" happening this year..

and the schedule is brutal.. This team probably will not click until mid-season and by then it may be all over..

The 8-8 last year was against last place teams in their division.. This year we play the first place teams in the other divisions..

Huge difference.. folks..

Until I see Manning hitting on all cylinders with all the other guys on O on the same page.. and the D stepping it up BIG time, it looks like a 7-9 season to me.. If that..

[maher_tyler]

Originally Posted by lonestar

Personally Id o not think we will even win the 9 games.. Way to much "new" happening this year..

and the schedule is brutal.. This team probably will not click until mid-season and by then it may be all over..

The 8-8 last year was against last place teams in their division.. This year we play the first place teams in the other divisions..

Huge difference.. folks..

Until I see Manning hitting on all cylinders with all the other guys on O on the same page.. and the D stepping it up BIG time, it looks like a 7-9 season to me.. If that..

Missing the playoffs would be an epic fail...10-6 and division champs..nothing less is acceptable in my book...

[razorwire77]

10-6.

[DENVERDUI55]

I love the last/first place schedule bs argument. Last year we got cinncinatti a playoff team and Tennessee. KC got indy free win and Pittsburgh I believe. Rest of the games were the same.

[lonestar]

Originally Posted by DENVERDUI55

I love the last/first place schedule bs argument. Last year we got cinncinatti a playoff team and Tennessee. KC got indy free win and Pittsburgh I believe. Rest of the games were the same.

SO you'd rather play the first teams every year opposed to the last place teams?

Do you think that we got everyone's A game last year or that some of those teams looked past us because we had a joke for a QB..

Note we won some of those games BUT when the league figured out how to beat Tebow we lost the last games of the year..

Sorry but if you are a good team other teams get up to play you.. When you are bad team many are going through the motions and looking at their division game the next week or are coming off a big win..

Say what you will but our team over the past decade have lost loads of "trap games" that we should have beat the socks off of them but we were not mentally tough and ready to play them..

I believe sincerely that this coming schedule is infinitely tougher than the one we played last year..

and folks EVERYONE is going to get up to play Manning..EVERYONE..

The Steelers are going to be loaded for bear since we beat them on a fluke play. L

Falcons are damned good team and we play on the east coast something this team has not done well in the past.. L

Texans this one is a toss-up but I'll give it to them because they have loads of talent and really good coaching..Many of which would love to come back to DEN and beat us.. L

Raiders should be a mess..But then they seem to be able to play above their heads in DEN and if mc Fadden is still playing well it may be a long day for our D..W

@ NE enough said..L

@ SAN this one could go either way.. But I'm betting a spilt of AFCW games..L

after the Bye Manning and his skill folks may have their timing and nods and winks down better than the first few games..

Saints hard to keep up with that scoring machine.. L

@CIN a very good up and coming team.W

@Panthers W

SAN W

@Chefs cassell may be in tune by this week and playing in KC is always tough. L

Bucs W


@OAK L

@ BAL could be a great game.. but an East coast game, so we always struggle. L

Browns W

Chefs W

That is how I see it right now..

might change my mind after seeing some Preseason games, but if we lose any of the starters we could be screwed..

[maher_tyler]

Originally Posted by lonestar

SO you'd rather play the first teams every year opposed to the last place teams?

Do you think that we got everyone's A game last year or that some of those teams looked past us because we had a joke for a QB..

Note we won some of those games BUT when the league figured out how to beat Tebow we lost the last games of the year..

Sorry but if you are a good team other teams get up to play you.. When you are bad team many are going through the motions and looking at their division game the next week or are coming off a big win..

Say what you will but our team over the past decade have lost loads of "trap games" that we should have beat the socks off of them but we were not mentally tough and ready to play them..

I believe sincerely that this coming schedule is infinitely tougher than the one we played last year..

and folks EVERYONE is going to get up to play Manning..EVERYONE..

The Steelers are going to be loaded for bear since we beat them on a fluke play. L

Falcons are damned good team and we play on the east coast something this team has not done well in the past.. L

Texans this one is a toss-up but I'll give it to them because they have loads of talent and really good coaching..Many of which would love to come back to DEN and beat us.. L

Raiders should be a mess..But then they seem to be able to play above their heads in DEN and if mc Fadden is still playing well it may be a long day for our D..W

@ NE enough said..L

@ SAN this one could go either way.. But I'm betting a spilt of AFCW games..L

after the Bye Manning and his skill folks may have their timing and nods and winks down better than the first few games..

Saints hard to keep up with that scoring machine.. L

@CIN a very good up and coming team.W

@Panthers W

SAN W

@Chefs cassell may be in tune by this week and playing in KC is always tough. L

Bucs W


@OAK L

@ BAL could be a great game.. but an East coast game, so we always struggle. L

Browns W

Chefs W

That is how I see it right now..

might change my mind after seeing some Preseason games, but if we lose any of the starters we could be screwed..

Only team in the division I think we split with is KC...I don't think Pitt is as good as they have been in the past. I could see them missing the playoffs. I think Atlanta is overrated. Saints are a mess with a different head coach with players and coaches suspended all over the place. I see our loses to Texans, Pats, Cinci, Panthers, KC, and Baltimore.

[DENVERDUI55]

Originally Posted by lonestar

SO you'd rather play the first teams every year opposed to the last place teams?..

I didn't say that all I said the the place of schedule argument is overrated. How many teams counted going to Indy last a loss when the schedule came out? It's a crapshoot on what teams will be tougher and especially once injuries pile up.

[lonestar]

Originally Posted by DENVERDUI55

I didn't say that all I said the the place of schedule argument is overrated. How many teams counted going to Indy last a loss when the schedule came out? It's a crapshoot on what teams will be tougher and especially once injuries pile up.

I do not disagree with your premise you play the games on sunday and that determines who wins..

But I know that first place teams tend to be better year after year than do last place teams..

those elite to really good teams do not fluctuate much in the terms of wins and losses, UNLESS there is an injury issue..

those good teams have elite talent and coaching and are not as a general rule turning over either every other year..

I suspect that of the 6 playoff teams combined (that we play this coming year) they have not had 7 different DCs over the past ten years let alone our 7 years..

I do know from past experience that first place teams get there because they are good, not because they had a QB that was the joke of the NFL last year and no one thought they would be trapped playing DEN..

But those that did lose paved the way for the last few (IIRC 4) teams that stopped our O and ran over our D..

[Mediator12]

Originally Posted by DENVERDUI55

I love the last/first place schedule bs argument. Last year we got cinncinatti a playoff team and Tennessee. KC got indy free win and Pittsburgh I believe. Rest of the games were the same.

INDY was drilling KC until the last quarter of that game. They were up by 12 points until the final 8 minutes and their secondary blew it. ONLY game Painter looked good in all year.