Broncos good not just lucky

[dragondawg]

Broncos good not just lucky

Two games into the season and this looks like a magical year for the Denver Broncos. They are 2-0 winning both games on the final play. The last time that happened for a team was back in 2004 when the Green Bay Packers won back to back games on the final play of the game.

Some would say the Broncos are lucky and I would agree except for the fact they have been the better team both games. The Broncos dominated the stats in both games but had to call on Jason Elam both times to bail them out.

The Broncos have a lot of new faces on both sides of the ball which leads to inconsistency early in the year. The good news is that as the season goes on the Broncos will only get better.

The first game their special teams had a bad day and during the week before Oakland they corrected the mistakes. This week the Broncos need to work on stopping the run. The Raiders could not pass the ball and even though the Broncos knew the run was coming they could not stop it.

When Jacksonville comes to town on Sunday the Broncos will be more focused to stop the run. The Broncos have not started 3-0 since 2003 when they reeled off four straight wins.

This team has more weapons on offense then I have seen in a long time. Walker, Marshall, Stokley, Henry, Graham and Cutler can make a long day for the defense. John Elway never had these many weapons around him until the Broncos played in back to back Super Bowl games.

The defense for sure needs to get tougher but so far they have only given up two offensive touchdowns in the first two games. Granted the teams they have played are 0-4 but you play who is on your schedule.

When you play in the NFL you need a little bit of luck to get you through the season and you also have to be good. The Broncos can be a real good team if they can just put together four quarters.

The Broncos play 4 of their next five at home and need to take advantage of the home cooking before they have to become road warriors the second half of the year.

Just wait until they put a complete game together. That is when you will see the 30 plus points a game that we all got use to in those Super Bowl years.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/2007/09/...ot-just-lucky/

Point-Counterpoint: Broncos: Deserve credit or just lucky?

By Chris Shelton (Contact), Ryan Thorburn (Contact)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Deserve credit

Ryan Thorburn

The Denver Broncos are 2-0 and alone at the top of the AFC West.

How they got there doesn't matter.

As Al Davis used to say a long, long time ago — "Just win, baby."

How about giving Jay Cutler some credit for executing the late drives under pressure to put Jason Elam in position for the game-winning field goals?

How about crediting Mike Shanahan for hitting a clutch three-run homer in free agency with the signings of Travis Henry, Brandon Stokley and Dan Graham?

And how about getting off D.J. Williams' back until an opposing offense scores more than 14 points?

That's right, Buffalo scored 14 points and Oakland's offense scored 12 points (the Raiders defense returned an interception back for six points and also had a safety in their 23-20 overtime loss at Invesco Field).

Yes, there are some major issues for Shanahan and his staff to address. Denver needs to shore up its run defense, and Cutler needs to cut down on his turnovers if this team is going to remain in contention.

But in the NFL every team has flaws, including the San Diego Chargers.

LaDainian Tomlinson has 68 yards rushing through two games. Philip Rivers doesn't appear to be much further along than Cutler. Norv Turner's past is already putting a lot of pressure on a team built to win the Super Bowl in the here and now.

The Broncos are going to find a way to beat Jacksonville this Sunday and they are going to have all of their weaknesses exposed the following week at Indianapolis.

And then we'll find out what this team is really all about when the Chargers visit Invesco Field.

Lucky

Chris Shelton

Denver's 2-0 start to the NFL season sure looks good, but it's a mirage.

How many times can the Broncos pull it out at the end the way they did the first two weeks?

Aside from the Shanahanigans used to psych out Sebastian Janikowski on Sunday and the fire drill to rescue the win over Buffalo in the season opener, there's not much to like about the start.

The Broncos allowed Buffalo running back Marshawn Lynch to gain 90 of this season's 154 yards against them, and Oakland's LaMont Jordan had 159 yards on the ground against Denver. Jordan has only rushed for more than 480 yards in one season in his six-year pro career.

If the Broncos can't keep someone such as Jordan in check, what do you expect Jacksonville's Fred Taylor to do to them this week? Taylor is closing in on 10,000 career rushing yards.

It doesn't get any easier for Denver, either, with a trip to Indianapolis next week and a home game against San Diego in the fifth week.

Colts running back Joseph Addai already has 199 rushing yards on a team that has Peyton Manning, and he did it against the Saints and Titans. San Diego brings last year's NFL most valuable player in running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

Then there's Jay Cutler, who threw a left-handed shovel pass at Buffalo that brought back memories of Jake Plummer's left-handed shovel pass for an interception. Cutler's passes continue to look thrown behind his receivers and he looks to be struggling with his decision making under pressure.

Let's save the euphoria over this 2-0 start until the Broncos pass some much tougher tests in the next three games.

http://dailycamera.com/news/2007/sep...line---19scpt/