From undefeated to totally defeated
Denver Broncos’ Kyle Orton (8) is sacked by San Diego Chargers’ Kevin Burnett (99) during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game. It was a good day to play in the AFC West… Unless you are the Denver Broncos. After starting 6-0 the boys have dropped the last 4 straight games to loose control of their fate and hand over control of their division to the San Diego Chargers for the second year in a row. On a day when the Chiefs knocked off Pittsburgh and Oakland came from behind to beat the “Cardiac Kids” in Cincinnati the Broncos started back up QB Chris Simms for the injured Kyle Orton for a bit until Josh McDaniels lost confidence in him after a rusty start and decided to risk a beat up Orton for the rest of the year. Orton came out and after 3 straight completions to Marshall and Gaffney we were knocking on the door but on first-and-goal at the 4, rookie running back Knowshon Moreno fumbled away the ball — and the game — at the goal line when left guard Russ Hochstein, slipped while leading the way, his left knee apparently jarring the ball loose. It was a controversial call which would be ruled a San Diego turnover and touch-back. McDaniels must have supported Belichick’s call last week going for it on fourth down to hand over the game because he gambled with Orton’s health and then an onside kick when we were only 10 points back in the third quarter, is there a who’s the loosest cannon contest going on. Play the numbers and let your defense force another 3 and out. Denver has allowed 29.3 points per game during their four-game losing streak after allowing 11.0 points in their first six games. Even more troubling was watching JMac leave Orton in down by 20 plus in the fourth quarter with not enough time on the clock to produce a comeback. Why not try to restore some confidence in Simms or try our Brandstater (who could be the best option in my opinion) instead of risking Orton for the sake of a desperate move to save some face in a four game slide. I don’t like it at all. This season has been all about “bandwagons”. So WHAT DO YOU THINK? Is Josh McDaniels the victim of a tough schedule and some injuries or is he showing his immaturity as a rookie coach and playing a risky/dangerous game? Can we come back from this slum, we only have four days to prepare for a good NY Giants team who came back to beat the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. I WANT TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS, IT’S MAKE OR BREAK TIME ON THE 2009/2010 SEASON!
This entry is filed under Blog Entries. Subscribe to the
Comments RSS feed.
2 Responses
Woody November 23rd at 10:35 am
A few things.
First, this season has been heartbreaking. I’ve been a Bronco fan my whole life and have lived through many ups and downs and I have to say that this season has been one of the roughest since the loss to the Jags in the ‘96-’97 season. I didn’t have high hopes going into week one after the disaster of an off season that we endured, but after 6 straight wins against tough opponents it seemed like we were for real. Now, since the bye week we’ve looked like an entirely different team and it’s devastating. I really thought we were going to be a Super Bowl contender this year, and even though I will never throw in the towel until we’re truly eliminated from contention, all signs point to an early playoff loss if we make it that far.
So who’s to blame?
JMcD has shown that he definitely has a lot to learn. At first I cheered when Orton entered the game yesterday, but looking back I should have known better, and McDaniels should have too. Even with Orton we’ve never looked fantastic on offense. We had a few good drives sprinkled throughout an otherwise lackluster season. We’ve won games by shutting down opponents and squeaking by with just enough for the ‘W’. I like McDaniels’ passion and enthusiasm but he has a lot to learn before he’ll be a truly top tier coach.
You can’t plant all the blame on him though. Despite some bad decisions yesterday, we could have made it close had it not been for those two red zone turnovers. Fumbles have killed us this season, particularly in our losses and we don’t have the fire power to make up for them. Peyton Manning can throw a couple picks in a game and get into a bit of a hole, but he’s also able to come back out and consistently march 80 yards with no timeouts in less than two minutes. We can’t.
As much as I’ve come to respect Orton this season, I have to put a lot of the blame on him. He’s a smart QB and is good at managing the offense, but he just hasn’t shown himself to be a play-maker. I can’t recall any play this season where he’s “made something out of nothing”. Playing conservative is great in close games or when you have the lead, but as soon as things look bad we haven’t been able to make a big play to swing the momentum and a lot of that is because we don’t have a fantastic QB.
As for the rest of the season?
I know I just bashed Orton a little, but the truth is he’s a decent QB and our best hope for at least the rest of the season. That said, he looked pretty beat up by the end of yesterdays game and I can’t imagine him looking much better in three days. This short week is going to be killer for us. Luckily Pittsburgh, and Baltimore both lost this week so we’re actually still in the wild card hunt even if we lose to New York. But we’re going to have to figuring out how to win and the sooner the better.
One final thought:
Doesn’t it seem like a bad idea to have a left handed QB backing up a starting right hander? I can’t imagine the adjustments the defense has to make are nearly as significant as the adjustments for the offense. Maybe it’s just that Simms would look awful regardless of what hand the ball was coming out of, but we looked totally off keel when he’s been in the game. If nothing else, that fumble on the 17 probably could have been avoided. Call me crazy, but maybe the problem is that Simms actually is right handed and that’s why he looks like a 12 year old girl could throw the ball better than him.
I tried to find some historic stats that would make me optimistic but there really aren’t any. No team has ever lost four straight and gone on to win the Super Bowl. The closest I could find is the 2002 Raiders who lost four straight on their way to getting trampled by the Buccaneers in one of the worst Super Bowls ever.
Anything can happen though, who would have guess KC and Oakland would pull off wins against the Steelers and Bengals this weekend?
Drew November 24th at 12:10 am
I hear you Woody, but often as fans we are very fickle. If you had asked me at the start of last year or this year my expectations for this team both times I would have said. It’s going to be an interesting “rebuilding year”. Not because I am pessimistic but because I am more realistic at the start. Then we win and put on a good show and I hop on the bandwagon then later get run-over by it on it’s second pass as we drop the lead in the AFC to an inconsistent San Diego team. I don’t think were done but I think Josh now has to re-prove himself to fans as a good coach. He has lost to good and bad teams since the New England win and that day is fading away in memory. I feel you Woody!