They are who we thought they were! The Denver Broncos could be great.
By Kevin Gillikin October 8, 2014
I’m not talking about a 1990’s Bear’s team or the epic rant from head coach Dennis Green but rather using his words towards the 2014 Denver Broncos. They are a 3-1 team that hasn’t had a ton of love from their fan base despite only losing one game to the defending Super Bowl Champion Seahawks. A fan base including a contrite but still somewhat skeptical blogger/uber fan….me.
We have all screamed and cried for the heads of the coaching staff after a lackluster 2-1 start to the season for the Broncos but the team silenced many of it’s critics after a clobbering of the solid Arizona team this last Sunday. A Cardinal team that came into Mile High undefeated and with one of the top defenses in the NFL.
The team didn’t leave Denver with the same impressive defensive stats after getting womped for 41 points to an offense that finally appears to have hit it’s stride. Perhaps we saw Sunday that the Bronco’s offense doesn’t only go however it’s HOF QB goes but how it’s superstar receiver plays.
Demaryious Thomas went off against Arizona for 226 yards and 2 touchdowns and wasplaying like a man among boys against a good defense. He hit a gear on that 87 yard touchdown that I have rarely seen before and coming from a 6’3 235 pound wideout it was nothing short of incredible. Thomas had struggled in the previous three games but after this last performance we should have faith that the big guy is back up to speed and playing at his normal all pro level.
Orange Julius Thomas, Wes Welker and Emmanuel Sanders (6th in the league in rec yards with 435) have been a good/great core group so far and there’s no reason to think that Manning will continue to break record after record this season and for seasons to come.
The run game…..well it may be good news that Montee Ball is out with a groin injury because he didn’t look right since his appendectomy and he was one of the worst RBs in the league. He needs to go get entirely healthy, get his mind right and get back to the stud RB that I think he can be. That said, Hillman ran like he was pissed off when he was given the chance and I hope we see more of that for the weeks to come. Thompson and Anderson as backups will do a fair enough job and we could see some life from this rush attack from now on.
The defense played some bend but don’t break ball against the Cardinals in the first half and then came in and completely shut them down for the rest of the game. Partly because the Cards were down to their third string QB and their offense (and defense) appeared to be completely worn out. Gotta love what we’ve been seeing from Von Miller the last few weeks as he appears to be back to his old self and add that to a very very good Demarcus Ware and this pass rush will just get better as the year goes on. The secondary could be the strength of the team and Ward, Talib and Roby have really stuck out as being stud muffins on the back side of the D. The guy who has really been great is Chris Harris JR. Just back from an ACL tear, he has been ranked byProFootballfocus.com as the number 2 cornerback in all of football.. Clearly a guy who is going to earn a pay raise after this season.
Up next are the New York Jets and there’s NO reason to think this game should be even close. The Jets have perhaps the worst offense in football and made it across midfield only ONCE in the entire game in a 31-0 shellacking from the San Diego Chargers this Sunday. The defense isn’t much better and this game really should end at something like 45-0. Still, there’s a reason why they play the games and anything could happen. If you’re in Vegas though, put your money on the Broncos to win this one and win it big.
The offense is back to it’s fast paced, big play form and it’s defense is playing with some guts and mojo. This doesn’t bode well for the AFC West or the rest of the NFL.
Good luck Jets.