The South Stander Edition #8

Broncos Thoughts of the Week:


The Broncos-Bears game was looking miserable as the fourth quarter rolled around. Seconds into the final quarter the Broncos were trailing 10-0. Tebow only completed 3 passes til then, Thomas and Decker dropped six catchable balls between the two of them, and a field goal was blocked by the Bears defense. As I sat in the South Stands with my dad and listened to the thousands of Chicago fans cheering in our stadium I felt as if the game was lost.

All photos from the game complements of The Denver Post

But as the fourth quarter began one of the regular Broncos fan sitting in front of us stood up and starting pointing to his watch and telling all the Bears fan's that it was Tebow Time...they had better watch out.

I will admit that I was not believing the Broncos would find a way to win this game, especially after a couple more stalled drives and punts. With three minutes left in the game though this guy was still pointing at his watch. He kept telling us it was Tebow Time and that we all had to believe. The Bears fans heckled him, telling him our clock was 10 seconds slow, referring to the 10-0 score.

2:30 left in the game Tebow was driving the Broncos. I thought back to the Miami game and how we came back from 15-0 in the waning minutes...maybe it could happen again?

Tebow threw a TD pass to Thomas in the corner of the south endzone, 10-7...I thought if we just got the onsides kick we'd have a shot at tying the game. If we didn't get it though, the Bears could practically run out the clock. Onsides kick bounces around and tempts the fans as both teams scramble for it, but the Bears ultimately recovered it. 2:08 remaining. The Bears run one play, then two minute warning. On second down the Bears running back inexplicably runs to the sideline and is pushed out of bounds. Clock stops at 1:55. Third down and the defense makes a big stop, forcing the Bears to punt. Broncos get the ball back with about a minute left and no timeouts.

Our believer in the South Stands is still pointing at his watch, smiling, as he tells all of us in the section that he believes. Bears fans still heckle him...there's no way we can score with no timeouts left against their defense. Tebow drives the Broncos 39 yards and with 8 seconds left the Broncos are 43 yards from their own endzone and call on Matt Prater to make a 59 yard field goal.

Prater boots the ball through the uprights and it could have been good from 70 yards. 59 yard field goal. Game tied 10-10, end of regulation.

At this point I am sure that the entire nation is watching the events that are unfolding in Broncos Country. This has become a regular occurrence for us. The Mile High Magic is back, and has it's clocks set to Tebow Time.

The Bears win the OT coinflip. The Bears drive into field goal range. The Bears' running back breaks through a hole in Denver's defensive line and looks like he clear through to the endzone. The Bears running back then fumbles the ball. Denver recovers. A miracle? Maybe for some...but this type of inexplicable play has become common place for our Broncos. Tebow completes nearly all his passes. The receivers suddenly can barely miss a ball. And Matt Prater drives another field goal half the length of the field (51 yards) to win the game.


Sorry Dallas, but Denver has taken your title of America's Team. Nearly every TV in the nation was tuned into Tebow-Time. Whether you love him or hate him, it's a great story that the sports world has never seen the likes of. Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos are now 7-1 since the "Mile High Messiah" took over the team and are on a 6 game winning streak with 6 fourth quarter comebacks, 3 of which involved overtime.

And now Chicago, you know what fans from Miami, Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, New York, and Minnesota recently discovered. The Broncos are for real, and you won't believe it til the final minutes of the game. Denver is now in sole possession of first place in the AFC West, so look out NFL, America's Team is stampeding towards the playoffs.

Beer of the Week:


The Odysseus IPA from Deschutes, is a pub exclusive only found at the Deschutes Tap Rooms in Oregon. It was so good that a few weekends ago when I was there I drank three of them. A very citrusy and delicious IPA. I wish I could get it in Colorado!

Drew Litton Comic of the Week:


The Broncos other new nickname: The Cardiac Kids.

More Broncos New from around the Sports Media:


Rick Reilly, ESPN

"The other day, before the Minnesota game, we were in the tunnel, about to come out," says Broncos punter Britton Colquitt. "And somebody farted. It was bad. And Coach Fox goes, 'Man, I guess somebody's nervous!' It just broke us all up, got us loose. That's what he's like. … I just met him this year and I feel like I've known him 20 years."


Dave Krieger, Denver Post:

Dead in the water, scoreless through three and a half quarters, the Broncos trailed the Bears 10-0.

Or, in the immortal words of former offensive lineman Keith Bishop, they had them right where they wanted them.

Cheerleader of the Week:


Lauren is this week's Cheerleader, just like she was also featured at Sunday's game at Mile High.

South Stander Edition #7

Broncos Thoughts of the Week:


1987 had The Drive led by John Elway. 98 yards to tie the game and beat Cleveland in OT during the AFC Championship Game.

1992 there was The Drive II, also by John Elway. 98 yards again, to beat the Houston Oilers in the final minutes of the AFC Championship Game.

2011 now has "The Drive Jr." or "The Drive Too" with John Elway watching his embattled QB, Tim Tebow, lead the Broncos 95 yards downfield to beat the Jets 17-13.

View from my seats in the South Endzone as the Jets punt for the 1st time.

The stakes might not have been as high in 2011 as they were for the first two Drives. Back then the Superbowl was on the line. This time the stakes were improving the season record to 5-5 and staying in the playoff race for the AFC West. Maybe what was most on the line was Tim Tebow's reputation and future in his first national TV appearance.

With just over five minutes remaining in the game The Broncos had not accomplished much. There were 9 straight drives of three and out, a lost fumble by Willis McGahee and many botched opportunities to start drives in the Jets half of the field. The game seemed to be proving all of Tebow's critiques right in that he can't pass, but somehow Tebow found another way to win. As his supporters say, 'he just wins,' and he sure does.

Goodman is pursued by Sanchez into the endzone after intercepting the QB.

Andre Goodman, who Sanchez and the Jets had picked on all night with Plaxico Burress receiving many passes over Goodman, came up big with Denver's first TD of the night. Goodman intercepted Sanchez and returned the ball untouched into the endzone for his first pick-6 of his career.

Von Miller continued his impressive rookie season recording 1.5 sacks on Sanchez and multiple other hits to shake up the Jet's QB. Miller finished the night leading the team with 9 tackles and a forced fumble.


"If you pressure any quarterback and get to him, he will make some bad decisions," Miller said. "That is our game plan every week, just get to the quarterback and get some hits on him."

The Denver defense finally has something opposing teams fear. A pass rush that creates chaos for the opposing QB.

If this photo went just 2 rows higher you could see me and my dad in the top left.

Special teams also had a big night, forcing and recovering a fumble on the ensuing kickoff after Goodman's pick-6. Cassius Vaughn returned a Jet's kickoff deep into Jet's territory. And most impressive of all was Punter, Britton Colquit's performance, down many punts inside the Jet's own 10 yard line including one at the one yard line with help of a great special teams performance by Mathew Willis.

Thankfully, big plays by the defense and special teams kept Denver and Tebow in the game for the fourth quarter, trailing 13-10. Eddie Royal mistakenly called for a fair catch at his own 5 yard line with 5:54 remaining to set up Denver's 95 yard come-from -behind drive.

The drive nearly ended on the first play when Tebow threw a screen pass to Royal in Denver's own endzone. Royal was nearly wrapped up for a safety, but managed to escape and gain 9 yards. Tebow would hit 3 of 5 pass attempts on the drive, including a great sliding 18 yard catch by tight end Dante Rosario.

Previously Tebow had only carried the ball twice for 11 yards, but on the final drive Tebow rushed seven times for 58 yards and the game winning TD. He finished 9 for 20 in passing with 104 passing yards and was only sacked once.

Tebow celebrates his game winning score.

On Third Down and 4 from the 20, the Jets showed an all out blitz for the first time all night. The Jets rushed at Tebow, Tebow scrambled left and took off for the first down, broke a tackle and went straight into the endzone as he was mobbed by teammates for the go-ahead score.

"I think it was just a bunch of guys that kept fighting, and that had been knocked down a bunch of times and got back up," Tebow said. "I'm proud of these guys for their resiliency and determination."


"After the touchdown, it was fun, but during that drive, it was a lot of focus," wide receiver Eddie Royal said. "Everybody in the huddle was tired at that point, but we all knew we had to suck it up and focus in, and make these plays that we needed."


Denver is now half a game out of first place in the AFC West, with a 5-5 record. An improbable situation given that the team started 1-4 under Kyle Orton and has since gone 4-1 with Tim Tebow at QB. If the Raiders lose on Sunday to Minnesota, Denver will be tied for first place.

The Jets fall to also have a 5-5 record, essentially dashing their playoff hopes in a difficult AFC East division with competition from Buffalo and New England. Denver now owns the tie break over the Jets for an AFC wildcard position.

Tebow Time? Try Miller Time Instead:


With the entire nation setting their clocks to Tebow-Time, The Broncos are setting their clocks to Miller Time. Von Miller's amazing rookie season is being overshadowed by the media circus that is Tim Tebow. Miller leads the Broncos in tackles and sacks, with 9.5 on the season. He is on pace to set a new rookie record for sacks. With the return of a healthy Elvis Dumervil, Miller is even more of a threat as the Broncos seem to be returning to the days of the Orange Crush.

Von Miller gets to Jet's QB Mark Sanchez.

Under a new defensive minded head coach in John Fox, new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and John Elway's emphasis on defense in his first draft as an executive the Broncos seem to be building a defense that can win championships.


"I think guys are beginning to feel more comfortable in the system and what they're being asked to do, and I think some of the play has shown that," said Allen.


In the last two wins the Denver Defense has only allowed 23 points, and Von Miller has nearly knocked the opposing teams QB out of the game or the entire season in both wins.


So as everyone else sets their clocks for Tebow Time, true Broncos fans are living on Miller-Time. We're not yet sure if Tebow is the future of this organization, but Von Miller is for real and he is the Broncos' future on Defense.

Decker Distracted?

Jessie James performs the halftime show wearing Decker's jersey.

Receiver Eric Decker was off his game on Thursday night. He missed all 5 passes thrown to him (though you can't blame him for all of those), and his one pass attempt of the night when out of bound in the endzone.

Decker may have been distracted by the presence of his super star country singer girlfriend, Jessie James, who was preforming the half time show.

Decker is second in the league in receiving touchdowns, with 7 and has 34 catches for 462 yards.

Let's hope Decker just had an off night and returns to form next week against San Diego!

Beer of the Week:


The Twisted Pine just released their double IPA, The Misty Mountain Hop. According to the Pine this is "a single hopped unfiltered India Pale Ale with Simcoe hops." Very hoppy, very good. Get it while it lasts!

"So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains 
where the spirits go now"
-Led Zeppelin

Drew Litton Comic of the Week:
Tebow's drive, in comic form:

MLS & Rapids Thoughts of the Week:


Colorado Rapid's Supporters groups will be throwing head coach Gary Smith a farewell party during the MLS Cup on Sunday at The Celtic Tavern in downtown Denver.

Many Rapid's fans are still upset about Smith's departure and feel the executives forced him out and that they should have tried to fix the club's relationship with him after Smith brought Colorado their first MLS Cup in 2010.

Kronke Sports Entertainment, who owns The Rapids, Avalanche, Nuggets, St. Louis Rams and Arsenal FC, has not put in the financial backing to the Rapids as they should to keep the team successful and profitable. Rapid's supporters joked on Facebook that there should be an "Occupy Stan's Front Yard" protest where Rapid's fans camp out on Kronke's front lawn to demand the club be given more attention.

The Rapids have a strong and passionate fan base and a lot of talent on the team. With more money put into the team, and marketing the Rapids have the potential to become a very profitable and successful team in MLS.

****************

The MLS Cup kicks off on Sunday, November 20th at 7pm Mountain Time on ESPN. The LA Galaxy will take on the Houston Dynamo at the Home Depot Center in LA.

The Galaxy are heavy favorites to win the cup this year, but many experts involved with MLS are predicting a Dynamo upset. It will be tough for the Dynamo though because they are missing league MVP candidate Brad Davis to injury.

As Colorado fans, lets hope that Houston can pull off the upset over the hated Galaxy!


Rockies Thoughts of the Week:


Nolan Arenado, the fantastic 3rd base prospect of the Colorado Rockies, was named the MVP of the 2011 Arizona Fall League. Arenado played in 29 games and had an average of .388 with 6 home runs and 33 RBI's. The Rockies are excited about his prospect in the major's next year and are inviting him to spring training camp. Arenado may be the answer to the Rockies recent problems at thirdbase.

In other Rockies news, the team has begun hitting the free-agent market and trade market. The Rockies are interested in picking up a 2nd baseman, a right fielder to complement or replace Seth Smith, and starting pitching.

The Rockies have expressed interest in Roy Oswalt, whose agent has said the Rockies have a shot at him. Oswalt is aging and would probably demand a 2 year $30 million contract. This shows that the Rockies have money to spend on big name players. But with big name pitchers failing in Colorado previously, it might be worth looking into players who would not be as expensive.

The Rockies are also trying to trade for Atlanta Braves 2nd baseman Martin Prado, after losing Mark Ellis to LA in free agency. Prado is a career .293 batter, but in 2011 had an off year batting only .260 after three years with an average over .300. The Rockies hope that Prado will thrive in Colorado and return to his form of a few years ago.


Avalanche Thoughts of the Week:


Last night the Avalanche won for the first time since November 10th, beating the Dallas Stars 3-0 at the Pepsi Center in Denver. The Avs had previously lost three straight to Calgary, Minnesota and Pittsburgh.

Giguere makes a save in goal against Dallas.

Back-up goalie Sebastian Giguere got the shutout win, and is possibly beginning to create a goalie controversy for the Avs.


"Giggy is playing very well, giving us what we expected," head coach  Joe Sacco said. "Varly has played very well for us, especially at the start of the year. You know, he's going through a tough stretch right now, but I'm confident he'll be back to top form too."


The Avalanche made the game easy for Giguere, outshooting Dallas 45-24 as they constantly put pressure on the Dallas defense the entire game.


The Avalanche will now start an 8 game, 17 day homestand which is the longest of the season so far.


"That was a good start to the homestand. We didn't sit back in this one. We just played the same way the whole game," said Stansty who scored on a power-play goal against Dallas.

Cheerleader of the Week:


It only took about 20 seasons of Broncos games to finally catch one of the little foam footballs the cheerleaders throw into the corners of the South Stands. I had planned that if I caught one I would give it to the little boys sitting in front of me, because when I was that age I always hoped someone would do that for me. The two boys though had both caught the foam footballs earlier in the game so when Katie, this week's cheerleader of the week, threw one my direction I was able to catch it and actually keep it! Thanks Katie for making a childhood dream of getting one of those little footballs reality!

South Stander Edition #6

Broncos Thoughts of the Week:


Run, Forrest, run!

Running down a dream.

Can't stop. Can't stop the running game.

And now our Denver Broncos are in a three-way tie for 2nd-place in the AFC West and stampeded straight into playoff contention in a weak division. Who would have ever thought we'd be in the playoff hunt after that terrible 1-4 start?

Okay, maybe they weren't exactly Tebowed...but Denver sure did run over the Cheifs.

The Denver Broncos picked up right where they left off last weekend in Oakland. Running the ball straight down the Kansas City Chief's throats. Even after losing both starting running backs, Willis McGahee and Knowshon Moreno, to injury early in the first quarter couldn't stop the Broncos from running the ball. The Broncos play calling became so predictable and effective in the first quarter. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run. Run.....Run.....Denver ran 14 straight times in the first quarter, never even thinking about passing the ball. And it worked.

On Denver's first possession of the game Tebow ran the ball to the right, waited for his offensive line to give him a hole, and went 7 yards into the endzone for the first touchdown of the day.

To begin the second quarter, Denver expanded their play book, by letting Tebow attempt a pass. It was long and downfield, but incomplete, just behind the receiver. To finish the second quarter Tebow was 0-3 in passing attempts, but went into the half leading 10-0.

To finish the game Denver kept running. It became obvious that KC could not stop the Broncos on the ground. The KC defense usually had one player assigned to mirror Tebow. He would follow Tebow where-ever he went on the field to make sure that the QB didn't get passed the defense. But this defensive scheme took a player out of the equation because they were so focused on Tebow. This created many opportunities for the offensive line to make holes for the running backs.

Decker catches a TD pass in stride

Tebow finished 2-8 in passing attempts, with one 56 yard TD pass to Eric Decker. The Broncos went on to win 17-10, though the score doesn't represent how much Denver was in control of this game.

“We know Tim Tebow can make those clutch throws like that," said John Elway on Monday morning. "You can’t throw a better pass than Tim Tebow made in that situation.” 

According to ESPN, Tim Tebow is the fifth quarterback since 1980 to throw all of his team's passes, complete two or fewer and still win the game.

This was another team win. Tebow managed the game well, the offensive line blocked well, the running backs ran well, and the defense made sure that KC consistently got off the field every possession they had.

It may not have been a pretty win. But it was traditional John Fox football. Run the ball and make stops on defense. It might be ugly, but it's working. The Broncos are now 3-1 with Tebow starting this season and 1-4 without him starting.

"It's just a mindset. It's a low-risk offense. It's not an indictment on Tim Tebow or whoever our quarterback is," Broncos coach John Fox said. "It's just whatever is working for us. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. We tried to possess the ball and keep our defense fresh."

So let's see how long this read-option offense can work in the NFL! Denver even expanded the option offense today, putting in a couple triple-option plays, where Tebow has the option to hand the ball off to a running back, run the ball himself, or dump the ball of to a receiver on the end. Today, it looked like the NFL might not know what's hit it. So look out. Here come the 2nd-place Broncos with their crazy read-option offense.

Offensive Line:


Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post wrote last week that there might be one thing that Josh McDaniels did right for the Broncos. Drafting of our offensive linemen Walton and Beadles.

Now, I have been very critical of our offensive line this season, but I was impressed with them in the last two victories over Oakland and KC. Against KC the offensive line did a great job. Most of that has to do with the conservative game plan; they didn't have to protect a passing QB very often. The line's run blocking was fantastic and created opportunities for our runners to get yards. It's good to see the Broncos getting back to the basics of running well, especially after such bad years with our runnings backs. I'm giving the offensive line all the credit for getting our running game going over the last few games.


Defensive Improvements:


The Denver defense is starting to show how much they have improved from last year. The speed of the pass rush is beginning to get to opposing quarterbacks, which is why Elway drafted Von Miller #2 overall. Elvis Dumervil is finally starting to get healthy and back to his 2009 form. He had 1.5 sacks against the Chiefs and  pressured Matt Cassel many other times. The combination of Dumervil and Miller is starting to be what the Broncos had hoped for all season.

Chris Harris, an undrafted rookie CB, made a couple big plays against the Chiefs as well. The story of an undrafted rookie making a name for himself in the starting line up is always a feel-good story, and Harris is beginning to be recognized.

Quotes

"Lance has been with us for a while, everybody knows what he can do and has confidence in him so we felt like he could get it done for us." --Willis McGahee

"I think the offense did an amazing job today, we lost two running backs and still didn't lose a beat. Hats off to the offense, to Tim Tebow, Willis McGahee. Lance ball, he really carried the team on his back and hats off to him too." Von Miller

"It's a great team win"-- Elvis Dumervil

"We just have the same mentality that we have every week. If we get up and make them pass, me and Elvis, our mindset is we gotta get there. This is our role on the team to supply pass rush for us and I think we got that done today" --Von Miller

"We been working, we've been through a lot of adversity, a lot of tough times. This win just shows the character we have in our locker room. We just going to keep on pushing. Keep on taking it one play at a time." --Von Miller

Next Week:


The Broncos will face the NY Jets at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Thursday Night Football. The Jets will be coming to Denver on only three days rest after losing a heart-breaking game to New England on Sunday Night at The New Medowlands, 37-16. On Sunday, the Jet's defense gave up the most points at home since Rex Ryan took over as head coach.

Last year the Broncos lost to the Jets in another heart breaker. Denver's CB Perrish Cox had a pass interference penalty called on him in the endzone during the waning seconds of the game to bring the Jets to the one yard line. The Jets were able to score the game winning touchdown on the next play, and that game changed the course of Denver's season. This year Denver is out to prove they have what it takes to beat the Jets.

Ryan is known for traditionally having great defenses on his teams, and the question of the week will be: How will the Jets defend against Denver's read-option offense?

Cris Collinsworth of NBC Sports said during the broadcast on Sunday night that Denver's offense is "the craziest [he's] ever seen". It's un-traditional and unorthodox in the NFL, and as Oakland and KC proved teams are not prepared to defend against it. The Jets will continue the trend and struggle to stop the Broncos and their wacky offense led by Tebow and company. The short week and cross country flight, combined with altitude, will not allow New York to prepare. It will be even more confusing for the Jets because they just faced new England's pass-centric offense which is the complete opposite of what the Broncos are running.

My prediction: Jets 17 - Broncos 23.

Main Keys to the Game:


To win against The New York Jets, Denver will need to do the following:

1) Keep the Pressure on Sanchez. As New England showed on Sunday night when Sanchez is under consistent pressure he starts making very poor decisions. Sanchez has also struggled to play at a consistently high level for an entire four quarters this season. Denver needs to step up the pressure and keep Dumervil and Miller coming at Sanchez and creating havoc for the New York offense.

2) Champ Bailey covering Paxico Burress. Burress is starting to make a comeback into the NFL in recent weeks. He was disappointed with his early season performance and went back to watch tape of his years with the Giants to see what he's doing differently now. Whatever he found out, he's gotten much better catching a lot of touchdown passes for the Jets. Champ Bailey will have to show he still has his all-star caliber play in him and shutdown the Sanchez to Burress connection.

3) Expand the playbook for Tebow. I think that the Jets defense is much better than Oakland's or KC's. Running the ball 55 times and passing 8 times will not work against a Rex Ryan led defense. The Broncos will need to have a less conservative game plan that allows for Tebow to find a rhythm passing the ball. Tebow has shown that when he can find a rhythm in his passing game (like against Miami and Oakland) he can be successful. Fox will need to give him this opportunity. Tebow's throws, both deep and short, will have to be more accurate. Against KC Tebow nearly hit his receivers in the hands on every incompletion but one. If the receivers don't have to slow up or reach for the ball and Tebow improves his accuracy the offense will confuse the Jets enough to score points to win.

I'm not saying let Tebow go crazy throwing the ball, but 15-20 pass attempts will be needed in the game with better accuracy from Tebow.

Finally, Denver's offense will need to increase their speed of play. New England demonstrated on Sunday night that a hurry up offense is difficult for the Jets to defend. New York had trouble getting set before Brady got the plays off. Tebow has been successful at running a no huddle offense before, and if the Broncos start the game with this the Jet's defense will tire quickly, especially playing at altitude on a short week.

4) Stop the run. Rex Ryan loves to run the ball and control the clock, and make stops with his defense. The Denver defense will need to such down the running game to force Sanchez to beat them with the pass.


Beer of the Week:

The Trickster Stout at the Southern Sun is actually the brewery's Black IPA.  It's made with lots of simcoe hops to give it a very hoppy/citris flavor to begin and finishes with the taste of dark roasted malts. One of my favorite beers they serve and I'm glad to see it on tap before stout month starts in February!

Drew Litton Comic of the Week:


Here's this week's comic!

Other NFL Thoughts of the Week:


Buffalo may have lost a terrible game to Dallas, showing that they might not be as good as everyone hoped. But the one great moment of the game is when David Nelson of the Bills caught a TD pass and ran 100 yards to give the ball to his girlfriend, a cheerleader for the Dallas Cowboys. She didn't know what to do with the ball. Here's the video:

If that video doesn't work, here is the link to the replay on the NFL site.

South Stander Edition #4

The Colorado Line: 2-4-0 record from 10/24 to 10/31.

NFL:

Detroit 45 – Denver 10. (L)

MLS Playoffs:

Wildcard Game: Colorado 1 – Columbus 0. (W)

Semifinals Game 1: Colorado 0 – Kansas City 2. (L)

NHL:

Colorado 2 – Calgary 4. (L)

Edmonton 3 – Colorado 1. (L)

Los Angles 2 – Colorado 3. (W)

Broncos Thoughts of the Week:

The difference between playing one of the worst teams in the NFL versus playing the one of the most improved teams in the NFL? For the Broncos (2-5) it’s 27 points, and a loss. Last week the Broncos won in miraculous fashion 18-15 in overtime against Miami (0-7). This week The Detroit Lions (6-2) came to the Mile High City, and by half time it was obvious that Tebow and company would not stage another one of their thrilling fourth quarter comebacks and possibly not even reach the end zone. The Broncos lost 45-10. The Tebow who played so poorly in the first 55 minutes of the Miami game played the entire 60 minutes of the game against Detroit.

“We basically went into hibernation for about 9 series and the game was out of hand,” Said Coach Fox referring to 9 straight series without a first down, after scoring a field goal on their first drive.

Everyone got to 'Tebow' except the Broncos.

In the first quarter Tebow was 4 for 13 with 37 passing yards with 7 sacks, a lost fumble and an interception. Tebow slightly overthrew Eric Deker in the end zone on the first drive. Decker caught the ball in stride, but it was too close to the back of the end zone for him to get both feet in bounds. Many other passes in the first half sailed close to receiver’s hands but just out of reach.  Tebow’s day didn’t get any better either. In the second half he fumbled the ball as he went back to pass and it was returned for a touchdown by the Detroit defense. Then as the Broncos were driving for what could have been their first touchdown of the game, Tebow threw an interception in the end zone that Detroit returned 100 yards for another score.

The Denver defense couldn’t do much to stop the high-powered Detroit offense led by Mathew Stafford. Stafford was 21 of 30 for 267 yards and three touchdowns. One play, Calvin Johnson badly beat Champ Bailey for a 56 yard touchdown reception to make the score 38-3 at the time. Earlier in the game Brian Dawkins missed his coverage on Titus Young and allowed a 41 yard touchdown reception that made Stafford look like he was playing a game of catch in the backyard, it was so easy. Even Bronco’s fans looked terrible in the game, gladly allowing Young to jump into the South Stands to celebrate.

 After the game Von Miller expressed his disappointment in how the defense played. Detroit’s defense shutout the Broncos for nine straight drives and Miller said ““We gotta replicate the same thing…we gotta have three and out, three and out, three and out.”

The fourth quarter the Broncos were able to stop Detroit’s offense, but by then the game was already out of reach and Detroit had benched most of their starters. In the fourth quarter Denver’s offense finally converted on third down and got a first down, but it was against a Detroit defense made up of mostly back-ups. The offense put together a sloppy drive to score a touchdown to come within 35 points of Detroit. Decker caught a 14 yard pass from Tebow and jumped over defenders, broke several tackles to make his way to the end zone.

“We basically got whipped. We got out coached and out played. We’ve got a lot to work on,” said Fox after the game. “We’ve got a ways to go. We’ve been good at times and today wasn’t good enough.”

Von Miller also expressed that the team as a whole did not play well against Detroit. “We just got beat. We got beat as players, coaches, trainers, equipment managers. We just got beat.”

 The only player on the team who had a decent day was the Punter, Britton Colquitt who averaged 50.4 yards between his seven punts. The whole team played poorly. Receiver’s missed some easy balls. The running game went nowhere with Moreno and Ball. The defense was confused and out-played. Orlando Franklin, on the offensive line, looked like a revolving door for Detroit’s defense. And Tebow looked like the young quarterback he is. One who struggles to pass in the pocket and has a long and awkward throwing motion, which led to his fumble.

If this game taught Bronco’s fans anything, it’s that we are still a long way from even being a mediocre team. An all-star quarterback will not solve the issues on offensive line, the running game and the defense. Tebow looked awful against Detroit, but the rest of the team looked just as bad or even worse.

By the end of the game most Broncos fans had cleared out of the stadium, leaving a rejuvenated Detroit fan base to start chanting for Brady Quinn.  Give how awful the entire team looked, it will not be a surprise if we see Quinn leading the team by Thanksgiving.

What Needs to Improve?

Tebow looked terrible, there is no denying that, and he will take the Lion’s share of the blame (pun intended). But the offensive line did nothing to help him. I discussed earlier in the season how horrible I felt the offensive line was, especially at protecting the QB. It has just gotten worse with Tebow in the game. Right Tackle, Orlando Franklin, is supposed to protect Tebow’s blind side. With the way he played the previous two games, you would think that Franklin was actually blind. Nearly every defender was able to get past his blocks and get to Tebow.

After Orton’s final start, I presented to you The New York Life Protection Index, a rating of how well the QB is protected. Going into week five against the Chargers, the Broncos were ranked #13 in the league in the NYLPI with 66.8. They have since dropped 12 spots to #25, with a dismal NYLPI score of 52.0. This score is likely to drop after the new rankings come out later this week.

In week 7 against Miami, when Tebow was sacked 7 times and hit much more, the Broncos ranked dead last in the NYLPI. The NYLPI for the Bronco’s in the Miami game was a horrendous -25.6.

Week (starting QB)	Opponent	Outcome	NYLPI Score
1 (Orton)	vs Oakland Raiders	L 20 - 23	39.8
2 (Orton)	vs Cincinnati Bengals	W 24 - 22	53.3
3 (Orton)	at Tennessee Titans	L 14 - 17	85.2
4 (Orton)	at Green Bay Packers	L 23 - 49	98.7
5 (Orton- benched in 3rd Q)	vs San Diego Chargers	L 24 - 29	66.9
7 (Tebow)	at Miami Dolphins	W 18 - 15	-25.6

I blame Orlando Franklin and Tebow’s style of play for how badly we are at protecting the QB. Franklin needs to be successful on his blocks to give Tebow time to throw the ball. Franklin may be a great run blocker, but when protecting the pass he does not know what to do. Tebow needs to release the ball quicker. He spends too much time waiting to see an open receiver. If he can throw the ball quicker, he will help his offensive line protect him.

I would like to see Tebow given more of a chance to succeed and I think if he had the right players around him he would be a good QB. Given that, if the Bronco’s do not have the opportunity to draft Stanford QB Andrew Luck, they should go with another Stanford player in the first round: Offensive Guard, David DeCastro. DeCastro is the best offensive lineman in college, and you can see how well Luck has done playing behind him. Sure, he’s not the glamorous pick in the draft. But he has potential to be a ten year all-pro guard and could solidify our offensive line for years to come.

What’s Next?

The Broncos travel to Oakland next week in an AFC West rivalry game that should be interesting. Oakland will start QB Carson Palmer for the first time this season after Palmer had a two week crash course in the Oakland playbook. Palmer looked awful in his first game in Oakland when he replaced back-up Kyle Boller. Oakland has a lot of potential to make a run at the playoffs, but their recent struggles at QB have made them look pretty inept. They will be looking to get back to their winning ways against a bad Denver team.  Look for them to rough Denver up with their offensive line and to see more sacks of Tebow from the strength of their defensive line. Next weekend might be another dismal day in Broncos Country.

Beer of the Week:


The Resinous Rye IPA brewed by The Mountain Sun has been on tap at The Southern Sun recently and is one of my go-to beers. As the name implies, it has a strong, piney taste with lots of hop. It that makes you feel like you're drinking a forest. 

Drew Litton Comic of the Week:

Congrats to the Cardinals for beating the Rangers in the World Series!

Rapids Thoughts of the Week:

The ball never bounced the Rapid’s way this week. Despite winning their wildcard playoff game against Columbus 1-0, the Rapids lost defender Jamie Smith to a torn ACL. In the first game of the semi-finals against Sporting Kansas City the Rapids then proceeded to lose Caleb Folan, Kosuke Kimura and Drew Moor to injury and Tyrone Marshall (who replaced Kimura) to a red card ejection that resulted in a penalty kick for KC. The Rapids lost 2-0 at home and now have a two goal deficit to overcome when they travel to Kansas City on Wednesday. The ‘Pids starting 11 will likely be missing more than a quarter of their regular line-up and will be playing with a much depleted back field. Things are not looking good for the Rapid’s hopes of defending the cup. The Rapids must score atleast two more goals than KC does in the match to move on to the conference finals.

In the wildcard match against the Columbus Crew the Rapids played a beautiful game. They were able to hold possession, played fantastic on defense and one of our forwards, Omar Cummings, got his first playoff goal. The goal was set up by Brian Mullan and Kosuke Kimura. Mullan passed right to Kimura in the box, and Cummings looked as if he were just loitering in front of the goal with no defenders near him. Kimura was about to cross the ball, but then spotted Cummings and got him the ball on a short pass that he then sank into the back of the net, just seconds before the end of the half.

Brian Mullan was clearly the man of the match, proving why he has 5 MLS cup rings on his fingers. He played aggressively to the ball and created many great scoring opportunities, including the goal from Cummings. Mullan appears to be at his best once the playoffs start.

“This is when the body’s banged up, but this is when you can tell everyone’s putting their heart into it,” Mullan said of the playoffs. “That just makes it more pleasurable.”

Omar Cummings celebrates his goal by "Tebowing"

With the away-portion of the Kansas City series on Wednesday, the Rapids are going to have to show that they have depth in their roster to overcome the injuries to key players. Wells Thompson, Scott Palguta and Ross LeBauex will all have to step up their play. The forwards will also have to attack much more aggressively than they have been this season. Omar Cummings, Sanna Nyassi and Macoumba Kandji will need to score at least three goals to keep the Rapid’s season alive, as they cannot afford to rely on goals from the midfielders anymore. Nyassi has had a couple great scoring chances in the playoffs, especially against Columbus but missed wide each time. He is going to have to be patient with his shots and wait for the best opportunity, and hopefully can produce another hat-trick game like earlier in the year against New York.

Thankfully, the Rapids have encountered this situation before in the season and gotten through it in the CCL against El Salvador. The ’Pids lost at home against El Salvador but came back to win the series against them on the road with a 3-1 victory in Latin America. That Rapid’s team was also playing without many of their starters and in a very hostile environment.

“We just have to move on and hopefully go back there and stick it to them,” said forward Macoumba Kandji. “It’s definitely not over. We are going to go there flying because it may be our last game of the season or we can try to get a win and move on.”

Other MLS Playoff Thoughts of the Week:

Fake Salt Lake surprised The Flounders by dominating them 3-0 at Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City. It’s too bad one of these teams has to win. I really don’t like either of them. But I guess I’ll be rooting for the Flounders to get a surprise victory over FSL by at least three points when the game goes back to Seattle.

World Series Thoughts of the Week:

The Cardinals and Rangers played in a World Series that is became one of the most exciting and intriguing championships in recent history. It had everything from record setting homeruns and RBI’s to coaching errors, to great comebacks and great starting pitching, and it all culminated in game 7. I had been hoping the series went to seven games and then went to extra innings. I didn’t quite get my wish, but game 6 sure gave a thrilling scene for extra innings.

Even Cardinal's fans got to 'Tebow'

In Game 6 the Cardinals were facing elimination in the bottom of the ninth inning, down 7-5. With two men on base, David Freese was down to his last strike. All the Rangers needed to do was throw one pitch to get him out. Instead he hit a triple deep into the outfield to tie the game 7-7. The Ranger’s were not about to give up that easily and in the top of the 10^th inning Hamilton hit a two run homerun of their own to go ahead 9-7. Surely they would be able to not let the Cardinals score in their half of the inning and go on to win their first championship? But the Rangers refused to pitch to Albert Pujols and intentionally walked him (rightfully so, after his three run homerun game that made history in game 3), to bring the tying run to the plate. As fate would have it, the Rangers were again one strike away from winning the series. But then Lance Berkman hit a monster shot into the stands. Tie game, 9-9 and the St. Louis fans were going nuts. In the 11^th inning St. Louis didn’t let the Rangers score, and in the Cardinals half of the inning David Freese again became the hero. David Freese grew up in Missouri rooting for the Cardinals and had all his boy-hood dreams come true in his at-bat in the bottom of the 11^th. He hit a homerun into straight away centerfield to win Game 6 by a score of 10-9 and kept the series alive.

St. Louis went on to win everything the next night in a game where the Rangers were essentially shutdown. A heart breaking loss for the Rangers who came so close in two different at-bats in game six. But a fantastic comeback by the Cardinals, as they had done all season long. Congratulations go out to St. Louis. This was a World Series to be remembered for a long time.

Colorado Rockies Thoughts of the Week:

The Rockies decided to take on Jason Giambi for another year and decided not to pick up Aaron Cook’s option with the club. Cook is the winning-est pitcher in Rockies History. He still may play for the Rockies next season, but at a much lower salary than the 11 million that would have been owed had the Rockies picked up his option.

The Colorado affiliate in the Arizona Fall League, The Salt River Rafters, are 15-9 with three weeks left to go. In-fielder Nolan Arenado is looking good with a .377 batting average, 5 homeruns, and 24 RBI’s. All of which are in the top three of the league. The Rockies have a lot to hope for in their young third baseman.

Avalanche Thoughts of the Week:

The Avalanche fell back to earth this week, losing two out of three games, including their first road loss to Calgary 4-2. Colorado did manage to get their first win of the season at the Pepsi Center in Denver, beating LA 3-2 in a close game. Going into the game against LA, the Avalanche held the NHL’s best road record of 6-1-0 but was the only team to not secure a point at home all season. Thankfully forward Matt Duchene, who has struggled to find his game all season, scored the winning goal.

“It was a big one. The biggest part is, it was able to be the game-winner, and give a ton of credit to all the boys for playing so well in the last minutes there,” said Duchene of his goal.

Last season Duchene had a slow start to the season as well but finished strong, he led the Avs with 27 goals scored in 2010. This season Duchene has been relegated to play on the third line, but is beginning to start showing flashes of what he is capable of with the game winning goal.

This week the Avalanche also lost at the Pepsi Center to Edmonton 3-1. Edmonton passed the Avalanche to take the lead in the Northwest division with their victory. The Avalanche are still ranked 5^th in the conference, with 14 points.

TV Thoughts of the Week:

Last spring, the end of season 4 of Chuck really disappointed me. It seemed the writers were just trying to get a new gimmic, and that they wrapped up all the story lines so fast that there was no closure. Needless to say, I didn't have high hopes for the final season of Chuck.

But the premiere of season 5 sure was a treat! Great writing and acting as you have come to expect from Chuck. Plus this episode sets up a great story line for the show, and continues it's emphasis on developing Chuck as a character, spy and husband. I'm really excited for Chuck to be back on the air, as it's one of the best shows I've ever seen!

Once Upon a Time premiered in the last few weeks and stars Jennifer Morrison (from House) as Emma Swan, the daughter of Snow White, who will break the curse the evil witch placed on all of them. The show is a fairy-tale set in the modern world with all the characters we knew growing up, like Jimmeny Cricket and Prince Charming. I was hopeful this show would be great, and two episodes into the season I think it will be. I think it has the potential to be another hit show like Lost, or a show that will give us a few great seasons like Heroes and then fizzle out from lack of plot lines.

Cheerleader Thoughts of the Week:

Many NFL Cheerleaders dressed up in costume for Halloween this week, including this cheerleader from the Tennessee Titans who dressed as a pirate: