Lurking

I’ve watched the Broncos first loss of the season three times now, mostly in fast-forward mode, and I have deemed my abilities to identify ground-breaking, earth-shattering analysis as worthless. It was a rather basic game with rather basic mistakes and rather basic results.

- Everyone on the planet understood Ray Rice was the weapon of choice, and while the Broncos held him to respectable returns, they didn’t shut him down.

You HAVE to shut him down if you want to keep the score low.

- And Denver needed to keep the score low, ‘cause the Ravens were more than happy to unleash the hounds and the put the game in Kyle Orton’s hands. The blitz came from different angles and varying positions and the Broncos failed to adjust. To be fair, it would be difficult for any NFL team to adjust considering the blitz was coming from a different area of the field on any given snap. The O-line could have had their heads on a swivel… they could have their heads on Jam Master Jay’s turntables… and they wouldn’t have picked up the blitz (and they walked away with an injured Ryan Harris to boot).

- The Broncos struggled to get any sense of offensive power going… in true preseason form. The Ravens played wise and put less emphasis on the routes going deep, they let Ed Reed improvise on the boys coming over the middle (and, at times, the boy behind center), and it worked. They regressed the Denver offense to the same timid unit we witnessed in the preseason, and an honest review might wonder why this hasn’t been a tactic used by others (this objective observer would suggest the opposition faced thus far did not have the powers at linebacker to pull it off, and I didn’t think Baltimore would either… like I said in the instant observations, I forgot Terrell Suggs was working on the other side, and he finally found the support needed from Ray Lewis to do what he can do).

- More than anything, I may have undersold Joe Flacco. I have him on every fantasy team I own but one (CTGFFL… where I had him coming out of last season and included him in a trade to get Rice, Jevan Snead, and others) and thus you would think I might have seen that coming. I would suggest his growth in terms of the mental grasp of his responsibility has been inspirational. He’s better than Matt Ryan. He’s better than Jay Cutler. He’s better than any of the quarterbacks taken in this last draft (though I still hold hope for Brian Hoyer). I have come to believe he is the best young quarterback drafted in recent memory. If you disagree I would ask you to name any other quarterback that could lead an effort ranked 10th in the league in passing offense (254 yards/game) with Derrick Mason (all of 35-years-young), Mark Clayton, and Kelley Washington as the primary targets to choose from. He is ranked 11th in the league in passer rating, but the 66% completion rate and 12 touchdowns versus five picks put him amongst the top ten.

Looking back on that trade in CTGFFL…

… it is safe to say I play the role of Ron Burgundy in that swap (I immediately regret my decision), and we are just starting to realize his potential.

And that’s really all I have to say about that.
The typical response from the vast majority of the sports-loving community followed, proclaiming the lack of trust in Denver was there all along. No one thought Denver was that good and the shock comes only from the complete dismay showcased on offense.

It is only one game, but it is one game that results in a multitude of questions.

Let’s turn to the community in search of answers and see what they have to say.

- Ted Barlett from the Mile High Report felt the entire offense was off the mark but noted lackluster decisions by Orton that won’t show in the boxscore as well as a lack of focus by Brandon Marshall and some questionable playcalling from Josh as the sources of downfall. However, he also believes some failing discipline on defense (especially in the second half) was the true problem (and we find it hard to disagree).

- ESPN’s Bill Williamson says Orton is not the lone cause of blame for the fall, but he certainly needs to take ownership and use this as a source of motivation to improve.

- J. Kenneth K from BroncoTalk.net felt the pass protection, or lack thereof, was to blame for the downfall against Baltimore, but Alphonso Smith and the special teams need to be mentioned as well.

- Jeff Legwold from the Post thinks the lack of strength showcased by the arm behind center may be of concern moving forward if the Broncos can’t adjust accordingly.

- Josh McDaniels is blaming himself.

- Mike Klis from the Post took questions from John Q. Public and found a multitude of concerns following the game.

There appears to be a common theme running through all of the reviews being offered…

Can Kyle Orton serve as the focus of this offense?

The links we offered above noted a lack of pass protection, a resulting lack of performance from Orton, and the desire to question if Orton is truly capable of doing what is necessary to endure such challenges and overcome them in the weeks ahead. The Broncos failed to keep the safeties in check by going deep and the lack of variety allowed Baltimore to take advantage.

Coming into this game we understood the power of numbers. Not only did the Broncos own a record without blemish but Orton was proving the Broncos were a passing team. Against Dallas he was 20-of-29 from the pocket for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Against New England he was 35-of-48 (those are Peyton Manning numbers) for 330 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. He was accurate again in San Diego, going 20-for-29 with 229 and two touchdowns.

Over that three-game stretch of success, Orton completed just five passes of 20 yards or more. In that surge against the Patriots his longest pass was for 27 yards… and that was Knowshon Moreno (in other words, it was a seven-yard pass with a 20-yard run).

In Ben Roethlisberger’s 363-yard burst against Tennessee in Week 1 he threw multiple passes over 20 yards to Santonio Holmes and Hines Ward. When Philip Rivers went for 463 against this same Baltimore squad in Week 2 he hit Vincent Jackson for 23.5 yards PER CATCH (Darren Sproles added an 81 yarder, Antonio Gates added a 37 yarder, Malcolm Floyd added a 45 yarder). You can go through the litany of 300-yard performances for NFL quarterbacks this season and witness, with ease, an ability to put the ball down the field.
The Broncos don’t give Kyle Orton that opportunity… and it is probably because Kyle Orton can’t.

When the success started rolling over those early wins, many focused on McDaniels review of Orton during the Jay Cutler negotiations and quotes suggesting he was convinced Orton could run his offense, and by virtue of the 6-1 record we must admit we have seen Kyle run the offense.

Now we want to know if Kyle can push the offense.

With that in mind it becomes rather difficult, at least for this writer, to suggest this team can exceed the new level of expectation birthed from the 6-0 start. In other words, I don’t believe he can (and I believe Josh knows, understands, and is attempting to work around it).

The first win brought doubt. The second win brought attention. The third win brought cautious optimism. The fourth win brought many back to a reality-based mind state (an emotion that would have served many of the Mile High faithful well prior to Game 1). The fifth win turned tempered excitement into genuine hope.

The sixth win brought joy… and that joy shoved many from one side of the spectrum to the other. Those who once yearned for the return of Jay and Mike were ready to crown Kyle and Josh as the messengers of a new era.

And those folks took a Baltimore boot to the groin… they bring ya’ up just to knock ya’ down.

The emotions coming into Game 1 were too low. The emotions coming out of Game 6 were too high. The emotion of chaos and mistrust results coming out of Game 7, and while there is a still a ton of football to be played, we believe the truth is lurking somewhere in the middle.

There is reason for hope today, but it seems more likely the true and earnest emotion of joy may not come until tomorrow… and that’s still a huge improvement over the expectations we owned before Week 1.

We’ll be coming back in on Saturday to go over the bounty of links we skipped today, as well as the Stable Buffets and preview of this week’s meeting with the defending Super Bowl champs.

Thanks for stopping by.