I think it’s safe to say that, after last night, neither Broncos nor Lions fans have much good to say about referee Jeff Triplette and his crew. Thankfully, we have an objective metric for this crew’s struggles–it had four calls on the field overturned.
So since this is a current hot topic here, I thought I’d open the floor broader. Are there any officials you particularly like or dislike?
A positive sign from last night’s Broncos-Lions game is that Pro Football Focus graded Peyton Manning positively for the first time this season.
— Only Matthew Stafford entered this weekend’s games with a lower PFF grade among quarterbacks than Peyton Manning (+2.4). But, after recording his first positive grade since Week 17 last season Manning’s 2015 finally has some positive momentum. Manning was in control of his intermediate passing (6 of 8 for 73 yards, 1 TD, +3.2 PFF passing grade) and was the beneficiary of his receivers winning on jump balls against Darius Slay (-3.2) to boost his deep passing numbers (2 of 2 for 79 yards, 1 TD, -0.1 PFF passing grade).
Ryan Harris also graded positively (+1.8).
The defense, of course, had a great showing, but the one who made the biggest mark, as measured by PFF, was Von Miller (+6.4). Remember, things like QB pressure and hits don’t show up in the box scores, but Miller had plenty of both.
Talk about the Broncos-Lions game here. Latest injury reports:
* Broncos CB Kayvon Webster has been ruled out with an ankle injury. DE Kenny Anunike and CB/S Omar Bolden are questionable. It’s likely CB Lorenzo Doss will be active and chances are S Josh Bush will be as well if Bolden can’t play.
* Lions TE Brandon Pettigrew has been ruled out and DE DeAndre Levy is doubtful, but is not expected to play because of a hip injury.
Talk about games other than Broncos-Lions here.
Pro Football Focus talks about the teams that started the season 0-2 and whether or not it’s time for those teams to worry about their playoff fates.
Briefly commenting on PFF’s stances:
Continue reading PFF: Panic Levels For 0-2 Teams
Nicki Jhabvala shared the Broncos injury report for Wednesday. It’s worth noting that Lerentee McCray was a full participant in practice.
Broncos' and Lions' practice reports for Wednesday. pic.twitter.com/WwuAPVd6zL
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) September 23, 2015
What makes that interesting is, with McCray healthy, it will force the Broncos into a tough decision about who to release when Derek Wolfe returns from suspension.
Kenny Anunike was a limited participant and showed promise in the preseason. It may be tough for the Broncos to slip him through waivers onto the practice squad, should the Broncos attempt that route when Wolfe returns.
Of course, the Broncos could make a different roster move. Assuming the Broncos don’t lose anyone to injury or suspension when Wolfe returns, you have to wonder how secure the roster spots are for Lorenzo Doss, Shelley Smith and Josh Bush.
Since it’s a slow day at work this afternoon, I figured I’d toss out some tidbits that may be getting overlooked in our discussions about Peyton Manning, the offensive line, what offense to run and how well the defense has played.
Later in the season, we’ll start seeing the advanced NFL metrics and power rankings some people put together. I used to take those rankings and average them to get a clearer picture of how teams might actually rank, because the advanced metrics often depend on what the person doing them is considering. Whether or not I do that again remains to be seen.
But here are a few numbers worth considering from the Broncos’ first two games, some which are a good sign and some which indicate areas in which the Broncos need improvement that may not have been obvious upon first glance.
Continue reading Broncos Stats You Might Not Have Noticed
Charles Pierce’s column about Peyton Manning is worth considering because of the reasons why he believes Peyton should hang it up — for his health’s sake.
Right now, his fingertips are numb and he can’t get out of anyone’s way on the field. Peyton Manning is gambling against fearsome odds, and he’s using his future for chips as certainly as his brother Cooper would have done if he’d continued to suit up for the Rebels. He is not the “exception that proves the rule,” which is good, because there aren’t any.
As the Broncos prepare to face Detroit this Sunday, the question everyone seems to be asking is whether or not it’s best for the Broncos to go back to the offense Peyton Manning usually runs or stick with the offense Gary Kubiak wants to implement.
I wrote last week that I believe Kubiak’s intent is to not rely too heavily on Peyton. That was an issue last season even before Peyton got hurt, because the Broncos couldn’t run the ball well, and as we’ll recall, the biggest issue was the offensive line. The biggest culprits that season were Chris Clark (who wasn’t comfortable at right tackle) and Manny Ramirez (who was good in 2013 but rapidly regressed in 2014). There were a few issues with the running backs (Ronnie Hillman hadn’t yet hit his stride and time has told us about Montee Ball’s issues) but the primary problem was the offensive line.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: Lions Game Good Chance To Get Offense Going
The Detroit Lions quarterback was brutalized by the Vikings defense in a 26-16 loss, and underwent X-rays at TCF Bank Stadium after the game. A day later, coach Jim Caldwell is declining to say whether anything’s broken.
[…]
When asked whether he would play Sunday night against Denver, Caldwell said: “We’ll see. Like I said, he’s very, very sore. There’s no question about that. He was hit far too many times.”
Meinke notes that “far too many times” translated into one sack, eight official hits and two unofficial ones. Given the play of the Broncos’ pass rush so far, Stafford could be in for another rough outing even if he does play. Something to certainly keep an eye on.