Category: Gut Reactions

Let’s get one thing out of the way first, Broncos fans. The Philadelphia Eagles are the best team in the NFC. They just might be the best team in the NFL. They, in some ways, remind me of the 2012 Denver Broncos, in that they have quality players at every position, good depth and few weaknesses.

That doesn’t excuse the poor play by the Broncos today, though.

On one hand, we knew that switching to Brock Osweiler wasn’t the solution by itself. On the other hand, the areas in which the Broncos have executed well this season were terrible.

If you were one of those believe that the defense was hinting that the offense needed a change at quarterback, well, they got it. Then the defense turned around and stunk up the joint. Thanks a lot, guys.

And while we knew that the Eagles were good at stopping the run, there was more than one occasion in which the Broncos run blocking was pathetic — and it seemed to always happen when the Broncos had terrible field position. It’s one thing if good Ds stop your backs from two-yard gains; it’s another when you let guys penetrate into the backfield, something the Broncos didn’t allow to happen against other teams with good run defenses.

Okay, so maybe I’m talking about too many negatives, right? Well, let’s get to a few positives first and then I’ll go into some other negatives.
Continue reading Gut Reaction: Broncos Fall Down, Can’t Get Up, Film At 11

I know many of you folks here aren’t going to like what I’m here to tell you tonight.

But after watching the Broncos turn in a miserable performance against a Giants team that they were supposed to walk away with a victory over, it’s time to point out where the real problems are with the team.

No, it’s not that the defense has been proven to be a farce (though there were issues tonight). It’s not that the Broncos are snake bitten at the right tackle position (though it’s far from being solved). And it’s not that the Broncos don’t have an explosive playmaker at tight end (though they could use an upgrade — perhaps a healthy Jake Butt can be that guy?)

It starts with the real culprit for tonight’s struggles on offense and that’s the quarterback, Trevor Siemian.
Continue reading Gut Reaction: Denver, We Have A Problem

So what did we and the Denver Broncos learn about themselves and their opponent today? Plenty of things, as it turns out.

For starters, the Bills are not tanking. Furthermore, the Bills defense isn’t Marcel Dareus and a bunch of nobodies — if anything, quite a few players rank higher than Dareus in terms of their importance to the Bills D. Also, we saw that Rick Dennison can do some good things with his offense when he has personnel that are better fits for his schemes.

As for the Broncos, we found out that Trevor Siemian still has plenty to learn as a quarterback, that we shouldn’t focus solely on right tackle when it comes to pass protection, that Justin Simmons has plenty of room for improvement and that Chris Harris isn’t immune to a subpar outing (hey, he’s only human).

And while it’s easy to grumble about bad calls by the referees, they really aren’t the reason why the Broncos lost today. They still had plenty of things they could control and didn’t do it enough.

Let’s go over the key points about today’s game.
Continue reading Gut Reaction: Lessons To Be Learned

The Cowboys scored 17 points. They were down to three defensive backs, with others either inactive or injured. The Broncos turned the ball over twice. Von Miller had too many offsides penalties.

And, yeah, that’s about all the excuses Cowboys fans can make to cover up the fact that the Denver Broncos just flat out kicked the Cowboys’ butts.

Sure, it wasn’t a perfect game for the Broncos and we can point to a few concerns or deficiencies. But let’s face the facts: The Broncos faced one of the best teams in the NFL and never let that team dictate the pace.

It’s still early in the season, but one thing is certain: This Broncos team is going to make things tough for every opponent on the schedule. Anyone who was quick to write off the Broncos before the season began needs to rethink that assessment.

This wasn’t a pushover the Broncos took to the woodshed. This was a legitimate playoff contender.

Let’s review what we know from today’s game.
Continue reading Gut Reaction: Broncos Take Cowboys To The Woodshed

I’ll bet you Bronco fans thought the final cutdown to 53 players was going to be a ho-hum affair, didn’t you?

Seriously, we did know that a couple of moves might be made that weren’t going to be popular, but the one that likely has all of your heads spinning is the one that nobody talked about earlier this week.

So let’s sort out of everything that’s gone down thus far as it pertains to the Broncos 53-man roster, starting out with the expected move that nobody could have ever thought possible.

As you should know by now, these thoughts are mine and mine alone.
Continue reading Gut Reaction: Something Happen Today?

As always, the first day of NFL free agent frenzy has no shortage of attention-getting headlines, big-ticket signings and unexpected turn of events. The Broncos are no exception, even if some of the moves that impacted them to some degree resulted in disappointment.

So let’s go over a few topics as they pertain to either the Broncos or other teams and what we can expect as free agent frenzy settles down and the second wave of free agency approaches.
Continue reading Gut Reactions: Free Agent Frenzy