Thin Air

We’ve often talked about how great teams should be able to beat the bad teams decisively and put them away by the fourth quarter. The Broncos did that yesterday against Tampa Bay.

Last year, that wasn’t the case. The Broncos tended to let even the bad teams hang around with them, only for the defense to come through with crucial plays that gave the Broncos the win. They had to go to overtime to beat the Browns 26-23, they won a sloppy game against the Bears 17-15 and they turned the ball over too much against San Diego to close out the season with a 27-20 win. Throw in the Ravens’ game, which the Broncos won 19-13 thanks to last-second heroics by the defense and the Broncos had their issues against several teams who drafted in the top 10 this past offseason.

Things have changed this season. Tampa Bay looks like a team that may draft in the top 10 and the Broncos had the game won early in the fourth quarter, despite losing Trevor Siemian to a shoulder injury. That Paxton Lynch was able to hold the fort down is a good sign (I’ll get to that in a few minutes). The Bucs did have injury issues throughout the game, but the great teams have to capitalize on that rather than assuming they have the game in the bag.
Continue reading The Morning After: Broncos Keep Getting Better

First off, my apologies for the long delay. I was out of town this past weekend and, for privacy and security reasons, I didn’t want to inform everyone prior to leaving. I recently got married and we went to visit some family and friends on the east coast who couldn’t attend.

This game came as a complete shock to me. I had a strong feeling we would lose this game, but I am pleasantly surprised. One of the largest observations I have to say is that I think the Bengals beat themselves more than the Broncos beat them. There were two obvious interceptions that were dropped, and the Broncos got 5 first down from penalties that extended drives.

Continue reading Broncos at Bengals: The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t