Who cares? Look, my OP was a listing of stats. I didn't say anything provocative at all. Objectively speaking, their D sucks. I'm sure broncos fans would agree. As for those of you who think I'm looking ahead, don't post in this tread until Wednesday. I don't care. I stand behind this thread. Their D sucks. Just look at the numbers.
Miami should know as well as anybody this season - don't underestimate the opponent before the game. Safe to say Pats, Chargers & Bills did that to us - I don't want to make the same mistake against the Donkeys
Anyone underestimating the Broncos has to be insane. With Miami's secondary versus Cutler its going to be a very long day and I see the Broncos putting up big points probably in the high 20's to low 30's. I will actually be shocked if the Fins win this game because I think it could turn out to be a shoot out and the Broncos just have a better offense than the Fins.
The big question is can Miami hang in a shootout with Denver? Because that could very well happen. I think with Denver they need to try to go back to the run game a little more. Control the clock and keep Cutler on the bench. We'll see if that works since every defense seems to prepare only to stop Ronnie and Ricky.
I think we can if we have to, but I don't think it will come to that - hopefully. I think we'll try to control the clock as long as that works w/ the run, then have Chad surgically pass of killer play action. And while Denver's offense is a threat, I think Cutler can be rattled. What better way than to send Joey after him all day. I'm now looking forward to this matchup after loathing it for weeks. I hope the Broncos that played the Patriots show up!!
Boy, with Denver coming off of a bye with the rat as a coach, this will be a real tough game for us. Denver can score and Cutler can burn our secondary. And I can't see our offense getting into a scoring battle against the Bronco's.
I'm not taking them lightly. A win on the road in the NFL is always tough. That said, it is an undisputable fact that their defense sucks!
You're probably right, but their defense is about as weak as it gets. You just know Sparano and Co. are going to try to run it about as much as they passed it yesterday. We just have to limit what Denver can do on offense. We can't let another 'Zona and Houston happen to our secondary, otherwise, it will be tough!
Completely true, and that's what's kept Denver from being an elite team this year. I mean, they lost to Kansas City!! LJ ran all over them! I see a theme coming this Sunday!
The danger with Denver is the same problem we've had all year; an excellent passing game. The remedy for this ya'll have mentioned, control the clock with the run. The key to this game is not getting behind early. If we have to abandon the run to play catch-up we could be exposed.
One who scares me a bit in this game is Brandon Marshall. Our secondary has serious trouble with big, tall, dominant receivers, see Boldin, Fitzgerald and A. Johnson. Our safeties IMO do not give enough support to the corners with these big guys and our secondary in general isn't good enough to handle these guys yet. I hope we can get pressure on Cutler.
Yes it does. It means that he's very good at self-evaluation and that's one thing that you have to be good at. Him and Andy Reid, as previously mentioned, are tremendous at that.
We just need to worry about running the ball and making it a short game. Cutler, Marshall, Stokley, Royal will get a ton of yards, but we just need to keep them out of the endzone. Also, Cutler has only been sacked TWICE this year (according to ESPN), so he has gotten the time to eat some nachos before lauching the deep ball to Marshall. Hopefully with Joey Porter coming home, (he's from Denver), he'll knock the cheese out of Cutler.
I wonder how their run game will do. Ryan Clady, the first round rookie, really impresses me and has been playing just as good as Jake Long imo. He has a strong upper body and I think uses his hands really well. I'm looking forward to see him taking on Porter. Ryan Torain is healthy and I like him as well. Big back at 6'1, 222 that can take on carries and runs hard. If they can establish any kind of run game, it will be a long day for us. Furthermore, despite last games struggle against the Patriots front seven, the Broncos line has been good this year. Prior to that game, they had only 4 sacks allowed. The Patriots blitzed heavily and it got to Cutler. I didn't see Clady give up any sacks though which was really impressive.
Clady has shut down everyone he has gone up against but the rest of the line is average. NE blitzed right up the middle and had success getting to Cutler and making him uncomfortable. Personally I think people are giving Denver too much credit overall. They have been mediocre since starting 3-1 and looks as if teams have figured out a way to slow their offense down and absolutely torch their defense.
I think the defense torches themselves lol. They have to be the least talented defense out there, up with Detroit for sure. I don't believe they are a very good team but I think that, with our flaws in the secondary, you have to give them credit because they can pass the ball downfield. Also I think a guy that doesn't get enough credit for Cutler's successful season this year is Mike Shanahan. He and Jeremy Bates, the QB coach, have done an outstanding job of building the offense around Cutler's strengths. They only ask him to read one side of the field and he excels in that. As Travis mentions in the post above mine, Cutler is a brilliant player on the rollout and one of the reasons is because of Shanahan and Bates putting him in the best position and very good play calling.
I think the only capable player they have on defense is Champ Bailey and he will be out for a month. We said it in the Pats-Broncos game thread that they run away from the ball carrier which is simply unacceptable for a NFL defense. They may be the only team I have ever seen do that. Agreed they are doing a great job with Cutler but I think defenses are starting to catch on and take away the side of the field Marshall is lined up on forcing Cutler into mistakes. A team he should have been able to torch is New England but couldn't because of NE taking away Marshall and forced Cutler into making bad throws. I just don't see this being a difficult game if Miami comes out with a good gameplan.
Possibly. He's a better OC than his father is a DC. Agree. Still can't figure out why they do that. Has to be the worst reacting skills I've ever seen. They may be. Easiest way to stop the flow of that offense is to pressure Cutler and that's what NE did as we mentioned several times. In that New England game, Cutler hit his finger on the helmet of a linemen and wasn't the same after that. Throughout that game, I saw wobbly passes from Cutler. What I am looking and hoping for from Miami is putting Jason Allen on Marshall with Will Allen on Royal and Goodman operating the slot. Then I hope we can take away their run game. If we can do that, we should have a very good chance of winning it. If we fail to stop Torain and/or Pittman in that run game, it'll be very difficult for us to win that.
You did not read what I had put down after that. What I meant was if we go out there and playhard it does not matter how hard they study game film if we go out and play hard we will be ok.
I'm with you gish. I've been over there at their site and they seem like a good bunch. I invited them over here, so they can see what good people we have here. They were very nice and respectful to me and one of them even gave me a virtual gift basket.
I wonder how many playoff games Shanahan has won in the past decade? I think 0. Since John Elway retired, I don't he has won crap.
Shanahan's a very smart coach. He hasn't had as much success as he had with Elway but I think he's a very good and smart coach and I'd take him any day. He's very good after the bye week as mentioned, he has the most wins from any Head Coach since 1995, he's the only coach to ever win 7 consecutive games in a two year period, he's set the record for the most victories in a two year period as well as a three year period. He's had very good offenses in the past. Only knock that I have on him is that he sometimes overvalues or thinks too highly of his talent on the team, which may have been the case with his defense this year. Fact is that he's a very good coach and has a good mind.
Cassel has been sacked 28 times in 7 games. Whether Denver is good at blitzing or not, EVERYONE is sacking this dude so far.
Thanks for jinxing the game. If you've learned nothing else from our own Dolphins this year, it's that any given week anything can happen and any team can win. This is not the NFL of yesterday.
I don't believe that some dude (me) in New Orleans, sitting behind a computer, will have any bearing on the outcome of the game. It is insulting to my intelligence that I can magically "jinx" this game. It is insulting to the hard work of the players that a post on a message board will cause them to lose. Of course anything can happen, and it is always hard to win games on the road and especially at Mile High. But I stand by my OP: Denver's defense, objectively speaking, SUCKS!
Please defend the Denver defense and tell me how it does not "suck". You can't. Denver fans admit their defense sucks.
There rushing defense is lacking but other then that we are on the average only 10 places higher overall. There rushing offense is a lot better then ours. Here are the stats for both sides. FOX Sports on MSN - NFL - Game Trax Dolphins-Broncos Preview The Denver Broncos had a pretty good bye week. After getting several players healthy and managing to gain some ground in the AFC West standings without playing, the first-place Broncos look to avoid a third straight loss when they host the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. Denver (4-3) returns to the field for the first time since being routed 41-7 by the New England Patriots on Oct. 20. After starting the season 3-0 while averaging 38.0 points, the Broncos have dropped three of their last four, scoring 14. Full Story
Yes we do admit it. It's the big plays that burn us every week. Never fails. We can't get a pass rush on any opposing QB but it is getting a tad better. New England embarrassed the hell out of us on National TV so I can see why you are licking your chops. We don't know what to expect this weekend. Shanny I'm sure laid it out pretty thick and oh to be a fly on the wall. Our offense needs to hang on to the ball. Fumble Fingers Andre Hall had us all very grumpy after the Patriot fiasco and the turnovers have killed us. We had a total of 4 in the first 3 games and then including the 5 on MNF, we reached a disgusting total of 15 in the last 4 games. We are currently sitting at +9 in the ratio category and this is not sitting well with the Bronco faithful.
You're probably going to hate Chad Pennington after sunday. If you cant get pressure on Chad, he will own you all day long. I'm starting to feel more optimistic about this game for the Phins.
I see Shanahan motivating the Broncos to come out with a chip on their shoulder and play with some passion, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. I do see the front 7 having some challenges with play diagnosis, and the read-and-react scheme may allow the Wildcat to flourish. Offensively, our secondary is porous and a little dinged up, so I expect to see Cutler air it out deep to Marshall on the first play of the game. We're going to rely on heavy pressure from Joey Porter and friends, and we will need our inside backers (Crowder and Ayodele) to stay in their lanes and not allow cutbacks. Should be a good game. Will tell us a lot about both teams.
