SB Nation User Blog: sadaraine

Thanks Baltimore Fans!

sadaraine — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 06:06:36 -0000

I have much respect for your football team and your bloggers after this week! Thanks for the cross-blogging and congratulations on your win! Your team was dominant this week and I hope the Broncos use this to address the weaknesses that have been exploited by the Ravens. Hopefully we can take some aggression out on Pittsburgh next week to help right the ship and get you guys in better shape for your division. Cheers and respect!

Appreciate Your Offensive Line

sadaraine — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:28:29 -0000

Just wanted to share some quick observations with my fellow brethren in Bronco Country. Make sure you remember to be thankful to your offensive line. We have supreme talent with our guys protecting Orton and opening holes for our running game...enough can not be said about it.

Where does this come from? Well I watched the Monday night game off and on and saw THE perfect example of an offensive line playing poorly. For those of you who aren't big on line play, I encourage you to go watch some footage from the game Monday and watch what happens to the line play after play. Philadelphia divided and conquered on almost EVERY play. It was sickening. Philly was blazing around both sides of the line, spreading out the linemen, and then collapsing the pocket from multiple directions.

I actually feel very badly for Campbell. No one knows how good he really is because the dude can't even get 3 seconds to complete a friggin pass. No...seriously Campbell: If you are reading this, GET OUT OF WASHINGTON NOW!!!

So here's to you guys up front (including back-ups):

Keep doing what you do guys! We truly appreciate how you make our offense work!!!

Sadaraine's Crystal Ball

sadaraine — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:28:38 -0000

We've got great people here posting every week about keys to the upcoming games and some conjecture about what is going to go on. I'd like to toss my two cents in and make a complete fool of myself for all of you as I'm sure you'll enjoy it come next week. Some of you may be familiar with my post-game wrap-ups. I like to give opinions on all three phases of our team and I'll use that sort of slant in this as well.

Keys to the Game from the Broncos Perspective:

Offense (aka...when we have the ball):

Mix it up - I don't see McDaniels coming out in a straight-jacket so I doubt this will be a problem. For the record, I don't think the holes we dig in the first half of games are play-calling related. I believe they are execution.
Exploit the San Diego secondary - Looking at this group, I really have high doubts that they can cover our WRs...if Orton can be semi-accurate in his short and medium throws the game will get ugly.
Run Run Run the rock - Again, this defense looks soft to me. Merriman can run his juiced-up yapper all he wants, but this defense isn't scaring me in the least...I was more worried about Dallas to be honest with you. If we get the running game going, I really think it will open up the play-action passes...see above.
Neckbeard, where art thou? -- Kyle needs to sport the fuzz. I mean really already...I've seen him growing it out slowly but surely and its time is due.

Defense (aka when they have the ball):

Sack Rivers like a dollar store bagger at the check-out line - After what I would call a lack-luster performance from our D-Line last week (credit to the solid O-Line of NE), we need to chew on Rivers like a dog-toy. If we don't, I fear we may be holding our breath for many long-balls.
Contain Sproles - This kid is lightning in a bottle. If we don't contain him in the first two levels of defense, he will get some big runs on us due to his quickness. A run blitz by Dawkins may be just what the doctor ordered to shut this down quickly.

Special Teams (a sort of transitional phase if you will):

Contain Sproles - This kid is lightning in a bottle. If we don't contain him in the first two waves of ST coverage, he will get some big returns on us due to his quickness. (See a trend here?)
Find someone who can return the friggin ball - Seriously guys...can we get out to the 30 just a couple times please?

Prediction: Denver 45 San Diego 10

San Diego is getting a real wake-up call this week. I honestly think we win big. Our offense is getting better and better every week and the defense is shutting people down consistently.

Surprise Performance: Lamont Jordan Peyton Hillis

5 runs for 50 yards, 2 TD 3 catches for 40 yards

Yeah, many people would think this would be a line for Hillis, but I don't think he is out of the dog-house yet. I think Lamont is going to be playing late in the game and making some noise of his own. (Warning: This prediction is totally out of my lower extremity and I highly doubt it will be accurate...)

Someone pointed out below that Lamont was out a bit and may not play. In case that is the case, this prediction defaults to Hillis. (Either way if our 3rd string has a decent game, I look like a genius!)

Sadaraine's Thoughts - Being in the Game

sadaraine — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:51:23 -0000

Here's just my running observations of the game. If you have't noticed yet, I'll be doing this every week after our games to wrap up my thoughts on our team and give some insight to some of the things I catch when I watch the game. I hope you cats enjoy this type of stuff, as I enjoy putting it down for us to discuss.

What I like about this year's Broncos:

Here's what I LOVE about this team. We are in the game. I don't care what happens to us going forward even if we do play a rotten game and get blown out. Every week, I KNOW that we CAN win. Last year I never felt secure in what the team was doing because our defense looked so bad and when things got bad it ended up making our offense look bad too. Last year you spot the Patriots 10 points in the first quarter and I already am ready to throw in the towel as I wait for Cutler to push too hard and throw a pick.

I still felt pressured yesterday because I KNEW we couldn't let NE get too far ahead of us. But it seems like every game we come out sloppy and our team starts "seeing" the game better as the day goes on. Then the defense starts taking things away from the opposing offense...then the offense starts finding yards here and there that work against the defenses being played against us. It makes for a very fun game to watch.

By third quarter I knew we were competing for real with the Pats. At that point on, I would have been okay with losing because I knew our team was leaving it all out on the field. Even if NE goes on to score 3 TDs in the 4th, I would have been proud. :)

Offense:

Let's start with a glaring weakness I'm seeing with this year's offense: Short yardage. I am VERY concerned about our lack of ability to pick up one yard here or there. McDaniels needs to spend some time finding something that works (QB sneak anyone??? That is almost always good for a yard). If this doesn't get fixed, we will lose a game because of it this year.
Brandon Marshall is just plain sick and wrong. I can NEVER get enough of that guy making the CBs covering him look like 4-year-olds trying to get their candy back from a 16 year old bully.
Eddie Royal hasn't gone anywhere guys...I think he was just waiting for Orton to have more control over his passes to be able to get him involved more.
Eddie Royal is week in and week out getting taken to the cleaners by the refs. I've seen at LEAST one pass interference / illegal contact on him each week so far and the refs are right there and not calling it. It is getting old REALLY fast.
Opponents in the last half of our schedule had better start worrying about Moreno. He's just getting better EVERY week. This kid is going to break a long TD soon if we stay committed to the run.
I love me some Daniel Graham. Clone this guy and give me two more for a 3 TE set and I will make a defense's head spin. He blocks like a truck, has soft hands, runs good routes, and is too big for LBs / DBs to cover in the short game. Love it.

Special Teams:

The Punt Return group needs to get their crap together. They obviously FELL APART in the second half with the penalties for 1st downs and the defense BAILED them out twice against one of the best quarterbacks of this age. This is unacceptable, dumb football. You have to KNOW what the distance is and what a reasonable risk is. Anyone else notice for the rest of the game they didn't really try to pressure the punter at all? McDaniels is going to have plenty of rear-end to chew with this group and they deserve it.
Our kick-offs were pathetic yesterday. NE's punter made us look like chumps...we have altitude, etc...those should be reaching the end-zone or out of the back EVERY time. CMON Man!
Prater misses a 48 yard FG at home...I know it is a semi-tough kick, but it wasn't even close. There was no gusting to excuse it this time...he just missed.
That being said, Mad props to Prater for kicking his first game-winning FG. I told him (via my TV of course) that it was time to "DO YOUR JOB" right before he kicked. Good start kid...keep it up.

Defense:

This is what I am talking about. This defense is tough and smart. They were superheroes in the second half shutting down the NE offense. Great great asset to the team vs last year being a liability.
Pass rush, where art thou??? The thing that truly amazed me about our defense was the lack of pressure we were getting on Brady all day long. He had time to bake a cake and put candles on it back there. Good thing his arm was a little off today for at least a couple of those throws.
Other than two throws that we all saw would have been easy TDs, the D did a GREAT job forcing the NE passing game into short throws that were difficult to complete / make good yards on.
I was amazed that they didn't have Bailey shadow Moss.

After playing the Cowboys and the Patriots the last two weeks, I am PUMPED to see this team go play the Chargers in what is a "must-win" for THEM! This season is far, far from over, but we are in a superb position to compete with the big dogs this year.

If learn to be on our "A" game off the bat in the 1st quarter instead of having to warm up every week teams are REALLY not going to want to be playing us because we absolutely will put people away with this type of ball-control offense / hard-hitting stingy defense. (The flip side being that our slow starts are going to bite us in the rear if we can't figure out how to play better)

Let me close out my post with this VERY scary thought:

This team is nowhere near its potential

Glad for the win, but much respect for New England

sadaraine — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 06:39:52 -0000

So I just wanted to thank you guys for the back-and-forth this week. It has been a real joy to cross-blog with your fans. I was planning on making a post whether we won or lost, so this definitely isn't a trash-talk cause we won type thing. Good luck to your team the rest of the season.

I feel like the Broncos were very fortunate to pull this win out. They've been playing this kind of ball all year and if they don't straighten it out, we are going to lose because of their poor play at the beginning of the games. It is like we are still playing pre-season ball in the first quarter, then they start putting stuff together. I am thankful for the adjustments and how the defense plays super tough in the 2nd half of games, but man!

NE defense: I really thought you guys did a good job stopping the run in the 2nd half. We were able to get some timely gains here and there, but it looked to me like NE forced us to go to the passing game. Orton really had to work in the passing game too...for all the trash people sling at him for being a mediocre quarterback, he sure was placing the ball well today and in some very tight spots. Your pass defense I felt was superb on several plays where Orton just threw a pass to the perfect spot where only his WR could realisticly get it.

NE Offense: This is where I think Denver got really REALLY lucky. Brady missed bad on two throws that would have been easy EASY touchdowns. If he makes either of those passes (one to Moss on a deep post and one to Welker on a deep crossing route), we lose. No way was Denver going to be able to make up that many points against your defense. Also, I thought our defense did an outstanding job keeping NE from making 1st downs after our Special Teams got the two penalties towards the end (showing just how "special" they could be). I really thought Brady was going to go right down the field and at least get a FG putting the game out of reach.

Well played and again, thanks and good luck!

Props from a Bronco fan

sadaraine — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:17:25 -0000

Hey, I've been hating the 'boyz forever. As a Bronco fan, some look at me like I grew a 2nd head when I say that I dislike the Cowboys as much as I hate the raiders. But I've been more than impressed with the class a bunch of you have shown after the game yesterday posting on MileHighReport.com and I wanted to give back to some classy football fans.

First off, don't throw in the towel yet...your team is UBER talented. If your coaching can get straightened out you can still be a force in this season.

I have a man-crush on Marion Barber. That guys is an absolute beast of a running back.
Your O-Line is just plain sick! We got 5 sacks on you because of scheme and play-calling...they held the trenches very well.
Witten was being taken out of the game by scheme as well from what I could see. We regularly had a guy manned on him with safety help. That was a damn smart move by Nolan.

I think the Cowboys need some changes at the coaching level and I foresee a certain former Bronco coach in white and blue next year (if Jerry Jones knows what is good for the team anyway).

Romo can throw the ball very well, but needs to be taught how to make better reads and quick decision-making (he was an absolute fool for throwing at Champ twice at the end of the game)

As much as I am in disbelief of me saying it...Good luck with the rest of your year. You guys have some classy fans and a solid team. That was a superbly played game by both sides and I'm proud of the job our guys did to win the game. This game doesn't reflect poorly on your team...Denver is a good team with a defense that is laying the wood every week.

Sadaraine's Thoughts on the Game

sadaraine — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 05:51:59 -0000

First off, how do you like 4 - 0 Bronco fans!? That was the greatest ending of a game I've seen in a long long time. The offense (Beast) comes up big and then our Defense shows everyone why they are the best in the league right now (sorry, but scoring is much more important than yards, so if any of you want to be nit-picky and point out that I'm technically wrong you now know why you can bite). Now for more pleasant thoughts and some insights to game 4 of our season, check me after the jump.

Special Teams: (yeah, let's start with the un-sung heroes)

These guys are still going solid...you don't really notice them that much and that is a Good Thing (tm)
Prater is kicking off out of his mind at home (which is what we should expect for a leg like his)...splitting the uprights on a kick-off!? That was crazy!
Kern is punting some bombs that are hanging great. If he doesn't kick them that way, our guys can't cover as well.
One return was blocked sloppy and they got to eat up a bunch of free yards on us, but the team did good getting angles to cut off the run back

Defense:

Let me point out right now that our Linebackers are the key to this defense. Our linemen are chewing up blockers well, but without superb line-backer play this defense DOES NOT WORK. I'm no coach, but I bet a dime to a dollar that HT will back me up on this.
Dumerville (in case you didn't already know), is pretty friggin good. DOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
I can't put my finger on it, but I was feeling uneasy about our D-Line getting pushed around. Now part of me doesn't think that is a big deal (the Cowboys O-Line is really REALLY good), but we didn't seem to do enough pushing the line back
There is a friggin reason people haven't thrown Bailey's side of the field for years...I know that teams will keep testing him every year, but I sure love yelling "YOU CAN'T THROW AT BAILEY" at my TV when they do! 2/3 of the Earth is covered by water...the other 1/3 is covered by Champ Bailey!
Enough can NOT be said of our run D this game...the Cowboys have a grade A running game and we straight up shut it down! Even with Jones being out, Choice and Barber are two superbly talented backs that I would LOVE to see in Orange and Blue. We played them very VERY well.
That Dawkins train wreck was just plain SICK! I think I could have ran through a wall after he made that play! It needs to be said that plays like that enliven the rest of the team and the emotional impact showed with how we played from then on.the key
Dawkins saved the TD on that big 4th down pass from Romo to Hurd at the end -- they will be showing that play for many MANY defensive backs as an example of how to take an angle on a runner.

Offense:

Orton's lack of accuracy in the 1st half worries me, but until his hand is healed and that glove is off, I'm withholding a negative judgement...he is winning us games and I am loving the 0 turnovers.
The running game was solid and a bit under-used to my taste. Dallas never scared me with how they played the run and I think we could have done a bit better with more runs.
Daniel Graham needs some special props today...he was making plays in the passing game, blocking Ware solo, blocking for B. Marsh on the last play...the man is a football player and I love the guy to death. I'd take him over Tony Gonzales, Witten, or Gates every day of the week all day long.
This offense is still very young...they are going to be SUPER scary when they get a better feel for each other in the passing game. Right now, the short stuff is dialed in, but the medium and long stuff still needs some work. For those of you knocking Orton, give him time to heal and some more weeks practicing with his receivers.
Love seeing Moreno keep plugging after the fumble (which was stupid by the way...he will be called out when they review film on how NOT to switch hands in traffic...that fumble should never happen in the NFL). This guy is gong to be good for a long time.
Brandon's TD was just sick and wrong. He made those D-Backs look like foolish children. Super play from a very talented receiver...loved seeing him hug McDaniels in the presser afterwords.

Refs:

I don't like to beat on these guys usually because it homerish and so easy sometimes, but seriously!? There were 2 plays today that Royal was hit early very clearly and they didn't call it. Pathetic. Also...the PI on Scheffler was absolutley redonkulous. Some other people spotted it as well, but there were three times that they spotted the ball a yard in Dallas' favor (2 when we had the ball, 1 that they had it) that I saw. It was absolutely horrid performance for the striped ones this game. I sure hope our team sends in some review footage for the league to look at on these guys.

To the referee's credit, our guys played very sloppy football. They earned a heck of a lot of penalties (Hillis for instance...stupid STUPID block in the back on ST) that will cost them games if they keep doing it.

So what did you guys think? Add your thoughts, counter-points, etc below. Let's talk some Broncos!

Broncos winning the "easy" games

sadaraine — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:26:19 -0000

After watching us absolutely own the faders this week I was watching the news when I caught a locker-room interview with Kyle Orton that struck a nerve. Read on after the jump and see if it strikes a nerve with you as well as I give my thoughts on this year's Broncos to date and some thoughts from our first 3 weeks.

Question (as well as I can remember it): So what do you guys think of the tough part of the schedule coming up now that you've been through some easy games?

Kyle Orton Answer: I don't know...I've never played an "easy" NFL game...and I've played in a lot of games in the NFL. None of them have been "easy".

I personnally love this answer. #1: it was totally off the cuff. Orton didn't think about it at all, he just responded. #2: It points out something most people who watch the NFL don't get and maybe never will...this is a professional football league. It doesn't matter which team you play -- EVERY team is a challenge EVERY week.

So many people are wrapped up in how difficult the middle of our scheudle is and how "easy" the first three games looked. I am even guilty of this to some extent...but we are winning games and that is what matters. Our team is executing our game plans (and we actually friggin have a game plan on defense!!! WOOO HOOOO!!!).

Now that we've had 3 weeks under our belts of seeing what our team is going to do, let me give you some thoughts about our Denver Broncos:

Offense:

As I commented elsewhere, I think the only thing I would like to see will be how Orton responds when the game is all on him. I think Baltimore will be that test for us. If there is any team that can shut down our running game, it will be the Ravens. I want to see how Orton handles it when the game is on his arm...not to say he needs to sling the ball 40 yards+, but does he confidently lead us and make quick, smart reads to find the open guy.
Knowshon and Buckhalter are looking better every week. These guys are moving us forward, picking up yards after being hit, breaking long runs through the big holes our line are creating, and being tough Broncos running backs. LOVE IT
I'm a Hillis fan, but he isn't looking good when he gets a carry from the backfield so far this year. I would like to see him used more in the passing game, but I'm okay with him being our 3rd back the rest of the season and not getting even 30 carries this year.
Marshall is going to be the key to opening up our passing game in the next three weeks. We saw a glimpse this week of what he can do in this offense. Teams are going to have to start doubling him now that he is getting the system down and making plays.
Royal is going to be bigger, but probably not 1000 yards or 100 catches this year. Marshall getting attention will get Royal out of his funk (right now teams are doubling him in the passing game). With how many weapons we have and how smart Orton is, I don't see Royal getting tons of catches. I like Stokely to get a 100 catches before Marshall or Royal if he gets healthy actually.
Our Offensive Line ROCKS! I know most people don't get this kind of thing, but these guys are going to make us a solid threat on offense for years to come...pass protection, opening lanes in the running game...these guys play solid every week.

Special Teams

We don't have a superb return game...if anything dissapoints me about our team this year this is it. We never see good angles to get an idea of what is happening downfield, but we just don't seem to be able to protect our returner very well and give him much to work with.
Conversely our coverage has been superb! This is a welcome change from last year. Even when we kicked to Cribbs against Cleveland (which is nuts) we were there and swarming him right away. Great improvements have been made here by the coaching staff and the new players we have participating in Special Teams.

Defense

WOW...I knew with what moves McDaniels was making (hiring Nolan, free agents he brought in, etc) that we had the POTENTIAL for really cool stuff on D. But these guys have made a dramatic turn around for our team in a VERY short amount of time.
Nolan should get Coordinater of the year award even if we go .500 the rest of the season just for being able to field this in the span of one off season.
We may get beat a few times in the next month, but it is NOT going to be easy to score on this defense. These guys are making teams earn every yard. We haven't had big plays kill us like we had all the time last year. I'd love to see what this defense can do against New Orleans honestly...but I'll settle for the cowgirls.
Doom is finally being used properly. He can play line, but he doesn't have what it takes to be a run-stopper in a 4 - 3. That just doesn't work. His size is PERFECT for an OLB in a 3 - 4 though and it is showing. He will overshadow Merriman within 3 years if he stays healthy for sure. It is very scary that he is getting better and has more to learn as a LB.
Veteran DBs make QBs pay for bad mistakes. I love the upgrades in 3 of our 4 starting DBs. Champ is the man and now has a cast back there that compliments him perfectly.
These guys aren't an afterthought anymore. They are one of the primary reasons we are winning games. I love it...run the ball on offense and clobber people on defense.
We are going to have more turnovers after 6 games this year than we had all of last year.

What do you guys think? Discuss!!! Give me your thoughts and call me out on any BS you notice.

Perspective on the INT

sadaraine — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:02:30 -0000

UGH! I started today thinking maybe I should avoid MHR, sportscenter, etc. as I feared everyone would be making a big deal out of Orton's INT. And here we are. Here's some perspective for everyoone about Orton's poor lefty throw and a few thoughts I had after watching the game.

In a real game, we would never get to 4th down.
1. We were at the 1. What bone-head doesn't pound the ball there??? Is there anyone in their right mind that wouldn't put in Hillis and bowl some fool over with the power running game?
2. Even if we couldn't punch it in, you take the 3 points in the regular season. The only reason we went for it was to evaluate and give some specific situational practice to our guys.
Orton has to throw with his left...he had a guy grabbing his right.
1. During the broadcast and after people keep making a big deal of him getting fancy with his left hand. Well...he was trying to make a play and the only option left was for him to throw with his left. Go watch the replay.
Orton looked just fine all game.
1. Look at the rest of the game. Orton had a great handle on the offense and was doing a great job. His decision making was well above-average all game...why would he all of a sudden make such a poor decision? Maybe because it is the preseason and it doesn't matter.

Thoughts on the game:

Gaffney looks like he would be a very good possession receiver. Hear that Marshall? You ARE replaceable. (Don't get me wrong, the Beast is a superb talent, but this sissy game he is playing isn't cool)
If you like watching line play, you have to have a man-crush on our offensive line (1st string only). They dominate.
Lamont Jordan has some sparks, but as a fan of his, I'm definitely seeing what you guys have said about him being slow to the LOS and lack of power.
This defense is going to be really dangerous once they get comfortable. I saw some great flashes at every level this game.
Even though I can tell they aren't totally comfortable, at least they look like a decent defense instead of a push-over d like we had last year.
I hope Simms is okay cause it puts us in serious trouble if we have to find another back-up.

Perspective on Orton's Abilities and Our New Offense

sadaraine — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:52:16 -0000

After all the recent dissection of Orton's abilities and progress through training camp by both the MSM and fans in general, I thought it might be beneficial to share with you all my perspective on Orton and the direction of our new offense.

Everyone knows how hard this fan base is on our Quarterbacks. Everyone else wants to know how we are going to do with our "Cutler for Orton" trade.

Let me say this is all just silly talk. Here's my point of view and what I'd like everyone to take a minute to think about:

The offense we are implementing is one of the most complicated in the game today. It is complex and difficult to grasp. It requires many things of its Quarterback: timing, reading the defense, decision-making, and quick-thinking. Notice that no where in the list do I mention "strong arm" or "ability to scramble".

Kyle Orton is in his first year of learning this system. He is TRAINING right now so that when game day comes, he is able to run the offense and put some points on the board. He doesn't have a super strong arm. He does have experience in a spread out offense that requires decision making and has shown the ability to throw a check-down when nothing is there.

Add to this information what we know about Josh McDaniels style:

He puts extreme value on versatility in players
Every game plan he creates is custom-tailored for the opponent
He stresses TEAM over PLAYER and shows through his actions that he really means it

I venture to say that THE most important factor of how well Kyle Orton will be as our starting QB is what is his football IQ and how well has he learned the system. McDaniels isn't going to call plays that don't take advantage of our strengths and/or our opponent's weaknesses.

It isn't about how strong Orton's arm is...it is all about what kind of weapon Kyle Orton is capable of being. He may not be a broadsword, but I'll be a very VERY happy man if he turns out to be a Swiss Army Knife. Orton may not personally do the major damage, but McDaniels(Guyver) wouldn't be able to build the right kind of contraption to get us through our mission without a quarterback like him.

SB Nation User Blog: sadaraine

Thanks Baltimore Fans!

Appreciate Your Offensive Line

Casey Wiegmann

Tyler Polumbus

Seth Olsen

Chris Kuper

Russ Hochstein

Ryan Harris

Ben Hamilton

Daniel Graham

Richard Quinn

Tony Scheffler

Brandon Gorin

Ryan Clady

Sadaraine's Crystal Ball

Keys to the Game from the Broncos Perspective:

Offense (aka...when we have the ball):

Defense (aka when they have the ball):

Special Teams (a sort of transitional phase if you will):

Prediction: Denver 45 San Diego 10

Surprise Performance: Lamont Jordan Peyton Hillis

Sadaraine's Thoughts - Being in the Game

Glad for the win, but much respect for New England

Props from a Bronco fan

Sadaraine's Thoughts on the Game

Broncos winning the "easy" games

Perspective on the INT

Perspective on Orton's Abilities and Our New Offense