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The Denver Broncos Panicked Attitude Switch Is Paying Off
Published: December 8, 2009
Two weeks ago, the Denver Broncos had the opportunity to get back on track and take the edge away from the San Diego Chargers.
Somehow the Broncos let the opportunity slip away in a game that put the Chargers at the top of the AFC West.
It also had Denver on a four-game skid with no answers in sight.
On the horizon, a short week with a game on Thanksgiving night against the New York Giants about to hit front and center.
It was at that time the Broncos needed a wake-up call.
It was time to panic, if the 2009 Denver Broncos were going to reach the AFC Playoffs.
It wasn’t that the Broncos lost to the San Diego Chargers in Denver when they could have owned the inside track to the division themselves.
It’s more the way in which they lost to San Diego.
They showed a lack of focus and the lack of a team pulse.
That was when enough became enough.
A players-only meeting was called for by Brian Dawkins.
He is a veteran who has shown that, in him, the Broncos have a gem of a player and a leader they have lacked the last few seasons.
Moreover, it’s helped to change the team’s identity on the defensive side of the ball and fueled a fire not seen there in quite some time.
It’s been debated whether or not player-only meetings are productive or helpful to the future growth of football teams.
The argument against them is they are a waste of time and really are only reserved for teams that are in trouble.
The argument for having a meeting like that is that it’s an opportunity to air out any differences and make sure the entire team has an elevated sense of what needs to happen for the remainder of the season.
In Denver’s case, both the arguments for and against a players-only meeting probably applied to the state of the team at that point.
There was a need for a meeting, and the team has since proven there is no sense in dwelling on the issues, but certainly a solid response was required.
The Broncos say they weren’t panicking, and you have to believe them, nonetheless the need for urgency was there and the panicked attitude switch absolutely came into play.
What’s encouraging to see—since the Broncos lost to San Diego—are the decisive efforts they have had as a team against the Giants and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Broncos got back to their early season style—finding ways to win.
But more than that, they found ways to dominate.
Against the New York Giants, the Denver Broncos rushed for 138 yards against one of the best front-sevens in football.
Against Kansas City, the Broncos exploded for 245 yards on the ground.
Defensively, the Broncos yielded only 57 yards on the ground to the Giants and 98 to the Chiefs.
Neither team was able to establish control against the Broncos.
This happened in part due to the offensive output and the mitigating performance by the Broncos defense.
It seems these types of efforts could not have come at a better time for a team that was hot, then got irreversibly cold.
The Denver Broncos have more than just a win against the Giants and a key win in Kansas City over the weekend.
Believe it or not, the Broncos have a two-game edge over two teams that could knock them out of the wild-card playoff slot.
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Oakland Raiders at home on Sunday, and the Baltimore Ravens lost at Green Bay on Monday Night Football.
Two weeks ago, the Broncos were on the outside looking in; now they have a two-game edge over the teams that could oust them from a postseason slot with four games remaining in the regular season.
Herein lays the Broncos payoff to their current rally cry.
They chose to hit the panic switch in the nick of time, and it’s paying off huge dividends to put them back into the playoff hunt.
Even more so, should the Broncos beat the Indianapolis Colts on their home field, it will knock the Colts from the ranks of the unbeaten while sending a message.
It will be the Broncos way of essentially serving notice to the rest of the league, that they will be ready for the postseason once it hits.
A win at Indy could prove that the Broncos are real contenders for the ultimate prize.
Additionally, and most importantly, it could put pressure on San Diego and give Denver a leg up on the division should the Chargers falter along the way.
Call them streaky.
Call them beatable.
But call them a team that is on the verge of solidifying a playoff berth.
As things currently set, the general thought is 10 wins makes a wild-card team in the AFC this year.
That means Denver needs two wins, Jacksonville three, and Pittsburgh and Baltimore must win out to reach 10 wins.
Provided the Broncos stay on edge and can win at least two games, they have a solid shot at making the playoffs.
The Ravens and Steelers play each other once more, meaning one of those teams is almost certainly out of contention—we just don’t know which one as of yet.
Jacksonville holds a slim one-game lead over those two teams but has a challenging schedule down the stretch.
Key Broncos’ Stats
The Denver Broncos had their challenges over a four-game stretch, but somehow still have the third-best defense overall and the third-best scoring defense behind the Bengals and the Colts.
The Broncos have given up an average of 16.8 points per game.
This just reinforces the idea that the defense is a solid core, despite the four losses by large margins.
The Broncos also boast the ninth-best rushing attack in the NFL.
It might not seem all that amazing until you consider that there are only two teams in the top 10 that are probable playoff teams.
The Broncos could prove to have one of the more potent rushing attacks in the playoffs, should they make it.
Currently, Broncos rookie running back Knowshon Moreno leads all NFL rookies with a 64.5 per game average rushing.
Moreno may reach the 1,000-yard mark by the end of the season, since he currently sits on 774 yards accumulated.
That is 244 yards better than the next closest rookie running back.
So while Moreno has only been over the century mark once, his contributions to the one-two punch with veteran Correll Buckhalter appear to be a solid change of pace.
This tandem is keeping the Broncos in games and starting to establish a window of dominance the team can exploit down the stretch and into the playoffs.
Moreno is currently ranked 15th and Buckhalter 29th among all NFL rushers.
It’s a different NFL nowadays, as well, with only six rushers over the 1,000 yard mark through 12 games.
The Broncos’ tandem appears to be in good shape with 1,337 total yards, which would rank them second behind Tennessee Titans‘ RB Chris Johnson’s 1,509 yards.
No other tandem is currently in that realm.
Defensively, the Broncos’ D-end Elvis Dumervil leads the NFL in sacks with 15—a full 2.5 sacks ahead of the next closest pass rusher, the Minnesota Vikings‘ Jared Allen.
Elvis has an outside shot at the all-time NFL record.
He would require two sacks per game for the remaining four games.
Given his speed, leverage, and technique, anything seems possible for a guy who once lead the NCAA in sacks.
Probably the most important stat is the final score.
While the Broncos now seem to be hitting their stride, they have to find more ways to create points.
Denver is a sub-par 21st in the NFL in average points per game at 20.
Consider the top five scoring teams: undefeated New Orleans (36.7 pts/game); Minnesota (29.9 pts/game); San Diego (28.5 pts/game); Indianapolis (27.6 pts/game); and New England (27.3 pts/game)
The Final Note
Who is the 22nd offensive team behind the Denver Broncos, you might ask?
That would be Jay Cutler and the Chicago Bears.
That telling stat shows one very clear thing about the Broncos and Jay Cutler: They were both far better together than they have been apart.
It seems that if there is one thing that has plagued the Broncos this season, it’s the lack of a legitimate threat at the quarterback position.
Whether you were a fan of the Cutler trade or not, the Broncos are 21st in scoring, when they underachieved at 16th last season.
In fact, the Broncos’ total output in 2008 finished the season second only to New Orleans in total yards.
In 2009, the team won’t even reach the top 10.
So what does all this really mean?
Well, it’s hard to break down entirely, but the Broncos have not improved on offense under Josh McDaniels.
The Broncos are still showing some deficiencies in the red zone and are not scoring as much as they did a year ago.
The Broncos had issues in the red zone last season and were supposed to correct those this season.
Ironically enough, the team appears to be working on those red zone situations in some regard against the Giants and Chiefs
and it may be possible that the best is yet to come.
Contact Chaz at sportsmangement@gmail.com
Read more Denver Broncos news on BleacherReport.com
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