Yeah, okay, they lost this week. To the Colts, who, as any Broncos fan knows, have come to be the PeytonManning-faced monkey on our back over the last few seasons. Since when? Well, probably since that ignominious moment when Marvin Harrison scored in the '03 playoffs because none of the 4 or 5 Broncos defenders around him thought to touch him after he went down--on, oh, about the Broncos 30 yard-line--and he played possum and then slowly got to his feet and then was suddenly running to the end-zone all alone. 'Twas a collective brain-fart of a highly embarassing (and costly) nature.
So yeah, sigh, we lost to the Colts, again. But, it wasn't really a mountain I expected this Broncos team to be able to climb; as such, I was able to see a lot of positive things, overall, that make me cautiously optimistic about this team going forward.
Phil Simms, working the booth for the broadcast, related a conversation he'd had with Josh McDaniels about how, exactly, you game-plan for the Colts and that clockwork offensive machine. The plan centered around acknowledging, first of all, that the Colts were going to move the ball; acknowledging this was intended to give the Broncos defense the psychological space needed to deal with that reality. Second, it was about stopping the Colts in the red-zone: if we hold them to field goals, we give ourselves a good chance.
And actually, that plan worked pretty well. The problem was two big turnovers, each of which gave the Colts (and Manning) the ball deep inside of Broncos' territory. Neither turnover was at all forced, they were both just simply sloppy mistakes, and you cannot make mistakes like that against the Colts. You cannot give them extra opportunities, because they will figure things out, and they will make you pay: this is a standard, accepted truth of current professional football.
So ultimately, those two mistakes were the story of the game, in terms of who won and who lost. But outside of that, the Broncos played some pretty good football. They racked up a ton of yards with a passing game that looked pretty versatile: a lot of different receivers, occupying a wide variety of space up and down the field. The offensive game plan looked smart; Freeney and Mathis were non-factors, double-teamed as often as not, and Kyle Orton had plenty of time to throw all day long. Beyond that, there was a clear second-half adjustment in the game-plan to the lack of success in the running game, and correspondingly to the success of the passing game. I liked seeing that a lot; I felt like McDaniels was too stubborn about "staying the course" all too often last season, and it was good to see that's not necessarily one of his firm character traits. It was important for me to see, as a true Broncos fan, that Josh learned from last season, his first as the head coach of a professional football team. That he would learn from, rather than repeat, his mistakes, and this game gave me a good feeling about that.
And: the defense looked good. Yes, they didn't stop the Colts, but no one "stops" the Colts, especially with those kind of turnovers. What I liked best about the defense was the number of strong, sure, secure tackles I saw, several of which stopped Colts receivers just shy of first downs. Tackling is an overlooked art, and it's key to the success of stopping a Colts-style offense. Tackling is also one of the things that Champ Bailey, praise be His name, does incredibly well. Champ Bailey, honest to God, makes tackles that personally inspire me. Seriously. But, too often since the wonderful/tragic Broncos AFC championship game season of 2005, Champ has been the only one on the field who can tackle at all. I think...fingers crossed, but I think that tide is turning. The Broncos defense in this game did, for me, everything that a defense should be asked to do. I am pretty sure that against non-Colts teams, this defense is going to win us some games this year.
In sum? I am, I am...cautiously optimistic. You don't want to stick your head out of the car window and whoop and holler and then get whacked by a tree branch while you're going 50 mph. A 6-0 start and a 2-8 finish, like the Broncos had last year, will teach you that the hard way. The two key elements of this season, for me, are a) I think everyone on the team has bought into it, I think they're keyed into a true sense of team, and b) I think Josh McDeezy really did learn from the mistakes of his first season. I was non-plussed and put off by Cutlergate, by Josh's imperious and clumsy handling of the whole thing. But I am a fan of the Denver Broncos, first and foremost, and I am starting to think that Mr. McDaniels, if he doesn't already know, at least has the capacity to learn what Mile High Magic actually means.
So week 4 looms, and I'm all a-tingle. Football!
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