Week 1: Postgame Thoughts

[WalkerBoh]

Well Reggie has seen better days and missed most of last yr, Hilton had 5 tds I believe and between Fleener and Allen I think they had like 3 tds. Not exactly above avg Matter of fact the whole Indy team only scored like 27 tds on the year

Wayne is still a dangerous receiver, even if he has lost a little. And while you mentioned Hilton's TD's, you forgot to mention the 1083 yards he gained. And he's not hit his ceiling yet. I'd call them better than average, but that's just my opinion.

 

[WalkerBoh]

As for my game thoughts, I felt a bit better about this game than most. Defense definitely played strong for at least 50 minutes. Indy is dangerous, and can score on some pretty good defenses. Don't forget, they hung 34 points on Seattle. I would like to see better pressure, but it was improved from last year, and Miller isn't 100% quite yet. Hopefully he returns to form soon.

I don't get the knock on Ball either. Colts stopped the run well, and there were several plays Ball gained extra yards after contact. He fought for that TD too.

Our Broncos defensively lapsed for a bit in the fourth. I would like to see that improve. However, they didn't get as much help from the offense as they normally get. I'm going to say this game was more due to Indy's scrappyness, rather than to any failing by the Broncos. When push came to shove, they got it done. I expect we will be very pleased come next week.

 

[DownSetHutch]

I will add my 2 cents on the game, although many of my thoughts have already been stated here.

First, the good:

• The best thing I saw from the team in game one (besides the W) was the play of the secondary. IMO, they were outstanding. Rahim Moore had 2 picks, Ward was hitting people hard, and they were all making as many pass break-ups as I can recall seeing in one game. All of this without a ton of pressure from our front 7 (or 6). They honestly looked like Seattle's defensive backfield, and that's about the best compliment I can give them.

• The next best thing I saw was Orange Julius "whipping" the Colts D for 3 TDs. (Yeah, I just said that.) : D

• The domination in the first half was great to watch. The team needs to start doing that for the whole game now.

• Sanders looked really good and really fast. He may end up being an upgrade to Eric Decker.


Now the bad:

• The let-up in the second half was disappointing. It definitely bespeaks of a team that is not all in synch or focused as a team to be as good as they can be. I originally thought the coaching staff had a lot to do with that, and they might, but it just occurred to me that with all of the changes in personnel that the team went through in the off season, especially on D, there may be a shifting of leadership where the players are still sorting out who are the team's leaders. With Ward and Ware coming in and Von just returning to the field, they may still be figuring out who are the leaders, and if that is so, it would lead to a temporary leadership vacuum. I kind of hope this is the case, because if so it would naturally correct itself as time goes on. Additionally, the offense has clearly been the dominant phase of the team so far, and the defense has relied on them much more than the other way around; however, now the defense is at least trying to become just as dominating, and so there is another dynamic occurring that could be affecting how the team leadership shakes out. Anyhow, this may be getting a little too in-depth in the psychology department, so I'll cut off my ramblings on this subject right here.

• The D-line didn't get as much push/penetration as many of us had expected they would vs. a banged up Colts O-line. I suspect they will get better in the coming weeks.

• The Broncos' O-line didn't open up any running lanes in the middle. They got absolutely stone-walled by the Colts' D-line on a regular basis. They should get better as the players gel as a unit, but it's not clear how good they will be in the run game at this point.

• Manning and the receivers were off the whole second half. Especially D. Thomas. Probably just a 1-game aberration. Not too worried.


I hope we can use the Chiefs game as a tune-up for the Seahawks. It will be very interesting to see how the team responds to the way that second half went.

 

[DownSetHutch]

Oh man, one more thing I forgot to add to "the good":

That State Farm commercial with Aaron Rodgers and Hans &Franz - HILARIOUS!!!

"Row, row, row your boat gently down the loser stream." Timeless SNL comedy.

 

[cdumler7]

Well Reggie has seen better days and missed most of last yr, Hilton had 5 tds I believe and between Fleener and Allen I think they had like 3 tds. Not exactly above avg Matter of fact the whole Indy team only scored like 27 tds on the year

Not that I fully agree with their rankings but NFL.com did an article on top receiving cores in the NFL and they had Indy at 5. Them being on the list this high was more geared towards potential than actual production but they expect that with Luck at the helm Wayne will be just fine, Hilton will continue to be a game-changer, Nicks will revitalize his career, and maybe the biggest thing they could have the best 1-2 combo at TE in the NFL as Dwayne Allen looked very promising after his rookie year but lost last year to an injury and Fleener had a pretty darn good 2nd year in the league. So again the potential of this group is to possibly be one of the best receiving cores in the NFL.

I have to agree with Hutch in I was impressed with the number of knock down passes by our secondary. I don't remember a game where I saw the Broncos break that many passes up. Other than a few plays where we had some communication errors of who had who there always seemed to be a guy right on the receiver making every catch a difficult one. And to think that this was with Harris on a pitch count (only played about 50% of the snaps in the game) and Webster in the dog house. I cannot wait for midseason to see this group all at full strength. This honestly could be the best secondary the Broncos have assembled in I don't know how long.

 

[cdumler7]

Bradley Roby is up for Rookie of the Week on NFL.com if you want to go vote for him! Just watched the video they have of his play and have to say I think his best play of the game was not his final one. His best play in my opinion was his tackle of Nicks at the goal line that stopped a touchdown on 3rd down causing the Colts to go for it on 4th and 1 from the 1 where the Broncos stuffed them. They score there and obviously it is a different ball game. His ability to limit yards after the catch I think is just as impressive as his ability in coverage at this point. This kid could be something special for us.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Bradley Roby is up for Rookie of the Week on NFL.com if you want to go vote for him! Just watched the video they have of his play and have to say I think his best play of the game was not his final one. His best play in my opinion was his tackle of Nicks at the goal line that stopped a touchdown on 3rd down causing the Colts to go for it on 4th and 1 from the 1 where the Broncos stuffed them. They score there and obviously it is a different ball game. His ability to limit yards after the catch I think is just as impressive as his ability in coverage at this point. This kid could be something special for us.

Totally agree. Already texted my pal who is a Buckeye and said of Roby that his lack of physicality is the Deion Sanders antithesis of Ray Lewis. Love what Roby has shown so far.

 

[randymon]

Not that I fully agree with their rankings but NFL.com did an article on top receiving cores in the NFL and they had Indy at 5. Them being on the list this high was more geared towards potential than actual production but they expect that with Luck at the helm Wayne will be just fine, Hilton will continue to be a game-changer, Nicks will revitalize his career, and maybe the biggest thing they could have the best 1-2 combo at TE in the NFL as Dwayne Allen looked very promising after his rookie year but lost last year to an injury and Fleener had a pretty darn good 2nd year in the league. So again the potential of this group is to possibly be one of the best receiving cores in the NFL.

I have to agree with Hutch in I was impressed with the number of knock down passes by our secondary. I don't remember a game where I saw the Broncos break that many passes up. Other than a few plays where we had some communication errors of who had who there always seemed to be a guy right on the receiver making every catch a difficult one. And to think that this was with Harris on a pitch count (only played about 50% of the snaps in the game) and Webster in the dog house. I cannot wait for midseason to see this group all at full strength. This honestly could be the best secondary the Broncos have assembled in I don't know how long.

True cd and Walker but every great recieving group has to have an top tier qb for them to qualify. Sure Luck and those guys will be " ranked" high, because after the top 10 QB/wr combos, the bottom falls out. They`re placed that high because there`s no competition after the top 10. I just don`t think their as formidable as you guys and we should of contained them alot beter than we did. Were suppossed to have one of the best DB/S combos out there and to me they made them look better than they should of. Just wk one though so I expect more meshing and dominance from them in future. IMO of course gents and respect and understand yours.

 

[WalkerBoh]

True cd and Walker but every great recieving group has to have an top tier qb for them to qualify. Sure Luck and those guys will be " ranked" high, because after the top 10 QB/wr combos, the bottom falls out. They`re placed that high because there`s no competition after the top 10. I just don`t think their as formidable as you guys and we should of contained them alot beter than we did. Were suppossed to have one of the best DB/S combos out there and to me they made them look better than they should of. Just wk one though so I expect more meshing and dominance from them in future. IMO of course gents and respect and understand yours.

They did worse (points wise) to Seattle's highly ranked secondary, with TY Hilton racking up 140 yards and 2 TD's. Based on that, I'd say we did a pretty decent job Sunday night, and whethered a passing game capable of dropping lots of points on ANYONE.

 

[cdumler7]

I think a lot of the passing game has to be taken in a little bit of perspective. Luck didn't have much luck until the Broncos went more into a prevent style of defense. Through the 1st half of the game the Broncos defense gave up 118 yards passing. They allowed a ton of dink and dunk passes but nothing big. Really all game they didn't allow anything big. The big 41 yard pass play was actually just a dump off pass for the most part. Really Luck only completed one pass that the ball traveled over 15 yards and that was the first play of the game. The Broncos were willing to give up the dink and dunk stuff all game long as it takes a lot for those to work all the way down the field.


To me I look at the stat for our pass defense in 3 sacks, 20 Sacks/hits/hurries combined for the team on passing downs, 2 interceptions, and over 10 pass break ups. Those are numbers we haven't seen very often especially against a very good quarterback like Luck in a long time. I thought other than the 4th quarter (Harris sat out most of the 4th quarter) the Secondary did a very nice job of holding their own.


Randymon now while I do agree there is a drop off after the top 10 the Colts do have 3 WR's that have had thousand yard seasons in the last few years and a pair of young TE's that have been expected to be huge this season for them.

 

[Broncosr0k]

True cd and Walker but every great recieving group has to have an top tier qb for them to qualify. Sure Luck and those guys will be " ranked" high, because after the top 10 QB/wr combos, the bottom falls out. They`re placed that high because there`s no competition after the top 10. I just don`t think their as formidable as you guys and we should of contained them alot beter than we did. Were suppossed to have one of the best DB/S combos out there and to me they made them look better than they should of. Just wk one though so I expect more meshing and dominance from them in future. IMO of course gents and respect and understand yours.

How many of our DBs for this game were with us at the end of last year?
Talib - New to team
Moore - Finished 2013 on IR
Q. Carter/Ward - Finished 2013 on IR/New to team
Roby - New to NFL
Harris - Finished 2013 on IR
Tony Carter - Hooray!

Our secondary is very new and I think they are going to miss some coverage schemes. Is there one guy in the backfield that is the defacto leader? One guy that can make sure everyone else is where they should be?

I think the most disheartening thing about Sunday's game is that we let the colts back into it. Beyond that I think the defense will develop into a cohesive unit. We may be a little spoiled in the success we have had. I think the defense will get better but it will take time.

 

[WalkerBoh]

How many of our DBs for this game were with us at the end of last year?
Talib - New to team
Moore - Finished 2013 on IR
Q. Carter/Ward - Finished 2013 on IR/New to team
Roby - New to NFL
Harris - Finished 2013 on IR
Tony Carter - Hooray!

Our secondary is very new and I think they are going to miss some coverage schemes. Is there one guy in the backfield that is the defacto leader? One guy that can make sure everyone else is where they should be?

I think the most disheartening thing about Sunday's game is that we let the colts back into it. Beyond that I think the defense will develop into a cohesive unit. We may be a little spoiled in the success we have had. I think the defense will get better but it will take time.

And then we crushed those hopes and dreams like a bug on the sidewalk

 

[randymon]

Good points to all and I really do believe this team will get better and better as season progresses. To your guys points, quite a few playoff teams from last yr either lost or struggled this past wknd. Denver prevailed and it was a good win. I do expect Denver to be firing on all cylinders by the time of the end of the bye wk though and squashing teams like bugs as Walker put it

 

[cdumler7]

Really cool article on predominantly orange about Nate Irving and his performance. He only played 39 snaps in the game because of an injury but in those 39 snaps he was dominant. In the game he had 5 tackles, 2 of those for loss, a sack, and a quarterback hit. Throw in when dropping into coverage he actually did pretty darn well as well. Have we actually found our MLB of the future that we have been hoping to develop for 3 years now? I hope so. Always thought Irving could be a special player for us.

 

[WalkerBoh]

Really cool article on predominantly orange about Nate Irving and his performance. He only played 39 snaps in the game because of an injury but in those 39 snaps he was dominant. In the game he had 5 tackles, 2 of those for loss, a sack, and a quarterback hit. Throw in when dropping into coverage he actually did pretty darn well as well. Have we actually found our MLB of the future that we have been hoping to develop for 3 years now? I hope so. Always thought Irving could be a special player for us.

What's his injury status?

 

[cdumler7]

From what I understand Irving returned to the game late and has been a full participant at practice this week. Only guys who have missed practice this week are Ben Garland, Danny Trevathan, and David Bruton. By the way anybody remember the play that Bruton got injured on? I guess the Broncos are sending the tape into the league calling it a big time cheap shot as it happened on one of the kick offs that went way out of the end zone and a Colts player just came out of nowhere and blindsided him separating his shoulder.

 

[cdumler7]

Also anybody hear about Decker and his thoughts on the Broncos now? I guess he was asked about his old team and said that from now on he will be cheering for the Broncos to lose...hmmm. I understand the Broncos didn't resign him but I would say Manning and the Broncos are a huge reason he just got a huge deal. I think I would be thanking the Broncos that they brought in Manning for him instead of making him play with Tebow for the next few years eliminating any chance that a team would even know he could play receiver. Plus to me above that I would figure with all the relationships you built with players that you would continue to hope for them to find success not failure.


Not really a big thing just a small comment I was reading the other day and it just kind of surprised me that he was so open about how he openly cheers against the Broncos now.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Nate played really well. Hope is healthy and continues to excel.