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Published on 09/30/2009 at Wed Sep 30 12:59.
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Preparing for knee jerk reactions after Sunday

Posted Wed Sep 30th by

Kyle Orton #8 of the Denver Broncos celebrates after Knowshon Moreno scored a touchdown in the second half against the Oakland Raiders on September 27, 2009 during an NFL game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Kyle Orton #8 of the Denver Broncos celebrates after Knowshon Moreno scored a touchdown in the second half against the Oakland Raiders on September 27, 2009 during an NFL game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Can’t you just hear the “See?!  I told you so!”s coming after this Sunday’s game?

If the Denver Broncos lose, they’ll be coming from the mainstream media.  “Like I said all along, the Broncos are an average team that had yet to be challenged this season.  Their 3-0 record was a result of their competition, not their talent.”

If the Broncos win, the “I told you so”s will be coming from a lot of Broncos fans who never jumped off the Josh McDaniels bandwagon.  “Like I said all along, the Broncos are an improved team under McDaniels.  They’ll be better than their 8-8 record last year, and beating a good Dallas Cowboys team proves it.”

I’ll defer to team captain Brian Dawkins on this one: “You can’t hang your hat on three games.”  Or four.  Or five.  Or thirteen.  None of it matters but the game at hand.  Winning or losing this Sunday has nothing to do with the twelve games after it.

The Cowboys are a good football team. In my opinion, they’re the toughest football team we’ve played so far this season (but not by much — the Cincinnati Bengals certainly belong in the conversation).

It’s not the end of the world if we lose. I expect the game to be close, and it could go either way. It doesn’t mean the media was right.

It’s not a Super Bowl victory if we win. It doesn’t mean anything as far as later in the season is concerned (see: the 2008 Denver Broncos, 3-1 and 8-5 at different points last season).

Would it be fun to rub it in the mainstream media’s collective face after beating the Cowboys Sunday?  You bet.  But we’re not going to go nuts over it.  There’s still a lot – A LOT – of football to be played, and a million different variables involved.

But I like the direction the team is going either way.

  • Dan

    Let's be honest…Our defense is playing better, but 1 or 2 likely injuries over the next 5 tough games could easily change that. Kyle needs to become more accuarte with his long throws and he needs to make more of them…If not, when the game comes where we are down by 10 or more at the half will simply be unwinnable. We do have the great coaches, good players, and a good front office. Over time that will get us to the playoffs more often than not…Just look at the Raiders…Average Coach, below average front office, and good players.

  • TD30isMVP

    Even if we beat the Cowboy's it will not be seen as us winning, but more what is wrong with the Cowboys. It has been like that for a long time and it isn't about to change now. The difference I see is that we are winning the games we were supposed to instead of beating good teams and losing (or playing down) to the bad teams. The first loss we get will bring out the “I told you so” crowd, heck, Orton has not thrown an interception or lost yet and people can't get over the lack of the deep ball. I am not convinced we are a playoff team but we will sure know in the next few weeks.

  • http://manchester-architects.com T-Money

    I don't really care what the media says. They'll say whatever they think is true and people believe it because “it came for ESPN or The Denver Post”… Win or lose it doesn't matter. All the 3-13 predictions (made by the media I might add) are shattered. And to be completely honest in my opinion… I think every team is beatable. Pittsburgh looks beatable. New England looks beatable. The Jets and the Giants look beatable.

    On Any Given Sunday, the broncos can beat anybody, no matter the record or talent.

  • Diggums

    I would agree with you last Year Dan. Last year we started off almost every game very strong and then fell apart towards the end. This year we seem to be getting stronger as the game progresses.

  • http://americablog.com magster

    I was one of the “we'll be 3-13” prognositicators, but I am a fan and I am loving this season so far. Low expectations leads to all surprises being happy ones.

    I am not sold on our making the playoffs this year, but I am excited for future seasons.

  • IanHenson

    Mort Tweeted me on Saturday saying, “Actually I said that Denver would be a surprising team…” I'm looking at his predictions on Denver and thus far in the season we would be 1-2 by his predictions (picked us to lose both Ohio games).

  • mikebirty

    I would be primed for a knee jerk reaction if my knees weren't held together by sticky tape. So at what point are we allowed to say “I told you so”?

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    He seriously picked us to lose against Cleveland?!

    Yup, time to fire him.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    5-11 here. We'll be having fun with certain prognosticators this season as the win total surpasses the predicted total………

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    (Including ourselves)

  • dogheadbrew

    Some how lost in this is the fact that Dallas has been overrated to this point. Sure they may be a good team at the end of the season, but they sure are not showing it now. They barely won against a turnover-fest team on Monday, and Romo has not been awe inspiring. I think we have two relatively evenly matched teams (middle of the pack) going head to head.

    In other news, ESPN scouting has some lead up to the game, I know it's only an opinon, but here goes. They have the advantage to the Cowboys in QB, RB, OL, DL, LB, and Coach. In my opinon, Orton has played at least as well as Romo, less flashy, but no turnovers and no loses. If you want to say the RBs are more talented and accomplished fine with me. OL, you're kidding right? That's a wash at best. Dal gets a DL nod with no sacks in the first two games and 23rd against the run? LBs I don't really care, as we see this year it's a fromt seven approach more than a DL/LB thing. And Coach… I'm not getting the tattoo or anything, but Wade has not lived up to his team's hype, ever, and McD took over for a coaching icon, blew up a so-so team, reschemed the whole thing and beaten every team he faced (when it counts). As of Sunday, I'd place the up-and-coming youngster on par with the established competent-but-not-championship coach.

  • steeplebomb

    None of this matters. Do you think McD/Dawkins/Orton care what John Clayton thinks of them? I read ESPN, but I don't put much stock in their analysis or their opinions. The national sports media is a big echo chamber. One person will same something interesting or insightful and then the other 100 will repeat it for two weeks until something else interesting or insightful is said. They can't possibly provide in depth analysis on every team in every sport. They've just made a business by pretending they can.

  • IanHenson

    Yeah… he's on more sauce than I am.

  • http://twitter.com/YourBroncosZone Broncos Zone

    PingBack “I Told You So”
    http://broncoszone.blogspot.com/2009/09/lets-be…

  • WhidbeyBronco

    It actually will mean a great deal if we win this game. Less though IMHO if we lose. This is not our year to contend but to build for the next.

  • Name

    Denver will make the playoff and McDaniels will get the coach of the year will get better and better watch!

  • Ed

    There have only been like two 'analysts' thjat have given the Broncos any credit for what transpired in the offseason. I cannot remember who they were, but everyone else was going on about how the Bronco offense would lose all tone and the defense was still going to be bad and more doom and gloom. What one of the optimistic analysts said was that Denver was building an offense that was going to complement their defense. That's exactly what's happening and this guy was right.

  • Name

    Denver will make the playoff and McDaniels will get the coach of the year will get better and better watch!

  • Ed

    There have only been like two 'analysts' thjat have given the Broncos any credit for what transpired in the offseason. I cannot remember who they were, but everyone else was going on about how the Bronco offense would lose all tone and the defense was still going to be bad and more doom and gloom. What one of the optimistic analysts said was that Denver was building an offense that was going to complement their defense. That's exactly what's happening and this guy was right.