BT Stink List-Week 5

Peace, Love & Beating the Patriots

Where were you when…?

A question that spans:
multiple defining moments in history/multiple generations/multiple topics
Most deal with situations of death or politics or war or entertainment.
Most in fact deal with each of those combined.
These are mega moments, that forever entwine us as a species. A handful of occurrences that a majority of the human race cannot deny.
These moments can also be broken down, specified, categorized, compiled into niches. Micro Moments. These we share with a smaller group of humans. Not entirely important on a global scale, but prevalent nevertheless.

So I ask.
Where were you when the Broncos beat the New England Patriots and improved to an unbeaten 5-0? Where were you when the target was placed on the back of Josh McDaniels and his Wild Horses?

I was in Woodstock NY. A geographical location directly connected to a “Where were you when…?” question for a lot of people. I was holed up, at the end of a weekend vacation, in a cozy little bar with 5 other people.

The Bartender: A young guy, barely old enough to drink the alcohol he was serving. A Cowboys fan.
The Middle Aged Couple: Cuddling on the couch behind me, Italian-American descent, both drinking martinis. Giants fans, with matching shirts to prove it.
The Foreigners: Two British women, who’s only purpose was to swallow up the pool table(noted by the piles of quarters lining the edge), self-proclaimed Eagles fans.
I kid you not, by the end of overtime, my five new friends, each of a different affiliation and walk of life, were on their feet cheering alongside me for these Denver Broncos.
Was it the Love, Peace & Happiness? Was it the universal inner-mechanism that turns people against Belichick and Brady? Or was it, just possibly, the feel good heart & determination emanating from the under appreciated/under rated/under dogged Broncos?
Whatever it is, they’re onto us. The naysayers, the nonbelievers, they are all slowly morphing into fully capable bandwagon stowaways. Have no fear Broncos faithful, rest assured that we were here the entire time. We liked Wild Horses before everyone started covering it.

Rolling Stones-Wild Horses: Recorded roughly 4 months after Woodstock took place.

Happy Tuesday Night BT Nation. How does it feel? How does it feel to be 5-0? How does it feel to be on top of, not only the AFC West, but on top of the AFC, on top of the NFL? How does it feel to have control of our destiny going into a big MNF game against the sagging Dolts? You don’t have to answer. Our unspoken understanding.

Last week we placed our short yardage run game on the SL.
Sad to say, it didn’t improve much.
Twice in the 3rd quarter we were stuffed on run plays of short yardage, once on a 3rd & 1 by Vince Wilfork, and once by Banta-Cain with 3 yards remaining on a 3rd down.
This is where the brilliance of Coach Josh comes to light: The Broncos passed on every other 3rd down with 5 or less yards remaining to the first, they completed 6 out of 7 of those passes for a new set of downs.
KnoMo is having a tough time going up the middle it seems, & I’m not sure why Peyton hasn’t seen the light of day(trust issues with ball handling possibly), but McDaniels knows the importance of converting 1st downs. If we can’t find them on the ground, let’s go to the air. I just hope we start to find them on the ground soon, it’ll make it all that much easier.

Wunder Kid
Hoodie Jr.
Kid Genius
notice: many of Coach’s nicknames point out his youthful exuberance, why not add:
Voodoo Child

Jimi Hendrix-Voodoo Child:Jimi live @ Woodstock circa 1969.

Special Teams are consistently taking a spot on the SL. They came up huge & won the game, but…there’s always a but…

“In the kicking game, that is probably about as poor as you can play in the kicking game and win a game in the National Football League, I think. It was disappointing. Our special teams have been a strength of ours so far this season and certainly weren’t yesterday.” – Coach

Darrell Reid & Richard Quinn provided us back to back crap our pants moments late in the 4th quarter this weekend with two very untimely penalties. Thankfully the Defense was there to assure us it was nothing more than an overachieving windburst. Right now Special Teams is a weak link, a weak link that’s pretty sturdy. Prater is booting field goals(straighten em out), Kern seems to be visualizing the Cowboys mega-tron every time his name is called, and the coverage team is smothering returners.
Penalties were vastly improved from a week ago, only 3-20 yards. That’s how you beat Belichick.

Txt Condolences: Sorry 4 the loss buddy. Good game-we got your guys #.
Sent to my buddy Rob V. He’s always been a good sport, and usually has been the first to contact.
Response: NONE.
Like I said, we are out from under our rock. We will be loved, we will be hated.

Txt Congratulatory: Your team, in one drive, did more exciting things than the Browns did all game.
My co-worker and ex-roommate Luke sent this after the unveiling of the new Wild Horses formation.

True, & I’ll even one up you Luke, in that one drive the Broncos did more exciting things than the Browns have done all season. The Browns stink. Yet the Wild Horses yielded the same outcome as most Cleveland drives this season, a whole lotta nothin. But that’s not the point. Wild Horses was a statement, a proclamation. Wild Horses helped set the tone of the game for Denver, and for NE. Bill Belichick was spellbound & forced to take a time out, forced to regroup on the first drive of the game, Bill Belichick was forced to realize that, yes you can build something smarter than yourself. Where the Wild Horses drive lacked in points, it made up for in statement. We’re here.

Creedence Clearwater Revival-I Put A Spell On You: CCR live @ Woodstock.

I really dug myself a hole when I told Kyle that my weekly column would be titled the Stink List. A format that thrives on my pessimism/drunken outbursts. Well, I’m not too pessimistic right now, and any drunken outbursts I’ve had have been screams of joy. So I’ve picked and prodded, but I state here and now, that when our team is playing like we have been, I refuse to dig for problems. If you see some that I haven’t, let me know. Shout it out! Can you take the 5-0 Broncos and tell me who stunk in the win over the Patriots? Let me hear it.

p.s. someone find the guy who set this up.

Peace, Love & 5-0.