Post-Game Reflections

At first (right after the game) I felt very disappointed. I guess I would have liked to see our team score 35 points in the first half and hold the defense to negative yardage and zero points — what fan won’t?! However, after my game-watching experience I thought back to several key things I liked about what I saw. I also took a look at some of our player/team stats after the game.

NOTE: Everyone has their own game-watching ritual. For me it involves me watching the game with very little distractions. I’m not much of a conversationalist during games (even the commercials) as I’m completely into every play of the game. And since I have a one-track mind, I really can’t check live stats, chat on forums or participate in live-blogging during a Denver game. I certainly don’t object to those things… I’m just no good at them!

So, after thinking about what I saw and looking at the stats, I feel much better about where Denver is than I did before the game. There were certainly miscues (the Defense couldn’t stop the run again, Hixon fumbled a kick-off return in the endzone, Jay fumbled a snap, and Walker dropped a couple of easy passes). However, both our 1st Team units seemed to work better than it did last week.

Let’s start with the Offense…

We had some success with the ground game, but it came in an unusual way. Oddly enough, in this game we saw a change from the old ground-game-that-opens-up-the-pass, to a passing offense that opens up the run… Don’t think so? Let me run it down for ya.

1st Drive:
Pass
Pass
Rush
Pass
Pass (INT – nullifed by penality)
Rush
Rush
Pass
Rush
Rush
Rush
Field Goal

2nd Drive:
Rush
Pass
Pass
Rush
Pass
Pass
Pass
Punt

3rd Drive:
Pass
Pass
Pass
Rush
Rush
Pass – TD pass to Kyle Johnson

With the exception of the second drive that started with a 4 yard carry by Sapp, each of our drives (and both scoring drives) started with passing and then went to the ground. I don’t think this means that we have changed our offensive strategy or philosophy, but I found it very interesting.

Whatever the case, we were effective in the running game, netting 145 total yards on the ground (5.2 yard average). That’s enough to rank Denver 4th in the AFC in total rushing yards per game this preseason and 2nd in average rushing yards gained (4.4). Not bad for a unit without Travis Henry.

As for our QB’s, Cutler managed to gain 115 yards passing (9-of-16) and score one TD. But what makes me happy in retrospect is the final drive of the first half. With under two minutes to play Cutler marched his team down the field and scored the game tying touchdown.

In this drive Brandon Marshall looked great after catching both a 9 yard and 22 yard pass in the first two plays. Then Daniel Graham got into the action scoring a first down on an 11 yard catch. Cutler scrambled for 6 yards and then turned the ball over to Sapp, who picked up 15 yards on two plays. That sets up the same play that failed last week, with Kyle Johnson catching the ball this time in the flat to score a TD (and give the fans his now-famous bucking-bronco-dance).

That one drive gave me hope that we are have some clutch players and a calm QB who can get the job down when it counts.

Some other points:

It seemed to me that Cutler had ALL DAY to throw passes today. Mark down a big win for the O-line! This is a huge improvement over last week, when he looked pressured every play.

Brandon Stokley got his first game action, and gained 26 yards on one pass — not bad for your first day back!

Brandon Marshall and Brian Clark both looked good.

My boy, TE Nate Jackson, lead our receivers with 40 yards on two catches! Atta boy, Nate! :)

Now, on to the Defensive side of things…

I know everyone in Broncoland is worried about our run defense. The last two years we’ve had great success and it pains me to see us ranked 31st in the league in rushing yards allowed this preseason. But it IS the preseason and in this game, we saw some improvement.

It didn’t come in the first quarter when we allowed the Browns to convert all four of their third downs, but it did get better as the game went on. Our Defensive Front was much better than the last two games with Elvis Dumervil filling in nicely for Ebenezer Ekuban at right defensive end. Amon Gordon had a good game — recording two sacks. But IMHO Engelberger is still leading the pack – he’s a beast! Moss and Thomas also did well when they got on the field. I didn’t really notice anything from Sam Adams and Jimmy Kennedy.

I think the most positive note on the evening was the fact that D.J. Williams was finally a factor! Now, there may be fans that will point out his mistakes, but he also led the team in tackles with 9 total (7 solo, 2 assists). Nate Webster followed with 6 (5 solo, 1 assist). In a defense that relies on our LB’s to make tackles, this was a move in the right direction.

So, now the big news this week will be those pending roster cuts on Tuesday. I’ll be interested to see if any of our players on the bubble made a big enough impression tonight to stick around for another week!

Hope you had a great weekend!

-Jonathan Douglas
–BroncoTalk.net