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Published on 09/06/2007 at Thu Sep 06 12:15.
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Things I’m looking forward to vs Buffalo

Posted Thu Sep 6th by

[Broncos] @ [Bills]
Denver Broncos @ Buffalo Bills    

Do you remember September 3rd, 1995? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

That’s correct, sports fans! September 3rd, 1995 marked Mike Shanahan‘s first regular season game as the Denver Broncos head coach. And that game was against, you guessed it, the Buffalo Bills. Mike won that game (22-7). He has also won all three of the other games versus the Bills since then.

And now, Mike Shanahan will take his team to New York again as we begin the 2007 regular season this Sunday at 1pm (EDT).

So, what I’m I looking forward to most when we finally get this season rolling? Here’s my list…

1. The WHOLE Offense– Let’s rock ‘n roll boys!
I can’t think of any one thing I want to see more than our whole offense lighting it up against the Bills. I want to see Travis Henry rush for +150 yards. I want to see Javon Walker make a one-handed TD catch from 40 yards out. I want to see Brandon Stokley get extra yards after he clears the first down marker on third-and-long. I want to see Tony Scheffler beat a LB deep for a nice 15 yard gain. I want to see it ALL!

…am I asking for too much? :)

2. Will the O-line Hold?– Backups are now starters, can we stay dominate?
Before I get too excited about our offensive output, I guess we need to watch our O-line. Of highest interest is who’s starting?

Matt Lepsis will be at LT and Tom Nalen will be at Center, but will Chris Myers start in Ben Hamilton’s place? Also, who will really start on the opposite side beside RT Erik Pears? Chris Kuper hasn’t been nearly as dominate as Montrae Hallond. I predicted yesterday this would be the starters – looks like I was right:

LT: 78 Matt Lepsis
LG: 62 Chris Myers
C: 66 Tom Nalen
RG: 70 Montrae Holland
RT: 64 Erik Pears

That leaves Chris Kuper as the primary backup… Not a lot of depth really…

With that said, we have still done remarkably well along the O-line this preseason. I don’t imagine that we will have it easy, but I think our O-line will be able to preform well enough to both protect Cutler while breaking some holes open for Henry.

…Just something to keep your eye on.

3. D-line – Stopping the RUN!
Well, we’re done with vanilla offenses. We’re done with vanilla defenses. I really hope we’re done using the term ‘vanilla’ until the next white rapper shows up.

Regardless of whether we were playing a basic defense, or whether we were playing blitz-crazy tricked-out zone coverage, we still should be able to stop the run up front. And that’s what I want to see on Sunday. It would be very nice to see our front four stop the run without the need to bring Lynch into the box, but if we need to do that then, by golly, we need to get that man in the box. Whatever we need to do to get the running game stopped, we need to do it.

No more practicing. No more going over the basics. No more vanilla. We need to do whatever it takes to shut out the Bills. This game counts.

4. D. J. Williams Debut – The man of destiny!
This Sunday afternoon, D.J. Williams will fullfill his destiny! No, he won’t become a Jedi Knight like his father!

Instead, he will get his first regular season start as Denver’s MIKE linebacker. That spot is a leadership role on the Defense and as John Lynch and Mike Shanahan have said over and over again: “player’s will follow leaders who preform on Sunday.” It’s pretty simple. If you want the rest of the defense to follow your lead, you better play your ‘A’ game on Sundays. Williams has all the right skills and intelligence to make this his new home on the field. The only question is, will he rise up and take it.

I for one, think that come Sunday afternoon we are going see a D.J. Williams we haven’t seen to date. I think when the whistle blows, and the regular season begins Williams will become the monster MIKE linebacker we all knew he could be. It’s his destiny after all.

5. Special Teams – OMG! Will Jonathan ever stop talking about Special Teams?
No, I won’t! Well, not until we’ve fixed the problem on kick off coverage at least. We now have our final roster (or close to it). The games are REAL now. So, I want to see our Special Teams cover those kick off and punt returns!

And speaking of returns… I’m excited to see what Hixon can do on those returns (Just make sure you CATCH the ball before you run, Hixon).

I also want to see Todd Sauerbrun booting those punts better than he did in the preseason. I have no doubt that he can reclaim his top spot amoung punters this year, he just has to go out there and do it.

OTHER THINGS TO LOOK FOR:
Who’s our FB? – I’m doubting Paul Smith starts at FB on Sunday. So, who will it be?
Will the Rookies play? – Will rookies Thomas, Moss and Crowder get any playing time? Also, will undrafted rookie Selvin Young get any carries? Could be fun to watch.
Simeon Rice spottings? – I was surprised to see him listed #1 on the depth chart this early – yesterday I thought we may not even see him until the home opener this week!
Jim Bates on the Sideline – I want to see Bates get PUMPED this weekend! I want to see his red-face just screaming his head off all game long — let’s get ’em fired up, Bates!
Andre Hall – Well, I HAD to mention him! As you all know, I would love to see him be called up as the change of pace back to Travis Henry. But I think, even though he’s listed ahead of Young, that he might not get a chance unless someone is injured. I’ll likely have to wait to see more of my boy, Hall.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY: Find a way to win. This is the regular season, baby. It’s do or die time. Let’s get some W’s!!!

Go Broncos!

-Jonathan Douglas
–BroncoTalk.net

  • PantyRaider

    Well…at least yor can see that you have weakness on your team so that is a step in the right direction….The game in the trenches is where you will loose….”DL”-n-“OL” will not be very good early on and if they have injuries they will never get it together all season….no depth is a big problem in the AFC West where we play physical football….you were on the down hill slide last year and that slide will continue….the “Old Gray Mare” Just Ain’t What It Use To Be….

    PantyRaider….JustHateMailBaby!!!!

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com merlinofchaos

    Some interesting reading I found lately. In a couple of articles rating the Broncos, some writers think our special teams has improved, especially in the last couple games of the preseason. And it’s true, they performed quite a lot better than they had in the past. Both better stoppage and better yardage.

    It’s true that Sauerbrun shanked one, and didn’t average as well as Ernster, but we also know that Sauerbrun is generally reliable. I don’t think he’ll do that during the season. I think he’s got something to prove, and we’re going to see him really put some leg into his kicks this season.

    I think what I most want to see is Brandon Marshall show what he can do. I was really excited about him last year, and he’s healthy. The talk that when he came back to practice, he didn’t need to spend a lot of time getting back into condition, because he’d stayed in condition. That says a lot about his drive, and we already know about his talent.

    What I’m most worried about isn’t the defense — they should be fine — but Cutler’s accuracy. The thing that really worried me last year was his tendency to underthrow. Football Outsiders did some stats, and two things really stood out about his performance last year: His poor completion percentage on 3rd down, when it matters, and his underthrows. Now, underthrows can be the fault of either the quarterback or the receiver, but I think they might have been because he was afraid of the ball getting away from him.

    I have a feeling Cutler is going to be a rollercoaster quarterback. There will be thrills all right, but some of them will be thrills for the other team. The good news is that I’m not as concerned about him throwing picks — he didn’t throw any in the preseason and he only threw 5 (vs 9 TDs) last year. But he has tried to thread the needle a bit too much, and that is going to catch up with him.

    But as I said, I do worry about Cutler and 3rd downs. If we cannot perform on 3rd downs, we simply cannot win.

    The five things I want to see:

    1) Travis Henry vs a porous run defense — I hope for a lot of runs to the left behind Lepsis, and runs to the right behind Daniel Graham. We want to see one cut and run. We want to see Henry run so hard and so well that Selvin Young has to come in and spell him.

    2) Pass protection in the backfield — Kyle Johnson was let go because, as I understand it, he’s better at receiving than blocking. That means Cecil Sapp is going to have to be a better blocker, and that means he’s going to be the primary blitz pickup. Look for Sapp to line up offset left a lot, so he can cover the blind side.

    3) Pass protection on the line — Daniel Graham is supposed to be the one of the best blocking tight ends in the league. That means he and Erik Pears will be guarding the right side a lot. Keep an eye on those blitzers. See who picks ’em up, and who gets bowled over.

    4) Picks — we want Bly & Bailey to live up to their touting as the best cornerback tandem in the league. That means we want to see 20 picks between them for the year. That’s a lot. That’s 5 picks every 4 games, between them. That means we need to pressure the quarterback into at least three or four bad throws a game. And you know what that means? We have to shut down the middle, because if you don’t want to throw at Bailey and you don’t want to throw at Bly, then you’re throwing at a tight end or WR on a crossing route who is being covered by Nate Webster. If I were the Bills, I know where I’d be looking second.

    5) The end around — and I don’t mean the wide receiver. I mean Rice, Moss, Crowder and Dumervil. All of these guys are known for their sacking ability. We need them all to click. We need them to keep JP Losman running. If our offense can put up a two score lead, we don’t need to shut down the running game; they won’t be able to run, and our pass rushers can get into his face. I want to see all 4 of those guys at least touch the QB once and a couple of those touches be sacks.

  • jvill

    “…the AFC West where we play physical football..”?

    Wait. The Raiders are going to field a team this season?

    Who knew?

  • PantyRaider

    jvill:

    Yes I admit we have let down on the compition lately….but look at last year and how much trouble you had beating the worst team in NFL football history at the end of the season….17-13….Week 10….so that should tell you how far you have fallen….and you see from where we are….we can only go up….can’t get any worse….but now how far can you fall….Down-Down-Down into the pits of hell….

    PantyRaider….Welcome to the Dungeon!!!!

  • http://broncotalk.net kmonty

    PR, who do you think starts Sunday, McCown or Russell?

    And BTW, at a mere 9-7, there’s plenty of room to move up.

  • denverocks

    Raiderettes get to don the pads.

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com merlinofchaos

    kmonty: Russell hasn’t even signed yet!

  • 100%

    Anybody else think PantyRaider should just dissappear?

  • PantyRaider

    Josh will start Sunday and the “O” will not show much but win the game…..next week the “Donko”s will spend their time getting ready for the “O” they saw against the “PussyCats” and will be unprepaired for the “CulpepperShow”….Just a little “HeadGames” to disrupt the coaches and your young players on the “DL”….so now there is need of a mane change….no more “OrangeCrush” in the “D”…..now we will call it the “OrangeCrash”….

    PantyRaider….Go Raideretts!!!!!

  • http://broncotalk.net kmonty

    merlin – thanks! Total typo there, meant Culpepper but it looks like Raider got it.

    PR – easy on the “quotes” every other “word.”

  • PantyRaider

    OK….I have that “Quote” habit along with my lack of spelling ability but just for you I will tone it down….

    How do you think the Donkos will do at stoping the run….with only 7 in the box and trying to learn a new system the 3-4 it looks to be a very big weakness….in the preseason they let teams run all over them and never stoped anybody….

    The other big question is why have you been so bad at passing the ball…less than 100yds/game….how do you ecpect that to change and why…..

    PantyRaider….Eager to play that “D”!!!!!

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com merlinofchaos

    PantyRaider: It should change because, in preseason, we rarely had any of our top 3 receivers on the field, and our O-line has been in flux which means Cutler doesn’t have enough time to throw. We’re still a little hurt without Hamilton, but an O-line that stays together has proven to be very important. So having our O-line healthy and together, they’ll do better. When Cutler has time to throw, we’ve now got 2 excellent and 3 very good targets for him. I think that’s why our passing game will improve.

    BTW, PR: Good luck with that raider offense. I like the defense, but the offense still has to show it can do something.

  • PantyRaider

    merlinofchaos:

    Good job of hopen….and that’s the same thing I am doing about our “O”….it can’t be as bad as last year…if we just had an average “O” last year we would won several more games because the “D” kept us close…so I am hopen for an average “O”….about like KC and the Dank’s had last year…#15-n-#18….that’s just average…..but good enough to win with a very good “D”…So this Sunday the speculation ends and the Reality begains….for all of us….Just enjoy….I will….Can’t wait….

    PantyRaider….JustHopenBaby!!!!

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