Denver Broncos blog, news and rumors


FB

[hype it up!]
[Share with Yardbarker]

Published on 12/13/2007 at Thu Dec 13 21:33.
Tagged: .



Texans Dominate Broncos 31-13 to End Denver’s Playoff Hopes

Posted Thu Dec 13th by

[Andre Johnson beats Dre Bly. AP Photo/Dave Einsel]
The Broncos defense could not stop the Texans all night, allowing 31 points. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

Here’s to you, 2008.

With a 31-13 thwarting of the Denver Broncos (6-8), the Houston Texans are still clinging on to their playoff hopes at 7-7. In a game where Coach Mike Shanahan was out-dueled by both his son and his former colleague, the Broncos struggled to get anything going offensively and could not stop the Texans’ offensive attack.

The San Diego Chargers need only one more win this year to clinch the AFC West division. Wild Card? With Jacksonville, Cleveland, Tennessee, Buffalo, and Houston all ahead of the Broncos, forget it.

The Broncos struggled to block emerging talent Mario Williams, particularly after tight end Daniel Graham went down with an ankle injury.  Williams had 3 sacks on the night. In a game where both Williams and the Broncos’ Elvis Dumervil had a primetime stage to make their case for the Pro Bowl, only Williams was able to justifiably mimic a hula dance after his 3rd sack on quarterback Jay Cutler.

The running game for the Broncos never got going, as they garnered a measly 72 yards on 20 carries (3.6 yards per carry). Those numbers include Cutler’s own 11 yards on 2 carries, along with Selvin Young‘s long 20-yarder. Take those runs away and the Broncos had 17 rushing attempts for 41 yards, or 2.4 yards per carry.

Defensively the Broncos didn’t perform any better. Texans rushers averaged over 5 yards per carry, gaining 158 for the night. Andre Johnson, pictured right, had 86 yards and a touchdown. Sage Ronsefels, Houston quarterback, ran one in for a score in the first quarter. Just a bad, bad performance all around for the Broncos, when they could least afford to have one.

They’ll have a long time to soak this one in, as they don’t play again until December 24th. They’ll head to San Diego to face the almost-certainly division-winning San Diego Chargers.

Sound off against your Broncos here. What could we/should we have done differently to win this game and keep our season alive? I’m interested to hear your thoughts.

Time to throw back a couple of longnecks. Make that a dozen. More stats, AP report, etc. below.

Game Recap/Photo Courtesy [ESPN]

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    And FYI, I’m planning a lot for this offseason. Starting with “Who to Keep” segments on every position across the board.

    Man, if these same Broncos played that poorly against the Texans… HOW BAD ARE THE CHIEFS?!

  • Rick

    Lets Go Rockies-Lets Go

  • http://birty.blogspot.com MB

    That was dire. Worse than Detroit – at least the Lions looked good in beating us. The Texans looked average at best and still scored 31 points.

    If you put it in context with the other performances this year then it was about on a par but if you compare it to how we thought the team would play at the start of the year then it’s pretty depressing.

    The list containing names of players who we can take a pop at is growing. I think you can count the number of players that deserve to come back next year on your fingers.

    Up until week 8 of the 2006 season the defense averaged 7 points per game and were being hailed as the best defense in the NFL. Since that Monday Night when Peyton Manning had a career night, they’ve given up 26 and a bit points per game in 24 games. There’s a lot of different players and a different coordinator but the same result.

    So what do we do to stop it?

  • hercules rockefeller

    Can someone please teach Hamza how to tackle?

  • Rick

    Fire Shanahan….hire Art Shell

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    HR,

    Yeah, I was completely baffled by Hamza’s whiffs this game. What the heck happened?!?! He was ‘The Man’ a few weeks ago, and now it looks like he’s the fool.

    This season keeps getting stranger and stranger…

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    I’m not gonna skewer the guy, myself, after one bad game. He had a nice 3rd down stop shortly thereafter, too.

    I like what I see in Hamza, and can thankfully drop safety down from a 1st/2nd round need to a free agent/3rd round or below need.

    What this team needs is a physical offensive line that will run the football without fail. Let Ryan Harris see a little game action these next few weeks at RT AND LT, and figure out if we need to address it in the first round or not.

  • http://www.broncotalk.net Jonathan Douglas

    Oh, agreed. I like Hamza, and think he’s got a future in our backfield. It just seemed like another strange Twilight Zone moment in a Twilight Zone season.