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Published on 08/23/2008 at Sat Aug 23 08:00.
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Packers comes back to win 27-24

Posted Sat Aug 23rd by

OFFENSE:
Although the offensive starters for the Broncos scored on all three of their first half drives, Jay Cutler seemed off on several early throws in the 1st quarter. Their first drive was a hit and miss endeavor that ended with Matt Prater nailing his first FG attempt from 40 yards out. In the second quarter, Jay bounced back and lead the the first-teamers on an impressive 16 play, 99 yard drive that ended with a Nate Jackson TD. On their next possession, and with only 1:41 left in the half, Jay and Brandon Marshall took the unit on a fast (16 seconds) ride 80 yards for another TD.

Cutler ended the night with 115 yards pass (completing 6 of 13) and scoring 2 TD’s.

The important things to take away from this game are:
* Cutler bounced back nicely from some early misfires.
* We scored on each 1st team possession.
* Cutler ends his 2008 preseason work with zero INTs.
* Our starting O-line didn’t give up a single Cutler sack this preseason.

Patrick Ramsey‘s second unit was less impressive. He did end up with a TD pass to Michael Pittman in the fourth quarter, but he also was repeatedly failed to feel the pressured coming and that eventually resulted in an interception. Our second and third unit drives ended like this: PUNT, PUNT, DOWNS, TD, INT, DOWNS.

Players that impressed me:
* Peyton Hillis – Important 1st down catch when we started our drive from the 1 yard line.
* Cliff Russell – Ended up second in receiver yards behind Marshall and definitely out played Keary Colbert.
* Nate Jackson – Stepped up big time and made plays.
* Selvin Young, Andre Hall and Michael Pittman – All three did well.
* The Future of the Franchise (Cutler/Marshall) – Every time they connect… magic happens.

DEFENSE:
On defense our night was a bit rougher. Versus the run we did very well, with our first unit defenders holding Green Bay to only 23 yards rushing. In fact, the Packers didn’t break 100 total yards rushing and averaged less than 3 yards per carry. With those stats you’d expect a blow out win, but the ground game only tells half the story. In this case it was the Packer’s passing game that tore us up and resulted in this loss. Repeatedly, Aaron Rogers connected with his passers at will. Rogers ended up going 18 of 22 for nearly 200 yards and a TD.

Part of the good run defense and lousy pass coverage might be explained by the extra backs Denver had in the box all night long. That defense works well to stiffen the line, but it relies on your corners to make one-on-one coverage. With Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, you’d think that won’t be much of an issue… however, it was last night.

Another low point was the lack of pressure on the Packer QB’s. When you rush an extra man, you’d expect additional pressure, but that also wasn’t the case. Elvis Dumervil had a sack before leaving with a broken finger, but most of the time Aaron had plenty of time to air it out to his receivers.

To be honest, it reminded me a lot of that terrible Play-off game versus the Steeler’s when our blitz-happy defense got picked apart with quick passing and great blitz pick-up. I’m not necessarily worried, but I think this is something to watch as we get ready for the season.

Time for you to SPEAK UP! What did you see that you like (or didn’t like) last night? Are you more or less impressed with 2008 starters? With cuts coming up…. who stays and who goes?

  • MIAbronco

    i did not get a chance to watch the game, but it sounds like nate jackson really delivered and i think he may have solidified a spot on this team. which will be going great until he pulls his hamstring in week 4.

  • broncofan

    Engelberger needs to come off the bench……we still do not have a pass rush

  • broncofan

    Colbert needs to be cut, he had some big drops last night……where is sammie parker?..i would keep martinez and cut colbert..and our 1st unit pass defense was terrible

  • nobrainer

    To me, the end score does not matter, only that the Broncos first team won vs. the other first teams in all three pre-season games.

    I thought it was somewhat pathetic that the Puckers started their firsts against our seconds in the second half just to boost Mr. Roger’s confidence, and morale in the state of Wisconsin.

  • ryan k

    I think Cutler has really matured into a good QB. The O-line continues to get the job done, and the running game is solid.

    As before the game I am still worried about pass rush. I am just baffled that Moss or Crowder has not stepped up and become a decent pass rush player, ITS TIME! And yes I know that Moss is making “progress” but at a certain point we need to find a few guys on the roster that can just GET to the QB. Just like last year, marginal QB’s end up looking great against our defense, because they have all day in that pocket.

    On a positive note I think Prater looks good, and our offense should keep us in a lot of games.

  • robtink242

    Cliff Russell gets cut. Along with ramsey, pittman & sam parker

  • dbroncos

    Cutler has been very impressive this preseason from what i have heard and seen. I cant wait to see what the future has for Jay.

  • nobrainer

    Pittman will make the team, at least as insurance until Torain is back.

    Play Nic Clemons and Kenny Peterson as pass rushers, and let the Moss go. Crowder may still develop.

    Definately like K2 better at MLB, the d seems more solid when he anchors it.

    Winborn is impressive, but we are realy missing Boss Baily’s size and speed.

  • jcampb72

    Bottom line the Broncos first offense and defense outplayed the pac. The run d looked really good. I think they averaged like 3 ypc. Our pass defense looked alright, but that will happen with little to no pass rush. I think we are going to struggle like we did last year in that department. Our O-line played pretty good. Ryan Harris did a pretty good job on kampman whos had like 35 sacks in the last 3 years. He got beat on a couple plays but Cutler, as a good QB should, felt the pass rush coming and gunned the ball out of there. I like it overall. Should be an exciting year. But without the an excellent pass rush I dont see us winning the superbowl, but deep into the playoffs is a viable possibility.

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com E. Halsey Miles

    Note that we either didn’t blitz at all or only just barely blitzed. So yes, we did fail to create as much pressure as we really would like with just the front four. Doom did get one sack and we did get close.

    Surprisingly, Bly didn’t play a lot of press coverage. Instead he played 7-10 yards off his man and Rodgers really targeted Bly and he also missed a few tackles. It was not a good game for Dre Bly, and already people are talking about how old he’s looking. It’s very similar to what happened to Foxworth last week, though — I think it’s an artifact of playing off and giving up the medium play to protect against the deep play.

    If there is anything to take away from this game, it’s that our pass rush is still problematic. D-Rob and Thomas need to get more penetration in the middle, and our ends need to do a better job of getting free. Theoretically Ekuban is one of our better pass rushers and he was out, but Doom and Moss were both in.

    Things will look very different against Oakland as I would imagine we’ll rush 5 a lot.

  • http://broncotalk.net Joe

    Although we did not come out of this game with a win, I still count this as a W in my book. Our starting offense when in, and came out with points on all of there drives. Jay is leading the offense perfectly, and our other offensive weapons are doing great. This game really showed other teams that you can’t play one-on-one coverage against Marshall, cause he will be the one coming away with the ball. Hall is seeming to have a kickass preseason, and if i was Young, I would be a little worried, but more driven to step up the game. If he fails to do so, I believe that Hall will be the starter in Week one. I didnt see very much of Royal doin anything this game, and if he wants to continue starting across from Marshall, he will have to play every game like he was playing against Dallas. In general though, I think that our O-line has done amazing, no sacks have been recoreded on Jay. I see Denver making the playoffs this year, and possibly being a big threat in the late playoffs. The only thing that will get in our way of this is our D-line, but I think we will pull through and get pressure on the opposing QB. Dumervill is the man, and I see Moss stepping it up. Denver is going to do great things this season!!!!

  • Jason

    I think Young is safe, Hall runs harder but Young hits that hole, and is through it, FAST and has better hands.
    Russell IMO looked bad, he made easy catches and dropped any that he had to fight for.
    Colbert also, terrible. He just stood there stunned instead of tucking the ball away, that should be automatic as a WR. Catch, tuck.
    Liked watching woodyard again, too bad he’s not a MLB because I like our OLB set up even w/o Bailey.
    In defense of our defensive line: we were pushing that line right up to Rogers and to his credit, was standing strong and delivering good throws… to Bly’s man usually.
    And again, Fox looked good in coverage and tackling. Where did he come from, he looked terrible in coverage last year. Now I’d like to see him start.
    Paymah dropped on the depth chart, I think Williams will get a bit more time now.
    Over all, I’m encouraged. I think, as objectively as I possibly can, that we are emerging SB contenders. We may not get there this year but are well upon our way.

  • flbronc

    Watching the defense was painful. We didnt allow more than 100 yds on the ground, because they were moving the ball just fine against the pass defense. Rodgers did whatever he wanted in the pocket, I think I saw him prepare a turkey dinner back there. Whether we schemed a game w/o blitzes or not, if they pass that much we should have more than one sack- or at least have some hurries or knock downs. Going into half his jersey looked just like it came from the dry cleaners. If this were the arena league, I’d say we have a team to win it all, but since it is the nfl and you need a defense too- I’m a little worried.

    I think that our offense will get us into the playoffs, but our defense will send us home early. Unless our defensive production dramatically picks up, or the coaches have been holding back the blitzes that is.

  • maver

    perhaps the elvis injury will help spark competition at DE??

  • http://81trucolors.livejournal.com/ Truman

    Just watched the replay this evening.

    I second everyone’s thoughts that Bly looked old and weak. He has never really shined here in Denver.

    Selvin Young needed a good game and he had one. The broncos even went with him in a short yardage situation, although that seemed a bit silly.

    Nate Jackson is a stud.

  • http://www.nfldraftdog.com/NFL%20Team%20Columns/nfl_team_column_main_page.htm James

    Foxworth Looked good?

    Are you kidding me. He is the absolue weak link on this team. He gets burned more than Travis Henry in a child support court hearing. Someone made a reference to the Steelers AFC championship game. Guees who go burned and was playing 10 yeards off of receivers. Foxy just watches guys catch in frontof him, because has has no ability to break on balls. Throw Foxy’s way and it will be complete. He has allowedat least 3 TD passes this preseason. There is a reaso no other team matched his tender offer in the preseason. Fox can’t stop passes form being complete.