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Published on 08/30/2008 at Sat Aug 30 01:11.
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Playoffs, Already?

Posted Sat Aug 30th by

Don’t know what it is about today, but having heard, seen and read nearly every season preview on the Denver Broncos; I can’t remember a good thing necessarily about one of them. Not today though, today everyone seems to be on the Broncos side.

As I’m typing this 13% of the readers polled on NFL.com believe that the Denver Broncos will be the non-playoff surprise team in the AFC. Deion Sanders does too, on the NFL Network, Prime time chose the Denver Broncos to be his surprise team in 2008. Adam Schein on his Afternoon Blitz show on Sirius NFL Radio changed his stance and picked the Broncos as one of his wild card teams.

However, shhh, please national media. We were completely copasetic in our quiet mountain town. We weren’t bothering anybody; we were simply slowly building an army, planning on testing our sites on the West and then moving onto the nation. Thanks for the attention, but respect our privacy.

In all of my time as a Bronco fan, I can only remember one or two seasons when we’ve been predicted do well and done well and vice-versa. I, as most fans were encouraged to see the Denver Broncos ranked somewhere between the Baltimore Ravens and the Carolina Panthers. Power ranking schmower ranking Bill Williamson should know better.

Either way, I’m sure it has happened before, but I cannot remember a Denver Broncos coach guaranting that the Broncos would make the playoffs.

  • http://birty.blogspot.com mikebirty

    There’s only so many times that they can be called a “surprise” team before they’re actually “genuine contender”.

    But the quiet underdog idea is a nice one. Maybe there should be a few “why they’ll suck” articles on here to keep everyone grounded.

  • Richard

    Aside from the writers who have traditionally disliked the Broncos, the incompetents who wouldn’t know a contender from a pretender, and the sycophants who think there are only two or three worthy teams( New England, Colts, etc.), I have been somewhat surprised at how much negative press the Broncos have been receiving. Even Stink has made some rather disparaging remarks about this years team(probably spent too much time at ESPN).

    I have been consistently posting my opinion that the 2008 Broncos were a 10-6 team based on my belief that we will have a 5th to 10th ranked offense, and a defense ranked around 15th. That can’t be much of a stretch for the O since we finished 2007 no. 11. The D WILL be improved if for no other reason than a return to the show blitz system that we have the personnel to execute. When Coyer ran that system here we were consistently ranked 5th to 10th in D. Slowik may or may not be a great coach, but plus/minus 15th is not out of the question.

    So, assuming we finish 2008 at 10-6, does that make us a “surprise” team. It will to the people who wear powder blue and yellow, sliver and blaaaccchk, and red and white colored glasses. But that record will amaze the east coast press, mostly because we will outperform their ill informed opinions.

    So, somewhere around mid October the Broncos should actually be mentioned by the ESPN’s of the world as a Surprise team, just so they can build us up for a wild card playoff berth. Should 10-6 put us in the playoffs, we will be shockingly, a surprise team. Should we win, we will then be overachievers, based on their incompetent pre season assessment, or we will lose the wild card game, in which case we will have to endure another off season of; Shanahan can’t win without Elway, etc. BS.

  • OC Bronco

    I like our chances this year but let’s face it, we don’t have near the talent San Diego, Indy, or NE have. However, if we can get a consistent pass rush this year we will have a shot.

  • Kyle Zahar

    Thinking about the playoffs is why you are going to looose on monday night

  • bronconinja

    OC come on now du you truly think we dont have as much talent. If anything we are heads and shoulders above the colts pats and chargers in terms of talent. We all know what we are lacking is expercience. As of today and mind you not talking about previous seasons or stats only one of those teams has a better reciever than B mar and that is Reggie Wayne. Sure your thinking about moss right now. He is a great reciever no arguing that but season is based on how well the other recievers IE Welker can draw the defense away from him. Granted still very dangerous and definitely more wise in his play but Marshall is a beast and be that great and maybe better if the broncos stick with him.

    Then there is Brady and Manning and that other guy Rivers but seriously does anyone really think that San Diego can truky contend with Rivers at center. Last the only truly credible back in the group is LT who is the best back in the league but that is it. Oh and fyi a running back has can not do it all by himself other wise SD would have at least 2 rings by now.

    Defense is the question. But with Bailey and Bly on the corners and The Anvil (dumervil) coming off the coner and now we have a ligit takle in D-rob and not to mention the recent emergenence of Big mac engelberger all we need is a little bit of help from the new kids in m thomas crowder and moss to keep it going play in and play out. And I think we all know last years mis step with the LB corp was a fluke this year they will not let it happen again.

    I am not saying that we are better than those teams but I think we can be. Really just rattle off the names of our star players and try not to start watering at the mouth. Its easy to do.

  • http://broncos-denver-broncos.blogspot.com/ Ian Henson

    Richard-

    Love the post haha, very good points. I have the Broncos at 13-3, but I’ have a screw or two loose. You’re right about the 10-6 thing making us a “surprise team”. Last year, we were two bad plays away from 9-7 (granted we were a couple of lucky plays away from 5-11), I guess three games difference does make you a surprise.

  • kerry

    Kyle Zahar-

    the only people who are worried about Monday seems to be Raider fans. you guys come in and run your mouths but really who are you guys trying to convince? us or yourselves? we know what our team is capable of. you guys have to worry if Jamarcus Russell is gonna play football or be found face down at a buffet or if Javon Walker is gonna show up on the field or beat up on the street. lol. keep saying we will lose and you may actually believe yourself.

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

    What gets me about the national press is that there are a number of people that put us aroudn 18-20th out of 32, and yet mention that “if X happens they could be a wild card team”.

    I dunno about you, but isn’t making a wildcard playoff in the AFC worth 10-12 out of 32?

    Also, even predicting 8-8 — shouldn’t that be worth around 16th? I don’t understand how some of these guys do their predictions. Most of them think only the personnel (or Shanahan) was responsible for the travesty that was the defense last year, and simply can’t imagine that switching from a scheme that did not fit our personnel to a scheme that does fit our personnel will have us moving more toward average.

    What’s worse is that 2 guys writing for Football Outsiders — who are not amongst the statisticians — actually went for the UNDER when the Broncos are listed at 7.5

    UNDER.

    I can find 10 winnable games on the schedule pretty easily, myself. Sure, we have a way of losing winnable games but we can also ahve a way of winning losable games, too. It weirds me out to see people talking about the team the same way they talk about 4-12 teams.

    I can’t wait to see what the first Football Outsiders rankings come up with, based upon the preseason numbers and off-season projections. I know that their offseason stats weren’t too kind to us either but the preseason numbers should offset that somewhat. Hopefully they’ll have those out around Wednesday or so.

  • OC Bronco

    Bronconinja I like the reply and I agree B Marsh is da man but Cutler is not yet Manning or Brady. Not in the same sentence. And our D, with the players you named, ranked 30th last year. So although I expect a major turn around, I am just saying we are getting a bit ahead of ourselves.
    I hope I’m wrong. I just thought we might be a year or two away.

  • JT

    Here’s the way I see it.
    The Broncos ARE a team in transition with a quality QB that is recognized throughout the Media as one of the better of his draft class… i.e. (Leinart & Young). They also have some decent weapons at their disposal at WR, TE, & RB… Perhaps an unproven Offense? Is there any reason to question the Running Game? Now the Defense may also be considered as “unknown” with a few exceptions (Bailey & Bly). It is my opinion that this Defense will be getting some attention this year! And even with a bunch of “no-names” this Team in general will be recognized as a legitimate team to represent the AFC!

    Does anyone remember a team that won a SuperBowl with a bunch of No-Names that were labeled a team in transition? I do, in fact they had an unknown QB with an unknown Defense, and an unproven Offense that had a mediocre Running Game at best! It wasn’t until they won “Back-2-Back” SuperBowls before they were recognized. Until that point, who really cared who Tom Brady was?

  • Sam

    u know everyone here talks about last year…. well news flash……last year is over with this is a new year.that means every team has changed from last year but u all seem to think that Denver just stayed the same. with the talent this team has and the new players they brought in ….FA ……draft this is a completly different team. Im tired of everyone talking about last year and giving all other teams kudos and still looking at last year when it comes to the Broncos. This is a much improved team and will compete with any team in the leauge just look at the pre-season Denver out played every !st teams starters on off. and def. and the back ups did a fine job last night against Arizonas !st stringers. so forget about last year live in the now and watch out NFL The Broncos are COMING!!!!!!

  • http://broncos-denver-broncos.blogspot.com/ Ian Henson

    Earl-

    I’ve seen what you’re talking about as well. I’ve had similar thoughts as well, if we’re 8-8 how does that put us at 20th in the league unless there’s a bunch of teams tying each other?

    Usually when you read an article, you get a regurgitation of something someone else said. For example, if we were to read something within the last month it probably mentioned Rod Smith retiring or John Lynch leaving. Smith didn’t play at all last season, his absence started last season… And Lynch? Great player, great guy, but for team related vindictive reasons I hope that he is forced to eat crow. What a hypocrite.

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

    There’s also the constant harping that we only have one receiving threat. They seem to ignore Scheffler’s actually impressive stats, though he’s quickly becoming thought of as injury prone. And somehow, Brandon Stokley is constantly ignored except by people who specifically want to write about him. But he did great when he had to move up and fill in; he’s a great 3rd down receiver and he relishes his situational role. How can you beat that? Sure, Eddie Royal is an unknown. No one knows for sure what he’s going to do — but we know that Darrell Jackson is at least adequate. That sounds like 3 decent receivers at any given time.

    I can’t count how many articles I read that go “Sure, there’s Cutler, Marshall, Dumervil and Champ…but after that, who’re the stars?”

    Somehow DJ Willliams is questionable (yet he’s still recognized as an incredibly gifted athlete), Hamilton has always been considered a strong guard but since he had that concussion last year let’s just assume he won’t actually play. Same with Nalen and his injury.

    Selvin Young had a fantastic average in far more extensive action than was expected last year. Andre Hall is admittedly unknown but when he DID play he was electric last year. Our run game was still something like 5th in the league in yards, yet somehow was ‘disappointing’. Sure, disappointing because we haven’t found the next TD but maybe we never will. There just aren’t that many TDs.

    Also, Cutler played the last six or so games SICK. We’re supposed to believe that his game won’t be significantly better now that his diabetes is managed and under control? Oh and yes, lots of people now call Cutler questionable due to the diabetes. But dozens if not hundreds of athletes ahve managed diabetes and had very successful careers. Questioning that is like saying that Peyton Manning hurt his knee, he must be done. Well, actually, that’s happened to quarterbacks (Culpepper) so there’s some concern there. So maybe that’s a bad example.

    Luckily, it doesn’t matter what the national media says. It’s just frustrating. It was, however, really refreshing to read that Scouts, Inc article predicting that Cutler is going to tear it up this year. That he is ready to take the team on his shoulders and will the team to victory. That’s the kind of thing I want to see.

    Sure, there are question marks. But not all those question marks are going to have negative answers when the time comes. Some will, but that’s what we call adversity, and all teams have to deal with adversity. Some more than others.

    After seeing the success our first team has had this season; seeing how well the rookies have progressed between games one and four…I’m no longer ready to say that the Chargers automatically have the division.

    Right now, I’ll say they have an advantage, but it’s not insurmountable. There are some big ifs along the way, but I think we can surprise them. This is a Denver Broncos team with discipline and character that will be able to set aside bad plays, come back fighting, and still win games. And the AFC West isn’t the powerhouse that it was. The Chiefs and the Raiders both look pathetic, with organizational dysfunction that will keep them that way until things are changed. The Chargers are tough but they are not invincible.

    I’m still predicting 10-6 but that’s just because I do believe we’ll have significant adversity through the season, and we will have to struggle to get through it and it will cost us games we should have won. And if I’m wrong, this preseason has made more more confident that it’s because Ian was right, not the national press.

    I believe that by week 3, the national power rankings will have us as a top 10 team, right there alongside the Chargers. Probably behind the chargers even though we’ll have beaten them, because they will still want us to prove it.

  • http://broncos-denver-broncos.blogspot.com/ Ian Henson

    Earl-

    I’ve been preaching to the choir for a long time. Denver currently has at least two future Hall of Famers- Champ Bailey and Tom Nalen. The rest of our team is too young to even go there (Hall of Fame wise at least), as far as I see, there are two other teams: Indianapolis and New England who can boast the same thing. Up until a month ago, we were holding three Hall of Famers. No one currently in the NFL could have said that.

    10-6 to me is failure, as I said earlier, we were two plays from being 9-7 last season and we were also two plays from being 5-11. I’m going to go with the glass half-full and say that 10-6 is a one game improvement. Not seeing that, DeWayne Robertson, that’s a one game improvement. Boss Bailey, that’s a one game improvement. Eddie Royal returning, healthy Jay Cutler, Ryan Clady a Hall/Young one-two punch all one game improvements. It’s now or never, seriously how much better can it get?

    Sure, we need a middle linebacker, he really need Marcus Thomas to be a wrecking ball in the middle. We know that Engelberger is a solid, not great, so we need to see Moss in there on passing downs getting pressure. Which brings me to the most promising part of the season, Denver’s new scheme, I mentioned that we saw it against Houston, we saw a bit of it against Phoenix. If you were at camp or read the reports you saw it as well. Third-stringers getting sacks, corners, middle linebackers and safeties. Imagine what it’s going to be like when Champ Bailey peels off the line and comes full bore at a QB? Or when Marlon McCree goes, “head hunting” and takes it all out on Philip River’s jaw line. Nate Webster? The main reason I liked him over Niko Koutouvides is because the guy is a kamikaze pilot, with his own body. These guys are going to be a problem this year and I for one can’t wait.

    I completely agree with you, we have San Diego at home week 2… Wow, what a lucky draw so early in the season and New England before the bye week? I’ve got my tickets to that game already…

  • Richard

    I am quite impressed with a number of statements made to this post.

    Bronconinja is spot on when he say we have talent but lack experience. We”ll get that on the field this year.

    E. Halsey Miles makes a very prescient point about being power ranked in the mid 20’s when we are assessed as an 8-8 team. Glad we have people on this site who can count.

    The point about who are our ‘stars’ is also a good one. After all, before they got on the field who knew who Walter Payton, Dan Marino, or others were?

    One of the things that doesn’t get measured in these prognostications is HEART and TEAM SPIRIT. I know that I’m preaching to the choir, but I don’t remember seeing the first teamers and backups coming out in the preseason with such great tempo, timing and rhythm since the start of the 1998 season. And as we all recall that was an experienced team coming off their superbowl victory over the Packers.

    Of course this years team is very young and preseason is vanilla. But it does make you wonder how well they will execute the full season playbook. Could be HOT. Shanahans offense relies on timing to open the O. We’ve seen that already in spades. I just hope we see comparable improvement in the D.

  • http://broncos-denver-broncos.blogspot.com/ Ian Henson

    Richard-

    Always enjoy what you have to say. I don’t want to call you a rare find amongst Bronco fans, but I do look forward to when you have a comment on BroncoTalk.

  • Richard

    Thanks Ian! Enjoy your articles and most of the thoughts of the other bloggers. There is a lot of intelligent opinion here.