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Published on 09/08/2008 at Mon Sep 08 07:00.
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Broncos Have Huge Opportunity

Posted Mon Sep 8th by

Panthers Chargers Week One
Panthers TE Dante Rosario seals a 26-24 win. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Can you imagine it now? Denver Broncos, 2-0. San Diego Chargers, 0-2.

After falling to the Carolina Panthers in the final seconds of their Week One game, the San Diego Chargers join fellow AFC West rivals Kansas City Chiefs in the winless column. Both stand at 0-1.

This makes tomorrow’s Broncos Raiders game on Monday Night Football all the more important. With a victory in Oakland, the Broncos would have a one-game lead on every other team in the division.

A win against San Diego in the team’s home opener next week would give the Broncos valuable momentum and a 2-game cushion against the reigning division champs.

I chatted with Sam Adams, columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, who was quick to point out the opportunity the Broncos are facing. “The opportunity to go up two games on the favorites to win the division is huge. The Broncos have to realize they have a huge opportunity awaiting them.”

If the Broncos are to contend for the division, a fast start will be crucial. Forcing the other teams in the AFC West to play catchup, particularly the Chargers, will pay huge dividends all season long. Losing either of these first two games – or worse, both – would leave the Broncos scrambling. Huge questions would remain on the rest of the 2008 campaign, particularly on how such a young team would rebound from such a slow start.

It’s hard to peg a game in September a “Must Win” affair. For the Broncos, they just may be facing two.

How do you think the Broncos will fare in this 6-day stretch? Dish it out in the comments and take the poll.

Broncos record after two weeks?

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  • Richard

    Saw the Panthers game yesterday and was impressed by 2 things. They dominated the offensive line, San Diego did’t get comsistant pressure on Delhomme , even whan they started to go with a 4-3 front on 3rd downs against them.(kind of an interesting trick for a 3-4 team.) I also noticed that their safeties were mostly in zone coverage, allowing Carolina to throw under them. The CBs played both man and zone, but they were consistently a step slow. Marshall will have a huge day on these guys.

    Carolina was controlling the Chargers Oline for most of the game, the exception being that stretch in the 4th quarter when the stupidchargers came back on them. They have a real weakness at center that the Broncos can hopefully exploit.

    Overall, the dolts were not ready to play this game(thanks, Norv) Their timing on offense was well OFFENSIVE. All through the preseason they kept the starters out to protect them for the real games. Yesterday we saw the results of that plan.

    We shouldn’t get too excited for next week. They are going to be pissed about their performance and the Broncs will be the beneficiary of that anger. THe good news for us is that they look mortal. If we come out swinging against the Faiders and show the world we can stop the run, we will have an even chance of taking them. I just hope that should we win that game and go 2-0, we don’t have to listen to the national media talking about the Charges failures as opposed to the Broncos success.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    The offensive line being hurt for San Diego is huge. LJ Shelton is not Marcus McNeil, and Jeremy Newberry is not Nick Hardwick. Last year we played ’em without Ben Hamilton and Tom Nalen; let’s see how they handle losing two of their best offensive lineman this time around.

    San Diego is a better football team, but I think we can still one from them at home, especially with them reeling from injury.

  • Boisebroncoguy

    I was just curious if anyone else had read Peter King’s si.com MMQ article yet. He references Jay Cutler once and it does not seem to be very flattering. How irritating! Anyways, the season is starting off right for Denver with most of the “elite” AFC teams losing. Let’s hope we can take advantage of it!

  • anon

    Um, let’s focus on winning in Oakland before we get too carried away with 2-0 scenarios.

  • I’m with Anon

    There is a game tonight in the Blackhole we need to fight through first. I know its fun to dream, but the more we get ahead of ourselves the more we can be let down. We need to get through Oakland and hope there are no injuries before we can realistically start talking about how we’re going to fare against SD.

  • Person

    I did read his MMQ article after you prompted me to do so and yes I agree. That comment on Jay Cutlerville is a little offensive but I just hope that Jay shows him up in a few hours.

  • http://birty.blogspot.com mikebirty

    i’m agreeing with anon about not getting carried away but apart from the steelers, no afc team put down a marker. win tonight and it’d be nice to start the season a game up on indy, denver south, browns, bolts and jags. Although booking a flight to Pittsburgh for the afc championship game is quite a way off.

    After last year, i’d have settled for keeping next week’s game competitive. But to have the chance of going one or two games up….

  • Rick

    I am amazed at the arrogance of the Bronco Nation. You guys are Yapping about being 2-0 and totally over looking Oakland. I hope your team is doing the same thing when thsy get punched in the mouth tonight. Read this when you get a chance

    http://www.ibabuzz.com/raidersblog/2008/09/08/10-reasons-raiders-will-beat-broncos/

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    No one’s looking past the Raiders. I’m so pumped for tonight’s game, you all have no idea. I literally screamed “BRONCOS” as loud as possible in my car on the way to work about, oh, five times. That’s just me.

    This article just points out that we have two CRUCIAL, CRUCIAL games ahead. If we’re going to be a playoff team, must-win games. In September. How crazy is that?

    Rick – I have totally legit responses to every single point that article makes. Our local guys have a similar article, check it out:

    http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/samadams/archives/2008/09/why-the-broncos.html

  • Rick

    Kyle,
    I will be in the stands tonight pulling for my team but I honestly don’t know who Oakland gets next week because I am thinking only Denver right now but if you read up there’s a lot of 2-0 talk. I agree with anon. Any way its gonna be great. Each year a friend and I travel to an away game. This year its New Orleans. Go Raiders

  • Person

    I agree with Kyle, no one is over looking the raiders. Rick, I believe if you read this website you’ll find more information about the Broncos Radiers matchup than anything else right now. I guess it is easy to read one article on a website and completely make a judgement off of that.

  • Boisebroncoguy

    Who cares what a raider fan thinks anyway. We should be doing what’s important; writing nasty notes to Peter King :)

  • Richard

    Hey Rick read your article and this is my response. THe writer has 10 points to convince us that Raiders will win tonight. THis is my rebuttal to each statement.

    1 Raiders win because they’re due. Wishing, hoping praying.

    2 Russell is a better quarterback? B***S***.

    3 Justin Fartgas is healthy. Wow!

    4 Raiders win because someone asked Shanahan an annoying question last Wednesday? I don’t know how to respond to that absurdity.

    5 Brandon Marshall out of lineup. Well I guess the other 52 guys will just give up and forfeit the game. Right!

    Raiders beat us last year. Sorry bud, this is 2008. Shanahan is 20-6 against you guys.

    7 Bad Dline? we’ll see. this might be the ONLY semi legit point in the whole article.

    8 Zack Miller will be open. Really? Hey Zack meet Champs little Bro Boss.

    9 Darren McFlattened. It’s his FIRST pro game. Don’t expect too much.

    10 Jason Elam is gome. Meet Matt Prater.

  • http://www.inthecheapseats.com Dario

    That blogger seems to convienently forget that the Raiders were 31st against the run last year. If the Broncos offense has a better passing game AND can control the clock by running the ball then I think the Raiders are playing a losing game even if they keep it close. The only X-factor would be turnovers and special teams. I think the Broncos are basically at a pick-em in Vegas because of those factors. Even though they are playing a road game on Monday night.

  • kerry

    thats all the Raiders have is the past. they all wanna talk about last year this and last year that. like it actually means something. last time i checked LAST YEAR, they only won 4 games with this supposed “awesome rushing attack” and if Mcfaggen was so good, he would be starting over Justin Fargas. pfftttt!! please! all i hear every year is how Oakland is on the rise, and every year they dont win more then 5 games. A QB with 1 start to his name who had serious problems passing in the preseason, a rookie RB who, after all the hype, cant break the starting lineup, two washed up receivers who couldnt catch crabs from a ten dollar hooker, and a swiss cheese
    O-line and D line. hmmm yeah, real scary

  • T-Money

    Kyle-

    Read this, if you havent already, and laugh with me… I like the 2nd point.

    http://www.ibabuzz.com/raidersblog/2008/09/08/10-reasons-raiders-will-beat-broncos/

  • T-Money

    Richards nailed it. That was such a bad article.

  • broncfanstuckinsd

    what cracks me up is Rick saying we, as fans, shouldnt put the cart before the horse. Well thats what fans do. Now if I would have heard the players say that I would agree with him. The fact that Shanahan hates the raiders I have no doubt he will not overlook them. Not even close. Shannys goal is to win one game at a time. He is 9-4 in openers. Plus he has never lost an opener to a team not named the rams or dolphins, I look for that to continue