Earlier this morning Lindsay Jones with the Denver tweeted a request for a link to the video of Marcus Thomas’ false start victory dance.  After locating the video I promised animated GIF goodness.  For your forum posting enjoyment, I present to you… the Marcus Thomas dance.  The guy definitely has the Maori war spirit in him.

There’s nothing quite as sweet as beating the Oakland Raiders by double-digits on their turf. Not only was it an impressive win, it was an impressive team win — a number of Broncos really stepped up and contributed, and it’s our honor to honor them with a bevy of BT Game Balls.

Willis McGahee

I hereby irrevocably declare the phrase “Tough as nails” to be dead. It’s played its course. “Tough as Willis McGahee” will be the new standard.

The Broncos’ 30-year-old running back had surgery on his hand less than two weeks before Sunday’s match in Oakland, but that didn’t slow the first-year Bronco down. The fresh-legged McGahee outran Raiders defensive backs in his 60-yard scamper for a touchdown in the third quarter as he totaled 163 rushing yards on the day.

McGahee had help — both of his touchdowns came on well-executed read option plays with Raiders defenders paralyzed by fear of Tim Tebow taking advantage of the edge (more on Tebow in a bit). But stop and consider the Broncos’ production with McGahee compared to their offensive output without him. In Week One against Oakland, Knowshon Moreno got the start, and the Broncos were held to 38 rushing yards. Last week, with McGahee out with his injury, the Broncos struggled mightily on offense, not acquiring a first down for over two quarters. Then, in Week Nine, McGahee starts, and the Broncos find they don’t need to throw the ball at all for the last 22 minutes of the game. Willis McGahee is your 2011 First Half of the Season MVP, folks. – Monty

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“(The Broncos are) 3-5. They’ve only played one game against a team currently with a losing record. They’ve beaten two division leaders this year. Bottom line? The Broncos have improved; they were in the league’s slums last year, but now are back in the middle class. It’s not where they want to be, but in the often-mentioned building process, it’s a good start through eight games, all things considered.” — MaxDenver.com

And it’s right about where we thought they be heading into the season, a middle-class, 8-8 record. The schedule isn’t quite as tough here on out; let’s see it if it’s possible. Onto the links.

• In addition to his three observations linked above, Andrew Mason breaks down the numbers from Sunday and talks about how the read option really stumped the Oakland Raiders defense and opened up things for Willis McGahee. [MaxDenver]
• The defense stepped up — particularly leaders Champ Bailey and Elvis Dumervil. [Denver Post]
• But it was the running game that delivered the win. Willis McGahee was a blast from the Broncos’ running past, and Woody Paige notes that a Broncos pass play wasn’t called for the last 21 minutes of the game.
• John Fox lamented his decision to take three points off the board at halftime, calling himself a knucklehead. Thank goodness we won, Coach, that’s all I’m going to say. [Denver Post]
• The loss has some in Oakland wondering if Carson Palmer is the answer, or if the Raiders flunked Defense 101. [Oakland Tribune]
• Rahim Moore was knocked out of the game on the first play with a concussion. No update as of yet today. [Yahoo! Sports]
• Mike Florio breaks down the wild/mild AFC West in his NFL 10-pack. [ProFootballTalk]
• Peyton Hillis‘ situation with the Browns reminds Michael Lombardi of his history with the Broncos. [NFL.com]

Denver Broncos running back Willis McGahee (23) runs past Oakland Raiders linebacker Darryl Blackstock (56) on a 24-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter of an NFL football game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Two-touchdown victories in the NFL often come with a handful of noteworthy player statistics, but the way the Denver Broncos ran the Oakland Raiders into the McAfee Stadium turf in the second half Sunday afternoon earned them more than a handful.

• Their 298 rushing yards were the fourth-most in team history, and the most since a November, 2000 bout vs. Seattle.
• RB Willis McGahee‘s 163 rushing yards on 20 carries (8.2 avg.) was the second-highest total of his career. McGahee, who had surgery for a broken hand less than two weeks ago, rushed for two touchdowns on the day.
• QB Tim Tebow‘s 117 rushing yards on 12 carries (9.8 avg.) were the second most by a Broncos QB in team history.  It was his first 100-yard rushing game, making him the 50th QB to rush for 100 yards in a game in NFL history, and improved Tebow’s franchise rushing marks to boasting three of the Broncos’ top four rushing games by a QB in team annals.
• It marked the first time the Broncos have boasted two 100-yard rushers since Mike Anderson and Tatum Bell rushed for 126 and 107 yards respectively against the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005.

Most of the Broncos’ rushing success came in the second half. The yards converted to points: the Broncos scored 31 second-half points to overcome a 10-point halftime deficit and win by 14.

And in stark contrast to the pass-happy offenses under Josh McDaniels in 2009 and 2010, they leaned on the strength of their ground game to do it.

Eddie Royal #19 of the Denver Broncos returns a punt for a touchdown against the Oakland Raiders at O.co Coliseum on November 6, 2011 in Oakland, California. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

Tim Tebow gets by with a little help from his friends.

On Sunday, his friends didn’t just “help” — they dominated.

Running back Willis McGahee burst free at the very end of the third quarter with a 60-yard touchdown run, totaling 163 yards rushing against the Oakland Raiders. Wide receiver Eddie Royal returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown and caught a 26-yard touchdown pass as well.

The defense stepped up in the turnovers department, with Champ Bailey intercepting Carson Palmer twice and Chris Harris adding an interception of his own. Elvis Dumervil registered his first sack of the season (1.5, sharing a sack with Von Miller), and the Denver Broncos dominated the 2nd half of their Week 9 football game in Oakland to defeat the Raiders 38-24.

Tim Tebow was efficient in the air and dangerous on the ground. He threw for 124 yards on 21 attempts (10 completions) and two touchdowns, but more impressively, he rushed for 117 yards. It was the first time the Broncos have boasted a 100-yard-rushing running back and quarterback in the same game in over three decades.

The win over Oakland (4-4) left the Broncos (3-5) as the only team in the AFC West to win in Week 9; both Kansas City (4-4) and San Diego (4-4) lost their respective games. They may be last in the division, but the Broncos are also one game away from the division lead with eight games to play.

Come chat with Monty, other BT writers, and fellow BT readers during the game as we break down player performances, ask polls, and answer questions. GO BRONCOS!

 

Denver Broncos at Oakland Raiders
Where: McAfee Stadium, Oakland, CA
No, the other Where: CBS4 Denver, DirecTV 711
When:Sunday, November 6, 2011, 2:05 p.m. MT
No, the other When: GameBlog starts at 1:50
Who: Announcing: Dan Dierdorf, Greg Gumbel

UPDATE 12:45 Inactives:
Broncos inactives: R.Bush, C.Vaughn, Q.Johnson, M.Ramirez, T.Hills, V.Green, D.Harvey.
Raiders inactives: QBs Pryor & Campbell, RB McFadden, CBs Chekwa + Johnson, OL Campbell, TE Ausberry

Tebow’s last dance?

How short is Tim Tebow‘s leash? If he struggles today will the 2011 Tim Tebow experiment come to an end, and the Tim Tebow “era” with it?

Woody Paige says it’s too early to judge, comparing his starts to that of another Broncos QB — John Elway. As interesting as those types of notes are on the surface, you have to remember that, in 1983, it was undisputed that John Elway was worthy of a first round selection, let alone the top overall pick. In 2010, Tim Tebow was scouted as a mid round project by nearly every NFL team. He doesn’t have the arm, the footwork, the accuracy, or the delivery you’d like to see, and in Year 2 it’s not much better: that’s a big project.

With Darren McFadden out, RB Michael Bush is expected to start vs. Denver (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Lindsay Jones notes that there won’t be much of a future for Tim anyway if he keeps taking this pounding.

Injury Report

Darren McFadden won’t play; Willis McGahee will.

Scouting Report

Andrew Mason gives us five things to watch, with some interesting stats on Tebow as he faces a familiar foe for the first time (Tebow started against Oakland last year). Jeff Legwold chimes in with a scouting report and punctuates the importance of better blocking. Ryan Clady is among the league’s leaders in penalties, but the Broncos are in the bottom 10. The Raiders are, naturally, #1.

Bradying

Some pressure on Tebow: Brady Quinn is expected to be active today.

Injury Report for the Week 9 NFL game between the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders on Sunday, November 6, 2011.

Raiders report and key after the jump. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Some food for thought on Tim Tebow from the ever-quotable Shannon Sharpe:

“How many dates did you have to go on before you realized that the girl you were dating wasn’t the one? Does the girl need to burn your house down? Does she need to bust your car windows out? …

“Look, I’m not arguing whether or not he (Tim Tebow) is a great guy,” Sharpe said. “I’m not arguing whether or not he’s a hard worker. I’m not arguing any of those facts.

“But I think in today’s game, it’s hard for you to play quarterback in the National Football League​ if you can’t throw the ball accurately, and if you can’t throw it consistently accurate.”

The Shannon Sharpe Show [102.3 The Fan] [via]

Linebacker Stephen Tulloch #55 of the Detroit Lions reacts by "Tebowing" after making a sack on quarterback Tim Tebow #15 of the Denver Broncos during the first quarter at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on October 30, 2011 in Denver, Colorado. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

To everyone who read my article on Monday and took away “Tebow is the only problem with this team,” you are reading something somebody else wrote. That article was about Tim Tebow. It would take three or four times the text to talk about the problems on the entire team.

But given the state of the media surrounding the Denver Broncos right now, Tim Tebow deserved an article all to himself. This article is about why Tim Tebow deserves an article all to himself.

The Tebow supporters are very quiet right now, and rightly so. There is very little in his play that can be defended — the only useful thing to be said is “Give him more time,” and you’ll note that I didn’t suggest that we pull him right away. BUT! One more performance like Sunday and I’ll be riding the “Bench Him Bandwagon” with a mug of salty beer and a hanky.

Instead, the Tebow supporters who are not simply wisely waiting for him to have a stellar performance and shove my words down my throat at a later date are now finding anyone and everyone else they can blame so that it isn’t all Tebow’s fault. Comments around the web show that those loyal to Tim Tebow are blaming Mike McCoy, Joh Fox, Orlando Franklin, Zane Beadles and the entirety of the defense (possibly save Von Miller but definitely including Champ Bailey) for Tebow’s woeful play.

Well, I’ve got news for you.

It isn’t ALL Tebow’s fault, that’s true. But we can’t hold Tebow blameless and we can’t even say he deserves less blame than any one else on the team.

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