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Broncos (1-2) vs. Titans (2-1)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
LP Field
11:00 a.m. MT

Coming off a 27-13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts last week, the Denver Broncos (1-2) look to even their record on the season when they travel to Nashville to face the Tennessee Titans (2-1) on Sunday. Kickoff at LP Field is set for 12 p.m. CDT.

Coverage
The game will be broadcast on KCNC-TV (CBS4); Kevin Harlan (play-by-play) and Solomon Wilcots (color commentary) will call the game. Radio coverage is provided by KOA Radio (850 AM) with Dave Logan (play-by-play) and Brian Griese (color commentary) calling the game and Andy Lindahl reporting from the sidelines.

INACTIVES

Denver: Andre Goodman, Spencer Larsen, Knowshon Moreno, Wesley Woodyard, Eric Olsen, Chris Clark, Richard Quinn, and Brady Quinn (3rd QB).

Tennessee: TBA

Weather: Cloudy, 54°, medium winds

Live Blog

The Rules: Keep it clean, no insulting other commenters. Join us beginning 15 minutes before the game for the best in-game commentary in Broncos Country! GO BRONCOS!!

We’re out of coffee.

The best part of waking up on Sundays.

I should not be up at this hour. We’re out of coffee, so I’m up, waiting for the grocery store down the street to open. I remember as a child being up early hours (it was fun back then), specifically waking early enough to spend time with my parents in the kitchen before they left for work. Lights were dim, barely lights at all, voices were soft, and coffee was trickling. My dad takes his black, my mom with milk and sugar. I remember taking sips, and for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why someone would choose to digest the bitter fuel. But it was cool. Now here, in the apartment I reside during my adult years, we also run on filled cups. It set’s the tone for the rest of the day, a good cup of coffee does. Gets things moving, it does. After a good cup of coffee, a lot of things have to go wrong to challenge my day. A good cup of coffee is to a good day, like a Broncos win is to a great week. I’m planning on getting both today.

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The helmets of the Denver Broncos were adorned with the #11 of recently deceased teammate Kenny McKinley as they faced the Indianapolis Colts last week. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

So, about last week…

A lot of you were right, some of you were with me (which is a nice way of saying we were wrong).

How could the Denver Broncos possibly have lost to the Indianapolis Colts? It was a loss, even on paper. I did include a bit of conspiracy in my post; how focused the Colts were last season on beating the Broncos before cashing in on the rest of their regular season. Side note: curiously the Colts let go of former Broncos quarterback Tom Brandstater on Monday. Wonder what they were using him for?

Denver had many opportunities to win this game, there were questionable calls, an inability to cash in on red zone opportunities, blah, blah, blah. I didn’t see what a lot of people saw; yes a loss is always upsetting, but the Broncos held their own against Peyton Manning’s Colts without a lot of who makes the Broncos the Broncos. No Elvis Dumervil, Ryan Harris, Knowshon Moreno, Andre Goodman and Spencer Larsen (who went down early). That and a dollar will get you a scratch game in some states though.

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Wide receiver Brandon Marshall celebrates his first touchdown as a Miami Dolphin against the New York Jets during third quarter NFL football action in Miami, Florida September 26, 2010. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

Keeping tabs on key performers who once bled orange and blue.

Mike Shanahan
Record: 1-2
Streak: Lost 2
Stat Line: Offense: 340.0 ypg (13th). Defense: 423.7 ypg (32nd)

It was a rough week for Mike Shanahan. Shanahan’s ‘Skins became the first team to lose to the St. Louis Rams in St. Louis’ Edward Jones Dome in nearly two calendar years. They mustered only three points in the second half and allowed the Rams to force the highest point total in Rams caoch Steve Spagnuolo‘s career.

Reality Check: Josh McDaniels — McDaniels is also 1-2, and while a loss is a loss, it’s a lot easier to look at yourself in the mirror having lost to an NFL powerhouse than a perennial bottom-feeder. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Quarterback Kyle Orton #8 of the Denver Broncos makes a pass against the Indianapolis Colts during NFL action at INVESCO Field at Mile High on September 26, 2010 in Denver, Colorado. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

Analyzing player performances from the Denver Broncos‘ 13-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, highlighting the good and the bad. And this week, for the first time in Studs and Duds history, we have a player boasting stud-dud double-duty. Where would you file our up-and-down enigma?

Dud: Kyle Orton

Realistically, I have to pick Kyle Orton as my dud. Kyle Orton? Yes, Kyle Orton. 476 yards. Amazing, right? Yet, one touchdown. Five trips to the red zone with no points. That’s a failure. How do you get 476 yards and only one touchdown? As McDaniel’s said after the game, “When you lose, statistics are hollow.” Some of this is in McDaniel’s shoulders for the play calling, but the reality is that Kyle Orton has to do a better job of seeing the field and since we don’t have a running game, we have to come away with points in the red zone. And we did not. Sorry Kyle. I was turning into a fan of yours, but performances like this frustrate and infuriate me. Kyle Orton: This Dud’s for You. -E. Halsey Miles

Stud: Kyle Orton

It’s easy to label Orton a dud because of Denver’s lackluster redzone performance, but that falls on the running backs and linemen. Laurence Maroney’s 2 yards a carry and Walton’s holding calls didn’t help the offense one bit. However somehow Orton still managed to carry the offense up the field. Yes Orton made some mistakes but he knew he had to play aggressive if he was going to beat the Colts. My hat is off to Orton who already has over 1,000 yards passing on the year. -Mr. East Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Apologies for the lack of posts yesterday. Our 9-5’s were a bit extra demanding. We return to your regularly scheduled programming today…

• Kenny McKinley‘s funeral service was held in Georgia Monday. Wesley Woodyard gave a eulogy, saying, “Every day, (McKinley) would come into the locker room and teach 61 men how to laugh and smile. I’ve never seen anybody in my life that taught everybody to smile every single day. Every single day.”
• McKinley was generous with his time to a young fan in 2008 who suffered from brain cancer.  “He was the kind of person who would go out of his way to meet a young fan, no matter how inconvenient.”
• Please donate to the Kenny McKinley trust fund.
• “Execution” is Josh McDaniels‘ one-word answer to what ails the Broncos in the red zone.
• Tim Tebow certainly isn’t.
• The Broncos’ red zone woes are expounded on short yardage (“and one”) downs.
• Demaryius Thomas‘ x-rays on his left wrist/arm came back negative.
• The Colts‘ superstars didn’t beat the Broncos Sunday — their Plan B guys did.
• It’s never too early for a little draft class analysis (actually, it often is, but anyway…). Perrish Cox looks like a steal.
• The surprise 3-0 Chicago Bears.
• One columnist isn’t buying the NFC’s only remaining undefeated team.
• Chargers LT Marcus McNeill signed his one-year tender and expects to have a long-term deal by season’s end.

Quarterback Kyle Orton #8 of the Denver Broncos delivers a pass against the Indianapolis Colts at INVESCO Field at Mile High on September 26, 2010 in Denver, Colorado. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Kyle Orton threw for nearly 500 yards. Not that you could tell from the scoreboard.

Orton’s career-high 476 passing yards took the Denver Broncos into the red zone five times, but he and the Broncos escaped with a mere six points, falling to the Indianapolis Colts by a final score of 13-27.

Questionable playcalling, sloppiness when it mattered, and a wholly inefficient ground game doomed the Broncos in the red zone, where they went 0-for-3 on fourth downs and settled for field goals otherwise. The Broncos will look at this game as a blown opportunity considering how well the defense played through three quarters, and how frequently the offense let potential scores slip through their fingers.

Because while the offense moved effortlessly from 20-yard line to 20-yard line, it was the Indianapolis Colts, led by the consistent Peyton Manning, who found pay dirt when it mattered. Manning finished with 325 yards and three touchdowns, two to WR Austin Collie, who was the latest beneficiary of Manning’s tried-and-true favorite strategy when facing the Broncos: pick on the cornerback not named Champ Bailey (in this case, rookie Perrish Cox).

It was a rough outing for Cox, who got the start for the injured Andre Goodman. Cox muffed a Colts punt in the first quarter, and Indianapolis recovered to score the game’s first points. Then Manning would target Collie repeatedly in the second half, who get the better of Cox for two touchdowns that made the difference on the scoreboard.

vs.
Broncos (1-1) vs. Colts (1-1)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
INVESCO Field at Mile High
2:15 p.m. MT

The Denver Broncos (1-1) host the Indianapolis Colts (1-1). Kickoff at INVESCO Field is set for 2:15 p.m. MDT.

Coverage
The game will be broadcast on KCNC-TV (CBS4); the networks’ No. 1 team of Jim Nantz (play-by-play) and Phil Simms (color commentary) will call the game. Radio coverage is provided by KOA Radio (850 AM) with Dave Logan (play-by-play) and Brian Griese (color commentary) calling the game and Andy Lindahl reporting from the sidelines.

INACTIVES

Denver: CB Goodman, RB Moreno, OL Olsen, Harris, Clark, TE Quinn, WR Decker, QB Tebow (3rd QB)

Indianapolis: WR Gonzalez, DB Sanders, King, LB Session, OL McClendon, Johnson, WR Garcon, DT Mathews

Weather: Sunny, 85°, light winds

Live Blog

The Rules: Keep it clean, no insulting other commenters. Join us beginning 15 minutes before the game for the best in-game commentary in Broncos Country! GO BRONCOS!!

The Broncos defeated the Seahawks 31-14 (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

No one in their right mind (or our comments section) predicted that the Denver Broncos would lose to the Seattle Seahawks. So good job guys, I myself came within seven points of predicting the final score. I also predicted that the Seahawks offensive line would make the Broncos defense look a lot better than it actually is; so keep that in mind as we look from here on with our predictions.

I explained Denver’s defense pretty in depth here, only after calling Wink Martindale out on The Orange Page. What it basically boils down to is this: If the Broncos special teams can stop the opposing special teams at or behind their own 20 yard line; Denver will either come away with a turnover, a stop or the opposing team will have to settle for a field goal.

(Predictions after you click your mouse button… once)

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