Broncos 20 – Patriots 17 highlights.

Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels celebrates beating the New England Patriots in overtime after their NFL football game in Denver, Colorado October 11, 2009. (REUTERS/Mark Leffingwell)

Notable quotables from Josh McDaniels the Monday after the Broncos’ thrilling 20-17 overtime victory over the Patriots. Hat tip to the Broncos PR staff, as always.

HEAD COACH JOSH McDANIELS

On the Broncos not practicing today

“That is normally part of the year as the year goes on. You try to give them a little bit of extra rest and also give them a little reward for playing a tough game, physical game. (We are) just trying to give them a little bit of a bone as we head into a long week because we are going to have a long week: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday practice (Monday night game). As the season wears on, you don’t want to give (the day off) to them right away. Obviously, there are plenty of things to correct. In fact, we have an extra day this week which will give us the chance to look at the film on Wednesday from this game without putting us too far behind the eight ball in our preparation for San Diego.”

On if Denver’s training camp style is similar to New England’s and if it helped the club with conditioning Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Eddie Royal became the fastest Bronco to ever reach 100 catches Sunday. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

Some truly fascinating nuggets here following the Broncos‘ 20-17 victory over the Patriots…. be sure to check the Broncos’ 2nd half defensive stats and Kyle Orton‘s amazing 4th quarter efficiency. Thanks as always to the Broncos PR staff.

FINAL SCORE: BRONCOS 20, PATRIOTS 17 (OT)
ATTENDANCE: 76,011

BRONCOS START 5-0

The Denver Broncos held the Boston Patriots scoreless after halftime and rallied for a 20-17 overtime victory to improve to 5-0 on the season for the fifth time in franchise history and first time in 11 seasons. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• In what was called his “benchmark game,” Josh McDaniels delivered.  [NBC Sports]
• McDaniels and Belichick may be of the same mold, but McD’s post-win celebration puts him in a different class. [ESPN]
• View McDaniels’ fist-pumping ecstasy here. [BroncoTalk]
• Kyle Orton out-Brady’d Tom Brady.  [ESPN]
• And Peter King sees a bit of 2001 Brady in this 2009 Orton.  [Sports Illustrated]

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

For everyone at 5,280 feet, the Broncos’ 20-17 victory in overtime over the Patriots was an incredible moment. And while all of us were soaring sky high, one man was at least a mile higher. No one can touch Josh McDaniels.

As commenter DenversFinest put it —

Man I almost cried today when McD thanked the crowd. We gave him every thing we could. I don’t know what came over me. This is the first TEAM ive seen in 11 years.

It’s a special season in Denver, and the Broncos have themselves a special coach. I can’t wait to see what the future holds, both near and far. Enjoy it, Denver.

Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall (15) pulled down by New England Patriots' Jerod Mayo (51) after a pass reception during the first quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Denver. (AP Photo/ Barry Gutierrez )

Post-game quotes from the coaches and players after the Broncos beat the Patriots 20-17 in overtime!

DENVER BRONCOS HEAD COACH JOSH MCDANIELS

General

“It was a big win for the football team, a great team we played today. They were very well prepared and we knew that it would be a 60-minute game, or longer in this case. They forced us into some errors, and we made some errors on our own, but I am really proud of the team. We hung in there for four quarters or longer, kept playing and fighting, and made some adjustments in the second half, and gave us a change to kind of swing the game in our favor. Like I said I am really proud of our team. We still have a lot of improving to make. We can play better than that, that is the good part of that knowing we can play better than we did.”  Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Kyle Orton #8 of the Denver Broncos passes against the New England Patriots during an NFL game at Invesco Field at Mile High on October 11, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. (Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images)

The Denver Broncos defense shut out the New England Patriots in the second half, Kyle Orton was spectacular, and Josh McDaniels out-coached his mentor Bill Belichick as the Broncos beat the Patriots 20-17 in overtime!

For the second week, the Broncos had to dig themselves out of a 10-0 hole in the first quarter. For the second week, they trailed at halftime. For the second week, the defense shut out the opposing team, and the offense made the clutch plays when they counted.

In fact, Denver opponents are two for 31 on third down conversions in the second half. Furthermore, Denver hasn’t allowed a 2nd half third-down conversion in three weeks! Simply stellar.

Meanwhile, it’s time to put Kyle Orton in the Pro Bowl conversation, and the Broncos in the playoffs one. GO BRONCOS! 5-0!

vs.
Broncos (4-0) vs. Patriots (3-1)
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Invesco Field at Mile High
2:15 pm MT
GameBlog starts at 1:45

Welcome one and all to another edition of the BT GameBlog! Everything you need to know before the game, and the best in-game commentary you’ll find anywhere on the Internet. Be sure to join us!

The Denver Broncos (4-0) and Boston Patriots (3-1), who played each other in the first regular-season game in American Football League history 50 years ago, take to the field on Sunday at INVESCO Field at Mile High. Kickoff is set for 2:15 p.m. MDT.

The Broncos will be donning their infamous brown-and-yellow uniforms and vertical-striped socks, and many have commented on how ugly these uniforms are. There’s no denying it – these unis are ugly. Even horrid. But that’s perfectly fitting. If we’re going to honor the start of this franchise, we stay true to its roots — and the Broncos have the humblest of them. They were a rag-tag group of has-beens and never-weres, dressed in Copper Bowl hand-me-downs and playing in a stadium that didn’t meet NFL standards until the 1968-1970 seasons. They were the laughingstock of the AFL, a perennial joke, and a near-transit story, as there was serious interest in moving the club to Atlanta early on.

But they still won that first game. The brown-and-yellow Denver Broncos went to Boston and beat the Patriots 13-10 in the AFL’s first game, 50 years ago. Let’s honor that today. Let’s go out there and win.

Warmup YouTube
A quick warmup from the 2009 Ring of Fame inductee…

INACTIVES
Denver: TBA
New England: TBA, although WR Joey Galloway reportedly won’t suit.

Television Coverage: CBS 4 in Denver has the game, and for the second straight week, the Broncos’ get the afternoon network’s A-Team. Jim Nantz (play-by-play) and father-of-Chris Phil Simms (color commentary) will call the game (NFL TV distribution map). DIRECTV Sunday Ticket coverage is on 714.

Radio Coverage: KOA Radio (850 AM). Dave Logan (play-by-play) and Ed McCaffrey (color commentary) will call the game with Andy Lindahl reporting from the sidelines. Listen to that call on Sirius 91, or, for a listen to the enemy’s radio call, tune to 123.

Weather: It was a snowy, blustery day in Denver Saturday, but things are looking a bit better today. As of 9am conditions were mostly cloudy with some moderate winds (on another note, does weather.com think we really care about “right now at the stadium?” It’s called a FOREcast. Get it?). Full weather profile. [Weather.com]

GameBlog below, we’ll bump it to the top at game time, throw out your predictions in the comments and GO BRONCOS!

BroncoTalk staffers J. Kenneth K., Mr. East and Kyle predict each week’s winners.

Minnesota (-10) at St. Louis

Last week’s Favre Bowl was Minnesota’s best win of the season, and they showed they’re a team that can be exceptional with a second half lead: good pass rush, running the football, and smart quarterback play. I seem them carrying that momentum into St. Louis with a decisive win.

Pick: Minnesota, 33-13

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

A couple of video predictions on the Broncos‘ upcoming Week 5 game against the Patriots.

ESPN

ProFootballTalk Click here to read the rest of this entry »