You wait all offseason for Week 1 of the NFL to return. You deal with Free Agency, the Combine, the Draft, OTAs, Mini Camps, Training Camp, and Preseason just to get to Week 1 of the Regular Season. Then it arrives and your team loses and it just crushes you. All that time thinking and waiting for the opener and your team comes out of the gate with a loss. Well, the 2010 Broncos dropped their season debut at Jacksonville on Sunday 24-17. The Jags took a 7-0 lead right before the half, but Kyle Orton drove Denver right down the field and connected with Jabar Gaffney for a touchdown to tie it up right before the half. Jacksonville took a 14-7 lead in the 3rd, but Knowshon Moreno tied it at 14 on a 1 yard touchdown run. The teams traded field goals, but the Jags took the lead midway through the fourth on David Garrard's third touchdown pass of the day. Down seven, Denver drove inside the 20 of Jacksonville, but the Broncos failed to convert a fourth and 3. The Broncos got the ball back with about two minutes to go but Orton got picked off near midfield as the Jags clinched the victory. It was a disappointing loss for the Broncos in a game they really had to have if they want to get off to a good start to the 2010 season. Here are my quick hits for this week's game.......
1) The offense played well but penalties and turnovers killed them just like last year. A holding call stalled a drive in the first quarter, and Correll Buckhalter fumbled as Denver was driving inside the Jags red zone in the second quarter.
2) Kyle Orton played well, but still can't make the big plays late in the game that could have decided the outcome in Denver's favor.
3) The run defense was not very good at all. The Broncos still seem very suspect in that area, and the only one that impressed me in the front seven versus the run game was DJ Williams.
4) The secondary looked slow and old. I know they really didn't have a pass rush to help them out, but the back end did not play well at all today. This is going to be a major concern all season. Just wait till we face Peyton Manning in Week 3.
5) I was not impressed with Don Martindale's debut as Defensive Coordinator. This defense looks like it has 2007 and 2008 written all over it. The Bronco defense is flat out awful.
6) No running game at all. There were a few nice runs by Moreno, but the Broncos never even seemed to try and get the run game going. They can't rely on being one dimensional, especially with Kyle Orton at QB.
7) Why insert Tim Tebow for two running plays up the gut in the first quarter? Use him in the spread formation. Try to get the defense thinking run or pass with him. What is the point of putting him in there in a double tight running formation? They could have came back to him later in the game as well.
8) Josh McDaniels is going to start to hear it in Denver. The bottom line is that since November 1st of last year, the Broncos are 2-9, and they have lost their last five games. They haven't won a regular season game since December 6, 2009. McDaniels is the head coach and he takes the blame.
9) The Broncos better beat Seattle at home next week because they have Indy, at Tennessee, at Baltimore and the Jets staring at them the next four weeks after that. That is a recipe for 0-6 or 1-5. The heat is on McDaniels, and if this thing gets out of hand, then just hand the keys to Tebow and let him learn on the job. This team isn't going anywhere, just give the fans some hope for the future.
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