Well everyone week one is in the books and the Broncos find themselves atop the AFC West at 1-0. The game was a little too close for comfort at the end but as they say a win is a win and nowhere is that more true than in the NFL. Getting a win against a quality opponent in the opener always makes you feel good and this win should get the season started off right. The game ended up being much closer than it should have been because the Broncos offense struggled to gain traction in the second half.
Reasons for Optimism
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| Denver Broncos-Ben Hays |
One of the biggest reasons for optimism on the offensive side of the ball had to be the play of Julius Thomas. The colts had absolutely no answer for the big tight end. They tried several different coverages on him, and they simply could not stop him. The three first half touchdowns showed just how good Thomas could be this year. Another offensive player that really stood out was Emmanuel Sanders. He was a player that I thought might have a big time impact this season and I think that is going to be the case. He showed the ability to beat people deep down the field and he also showed that he can make people miss in space. I think Sanders should be in for a huge year and by the end of the season most Broncos fans will probably forget all about Eric Decker. The re-tooled offensive line also seemed to be in sync and seemed to be better than last years unit. For most of the night Manning had plenty of time, aside from one missed blitz pickup the unit performed very well. I think overall the offense should be every bit as good as last year. There were a few reasons for concern but I will delve into that more later.
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| Denver Broncos-Ben Hays |
Another reason to be excited about this years team is the play of the Denver defense last night. I know the defense gave up 24 points and Andrew Luck did throw for almost 400 yards, however these stats are slightly overblown due to the fact that the colts were throwing almost the entire second half. The defense completely dominated the Colts in the first half and set the tone with physical play and great man coverage. As I stated previously the second half was a little bit more of a struggle, but I believe that a big reason for that was the struggles of the offense. The Denver offense was unable to move the ball and the defense was stuck on the field for a good part of the second half. They were also put in bad situations with short fields. The real positive for the defense though was the ability to make big stops when they needed to. On two second half drives the Colts made it inside the Denver 10 and managed to score a measly three points. The fourth and goal stuff of Andrew Luck was a huge play in the game. The Broncos were also able to do a great job in man to man coverage down the field. On two different occasions Denver defenders were able to knock the ball away and Rahim (the Dream) Moore was able to come away with an interception. I thought the secondary looked very good in man to man coverages. One area where they did struggle a bit was covering a tight end or running back that was coming out of the backfield but I am sure that Jack Del Rio will shore that up very quickly.
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| Denver Broncos- Eric Las Bakkes |
One defensive player that played tremendous was Bradley Roby. The rookie was forced into a very tough situation and he thrived in his first NFL game. With the loss of Kayvon Webster to illness, Roby was thrown to the wolves and he more than met expectations. For much of the game Roby was asked to cover Reggie Wayne in the slot, one of the toughest assignments in football. The rookie showed the ability to play tight man to man coverage and he made one of the biggest plays of the game on the Colts last possession when he was able to knock the ball from Wayne on a fourth and six that would have kept the drive alive, had Wayne made the catch. With Chris Harris working his way back from a torn ACL having someone like Roby will be invaluable for the Broncos. His production in the game shows once again that John Elway and the Broncos have the ability to make impact picks even late in the 1st round.
Reasons For Concern
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| Denver Broncos- Gabriel Christus |
Now for the negatives from the game. I thought this game did provide a few reasons for concern. The biggest problem for me in this game was the offense in the second half. They struggled to gain traction and were unable to stay on the field which put the defense in a bad position. I think one reason for the struggles could be attributed to the play-calling. On first down the Broncos called 11 pass plays that gained an average of 11.8 yards and provided several big passing plays down the field. They also called 18 runs which gained an average of just over three yards per carry. The run-pass balance was not terrible for the game overall but in the second half things got much worse. In the second half there were only four first down passes. Two resulted in a completion for nine yards and twenty six yards, another drew a five yard defensive holding and the fourth was an incompletion. There were ten running plays on first down in the second half that gained an average of only 2.3 yards. This kind of play-calling is way too conservative and it allowed the Colts to put the Broncos offense in bad down and distance situations. I know a lot of people are down on the running game after the game but I think the running game will be fine, and I am a big believer in Montee Ball. I think that Adam Gase needs to do a better job of play-calling in the second half to keep the defense off balance, and give the offense an opportunity to maintain the rhythm they enjoyed in the first half. I think the offense will shore up the problems that arose in the second half and they should be just fine for the rest of the season.
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| Denver Broncos- Erik Lars Bakke |
A bigger concern that I had as the game went along was the lack of a consistent pass rush. I know they were able to get three sacks in the game, but on two of the sacks Luck was forced to hold the ball for a significant amount of time. I was also a little bit concerned that Von Miller did not make any significant plays, he just did not look like the player that had 18.5 sacks in 2012. I know that he is coming off an ACL injury but the Broncos really need him to have a more significant impact than he did last night. Hopefully it was more of a conditioning issue and not a problem with the ACL. One player along the defensive line that really impressed me was Malik Jackson. He made several plays in the backfield and he forced Andrew Luck to make several hurried throws. I do think that the Broncos need to find a way to generate more pressure on the quarterback throughout the game or they could give up a lot of big plays.
Look Ahead
Let's take a look ahead to next week when the Broncos will face off against the Kansas City Chiefs at Sports Authority field. The Chiefs offense looked anemic in their opener against the Tennessee Titans and I think they could be in for a long game against the Denver defense. I think Alex Smith will struggle to find open receivers and could have a few turnovers again this week. Once again the Broncos defense will get to face an offensive line that is facing serious questions and struggled to protect Smith in the opener. It will also be interesting to see how the Chiefs defense fairs after losing two starters (Derrickk Johnson and Mike DeVito) to season ending achilles tendon tears. Later in the week I will go into more detail on this matchup and what I think the outcome will be.
Final Thought
This is a little bit off topic from the rest of the article but as I was typing this up the Ravens announced that Ray Rice's deal was terminated and the NFL followed suit and suspended him indefinitely. These moves were well overdue and it really makes you wonder why it did not happen sooner. I know the video came out today and it was graphic to say the least, but really what did the NFL think happened when he knocked his fiancé unconscious? They should not have had to see the video to come to this decision. It really makes me question the decision makers of the NFL when a guy like Matt Prater gets suspended four games for drinking a beer and Ray Rice gets two games for knocking a woman unconscious. I hope the NFL gets this right in the future. They can start by suspending Greg Hardy, who was involved in a physical altercation with his girlfriend in which he threatened to kill her. Hopefully the NFL does the right thing and does its best to eliminate domestic violence.
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