It's Finally back!

Football season is finally upon us again.  I have been meaning to start a sports blog for a long time now but to be honest I didn't really care about anything until football season got started again.  I figured it was appropriate to make my very first post on the eve of the first Broncos game of the season.  This night for me is like Christmas eve for a six year old child.  Speaking of children my wife and I recently welcomed our first child and he is already a big time Broncos fan (or at least I like to think so).

Anyway football is back and I could not be more excited about it.  The Broncos will take on the Indianapolis Colts tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. mountain time.  This game could not have come any quicker for the Broncos and their fans.  Putting the Super Bowl loss behind them is something the Broncos have wanted to do since they walked off the field 43-8 losers.  Tomorrow night will offer them the opportunity to start anew and begin the journey to return to the Super Bowl.





Many people believe that the Broncos have made significant improvements to the team, and more specifically to the defense that struggled for much of the season last year.  The additions of DeMarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, and T.J. Ward should make the Broncos a much better unit than they were a year ago, and perhaps return them to a dominant unit (or at least as dominant as you can be in the NFL).  Another thing to remember is that the Broncos are going to get back several starters that were missing last year.  The return of Rahim (the dream) Moore, Derek Wolfe, and Von Miller should make a big time impact for the defense.  The Broncos also added rookie Bradley Roby to the secondary, and Quinton Carter looks poised to make an impact after several lost seasons due to injury.

One player that is not getting as much chatter is Quanterus Smith.  I think that he could be a very surprising and productive player for the Broncos this year.  He has looked very good in the preseason and has gotten rave reviews from the coaching staff.  Smith is one of the players that could really benefit from the return of Von Miller, and the addition of DeMarcus Ware.  With those two coming after the passer it is likely that others along the defensive line are going to see a lot of opportunities to get to the quarterback.  I think Smith could have a very good season and become a key contributor for the Broncos defensive line.

Speaking of the broncos defensive line I think that the unit has a chance to be very special this year.  The defensive line has tremendous depth as evidenced by the recent release of Kevin Vickerson, who this time last year was a starter for the Broncos.  The defensive line has the big boys to clog up the middle and stuff the run, as well as pass rushers who can wreak havoc coming off the edge.  All in all the defense should be much improved this year and could be very fun to watch when they get after the passer.

Enough about the defense, the NFL is all about scoring and the Denver Broncos will not disappoint this season.  The loss of Eric Decker is something that has been talked about a lot but it should not slow down the Broncos record breaking offense.  Now we can hardly expect 55 TD's from Peyton again or 606 points.  Last season was something special and something that we may not see again for a long time.  Does that mean that the Broncos offense will take a step backwards in 2014? Absolutely not, in fact the offense could be even more talented than it was last year.  Replacing Knowshon Moreno with Montee Ball could end up being great for this offense.  No offense to Knowshon but he is not nearly as good as Ball when it comes to running the ball, and with Ball's improvement in the passing game he could be poised for a huge year.  The really exciting new member of the offense has got to be Emmanuel Sanders.  He looked amazing in the preseason game against the Texans and should be another big time weapon for Peyton Manning.  He is another dynamic playmaker who can make people miss in space.  He should also help take the sting out of the loss of Wes Welker for the first four games.  His ability to play in the slot as well as on the outside makes him a very big part of the offense this season.

Game Prediction 
I think that the Broncos are going to get the season started off on the right foot.  The Colts are a good team no doubt but they do not have the talent across the board like the Broncos do.  I know Andrew Luck is an amazing young quarterback but he will struggle to stay upright tomorrow night.  The Colts offensive line has been decimated by injuries and will struggle to provide Luck with the time he needs to get the ball down the field.  He also won't get much help from Trent Richardson and the running game. They struggled for much of last year to run the ball consistently and with the injuries and inexperience along the offensive line they will still struggle this year as well.  I do think Luck will put together a few nice drives and move the ball but I think for the most part the Denver defense will be able to slow down the Colts.  The Broncos offense on the other hand should have no problem moving the ball against the Colts defense.  The loss of Robert Mathis to a suspension should create a big problem for the Colts.  Without Mathis in the lineup the Colts will struggle to get pressure on Manning, and when Peyton has time it's bad news for the defense.  The offense will get the run game rolling early and often and Peyton will do his thing, and I think the Broncos end up winning this one pretty easily.

Final Score- Broncos 31 Colts 17