I don’t know if it was the Thunder Dog that I ate at Invesco or the Broncos’ performance that made me crave an ant-acid midway through the game. Lately, the Broncos have reminded me of the 02′-04′ Dallas Mavericks or the 07′ Phoenix Suns. Two teams with all the offense in the world, but lacked defense in every sense of the word, and were sent home in the first or second round of the playoffs. It’s great to have the most productive offense in the league (38.0 points per game), but everyone knows that defense wins championships. That’s why the Broncos make me nervous right now. Luckily, we’ve got 13 more games to tweak and improve the defense.
The last two weeks the Broncos have gone up against two very talented offenses with Pro Bowl caliber QB’s, not to mention, arguably the two best backs (Ladanian Tomlinson and Reggie Bush) in the league. All I can say is it’s a good thing our offense is on fire right now. Throw a little luck into the equation – a missed call and a missed field-goal – and what you see is an undefeated Broncos team three weeks into the season.
I’m not trying to play down the significance of what the team is doing right now…I’m trying to put things into perspective for later on into the season. Come week 15, we can’t have the opposing QB complete 39 passes for 421 yards like Drew Brees did today. The defense did have moments today where they shined. In the first half, they stopped the Saints when they were at the 1-yard line forcing them to turn the ball over to the Broncos after a failed fourth down attempt. Then, with two minutes left in the game, they stopped the Saints on third and one forcing them to send in the field-goal unit, which missed the 43-yard boot.
I can compare the Broncos to Evil Knievel. They’re playing on the edge…living on the edge. Jumping from a bridge with an old bungee, speeding on the highway without headlights, and playing like they’re last year’s New England Patriots on offense and the Detroit Lions on defense. Not a good thing!