Broncos vs. Dolphins: Not Your Average Away Game

By Jim Lyles

The 1-4 Denver Broncos travel to Miami to face the 0-5 Miami Dolphins in a game surrounded with nostalgia and excitement.

The Broncos are coming off their bye week, and the organization has made two significant roster moves since falling to San Diego Chargers 29-24. The first move was inserting Tim Tebow into the starting quarterback role. The second was shipping wide receiver Brandon Lloyd to the Saint Louis Rams for a conditional sixth-round draft pick. Lloyd was the team’s leader in receiving with 283 yards and second on the team in receptions with 19. Lloyd reunites with former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels, the Rams offensive coordinator.

While the Broncos rested, the Dolphins struggled mightily in a 24-6 loss to the New York Jets in a Monday night contest. Miami quarterback Matt Moore playing for the injured Chad Henne, was 16-for-34 for 204 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. One of Moore’s interceptions was returned 100 yards by Jets Pro Bowl cornerback Darrelle Revis for a touchdown. Moore has been ineffective in two starts and has a quarterback rating of 52.8 for the season to show for it.

Tim Tebow and former Gators’ coach Urban Myer will reunite at Sun Life Stadium, ironically the home field of the Gator’s bitter instate college rival, the Miami Hurricans. Mike Pouncey, the Dolphins starting center is also a member of the 2009 Gators’ National Championship team.

Tickets sales have gotten a huge boost from the Gators reunion and Tebow’s arrival as starting quarterback for the Broncos. It will be interesting be see how Dolphins fans will react to raucous Gator fans cheering for Tebow against their hometown Dolphins in Hurricane country.

Former Broncos wide star receiver, Brandon Marshall, now with the Dolphins will also be meeting up with his former teammates. To boost the story lines, Kyle Orton was rumored to be heading to Miami in the off season. There are stories behind stories in this showdown.

It should be a lively crowd and those who watched Tebow in his last game where he almost miraculously rallied the Broncos to victory got a glimpse of a quarterback who maintains his contagious college enthusiasm. Broncos fans are catching on, teammates are catching on, and well, Gator fans are already infected.

There’s an outbreak of Tebow-citis and it has everyone’s attention.

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