Tight end Nate Jackson was released along with Marquand Manuel, John Engelberger and Jamie Winborn. These are guys that had significant playing time last season. Josh McDaniels and new general manager Brian Xanders mean serious business, and I’m sure more surprising roster moves will be made over the next few months. The only jerseys I would be buying this time of year are Cutler, Marshall, and Bailey jerseys. Turns out the job loss in Bronco land may resemble that of the city of Detroit. 

As for what moves the Broncos should make in the off season, many of you have chimed in. Roger says,

“First they have to get solid players for a 3-4 defense.  I believe Doom and Moss can play OLB and Marcus thomas, tim croweder (gain 10-25lbs) and Kenny Peterson can play DE in the 3-4 alignment.  Pick up Dwan Edward and Gabe Watson for the NT, their not superstars but could fill in for the transition year.  I would also sign Chaning crowder for one of the MLB spots and have DJ williams for the other ILB.  I would move Champ Bailey to FS and play him in the mold of Ed Reed.  I know this seems crazy but teams just play one side when he is at CB, this way they couldn’t identify where he would be, plus he is great tackler and last line of defense and Josh Barret could be the big hitting FS.  Then I would sign the CB just cut from detroit, he looked good before going to detroit which can make anyone look bad.  I believe these moves would allow us to put a respectable 3-4 defense on the field and would allow us to draft the best defense of player available in the draft in every round to obtain further improvements.”

Jimmy says,

 ”Love the idea of moving Champ to Safety.  I definitely think he would change the passing game against the Broncos, and he would make the saving tackle at least 75% of those long TD runs that we have given up the last few years.  I wish we could have drafted Taylor Mays (hopefully we won’t be bad enough to draft him next year), but I hope we get his teammate in the first round.  Did you see Fred Taylor got cut today (2/16)?  He would be a sweeeet fit in the Broncos running attack.  A lot in the same style as “I AM” Clinton Portis, but he has a few years on Clinton.”

What do you think about what Roger and Jimmy have to say? Do you agree that the Broncos would be better off in the 3-4?

That’s what happened to the Denver Broncos last night and the crowd just happened to the entire nation. The Broncos were beaten, battered, and humiliated in a New England town and they now sport a Scarlet MC on their chest. 

Matt Cassel simply showed the country just how fragile the Broncos defense is. In 4 of 7 games this season, the Broncos have allowed 30+ points. Last night, they allowed 41 points and 404 total net yards. Injuries took the Bailey brothers out of the game in the first half which didn’t help things, and the Broncos safeties might as well be roaming the field in wheelchairs because they are the most inefficient bunch I’ve seen in a while. Marquand Manuel, Marlon McCree, and now Calvin Lowry have done nothing this season but miss tackles and hide in the shadows. They have 0 interceptions and no defended passes. These guys were constantly pushed back on runs, and I think they bought a piece of property in Vermont since they were obviously not in Foxbourough, MA anymore. Why did we let Hamza Abdullah go again? Denver’s defense did have 6 sacks (5 in the first half), but pressuring the QB last night was not enough as they let New England convert on big downs and had enough penalties to keep MC on the field.

The offense (or lack thereof) can also be blamed for the Broncos collapse. In 3 losses, they have a combined 12 TURNOVERS. Against New England, they combined for 5 turnovers. Andre Hall had 2 carries for -7 yards and 2 fumbles. Needless to say, Mike Shanahan would not let him touch the ball again. That’s how things went. I’m sick of seeing Brandon Marshall run backwards after a catch in order to elude defenders for more yardage. I’m all for tough running, but do it up the field, man! It was good to see Eddie Royal back and he helped the Broncos a ton if you can get over the 7 points left on the scoreboard. You can tell that Jay Cutler misses tight end Tony Scheffler, but that doesn’t explain his interceptions.

I can guarantee that the Broncos won’t lose next week only because they’re not playing. The bye will help them recover from injury and analyze their team identity. They seem to have lost it underneath the first 3 wins of the season.

Now, here are some quotes from Broncos players after the Monday night loss:

“The bye is going to play a big part as far as mentally. It will give us time to heal and give us time to decide what kind of team we want to be. We can be good or we can be sorry, as we’ve seen tonight” (Brandon Marshall).

On what can be done to prevent turnovers:

“I don’t know, you tell me. They seem to be happening a lot” (Jay Cutler).

“I’ve always got a nasty attitude. That’s just the way I play, but it’s not rubbing off on some people, and I don’t like it. It’s getting very frustrating” (Champ Bailey).  

“I embarrassed the team” (Andre Hall).

 

On whether or not the Broncos were ready to play:

“I felt like we were. But, obviously when you go out there and play like that? Apparently, you weren’t…You can’t just go out there and be a body. You’ve got to play, and play hard. We’ve got to get that across to the whole team. Because we just can’t get it done with some of the effort we had today” (Champ Bailey).

 “We got our butt kicked, from the first play to the last” (Dre Bly).

“For the past 100 years, the NFL hasn’t changed. If you can’t stop the run and you have turnovers, you’re going to lose the game” (Ebenezer Ekuban). 

 

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

The bad news is that Elvis Dumervil and Marquand Manuel came away with injuries. Dumervil dislocated his pinkie and should not miss any time while Manuel broke his thumb and was expected to have surgery today.

I was impressed with the Broncos’ effort last night. I just hope it continues to improve as we come up on the regular season.