By virtue of a fortuitous break in the schedule, the Denver Broncos, as presently constituted, are the only 2-0 team in the NFL and now have several days to lick their wounds and watch how the rest of the league unfolds in Week 2.
Meanwhile, despite some skeptics remains in the vast recesses of my Twitter timeline, legendary signal-caller Peyton Manning has again made himself venerated in the eyes of NFL fans after his heroic performance against the Kansas City Chiefs in the clutch.
Anyway, while many questions remain about the Broncos’ running game, which has amassed only 130 yards in the first two games of the season, what we have learned from the first two games is that Manning is able to get the team in a position to win while the tremendous defense preserves the victory.
It is not reasonable to suggest that the running game be completely scrapped but what we have learned from the first two wins of the season, especially the game at Kansas City, is that Manning still has 4th Quarter magic in him when called upon and the defense is always ready to make a play to preserve victory.
For the time being, I think it would be wise for Manning to do what he does which is sustainable as long as the defense can make plays to win the game, at least until the offensive line gets its sea legs under them.
To be 2-0 despite a completely new system being implemented is nothing short of remarkable and with the defense forcing three red zone turnovers thus far on the season, the sky can still be the limit for this squad.
The other AFC West teams this week have tough matchups awaiting them as the Chargers must travel to Cincinnati against a Bengals squad that is coming off of a 33-13 win over the Oakland Raiders on the road. Additionally, the aforementioned Raiders have drawn the Baltimore Ravens who all Broncos fans know to be a formidable squad.
Every week in the NFL is its own animal and the Broncos cannot afford to have the amount of missteps that they did against Kansas City if they want to be a successful championship-caliber squad but things could be much worse. As it is, Broncos Country can enjoy this weekend knowing that in the worst-case scenario, San Diego can be tied with them at 2-0 atop the division standings. That’s not a bad position to be in.