Final Game Stats

Redemption says it all, don't you think?

Make a mistake?  Make it up.  Get down?  Get back up.  Giving in?  Don't give up.

We have all week to talk about what went wrong:  The defense missed tackles and didn't stop the run.  The Broncos running threat is diminished.  Marshall was out of it for nearly 50 minutes of football.

But 60 minutes of football is what counts, and this team showed up to play, all night.

If we were handing out game balls, it is hard to say where to begin.  How about Hillis, stepping in and stepping up when EVERY Broncos RB went down this season.  He is still learning pass-catching FB in a  Mike Shanahan offense, and he was expected to learn TB in 5 minutes or less?  He showed that there is a time for learning and a time for playing football.  His diving lunge, with a tackler riding him, after being hit in the backfield, for a critical 4th down conversion in the final quarter of play hasn't been seen in a Denver Broncos tailback since Mike Anderson took the field.

Or how about Cutler?  After lobbing a killer INT (not necessarily his fault), and then getting VERY lucky a few times on near picks, he settled in and was throwing perfect passes.  Touch passes, long passes, ropes across the middle.  With every pass I became more and more sure that he was going to put it right where it needed to be, and Iforgot about critical INTs at inconceivable times.  Instead  we get a perfect defensive read, and a heads up scramble for a first down deep in Cleveland territory, followed by a perfect read on Marshall's coverage in the endzone.

Speaking of Marshall, how about him?  After looking like his head was you-know-where for the first 50 minutes of the game, being pushed around by smaller, lighter, slower players, after being made to look like a stonehanded statue, he made a perfect play in the endzone in a man coverage situation, and embarrased the defender in the process.  Back to being the old Marshall.  Almost too far back, however, and thank whatever stars shined on us tonight that Stokely, and the others were there to stop him from drawing a penalty  that would have hurt us pretty badly on the ensuing kickoff.  Still, I would like to know what he had planned.  Think he'll talk?

Lastly, I want to tip the MHR hat to a defense that could have been the Denver Towels, or the Slightly Broncos.  But 60 minutes meant something to them too tonight, and despite the missed tackles, the multiple injuries and the free pass they gave to Quinn, I am enjoying the flashes that I am seeing.  Anybody notice the two deep safeties?  It was hit and miss, but the corners looked a lot better this game.  I hope DJ never comes back, if it means I don't get to see anymore Wesley Woodyard, I like the kid that much.  A very good offensive line beat up on our d-line all game, but the four man rush at the end was not making Quinn's job easy, and Dumervil was a force.

Before I leave you guys to your thoughts, lets congratulate Brady Quinn on doing more than anyone expected, even Browns fans.  They didn't want him to suck.  He showed some things tonight that that franchise can definitely build on going forward.

So that is it, we have the equivalant of a bye week coming up and no matter what happens we are a first place team.  Tell the world.

This isn't a team any Broncos' fan needs to be ashamed of.

How is this one gonna go down guys?

I just have to state for the record that  when I capped this game, EVERY single sign in the universe points to a Browns win, EXCEPT teh activation of a rookie QB after a short week (and the recent lockerrom dysfunction I highlighted).

So why am I so confident in a Broncos win?

The cap says 21-12 CLE.

I say 32-3 Denver freaking Broncos!

My ranking system for upsets (0-5 is a likely upset, 10 and higher, stay away!) says the chance of an upset is a factor of 18 (bad).  Consider that only OAK, KC and SF are ranked worse this week...(far worse with OAK at 34.5, KC at 22.5, and SF at 25.5...)

I say Denver by 4 scores anyways.

The universe keeps throwing the Broncos in my face, and I just keep throwing them right back at the universe...  :)

Check out the following article on NFL.com:

Crennel trying to pull all the right strings in Cleveland. 

Pay particular atttention to the following "Anonymous" quote from the lockerroom, and ask yourself what kind of mindset these players are going to have, and how hard they feel like playing for these coaches, and sadly, for Quinn, who is gonna get caught in the middle of all this junk...

"Derek got robbed. Braylon (Edwards) is unprofessional, lazy, has all the ability you want but is an underachiever – and still starts. Guys don’t like it. Derek benched, Braylon plays? Double standard. That’s bending rules. Derek has been done an injustice."

We need to get on top early, and I think the Browns may just fold like a house of cards.

[Editor's note:  The MHR staff recently submitted the following piece to the Cleveland area sports site Waiting For Next Year.  We thought the MHR faithful would like to see what kind of word we are spreading about this young team, and check out some additional Browns commentary while they are at it.  They will run this piece on Thursday. --Styg]

The Denver Broncos Will Win If...

...They commit to the running game. 

Bottom line.  On the season Denver is fielding a fantastically unbalanced offensive approach, and is currently at 72% pass, 28% run.  In the past three games, all losses, Denver has tried to commit only to be derailed early by either turnovers (back to back fumbles by a second string RB), injuries (our starting RB, Selvin Young missed several games to a groin injury, and our expected starter going into the season got his first start of the season last week after missing the first half of the year to a broken elbow), or BOTH injuries and turnovers (Cutler handed out 3 INTs last week, and we lost two of our starting RBs, and our primary kick returner to injured reserve in that game.)!

Now the team must rely on Ryan Torain and a less than 100% Selvin Young. Young is injury prone, and hasn't played much for Denver lately, so much of the job is up to Torain, getting only the second start of his NFL career.  He carried the ball three times and got only one yard against MIA in his first game since college. He has also spent the last several weeks recovering from an elbow injury.

One thing to watch for, however, is #22, FB Peyton Hillis, the rookie out of Arkansas.  I wouldn't be surprised if Hillis gets some carries as a halfback. He can catch out of the backfield on screens, but he can also run downfield for catches. Shanahan made a comment that he still needs to work on blocking, but this may indicate that Hillis is more ready to run the ball and catch it than to block. Also, Hillis got a taste of experience in the last game, going over 100 yards receiving, the first for a Bronco back in decades.

Another top consideration for the Broncos will be to limit the stupid mistakes.  Early in the season it was the opponents making the mistakes and Denver playing clean football.  That has seen a complete reversal with Miami and NE gaining 4 penalties between the two of them, and none in the first half, while Denver has taken a serious dive in the turnover ratio, losing 16 turnovers in the past four losses, while creating only two.  The primary culprit here has been Cutler, with 8 INTs and 2 fumbles, but when you drop back to pass as often as Denver has, bad things are bound to happen.  Again, if Denver can establish the run, expect the number of Cutler turnovers to drop considerably, possibly to the zero level which he maintained through three of Denver's wins this year.

One thing Cutler has NOT had to worry about has been pocket pressure.  Denver is second in the league in sacks allowed (6), and first in sacks allowed per attempt.  A rookie LT and a rookie RT have been exemplary in pass protection.  Except for NE, who gained 3 sacks on Denver in a blowout, every team has been terribly frustrated in their pass rushing attempts.  But crafty secondaries have proven to be quite troublesome to Cutler, so dynamic, inventive coverage schemes with exotic player matchups could definitely lead to trouble, and have given him fits so far this season.

One last thing I am personally watching for is to see if the recent trend of our defense playing better from game to game continues against a QB receiving his first start on a short week.  The hallmark of this defense was its inability to contain opposing teams passers, allowing completion %s in the high 70s every game, until last week when Pennington, the career NFL leader in completion percentage for a QB with over 2000 attempts, was held to only 57%.  That is only a small part of a trend of getting better against the run, and pressuring the passer, that has developed recently.  This is a trend that has manifested DESPITE losing our two defensive captains, Champ Bailey and DJ Williams.  I will be very interested to see if it continues in their absence.

The point of this post is to gather the information needed to keep proper track of what appears to be an all time NFL record setting offensive line.  To wit:

Fewest Sacks Allowed in NFL History 

7  MIA      1988  (16 games)   .43/game

8  SF       1970  (14 games)  .57/game

    STL     1975  (14 games)  .57/game

9  NYJ     1966   (14 games)  .64/game

     WAS   1991  (16 games)  .56/game

Broncos Current Pace

4(5)  in 7 games .57/game(.71/game)

on pace for:  8(9) in 16 games

(Per Spock's recommendation, I have extrapolated out the actual sacks and then added the single "odd" sack from the Charger's game.  I believe that will prove to be the truer mark to target.)

Additionally the Broncos are on an even better pace when it is described in terms of sacks allowed per attempt.

Att:  258    Sacks per attempt:  1/65 (1/51)

Obviously the numbers above are awesome, but without the All-Time record in the sacks allowed per attempt category, it is inconclusive to say that they are on pace to be the best.  Perhaps someone knows where that data can be found, or maybe Guru can reach out to the Broncos, as I suspect that they have those numbers.

Something else to keep in mind, at least as a look at offensive efficacy, is the olines penalty numbers to this point in the season:

Penalties and assessed yards: oline 

Harris:  1/15yds (unnecessary roughness after a play)

Wiegmann:  1/5yds  (false start)

Kuper: 1/5yds  (false start)

Clady:  2/15yds  (illegal formation, holding, holding-declined)

Hamilton:  3/35yds  (chop block, holding, holding, holding-offsetting)

Total:  8/75yds

Keep those numbers in mind next time the Broncos march into the redzone and score:  it is approximately 400% better than the same situation in 2007, and  we all know about our redzone woes and offensive stallouts from then...

Bonus Offensive Rookie of the Year Vigil 

Yes, I know this is all for naught, as Clady is not only an offensive lineman, but also a perrenially shafted Denver Bronco, but it doesn't hurt to keep track.  There is the slightest, teensy chance of a breath of an impression of a glimmer of a gnat's butt of a hope that he could get a vote or two, based on last years OROTY ballotting, where Joe Thomas, the rookie 1st round tackle for the Browns was the only other player to receive votes besides Adrian Peterson.

On that note, the comparison between Thomas, the Rookie Pro Bowler, and our own aspiring Ryan Clady will be used as the benchmark for this analysis.  And with attention, maybe they will make a point of recording offensive line statistics in the future.

Joe Thomas 

16 games started

0 sacks allowed at LT

7 total penalties totalling 40yards

one game with multiple (2) penalties (back to back false starts)

anchored oline that only allowed 19 sacks in 545 attempts (T3rd in sacks allowed)

Ryan Clady 

7games started

0 sacks allowed at LT

2 penalties totalling 15yds

0 games with multiple penalties

anchors oline that has allowed only 4(5) sacks in 258 attempts (2nd in sacks allowed)

Week 8 Update:  The NE game really hit these numbers for a loop, and that is to be expected with a young line.  The vigil continues however, and a solid second half should have this oline still ranked among the greats of all time....

Looks like Boss damaged his knee bad enough to require microfracture surgery in the next couple of days, thus likely sending him to IR for the year.  That means he will fulfill his most significant worry coming into the season:  he hasn't and never will stay healthy.

The same story from the Post reports that Champ can be expected to miss some time too:

Champ Bailey, who suffered a groin injury in the first half of Monday's game, went for a magnetic resonance imaging exam Tuesday and is expected to miss at least a month and possibly longer.

Rookie Jack Williams, who played in place of Champ Bailey Monday night, is expected to move into the left cornerback position after the team's bye week.

 The broncos also still have a roster spot left over from the Shaw suspension, and they recently cleared two spots on their practice squad, by releasing Stephen Harris (DT) and PJ Pope(RB).

I think Woodyard is going to get some playing time, and I bet that is going to make a lot of you guys excited.  I know, because i am excited too, but let's keep our feet on the ground here, and realize that Woodyard won't be half as good as Boss was.  But I think Woodyard's attitude will lend a spark to the defense while he learns.  But I am getting ahead of myself...  K2 is another possible starter which would have Nate moving back outside to man Boss' SLB position.  Fiddling around with Moss is also a possibility, but don't expect it.  He still lines up with a hand in the dirt, so the OLB experiment hasn't come to pass with moss yet.

We need Champ back ASAP, but Williams can use the experience.  In the big scheme of things, the loss of Champ for a little while should help, so he needs to take his time and get fully healthy before trying to return.