Denver Broncos add some offense
October 20, 2009 by James Edwards
Filed under Sports
NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.
Denver has been doing it with defense so far this year. Just shutting down team after team like it was nothing. It was time to show the world that they are made of more than defense, that they can also cross the goal line with regularity. It was also time to play the Chargers, a team that has ruled the AFC West for years. This year’s Chargers were struggling on defense and not quite the super offensive team they have been in the past. In other words, they were ripe for the taking and Denver was ready.
Denver Broncos 34 San Diego Chargers 23
Let us back up a year and look at the Broncos. Your intrepid author, Squibster, just happened to catch a few Denver games. (full disclosure: Eddie Royal was on my Fantasy Football team last year and also briefly this year.) Last year the Broncos presented a spread offense with Jay Cutler firing the ball all over the place. Squibster watched one game last year when Cutler threw for well over 400 yards. He also had 4 other games over 350 yards and often found last night’s star Eddie Royal on deep passes.
Still Denver could not shut down anyone on defense and missed the playoffs. They shipped Jay Cutler to the Bears in the off season and hired a new coach. He instituted a new system and here they go!
Kyle Orton leads the Broncos to a 6 - 0 record
“You’ve got to believe it can happen before you do it,” Royal said. “I’ve got a lot of faith in the guys in front of me, so I wasn’t surprised.”
Said Broncos rookie head coach Josh McDaniels: “Our (blockers) gave Eddie a chance to get started. We know we’ve got a good returner. It’s just a matter of time before you give him a chance to get started. He can make some big plays, and made two huge ones for us tonight.”
Coming into the game, the Chargers were the second-best passing team in the league with 295.5 yards per game. Rivers wound up with 274 yards against a Broncos defense that is the league’s stingiest at giving up points.
Rivers was sacked a career-high five times, twice by Elvis Dumervil, who has an NFL-high 10 sacks. Rivers lost for the first time in five Monday Night Football appearances.
“We felt like we had to stir the pocket tonight on Rivers,” McDaniels said. “He got comfortable in there a few times in the first half and hit us more than a handful of times on a few junk plays, and we had to try to take some of those away.
Maybe it is time to stop complaining that Kyle Orton is no good!
Image: Zuma Press
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