By Nick Gustafson
With the Bronco’s first preseason game in the books, expectations for the upcoming season are right where they should be. With the seasons predictions ranging from playoff contenders to basement dwellers the Bronco’s did their best to contribute to everyone’s point of view on Friday night. At times the Broncos offense moved the ball well, unfortunately those periods of good ball movement were separated by three Kyle Orton interceptions. Bronco’s fans accustomed to the velocity of Jay Cutler’s passes quickly had to adapt to the “catchable” speed of Kyle Orton’s passes.
The Broncos running backs quickly picked up where they left off last year. Rookie Knowshon Moreno’s first carry was a 9 yard burst, followed shortly thereafter by a trip to the locker room with sprained MCL. While not a serious injury, the Broncos can ill afford to have another year with an injury plagued backfield. The other backs in the Broncos stable looked rather pedestrian. Reports are that Moreno will be ready for the final preseason game, a game in which most starters are rested around the league, but that doesn’t mean Coach McDaniels will follow suit.
The Broncos defense did it’s best to play devils advocate to all view points as well. The front seven was physical in the run defense, swarmed to the ball, but were often out of position. However the coaches must not have been too happy with the performance of the defensive line because yesterday they traded away their 5th round pick next year for New England Patriots defensive end Le Kevin Smith and a 7th round pick in return. Small mistakes in coverage lead to several long pass plays for the 49ers. Even while playing rather conservatively the Denver defense managed a respectable 4 sacks, 2 of which came from their converted outside linebackers. Unfortunately the defense’s inability to force any turnovers left the Broncos on the wrong side of a 3 takeaway game.
So what can we take away from this first preseason game? Well it’s hard to extrapolate much from any team’s first preseason game, especially a team that has undergone as many changes as the Broncos have this off season. The second, third, and possibly the 4th preseason game will tell a better story of the season to come. One storyline that is sure to receive some attention is the saga of the Bronco’s starting quarterback. If Kyle Orton continues to turn the ball over throughout the next 2 preseason games and Chris Simms continues to play well, it is very possible Denver may enter their final preseason game with a QB controversy. That only seems fitting considering the Bronco’s off season.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
This is a great article…but why aren’t you talking about Brett Favre?? Can you add an “update” to this thing? Seriously, I’m joking, but for real, Brett Favre is probably the greatest quarterback of all time…if you don’t count like 30 or 40 other guys…
I heard the Broncos are going to release Kyle Orton and sign Rex Grossman. Any truth to this? And then if that doesn’t work out, maybe trade Grossman for Vick. A whole bunch of rumors swirling around…
Le Kevin Sm ith is a decent lineman – he at least adds depth to the rotation. I hope Knowshon is okay – sprained MCLs often lead to a) torn MCLs or b) really bad tendonitis. Let’s hope it’s not either.
August 18th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Good stuff. Keep em coming
August 18th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Is there any truth to the rumor that Orton is color blind? That may help explain why he was throwing to the other team so often. And Goofy, excelent point on the mcl. This could seriously impact his ability to hurdle oncoming defenders, which at this point, may be the only reason to watch a Broncos game this season.