By Nick Gustafson
The Bandwagon has rambled into Denver and while there is still plenty of space available right now, you may want to get a seat while you can. The Broncos have started the season by rattling off 3 straight wins and fans are slowly making their way towards it. No one seems too willing to climb aboard just yet especially after how last year ended and how the off season has gone. Instead most fans are standing quietly in the shadows, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible and waiting patiently until this weekend’s game versus the cowboys. At about 5pm on Sunday afternoon, there will either be a mad rush to climb aboard or a collective call for McDaniel’s job. That’s how fickle the fans can be in Denver.
The Bronco’s have started the season better than almost anyone gave them a chance to. This quick start to the season has been both unexpected and necessary. The Broncos now enter the tougher stretch of their schedule and they are going to need the confidence from these 3 wins to carry them through. The Broncos first 3 opponents, aside from what could be a surprising Bengals team, are in the lower echelon of the league and barely clinging to their NFL credentials. However, bad teams or not, it takes more than luck to win 3 games in a row in today’s NFL. The Dallas Cowboys will be the first real test of the Broncos. The Cowboys are more talented than any of the teams that the Broncos have faced this year and they are perennial Super Bowl contenders.
Win or lose Sunday against the Cowboys, its hard to argue that the Broncos aren’t a better team than last year. Through 3 games we have seen a much more physical and disciplined Broncos team in all phases of the game. What we have yet to see is if the Bronco’s get into a shootout, do they have the ammunition to stay in the fight? Thus far they have played rather conservative on offense, trying to avoid making big mistakes. That type of play can be afforded against teams like the Raiders. Sometime in the near future however, the game plan is going to require coming out fast and aggressive and that is when we will see what this offense is really made of. The Defense has looked dominant so far, but it is sure to get a true test this weekend against a very talented Dallas offense.
Suddenly a Broncos team that had most people predicting a season finish well below .500 could be much better than expected. The next 5 games; Dallas, New England, @ The Chargers, @ Baltimore, and finally home against the Steelers are sure to establish the Bronco’s identity for the year. In the preseason the Broncos were given no chance to win any of those games, but better than expected play from them and worse than expected from some of the other teams leaves them with a legitimate shot to win 3 of the 5 games. If the Broncos make it to the midway point of the season with 6 wins, it might be standing room only on that horse drawn bandwagon.
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:33 am
It’ll be interesting to see how they stack up over the next month and a half. They may be in first place in the West. With that said, I expect the Patriots to beat them by least 8 or 9 touchdowns…