By Nick Gustafson
Even though Halloween is still a few weeks away the Broncos decided to get a head start on dressing up. Last weekend versus the Patriots the Broncos won the prize for the best costume at the party. The Broncos stepped into the way-back machine and resurrected some of the ugliest football jerseys ever worn. Those jerseys weren’t the only thing scary on the field however. Strong play from both the offense and defense against a tough Patriots team has other teams around the league beginning to fear the Broncos. It has become obvious that McDaniels is going to have his team prepared and ready to compete with anyone in the NFL each week.
In years past we have seen high powered Bronco teams coached by Mike Shanahan that were able to compete with any team in the league, but they almost always seemed to suffer at least a couple let down games per season as well. These games usually occurred when the Broncos seemingly overlooked a lesser opponent and came out flat. From what we’ve seen of Coach McDaniels thus far it’s hard to imagine that he is going to allow his team to overlook any opponent. The match up this week versus the division rival Chargers, a game which the Broncos should win, is one that traditionally you could almost count on the Broncos coming out and laying an egg. This years Broncos can ill afford a performance like that.
For the second straight week the Broncos and their opponents will be in costume. This week instead of the yellow and brown jerseys the Broncos will be sporting white and brown. With all the ugliness that is the Broncos throwback jerseys, the Broncos can’t afford to let their play be ugly as well. The season is young and the Chargers still have hopes for the playoffs and a win on Monday night would go a long way to getting them there. A win by the Broncos should all but ensure them the division title barring a late season collapse like last year.
Even with a perfect 5 and 0 record the Broncos are 3-1/2 point underdogs at San Diego who hold a 2 and 2 record. It seems that Vegas isn’t buying the idea that the Broncos are for real just yet, or they too are expecting the Broncos of years past to show up and play down to their opponent. Perhaps Vegas knows something we don’t, but I for one don’t expect the Broncos to come out flat in front of a nationwide audience on Monday Night Football. Coach McDaniels and the Broncos seem ready to show the world, Vegas included, that they are better than anyone gave them a chance to be. Here’s to hoping the first 5 games have been more than just a clever disguise.
October 15th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Ive been on the McDaniels band wagon since he was hired. Love to see them pulling out all stops to win games.
As for those jerseys.. good lord.
October 16th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
The Broncos may have won the “game” by having a “better score”, but I’m pretty sure the more important contest was who looked better. And the Patriots destroyed the Broncos. So history will always tell us the Patriots won. When people look back at this game, they’ll look at photographs of the players, not the scoreboard. Who wants to look at a photograph of a scoreboard? Not me. So when I see a photo of Tom Brady throwing for a touchdown, and see those great Patriots throwbacks playing against the sh!t and piss combo the Broncos were wearing, I’ll always know the Broncos lost. That’s a fact. In fact, it’s history.