WEEK 4: UNDEFEATED 3-0 Denver Broncos vs 2-1 Baltimore Ravens - 2.25pm MDT /// 4.25pm EDT

[AnAngryAmerican]

3 minutes ago, champ11 said:

You make a bunch of troll posts and then complain about people giving you crap. We saw the personally attacked comment the first of the like 8 posts, we get it 

Don’t call me a troll when I go against the grain and point out shortcomings this team has. I’ve been right far, far, far, far more often than not and you’ve been here long enough to know that.

[Dbrog24]

3 minutes ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

Yeah I’d fire him tomorrow. Total crap by George Paton to retain this coaching staff. 

Will be very curious to see what happens if we make the playoffs due to weak schedule, lose instantly, but then get new ownership

[7DnBrnc53]

10 minutes ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

Yeah I’d fire him tomorrow. Total crap by George Paton to retain this coaching staff. 

I don't know why George took this job since he couldn't fire the staff. He should have asked if he could, and when they said that he couldn't, he should have hung up on Elway.

[AnAngryAmerican]

4 minutes ago, Dbrog24 said:

Will be very curious to see what happens if we make the playoffs due to weak schedule, lose instantly, but then get new ownership

It’s not a weak schedule the rest of the way. We’ve already played the 3 easiest teams on our schedule. 

[7DnBrnc53]

1 hour ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

Shurmur is so awful. Call a running play on first and ten you f****** moron. You have a nervous QB and an offense out of rhythm. 

Exactly. Also, I don't want to hear anymore from the Drew Lock lovers. He is garbage. Elway had no business drafting him in the second round (or the third, BTW). If he was so great, someone would have drafted him in the top two thirds of the first round.

[jolly red giant]

I’m agreeing with AAA here - I’d fire Shurmur and McMahon - hell I think Fangio should go tomorrow as well. 
 

The Ravens have given us a spanking today and it hasn’t looked good.

Edited October 3, 2021 by jolly red giant

[AnAngryAmerican]

1 minute ago, 7DnBrnc53 said:

I don't know why George took this job since he couldn't fire the staff. He should have asked if he could, and when they said that he couldn't, he should have hung up on Elway.

He was the “hot GM candidate” and all we were fed during the off-season was that he waited for the “right opportunity,” maybe it was just he wanted a six year guaranteed deal in a nice place to live and raise his kids. Paton gets fired tomorrow, Ellis et al still owes him 8 figures. 

[1234567]

Well at least now I won't have to see anymore of those stupid "Are the Broncos for real?" headlines. Of course they're not for real. Yes, they played well against inferior competition and are much improved over the squad from last year. So credit where credit is due. But we aren't a threat to anyone in terms of the playoffs. Denver will eek out a 7 or 8 win season, Fangio and company will save their jobs, and we can all look forward to another half a decade of mediocrity.

[AnAngryAmerican]

4 minutes ago, 7DnBrnc53 said:

Exactly. Also, I don't want to hear anymore from the Drew Lock lovers. He is garbage. Elway had no business drafting him in the second round (or the third, BTW). If he was so great, someone would have drafted him in the top two thirds of the first round.

If ifs and buts were candy and nuts… but I do think Drew might have been able to make it with Scags and his system. No way to prove it.

But the problem today wasn’t Drew, or Teddy (who has been passable at the very least), but again with the coaching staff and supposed leadership of this franchise. Vic, bad clock management (again), Shurmur (again) can’t adapt, McMahon (oof). 

[BroncoBruin]

There are always so many ugly, wasted plays with Drew. The great plays sprinkled in make it all the more frustrating. 

[broncosfan07]

Certainly not a huge fan of Fangio the HC but not unexpected for the firing calls to be out after 1 game. Wow we lost a game against one of the best teams the last 2 seasons and somehow THAT is the breaking point? A lot didn’t go right today and the game plan on offense was piss poor and the defense obviously was selling out to stop the running game of the Ravens. Team is still 3-1 with a matchup against a really bad Steelers team, if they start losing games like that then I will be concerned.

[AKRNA]

1 minute ago, broncosfan07 said:

Certainly not a huge fan of Fangio the HC but not unexpected for the firing calls to be out after 1 game. Wow we lost a game against one of the best teams the last 2 seasons and somehow THAT is the breaking point? A lot didn’t go right today and the game plan on offense was piss poor and the defense obviously was selling out to stop the running game of the Ravens. Team is still 3-1 with a matchup against a really bad Steelers team, if they start losing games like that then I will be concerned.

Thanks for putting this in perspective. This was a winnable game IMO. Our D did enough, our ST's didn't suck, but I have no idea what Shurmer was thinking.

Missing two of our top 3 WR's, and our starting OG's. We're playing a blitz happy DC. Our IOL is two second year guys and a rookie. Powerful guys but like all young guys, still a work in progress in pass pro. Our running game was working great from the start, Baltimore never did stop it, yet we only ran 17 times, 30% of our total plays.

I've just really never seen anything quite like it. Shanahan as OC would've won this today.

 

[Broncofan]

Well, first off - after facing 2 bottom 3 teams and a bottom 6-8 team, we knew we weren't as good as 3-0 suggested.   And frankly, no matter how we started, we were simply outclassed by a better BAL team.  The sobering part about this is that right now, BAL isn't even a top 5 overall team (but they're in the 6-10 range) - they have mismatches to exploit - but we're not good enough to take advantage, or to sniff going there.   

General observations:

1.   Drew Lock is going to have tough time sticking in the NFL - because if he's not the starter, he's not a guy who can come in cold.   He showed that in spades today.   I know it was a tough draw, but he left SO MANY YARDS on the field today - as he did last year.    

2.  Our OL definitely had its issues in pass pro - we had early success, but their front 7 adjusted very well.   As much as it would be nice to think we could run all day, I'd give credit to the BAL coaching staff for making the adjustments.   Harbaugh's crew gets top 5 marks in that end.  Bolles went back to his holding penalty-ways after getting beat.  Still, I'm not going to single him out, the OL was down 2 starters, and as much as I think the world of rookie Meinerz, this was always going to be a baptism by fire.   And that's what went down.

3.  Our lack of multi-level threat REALLY showed up today - nothing against Patrick or Sutton, they're guys I go to war with any day - but they literally do the same thing.  That made it very easy for BAL to account for.   

4.  Our TE coverage is again an issue.    Mark Andrews would have gone off if it weren't for a ticky tack penalty with a monster line - but he was beating our coverage regularly.

5.  We have a definite issue in handling elite speed with our LB's.   It showed up in spades - which for Lamar, isn't that crazy.   Unlike him beating us with his legs, it created massive holes in coverage, and he exploited it.     

6.  Getting zero turnovers shows how much their O had their way - frankly, if they didn't let off the gas on the last drive, and that away-from-field penalty that negated the Andrews TD, it's 31 easy points for BAL.     Getting more speed in our LB corps is going to be a priority next year.

7.  Holy crap, our ST disparity was so bad at key times - we lost field position so much it hurt.   And that 2Q punt return with a minute left to go - we were lucky we only gave up 3 points.  Good teams just can't let ST be such a minus like we have.

A few bright spots I should highlight:

1.  Caden Sterns is going to be a baller.  He's going to make it very easy to walk away from Kareem Jackson this offseason.   I loved the pick in real life (and pushed hard for him in FFMD lol).    He's going to be a star for us if he stays healthy.

2.  Javonte Williams is going to be the lead RB very soon, if he stays healthy and picks up pass pro (and so far, so good).

Sadly, I'm having a hard time pointing out other good stuff, so I'll just stop there. 

Still, we're not as bad as our worst game - just as much as we're not as good as our best game, either.    This is a good litmus test to show we've made progress, but we're still a fair bit away from being a legit contender.     As it turns out, we draw a better-than-thought matchup next week - a VERY flawed PIT team (with a very good D, though, and a few guys on O who can give us issues).     In years gone by, I'd say we'd be rightful underdogs - but PIT isn't a great team now.   This will be a MUST win given how the rest of the schedule shakes out - and it's going to be a great test to see how the coaches adapt.

At least we can temper the rose-colored glasses about being a legit contender.  We're WAY better than the last 1-2 years....but we have more growth needed.  And yes, we need a QBOTF.   Still, this showed why the coaches went with Teddy B - as bad as he was, Lock showed all the reasons why he couldn't beat the "safe" guy.    All we can hope is that Jeudy comes back soon, and Teddy B gets healthy.    Lock vs. PIT's D and pass rush....man.  

Edited October 4, 2021 by Broncofan

[Orangecrush151]

As much of a lock fan I was when he came in he looked completely lost. No help from shurmer/line and receivers. And lack of reps but damn Teddy sure looked better under pressure. And seemed to know what to do…. But I think this game could of been completely different. Albert o drops a td first possession. Second possession someone had a drop too I forget who. But we could of demoralized the ravens. Our d was great in first quarter. And tbh did ok the whole game.. but I’m more on the teddy side now. If we made the plays that teddy made good throws on and decisions first few drives game could of been completey completely different 

[AnAngryAmerican]

20 minutes ago, broncosfan07 said:

Certainly not a huge fan of Fangio the HC but not unexpected for the firing calls to be out after 1 game. Wow we lost a game against one of the best teams the last 2 seasons and somehow THAT is the breaking point? A lot didn’t go right today and the game plan on offense was piss poor and the defense obviously was selling out to stop the running game of the Ravens. Team is still 3-1 with a matchup against a really bad Steelers team, if they start losing games like that then I will be concerned.

Two days ago people were saying the Ravens are beatable because - after 3, maybe 4, dropped TDs last week - they needed a HOF kicker to make a record breaking kick to win against the Lions. 

The truth is, and there is no bigger Broncos fan than me, this team has deep flaws at critical positions and they were exposed today. The Ravens are a very good team, with an elite HC and a QB who is impossible to game plan for. They are good in all 3 facets of the game, very good. We, on the other hand, have a good defense, a mediocre offense, a crap coaching staff and the worst special teams in the league. 

We had some injuries, yes, but our flaws were exposed. This doesn’t mean we’re going 5-11 again but we that we have some deep-seeded flaws that will keep us from competing with the true big boys of the NFL. 

The season isn’t over because we lost a game the majority of which here penciled in as a L when the schedule was released. It’s fine. We will be competing, throughout the season, and will contend for a playoff spot at around a 10-7/9-8 record. Expecting more was foolhardy.