The Helicopter Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 17 hours ago, broncos_fan _from _uk said: Nah. I think we’ll contend for a playoff spot this season. By that I mean we will be playing meaningful football in December. Will we get in? Maybe, many not. But we will be in the conversation for a wild card spot I need to see this team in actual games against 1st teamers. Preseason is too vague...vanilla. I'd be happy to be playing that well, but I think it'll require some lucky bounces. Meaning we're overachieving for our actual abilities. Due to our softer schedule, I think we'll be playing a lot of close games that will be fun to watch. We seem to be heading in the right direction, but there's so much that can happen between now and the end of the year... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroncoBruin Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 Jonah Elliss and Kris Abrams-Draine both look like hits. Jury is out on what Nix will ultimately be and there isn't much to take away from the skill guys at this point but the two defensive guys they picked look really really good. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncos_fan _from _uk Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 3 hours ago, The Helicopter said: I need to see this team in actual games against 1st teamers. Preseason is too vague...vanilla. I'd be happy to be playing that well, but I think it'll require some lucky bounces. Meaning we're overachieving for our actual abilities. Due to our softer schedule, I think we'll be playing a lot of close games that will be fun to watch. We seem to be heading in the right direction, but there's so much that can happen between now and the end of the year... Perhaps I’m overvaluing the benefit of not having Russ under center. But his inability to play in an on time offense destroyed this team. We led the league (by a large margin) in sacks that could be attributed to the QB (after 2.5 seconds or where the QB ran into the defender). His unwillingness to stay in the pocket led a bunch of the holding calls. These combined to make the broncos near the bottom of the NFL in 3&outs (~1/3 series). This leads to great field position for the opponents and a tired defense. I believe that even with Stidham we are 2-3ppg better on offense AND defense. Nix will have some rookie struggles but we’re still better off. I expect 7-8 games to be decided by a possession or less. If we go .500 in those I think we’re 7-10. A bit of “puck luck” and I could see us getting 9-10 wins. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKRNA Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 4 hours ago, The Helicopter said: I need to see this team in actual games against 1st teamers. Preseason is too vague...vanilla. I'd be happy to be playing that well, but I think it'll require some lucky bounces. Meaning we're overachieving for our actual abilities. Due to our softer schedule, I think we'll be playing a lot of close games that will be fun to watch. We seem to be heading in the right direction, but there's so much that can happen between now and the end of the year... If there's an exact halfway point you and @broncos_fan _from _uk I think I'm there. @lomaxgrUK called it "lazy analysis" but we pass a lot of smell test. Seems like we finally take conditioning seriously. So few minor injuries. Our O just looks better/ crisper regardless of who's at QB. Defensively we don't even look like the same team. I think a huge part is additions to the front 7 and OL. Just more physical. I don't know that we're going to make the playoffs, I doubt that, but I agree with the bolded. Turning a corner, heading in the right direction and overall improvement is enough for me. If we're playing our best football in December that'd be a win. At that point "Wait 'til next year" has some meat to it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grizmo78 Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 Tons of optimism and I'm as excited as anyone else (despite trying to temper them by telling myself it's only preseason). That said, even with the improvement we're expecting Nix to provide to the offense there are still lots of issues on that side of the ball that can really hinder our team. A few of those being: (1) our depth on the O-line is terrible and an injury anywhere would be a huge loss, (2) while we have lots of depth at the skills positions we don't have an impact surefire pro bowl type talent anywhere, (3) penalties/ball security issues continue to pop up. I'm expecting 7 wins this year with the hope for more but also recognizing that we can run into bad luck just as likely as good luck. End of the day, this season's goal is to develop Bo and hope to know if he is our QBotf or not. A playoff birth even as a wild card would be huge for said development. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncofan Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 (edited) 5 hours ago, grizmo78 said: Tons of optimism and I'm as excited as anyone else (despite trying to temper them by telling myself it's only preseason). That said, even with the improvement we're expecting Nix to provide to the offense there are still lots of issues on that side of the ball that can really hinder our team. A few of those being: (1) our depth on the O-line is terrible and an injury anywhere would be a huge loss, (2) while we have lots of depth at the skills positions we don't have an impact surefire pro bowl type talent anywhere, (3) penalties/ball security issues continue to pop up. I'm expecting 7 wins this year with the hope for more but also recognizing that we can run into bad luck just as likely as good luck. End of the day, this season's goal is to develop Bo and hope to know if he is our QBotf or not. A playoff birth even as a wild card would be huge for said development. To me the biggest issue is our roster is so thin talent-wise in the trenches to begin with, that we get obliterated when we lose a key guy in our top 22. MIA boat-raced us without our top 2 ILB, and with 2/3 CB's hurt or not being put on the field (McMillan). Once our ILB's returned and we inserted McMillan & Moreau instead of Bassey/Mathis (plus we went young with the EDGE's and cut Gregory's **s), the unit was actually a decent, top-12 unit last year. And it will definitely help to have trench help from the draft and build it up over time. But we're still that paper-thin depth-wise. Sustainable contenders are built 3 ways - finding the QBOTF, getting strong in the trenches, and getting cheap depth, so your backups can fill in when the inevitable injuries come. It's no coincidence that SB runs often are with good to very good teams who avoid the crippling injury to a spot they can't afford - but it's not like they never lose players to injury. That's our biggest issue right now. Still, we're way better off today than we were 2 years ago, so I'll take that. Edited August 21 by Broncofan 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncofan Posted August 20 Share Posted August 20 On 8/19/2024 at 10:21 AM, broncosfan_101 said: In a vacuum, they’re fine, but they just look too much like a different team (a Bears-Bengals hybrid imo). They don’t look like the Broncos. On 8/19/2024 at 10:41 AM, lomaxgrUK said: I am the only person on planet earth that seems to absolutely love them. The white helmets with our alt uni's (midnight navy I guess is the term) are absolute 🔥. I kinda wish we'd just go to those helmets when we go orange jerseys (sunset orange). NGL every game we go back to the throwback Orange Crush / powder blue helmets, I'll always be nostalgic for. Even though we didn't win the SB's with them, they're still my fondest memories watching Elway in his prime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zukhyubern Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 On 8/19/2024 at 11:34 AM, big_palooka said: Wild... this last combination with the matte navy helmet looked terrible. Maybe a white helmet could have salvaged the look, but they are an eyesore. Look, I’ll take playoff appearances over iconic uniforms any day of the week 😌 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
broncos_fan _from _uk Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) 11 hours ago, Zukhyubern said: Look, I’ll take playoff appearances over iconic uniforms any day of the week 😌 Unfortunately we’ve had neither in almost a decade. But things are looking up this year! Edited August 21 by broncos_fan _from _uk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dbrog24 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 Man I was watching the half that Caleb played vs the Bengals and it gave me so much gratitude for Bo. I'll preface by saying I'm pretty sure Caleb will largely improve but my god was it rough to watch and he got badly outplayed by his backup Bagent. Williams reminded me largely of Russ with a bunch of bailouts on clean pockets but with poor accuracy and decision making. It led to a bunch of 3rd and longs and really the only 2 plays that he had that were a first down from him was one amazing turnaround off balance 20-30 yarder and another where he scrambled a bunch and ran for the TD. I would feel absolutely fearful if that's what was being relied on here. Again I'm pretty sure he will get much better over time and the talent is clearly there but it was a STARK contrast on even the most basic throws that he was missing open guys or throwing it over or around them rather than on the money. I know it's only preseason but Bo gives me a lot of hope that his skills can be replicated in the real games, especially with all this High Shell stuff that everyone does...he's tailor made to succeed against it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnAngryAmerican Posted August 21 Author Share Posted August 21 Sean just named Nix the starting QB. This was the right move. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broncofan Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 (edited) No surprise, as a 24 year old rookie with so much college experience in the SEC and PAC-12, if he wasn't really ready to beat out the competition, that would have been a bigger flag TBH. I'll be upfront - I'm not sold that he's ever going to be an elite, difference-making talent like Herbert & Mahomes are. So there is a real risk that when games matter big-time (IE January games), or we face Mahomes (LAC is so talent poor right now, it's not as much of an issue - but I expect Harbaugh will build that org up over time), that Nix isn't at that tier where he can match their play. But, it's also really becoming clearer how much Sean Payton can fit his scheme to QB really well. While Russell Wilson was incredibly limited, Payton's 1H success in games last year shows he tried to focus on what Wilson could do. It's also no coincidence why teams shut our O down in the 2H once they saw the gameplan - because Russ couldn't really adjust beyond the boundaries / dumpoffs, and misdirection plays. I do think Nix has the capacity in the long-run to make us a decent, run-based & play-action pass team, that can perform capably - but that's as much a function of my trust in Payton's abilities and his track record even post-Brees in NO. Nix is going to have his rookie struggles, but his ability to use the whole field, his mobility and more importantly, his willingness to make quicker decisions and throw it to spots, will still upgrade the O over the last 2 years with broken Russell Wilson. Will it be enough for the O to win games? That's pretty iffy right now, but at least we have hope we can be fully functional on O. And while Nix is an old rookie, he still won't be at his peak for 1-2 more years, just in terms of getting used to NFL speed. One note - Nix has been nothing but impressive this preseason. But this is also when the formations, gamecalling and overall plans are REALLY vanilla. I've always said success in preseason needs to be tempered with this realization (it's the failures or struggles in preseason that are more noteworthy, since reg season is so much more complex - so if you're struggling now, hard to project success when the adult-level plannings and schemes/looks get used). So we should all temper our expectations, especially early on. Still, while I am skeptical that Nix is the elite-level future ceiling guy, it's still going to be 100x more enjoyable watching him in Payton's O than the war crimes we were forced to endure in 2022, and the grim limited special-needs version O we ran to be barely functional last year. Edited August 21 by Broncofan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroncoBruin Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 He earned it. Was by far the best QB in the preseason games and it sounds like he separated himself In practice the last couple weeks. He pretty much progressed this offseason as much as you could realistically hope for. Exciting. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebestever6 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 I'm a Bosexual! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cutler06 Posted August 21 Share Posted August 21 33 minutes ago, thebestever6 said: I'm a Bosexual! Did you REALLY go there.....BLOODY HELL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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