Week 1 GDT: Broncos @ Seattle

[AnAngryAmerican]

For reference, CJ Stroud's first game last year (against Baltimore, with MacDonald as DC, coincidentally) he was 28/44, 242yrds, 0TDs, 0INTs, 5.5 YPA, a 78.0 rating and Houston lost 25-9. 

[jsthomp2007]

3 hours ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

For reference, CJ Stroud's first game last year (against Baltimore, with MacDonald as DC, coincidentally) he was 28/44, 242yrds, 0TDs, 0INTs, 5.5 YPA, a 78.0 rating and Houston lost 25-9. 

I think Bo will figure things out.  He is smart.  However, I will admit, I was worried about his arm talent, because he was trying to do things that were just not within his game.  He was forcing throws, he just cannot make.  He needs to rely on the timing and precision that I thought was his bailiwick. I am excited because when I think of the QBs who also didn't have great arm talent, who were smart, who protected the ball and themselves (mostly, I think Joe Montana, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Payton Manning.  If Bo can be a fraction of them, we are in a good position. 

Bo needs to play his game. 

 

Edited September 9 by jsthomp2007

[AkronsWitness]

25 minutes ago, AnAngryAmerican said:

For reference, CJ Stroud's first game last year (against Baltimore, with MacDonald as DC, coincidentally) he was 28/44, 242yrds, 0TDs, 0INTs, 5.5 YPA, a 78.0 rating and Houston lost 25-9. 

He will settle in. The encouraging part is his issue (surprisingly) was his accuracy. To me, that makes me feel like it was just 1st game rookie jitters considering he is widely known for his accuracy. He missed a few easy throws over the middle to Sutton/Vele/Reynolds by either sailing the ball or throwing behind--which is typically something he excels at.

Im confident that stuff with improve with experience to the NFLs speed. Once he gets settled and learns more, it will look a lot better. Enjoy the ride and watch the growth on a weekly basis.

Side note: Where the absolute effff is Marvin Mims. This team needs speed and separation at WR badly but refuse to integrate our only WR capable of doing that? We handpicked a downfield speed demon but paired him with a QB who doesn't like to throw downfield? Is this the Jerry Jeudy situation all over again?

Can I get a mesh route with Mims please and let him YAC his butt off please?

[Broncofan]

Let’s acknowledge the league as a whole had a problem with the pass game.   Don’t believe me?  
 

 

 

Now, before ppl think I’m trying to say “it’s just week 1” - I’m still concerned, because it’s the process behind the poor output that’s worrisome:  the bad decisions by Nix, the lack of separation & YAC from the WR / TE, the personnel choices Payton made.   And the understanding Nix doesn’t have the tools or arm talent to just win on his own freelancing.    
 

Sadly there are about 7+ other team fanbases going through the same discussions (CAR, NYG, ATL, CLE & LV right off the bat, and even though they won, PIT & NE O’s were similarly lethargic - the latter 2 having great D & run game plus the all-important TO battle carried the day).    Some of those O’s will right the ship with more time but it’s the root causes behind the struggles that matter more.    But it’s safe to say we’re not alone in this boat.   
 

The problem with us is most of the improvement we can hope to see is dependent on Nix.  The 2 other problems aren’t easily addressed.    Our WR corps & even the TE room aren’t going to improve appreciably unless Mims gets on the field (and later Franklin) or Payton goes away from Dulcich / Trautman.    And it’s hard to see Payton change his personnel decisions given his history.  

Edited September 9 by Broncofan

[AnAngryAmerican]

It is also worth noting that recent years have seen an erosion of meaningful offseason work, more vanilla training camps, a fewer preseason games. Even prior to that, Belichick was saying that teams don't really know who they are until the calendar turns to October, and that was a coach who regularly had a veteran roster, the GOAT QB and an established culture. 

I was watching the games at my bar yesterday, we had all 8 morning games on across the TVs and then all 4 afternoon games and I said several times, "it's definitely week one," as almost every teams, the ones that won, won big, lost or lost big, looked out of sync, were sloppy, there were mental mistakes that led to turnovers and penalties all over the league. If we still look this bad come week 5 or week 6, I will start to worry. 

Things are not going to turn around overnight, we have an interesting matchup against the Steelers on Sunday - Tomlin will have them ready to play and TJ Watt is a monster - and then back to back trips to the east coast against teams with playoff aspirations. Come October - three of four games at home against the Raiders, Chargers, Saints and Panthers - should give us a much clearer picture of this team. The next three games are going to test our mental fortitude, if they can trend upwards, even if the points and wins aren't what we would all prefer, come October we should be ready to start making some strides. 

[Broncofan]

 

It's good to see Payton acknowledge what fans could see - in Javonte's case, it's definitely more concerning, given that's an area he's not usually weak in (Jaleel can definitely improve, but Javonte didn't have that issue pre-injury).    Hopefully it was a slippery turf, if not....Estime is going to get more looks.

Edited September 9 by Broncofan

[The Helicopter]

I still haven’t come to terms with the firing of Mike Shanahan. Kyle has “it”. Now Clint came out with quite a showing. On top of all that we are now owned by Wal-Mart…smh. People give Pittsburgh crap for staying the course but I’m jealous of the stability strategy. 

[jsthomp2007]

27 minutes ago, The Helicopter said:

I still haven’t come to terms with the firing of Mike Shanahan. Kyle has “it”. Now Clint came out with quite a showing. On top of all that we are now owned by Wal-Mart…smh. People give Pittsburgh crap for staying the course but I’m jealous of the stability strategy. 

It takes a minute though.  Look how long it took the Nuggets to get there, now they are perennial contenders, and they develop and keep their guys.  Now they have the luxury of adding in an aging Westbrook just because they can. 

[Dbrog24]

Random stat that can't happen again this season if we want to win. Nix led our team in yards rushing with 8 yards more than our leading back. Williams only had 3 more carries than Bo 🙃😅

[lomaxgrUK]

 

 

Not had a chance to watch yet, will comment when I have.

[Dbrog24]

Saw Jenkins last night and it was kinda odd as he was falling asleep basically while going through it haha.

Cliffnotes for others is he acknowledged Bos bad play in terms of some missed throws (he doesn't talk about how Dolcic is wide open in multiple clips, or a player running free in the middle of the field and Bo not seeing it).

However what also stood out to me watching the all22 is how REALLY BAD the rest of our team looks. He comments on this in terms of our RBs having plenty of room to make football moves but don't, some missed assignments on O-Line (looking like not everyone knows what play we're running), and just headscratching schemes...he can't even recognize a couple of Sean's play designs.

Looks like Sean was right about them not really helping Bo out. I will say it was cool watching Jenkins talk about some of the advanced eye stuff and trickery Bo was already trying to do. Overall gave hope for his ability to develop as the season goes on

[1234567]

3 hours ago, lomaxgrUK said:

 

 

Not had a chance to watch yet, will comment when I have.

One thing that really stood out to me on the rewatch was a noticeable lack of speed by our receiving corps. They're all big, possession receivers but there's not a lot of juice there. The route trees are also very rounded. Not a lot of sharp cutting going on. Not a lot of creativity. Obviously this will sound a tiny bit hyperbolic, but I was a defensive back in high school. Ran a 4.65 forty with a 33 inch vert. Not a freak athlete by any means, but was fairly fast for my size and I had really loose hips. I didn't see anything out of our receiving corps in this game (other than their height) that would have made me think I couldn't have stuck with these guys on 85% of their routes. And that is a hell of a thing for me to say. I should NEVER be able to say that. We need speed and better route running. Badly. 

[broncos67]

23 hours ago, 1234567 said:

One thing that really stood out to me on the rewatch was a noticeable lack of speed by our receiving corps. They're all big, possession receivers but there's not a lot of juice there. The route trees are also very rounded. Not a lot of sharp cutting going on. Not a lot of creativity. Obviously this will sound a tiny bit hyperbolic, but I was a defensive back in high school. Ran a 4.65 forty with a 33 inch vert. Not a freak athlete by any means, but was fairly fast for my size and I had really loose hips. I didn't see anything out of our receiving corps in this game (other than their height) that would have made me think I couldn't have stuck with these guys on 85% of their routes. And that is a hell of a thing for me to say. I should NEVER be able to say that. We need speed and better route running. Badly. 

Broncos fans should start researching WRs atop the draft next year. I know it's early, but we are probably going to be bad enough to have our pick of them.

[BroncoSojia]

8 minutes ago, broncos67 said:

Broncos fans should start researching WRs atop the draft next year. I know it's early, but we are probably going to be bad enough to have our pick of them.

I've already starting scouting. I want this guy:

 

[Dbrog24]

3 minutes ago, broncos67 said:

Broncos fans should start researching WRs atop the draft next year. I know it's early, but we are probably going to be bad enough to have our pick of them.

I would go a different route. I think we start looking at how to sign (and overpay once the Russ money is not a hit) for a top WR next year (Higgins or something even though I think he's a great #2 and not #1). We have drafted SO MANY WRs, high in the draft btw, and ALL of them haven't worked out...not one. I don't want to waste another pick when we have so many clear issues in other positions that we haven't spent a high pick on (INSIDE DB HERES LOOKING AT YOU).