An injury depleted Broncos team hangs on at 6 and 5.
by Sam Thomas
photo by Manny Perez
When examining the Broncos most people see your average six and five team, but simple fact is that the Broncos are one of the best teams in the National Football League. The problems the Broncos have faced as a team and overcome are staggering, showing us the inner colors of Denver’s beloved. They have risen above insurmountable loses including loosing A Pro-Bowl defensive back, our entire linebacker core, three starting running backs, two starting safeties to injuries. Along with that, the rookies that have had step up and fill those shoes taking the starting positions.
The Broncos, from the very beginning, have been plagued by injuries. The rumor going around the league was if you wanted to get hurt all you had to do was put on a Bronco jersey. The amount of people that will be lost for the rest of the year is astounding, the number of players injured for a week or a month is even worse.
The way the team battled together and made it through the first eleven games of the season, one game above .500, shows how good they really are. The Broncos have been a team that other teams look forward to playing this season. The first eight games of the season, the Broncos would give up an average of over 150 yards rushing. Teams would pass and score on them at will. The team had almost given up the season, saying success was out of their grasp, due to the number of injuries piling up. But someone lit a fire under them and the Broncos started to play as a team. They rallied back for two back-to-back fourth quarter wins in games they for sure should have lost.
Led by the superb play of Jay Cutler and a fantastic receiving core, the Broncos sit with a hefty lead in the AFC West.
So in the dark hours for the Broncos, which injuries have affected them the most, and how? From the beginning of the season the weakness of the Broncos has been their ability to stop the run.
With six time pro-bowl Champ Bailey and a two time pro-bowler, Dre Bly, shutting down the pass, day in and day out teams were forced to run the ball, and did so with great success. Our defensive line is small, and to make up for that, the linebackers and safeties had to step up and support. This was an enormous task to put on them considering they are all rookies.
The starting three linebackers for the Broncos are all hurt and not likely to return until late in the season. To make a point even clearer, in the previous ten games for the Broncos, the starting linebackers in their win over Atlanta had a combined number of eleven tackle attempts. If that wasn’t enough, the already weak safety crew that the Broncos put on the field are also all hurt. You’re looking at five crucial positions that have to be filled with players who have ZERO experience.
So with all these players injured, opponents marched down the field like it was practice. This all got worse when the anchor of the defense, Champ Bailey, pulled a groin and would have to sit out at least four weeks. This caliber of player is impossible to replace. Bailey is considered the best defensive back in football. He takes your best wide receiver completely out of the game. In his first six games of the season, Bailey was only thrown at sixteen times, which led the league. His absence means a team’s number one wide receiver wouldn’t be out of the game, but instead making catches and scoring touchdowns. A big hit against Denver’s defense.
Now to the offensive side of the ball. The first three running backs on the depth chart for Denver are all hurt. In week ten’s game against the Atlanta Falcons the Broncos had to start their starting fullback at running back. Peyton Hillis was a sixth round draft pick out of Arkansas as a big powerful blocking full back. His job description changed a bit, as he was to be running the ball instead of blocking for the person running the ball. Behind him were former Broncos running back Tatum Bell and new Bronco P. J. Pope. He was signed as a free agent a week before the game and played Sunday after not playing at all for over three months.
It’s clear the performance those two put up running for over a hundred yards and two touchdowns makes them nothing less than heroes on the offensive side.
Another phenomenon that the Broncos unleashed on the world was Spencer Larson. He started on special teams, filled in for Hillis at the full back spot, and started the game at middle linebacker, where he racked up seven tackles, shutting down one of the best running teams in football. He did all this after practicing with the defense for only five days prior to week elevens game time.
With all the players who are out for the rest of the season, the Broncos have to overcome the loss of players whether it be for one game or four. Rookie sensation Eddie Royal and last year’s rookie sensation Tony Scheffler both had to sit out two games due to injury. Two out of the three most thrown-to wide outs for the Broncos had to sit out for two games each. With Royal and Scheffler both out, teams would double and triple team Brandon Marshal, shutting down Denver’s only offensive threat. The two games they had to sit out were humiliating losses for the Broncos. Royal is back now, averaging almost one hundred yards per game and acting as an illuminating threat at all times. With Scheffler being almost impossible to cover, it was very important to the Broncos offense to have him back, being one of Jay Cutler’s favorites to pass to. He’s too fast for linebackers and two big for safeties making him a huge threat on offensive.
In last Sunday’s game the Broncos were lit up by their AFC rivals, the Oakland Raider, who are having a less than proficient season. Coming into the heated game with a record of two and eight, the Raiders saw an opportunity to knock off the AFC West leading Broncos. They came in with a game plan to take it to the air, going eleven for twelve for a hundred and sixty yards passing. The Raiders had some help with an eighty-nine yard punt return. The easiest way to explain it is the Raiders took advantage of the Bronco’s week safety core, hitting third and fourth receivers for big yards.
The defense stepped up against the rush, stopping two goal line scoring drives. But in the end the Broncos didn’t come to play, and at the national level if you don’t come to play then don’t expect to win. The Broncos played like a team that was hurt, and the scoreboard showed it after sixty minutes of football.
In the end, what the Broncos have done is pretty amazing. They win games in different fashions every week. The teams they play have to deal with a fraction of the problems that the Broncos have. To deal with six rookies starting on the defensive side of the ball, the Broncos have preformed amazingly. Because of the number of rookies the Broncos have playing they have. With rookie mistakes which come at the Broncos expense far too often, but that’s what rookies do. They need time to polish their game and get out of those bad habits that they all have.
Star quarterback Jay Cutler had pretty average first two seasons for the Broncos. He made stupid mistakes that lost games. He’s over that now because, as all rookies know, they just need time and those little rookie mistakes vanish.
The Broncos are still a heavy playoff threat and they’re doing all this as a crippled team, half varsity and half JV. Six and four coming from an injury-plagued team isn’t half shabby; imagine if they were all healthy. The Broncos would be back as a powerhouse, as they were in the old days. So watch out Broncos fans, because Denver is on the rise, still competing, and on one leg.
