Broncos Ended Their Own Season

In a game where a simple win would send them to the playoff, the Broncos once again collapsed to a 17 unanswered points after a comfortable 13-0 points lead that sent a cruel end to their season at 9-7, eliminated from the playoff contention from head-to-head records against the Chiefs (who beat the Jaguars earlier 35-30).

Cutler was hit hard in the second quarter leading to a brief off-moments, replaced by Plummer who was intercepted yet again once from his only two passes. It was a disappointing performance by the Broncos, including yet another fumble by Tatum Bell (although he managed to get the needed yardage to reach 1000 yards for the season), and the inability for either the offense to move the ball forward in the OT or the defense to hold-off Gore throughout the game (especially in the middle with the absence of Al Wilson due to back injury) . Three red-zone trips didn’t materialize with TD, and that sort of display summarized the Broncos’ night –albeit a huge credit to Cutler for rallying the team with a TD drive to fellow rookie TE Schiffler with 19 yards pass that capped the 80 yards drive which tied the score at 23 at the end of the regulation.

As Shanahan put at the press conference, with the way the Broncos playing today, even if they went into the playoffs, they wouldn’t go far. I agree with him, and I guess the Broncos need more depth in their roster. The absence of Al Wilson and safety Nick Ferguson since the season-ending injury a few weeks ago have had huge effects into Broncos’ defensive coverages. On the offense, another big play wide receiver might help them capitalize on Cutler’s strong arms.

Broncos’ season has ended, but there’s always a silver lining to each cause. At least the Broncos could go into off-season knowing they have a QB who has the chance to do something very special for the franchise, and a cornerback in Bailey who plays like a champ. That and with a few additions to the jigsaw might get the Broncos to do what the team is capable of doing.

Elway on Cutler

Check out what Elway has to say on Cutler.

It’s Crunch Time!

3 games, 3 losses, and the Broncos is facing a tough schedules ahead before meeting their fate to this year’s NFL playoff … all behind a rookie quarterback in Jay Cutler, and a stockpile of injuries to key starters.

Just as how good this kid is, everyone knows he got the talent, tools, and poise to do well in the league, but the real question is, can Denver fans wait for him to develop the kind of game that he’s best at with the kind of time that a rookie would need? Tough question, and we all know how Brian Griese, who is one of the most accurate short-passer, has turned into after all the high expectations following a back-to-back Super Bowl in the late 90s. I hope Cutler’s fate won’t end up like that, and we all know that the Broncos defense might hold the key to how far the Broncos would be able to go this year. Having said that, the offense needs to produce, albeit knowing Plummer has been benched and Cutler now needs to learn fast and avoid the rookie mistakes (such as the need to take sack rather than forcing a throw that ends up in the wrong endzone, and even worse, ignited the whole opponent’s teams).

Well, as a Bronco fan, I hope we beat the Chargers and the over-hyped Rivers this week at San Diego. Tough game, lots of injuries, facing a team on a winning run, this is not the type of game that you’d love to play when you needed a win badly. BUT that’s exactly the opposite, this is exactly what characters are made of, and what every great team needs to go through. As unlikely as it is, I can see Broncos pull out a shocker here. BRONCOS 24 – CHARGERS 21 ... Elam kicking a 55-yarder to win the game!!

It’s All Over Steelers!

The Broncos (6-2) effectively ended Steelers’ season by sending them to a 2-6 records, piling on the misery that they have this season, not too long after the Steelers effectively ended the Broncos hope of going back to the Big One by punishing them from a number of turnovers in the AFC Championsip Game early this year.

In a game where the Steelers have 8 fumbles, yes, no kidding, 8 fumbles, the Broncos showed why they should be respected a little more than what they’ve been shown in the past couple of years. Champ Bailey had 2 picks, Javon Walker had a huge game with a little over 200 yards for both rushing and receiving, and Plummer had 3 TDs passes of which a couple went to Walker and one to the all-time favorite, Rod Smith. The AFC has been a tough division during the past few years, and with 2-6, even winning the next ten games won’t guarantee a playoff spot for the Steelers, and in today’s NFL games, winning 10 games in a row is no less equal to impossible.

Rooney, Denver, and kernel …

You might’ve wondered what does Rooney has to do with Denver, and what the heck are those related to kernel? Have I gone out of my mind? Oh, well you’ll find out!!

The Rooney Show

By far, Manchester United 4-0 performance against Bolton away at Reebok stadium last Saturday is the best team performance this season, led by the tenacious birthday boy Rooney’s brilliant hat-trick. Everyone is involved in the game, from van der Sar, who made an important save just before half-time to keep the score 2-0 to Carrick who showed why he is worth over 19 million pounds. Two assists including a magnificent inch perfect long pass to Saha who setup the third goal for Cristiano Ronaldo. The scoreline might’ve been a little unfair to Bolton who showed their resiliency midway through the first half and showed some promises in the beginning of the second half, although at the end of the day Manchester United fully deserved to win, and not only winning, but winning with style, a flowing football style that was the characteristic of the Cantona-led team during the 90s that ignited the English football. Brilliant!!

The defense finally leaked

In a game where Peyton Manning showed the world why he got picked first before Ryan Leaf –oh yeah if anyone still remembers this guy — Denver defense finally leaked, and not only leaked out but is sent back from immortality that was hyped after an inspiring start to the season. It didn’t surprise to me that they finally gave up the TD, but to give up over 30+ points playing at home against a team that has lost their running game is a little too disappointed. The Broncos offense finally contributed positively, with Plummer’s ratings above 100, but it’s the same story that keeps repeating in each of every Broncos’ lost to the Colts, a weak secondary that is overly exposed by Manning’s perfection in reading coverage and adjusting the play at scrimmage. This time, it wasn’t Lenny Walls, but it’s Darrent Williams, who prior to this game hasn’t been that much exposed and contributed hugely to the Denver’s defense from the successful secondary focused draft class.

It’s a disappointing loss, especially when it happened at home, breaking up a streak, but losing this game early on is much better than rollin’ high only to lost like this in the playoff. I’m speaking with the assumption that the Broncos will make it to the playoff, and I do believe they will, although competition is now tight with both Chargers and your truly Broncos sitting altogether at the summit of AFC West at 5-2.

Next stop: @ Pittsburgh!!

Kernel

These few days I’ve been busy with recompiling my Linux 2.6 kernel to include support for DRI, of which I need to have my brand new 1440×900 widescreen LCD to show-up nicely. It’s been quite a while since I last messing around with the kernel, and I need to refresh some of my memory, especially on changing the Makefile and where to find my config file! I’ll post more on this later on.

Oh and back to the beginning of the story, well, that’s it folks. It’s almost Wednesday here in Singapore, have a good the rest of the week!

Defense! Defense!

Defense.

That’s been the key to the Broncos’ early successful season, sitting at the top of AFC West with 4-1 record, with a key win at New England in week 3. Ironically, that core part of the defense will be again the key when Warren, Myers, Ekuban, and co. visits their former paymaster, the Clevelend Browns. Mike Shanahan proves everyone wrong when his latest tricks a couple years ago involves a bunch of under-achieved guys, who includes a former #1 draft pick, another first-round draft pick, a bunch of other guys transformed into one of the most effective defense in the National Football League.

That move, combined with the blockbuster deal that sent Portis for Bailey, proved to be the key to the Broncos reaching to the AFC Championships Game last year, as well as a catalyst for the Broncos this year. Their offense might not be pretty this year, but their defense has only alllowed one, yes, one TD in 5 games! Opponents might be moving their ball, gaining some yardage, but when it comes to the redzone, picking throws at the red zone has starting to become Bailey’s habit these days, and I do believe he’s been the best corner that the Broncos has had in maybe a couple of decades.

Roll up the dice! — I don’t think the Broncos’ offense will be greatly improved when they meet the Browns, but having said that Javon Walker might have a huge game, while the defense will continue to carry this team. As much as the element of surprise that the Browns might bring to the Broncos, especially with personnels exchanged on both sides, I don’t see the Browns pulling out an upset. Broncos will roll, and it’ll be 5-1 at the end of the day. BRONCOS 21 – BROWNS 6

it’s time for the old nemesis

a raiders visit to the mile high couldn’t be better knowing they are 0-4 (yes, 0-4!!), while the broncos is having a good time with its 3-1 record after a convincing win against the was unbeatable ravens last week.

broncos’ offense is still not showing their old-self but at least plummer is moving the ball and the broncos defense has been the catalyst during this young season. elam and ernster also played huge part to the 3-1 record. on the other hand, moss, and sapp, and all other raiders have not been living up to expectations. having said that, raiders and broncos have always been an interesting one to catch. a late game between two old nemesis, this one won’t be a walkover for the broncos, but with a strong running game and solid defense, the broncos will pull another one through. RAIDERS 6 – BRONCOS 17.

baltimore ravens @ denver broncos

the 3-0 ravens backed by strong defense (which includes former bronco, trevor pryce) and stability at the quarterback position in steve mcnair is visiting the broncos on a highly anticipated monday night football. a number of years ago, the sight of the ravens humiliating the broncos on a monday night football was still vivid for me as a griese interception started a long night for the broncos. this time though, the game is at the invesco fields at mile high. a high sprit broncos coming off a bye week after a two highly-charged wins against the chiefs and the patriots is determined to spoil the back to town to former broncos including the much loved mike anderson.

roll-up the dice!

two strong defense, though different styles, will ensure the game won’t be a blowout. plummer might struggle against a strong pass rush team, but the stability of broncos’ defense and the play-making ability of javon walker might just be enough to see the broncos through. tatum bell could have one or two breaking runs as champ bailey could pick up his first pick of the season, or rather broncos’ first pick of the season. broncos will win the battle of turnover. RAVENS 9 – BRONCOS 21

yeah !!!

and the broncos beat the patriots as i predicted. 17-7 while i predicted 17-15. not too bad!! check out the highlight, a couple of awesome catches from (javon) walker, 3 catches for over 100 yards day. on the same note, foxworth blocked a field goal adding kicking misery to the patriots (which decision to let go vinatieri doesn’t seem to be as wise as what commonly the partriots decisions are). this is an awesome result for the broncos as they seem to be picking up from the early misfired offense while the defense has continued to carry the team. great result, and tough game ahead against a 3-0 ravens ahead next week at the mile high. i’ll blog more over the weekend on this. for now, so long and yeah!!!

denver @ new england

awesome game coming up this weekend, denver @ new england. a rematch of last year game at denver that brought the broncos to the AFC championship, with stellar display from plummer and solid defense presurring brady into one of his worst games in his glorious recent years. this year, though the story so far is a little different, broncos (1-1) is struggling with its offense –although its defense has been one of the best in the business, allowing NONE, yes no touchdown from a strings of redzone visits from the opponents. new england (2-0) on the other hand, as its trademark always been, is showing its capacity to play as a team even with losing yet a couple of key players. it’ll be an interesting game to watch, the broncos doesn’t really have that much of a good record playing at foxboro, and if plummer hasn’t get into the rhythm, the broncos could be in for a long day..

mindcubes’ 2 cents:

last week game at KC might prove to be sort of the SD game last year where it turned the broncos’ season around. i do believe the offense will start to click, although the key will be again on the defense. if they keep playing with the same intensity, new england would be in for a surprise visit from the ‘master mind’s troops. Broncos 17 – New England 15 !!