1st Pass: Denver vs. Dallas Preseason Game 1

Alrighty, here we go with pass numero uno on the Bronco's very first preseason game. This isn't going to be perfect, but it is what it is and hopefully you will enjoy your read, and if not well....hopefully you will learn to love and laugh again.

All right, lets focus!

This post will focus on my first watch of the game, live with both live video and audio from the KOA broadcast. Lets try to organize this in some semblance of thought...

1st Team Offense:

Good

How awesome was it to see the team march down the field using a run game. It gives me a bit of hope that the O-Line has drastically improved since last season, and hopefully with everyone working together during TC and in the preseason (please no injuries!) they will get better. Orlando Franklin was also really nice in run blocking, he needs to improve in pass blocking, but my understanding is that most 1st year O-Lineman need time to develop the pass blocking. Easier to maul forward, harder to move back and protect.

Liked how Knowshown fought through the line(spin move out of the backfield anyone?). Not sure he will ever be a big star, but hopefully with McGahee sharing the load, and a stronger emphasis on the run game, he will be consistent and healthy. He is a good receiver out of the backfield, and should work as a great checkdown receiver. Didn't see many opportunities to test out the short yardage situations that have haunted the Broncos for years, but I want to think positive, it's the preseason right? Knowshown did have the nice 2nd & 3 run that became a first down. I would be remiss in not mentioning McGahee, awesome running.Overall, the run game looked nice for the one series it was out there.

Matt Prater is money. Just sign him up for 10 years and forget about it.

I didn't see much of Eric Decker , but his big pass play make me wonder who would work better in the slot(at least while D. Thomas is out of the lineup). Royal had his best season as an outside receiver, and while he didn't play tonight that is a development I will be watching.

Bad:

Here is a question that I have had since reading about it in Training Camp, why do Kyle Orton passes get knocked down at the LOS with a higher frequency then other QB's? On this play it certaintly looks like the DE saw that screen pass and just stuck them hands up and killed the play. Not that Lloyd would have gotten far with the way the CB was rushing up on him.

Kyle Orton:

Ok, so..... to me it seems we have the same old Kyle Orton. Great between the 20's, field goal to end the drive. When there are 3+ WR's on the field the defense doesn't respect the threat of a run game at all, this DESPITE the fact that during his series the Broncos were running all over the Dallas Defense. I am not impressed with his play, at all. In the end, with him starting I see plenty of 3 and outs (because we are playing Fox Ball here, run, run pas). Orton's style of passing was figured out last year, and even with the threat of a run game, I have a feeling he will get beat again this year. Maybe I will see something different when I rewatch the game, but this was an example of "Same shit, different day". Will watch this more in the coming preseason weeks, but he played WORSE in this 1st preseason game then he did in last years 1st preseason game. To be expected I supposed given the lockout etc etc etc, but all the reports out of training camp, but 2/6 is not good, and ZERO completions in the red zone is one of the reasons why this team couldn't score last year to begin with. I am harsh, get over it.

1st team defense:

Good:

Pressure, aggression and a desire to dictate to the offense. None of that read/react shit. It will be interesting to see how it develops as the season goes on when the guys get a chance to gel and learn the playbook better. Is it a Top 10 defense? I think not, but I am going to put them around 16, which in the grand scheme of things is a huge improvement from 32nd. The concern is giving up big plays in the run game and stopping the screen game. Until I see more I am not going to comment on it more. They gave up 2 big run plays, one was 20ish yards, the other was 18. Denver last year gave up something like 80 plays of over 20 yards last year. For this defense to improve that must change, but hey, no big pass plays out of the 1st team, so that is that.

And did I mention pressure? Loved that fact.

Bad:

More of a concern on the 2 big run plays, and the big(ish) plays from the Romo pass in the flat and the screen pass that turned into a big game. It is what it is, but they held them where it counts and kept them to a field goal.

2nd Team Offense

Good:

Well, this is where it gets a bit harder, but lets give it a go. The 2nd Team WR's are quite impressive, Ninja Willis is a keeper if he can stay healthy. The O-line got better as the game went on, so I can only hope that the first series performance was an anomaly and that the depth on the O-Line isn't as bad as first appeared. Still, Tebow was almost murdered on the first series.

Bad:

Christ, if I loved the run game we were able to get from the 1st team, I hated the run game that we got from the 2nd team. It was 2010 all over again. Stuffed in the back field, stuffed, 3rd and long. That will put anyone in a bad situation(which puts my next set on Tebow into context).

Hey, here is something else, Tim Tebow in the Shotgun, empty backfield, 5WR set, what play is going to be run.....a QB draw! EVERY SINGLE FUCKING TIME! This happened in all 3 of his starts last year, and it happened every time in this game. If I know this, the opposing teams know this. Throw the fucking ball eh?

And while I know we are now playing Fox Ball, in the preseason I would like to see you ATTEMPT to convert a 3rd and long. Who cares if you don't get it, try....HB Draw...really? *sigh*

Tim Tebow:

I am a Tebow fan. I believe Tebow should be the starter. Now that we got THAT out of the way lets look at his performance. Given that he had ZERO run game and was in 3rd and long situations behind a leaky O-Line, he did great. He ended his 1.5(ish) quarters 6/7 for 91 yards plus 2 rushes for 15 yards. I wanted to see him get a TD, and if the O-Line didn't measure their quality on the number of holds they got he would have gotten one. The big thing that Tebow did again in this game was push the ball down the field. His screen game also worked, because teams are keying on him.

He is raw, and he needs to work through his progressions, but he needs reps to accomplish that. Put the 1st team running game WITH Tebow and you will see the run game be even more effective, and the pass game will become easier for Tebow to grow into because of the run threat. He did lock on a few times, but given that he only had one incompletion....I am going to say he had the best performance of the night given the full context(because I think context is important).

And for fun(because it is preseason) how hilarious was the broken play. Shows Tebow's character, and it was hilarious.

2nd Team Defense (gonna get a bit shorter from here, need to rewatch the game)

I love the fact that we have depth this year on the defense. I do not envy that staff in trying to cut down the roster. The fact that the 2nd team D held up against the run is encouraging, and again only game up a field goal is a nice change from last year where apparently the team had no depth anywhere. This group was doing more of the same from the 1st team, pressure and being aggressive to dictate to the offense. Jason Hunter was also doing well to justify keeping him around. Seemed to always be in on the pressures, and his two sacks were nice.

Perrish Cox gets an interception, probably won't keep you out of jail but whatever.

3rd Team Offense

JJ is a keeper.....

Brady Quinn:

Christ, talk about a tale of 2 quarters. Brady Quinn did everything he could to get on a episode of NFL Follies. From falling down on a hand off to 2 straight 3 and outs, his 3rd quarter performance was hilarious. He did get more comfortable in the 4th quarter, but in context....he was playing against the weakest competition. Remember when Tom Brandstater looked like Tom Brady 2.0? Yeah, so do I. Context is important, and Quinn has started 9(?)ish games in the NFL, so I would expect him to look good against the 3's. He also had the benefit of a run game....makes it easier to do things when you have that.

He did make some nice throws, and he is vastly improved from last year when he couldn't do jack shit. I am not convinced he is the 1st or 2nd QB on the roster.

That is enough out of me tonight. Sad we lost, loved seeing real Bronco's football. Any and all comments, criticisms and ways to improve will be greatly appreciated. Over the next few days I am going to break down the game play by play and give a more detailed post or two, so hopefully that will be entertaining!

--See you, Space Cowboy