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Broncos in a good place at the halfway point
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Josh McDaniel has the Broncos exceeding expectations
The Denver Broncos are just fine, thank you.
Sitting at 6-2 at the season’s halfway point, a place no one grounded in reality thought they’d be, the Broncos are in a good place. First place. In control of their own play-off destiny. What’s not to like?
Fanatics are fussing about two straight losses, about an offense that is having trouble running the ball, and about a defense that’s suddenly wearing down in the second half after dominating the second stanza in the season’s first six games. Those are certainly valid points.
There are personnel problems like there are for all teams this time of the year. We’ll see what five-time Pro Bowler Ty Law has left in his tank. That could turn out well. On the other hand, the coaching staff, which has done such a stellar job to start the season, probably tinkered a bit too much when they cut punter Brett Kern and replaced him with Mitch Berger. Bronco historians will remember a similar situation with Dan Reeves Broncos in 1986. After a 6-0 start, Reeves decided to replace punter Jack Weil with Chris Norman, for reasons still unknown. Norman turned out to be nothing close to an upgrade, and the move did nothing to improve the team. Denver went on to the Super Bowl, but they were beaten by a superior New York Giants squad.
So things aren’t perfect. Who expected it to be? Did you expect the Broncos to go 6-2 in the first half of the season? If you said yes, you need to either move to Las Vegas or go take a polygraph test. The bottom line remains that at 6-2, Denver’s in a far better position than anyone thought they’d be.
The only reason to panic is if you’ve suddenly decided that this rebuilding year (and with an entire new coaching staff and a whole bunch of new players, how can it be called anything else?) is now a win-it-all-or-the-season’s-a-bust kind of deal. If you’ve now decided that after starting out 6-0 the Broncos have to win the Super Bowl to have a successful year, then you aren’t one of those people grounded in reality.
Let’s get really honest here. The Broncos have overachieved to this point. They played way above their heads in the first six weeks, accomplishing more as a unit than anyone had a right to expect. They don’t have the same level of talent that Pittsburgh has. Or New England, Or Dallas or San Diego. Yet they’re 3-1 against those teams. Not too shabby. The pre-season prediction of a 6-win season was based on facts: A new coaching staff, a new QB, a new system, and a talent base that did not rank with the best teams in the league. The guys who put out the pre-season magazines do have a clue, and they are right a lot more often than they’re wrong.
The X factor was head coach Josh McDaniels, and his ability to mold the whole of the team into something much better than just the sum of the parts. There’s no reason to think that the Broncos can’t win five more games – including beating the Chargers here in two weeks – and win the AFC West. Play the same way they’ve played the first half and they’ll be in the tournament.
The pressure is on San Diego. On paper, they should win the AFC West by five or six games. They should have clinched the division title by Thanksgiving. Instead, the Broncos have made it a race, and the Chargers have underachieved (as they’ve had a tendency to do under Norv Turner.) Now Denver has a game in hand – AT San Diego no less, and the Chargers have to come here in two weeks and win, just to get close to even.
Like I said, the Broncos are in a good place.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t concerns. Long term, I still think Denver has to establish an identity on offense. What kind of team are you? The running game that was a staple for so many years under Mike Shanahan is now a struggle. Kyle Orton is one of those “game manager” type QB’s, and if he’s going to succeed in the long run, he needs a strong running game to make his play-action passes effective. Orton is not going to win games for you by himself, but unlike his predecessor, he’s not going to make killer mistakes very often, either. It’s safe to say that with this system and this QB, Denver probably won’t be able to beat the best teams on their schedule like the Steelers, but they won’t lose home games to Buffalo with a play-off spot on the line, either.
Half way through, and it’s all good.
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