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vs. Buffalo Bills (W 15-14)
On a day when the Buffalo Bills added Steve Tasker as a new member to their "Wall of Fame", an existing member helped the Broncospull out a win. A few years ago, Buffalo officially added "The Twelfth Man" to their Wall as the ultimate acknowledgement to their fans. So it was that the fans were quite helpful by couting down the final second of the game, as if it were
Times Square on New Year's Eve. The Broncos had no timeouts left and dispatched their
Emergency Response Field Goal Team to line up for an attempt before time expired. Instead of
looking up at the clock, the ERFGT could simply listen to the fans' countdown and concentrate on lining up. Quite heplful.
Jason Elam nailed a field goal as time expired and the Broncos won their season opener for the first time in
three years.
Give all the credit to Mike Leach, the team's long snapper for that final field goal. The toughest thing to do
in a fire drill is to run out there, set the line, spread your checks, grip the football and
shove it back -- accurately-- between your legs. Leach did just that and the old cliche of
"Special Teams Should Win You One Game a Year" was fulfilled.
While the Broncos' offense racked up some sexy fantasy stats, it's apparent that the team will only go as far as Jay Cutler can
take them. Mike Shanahan has hitched his reputation on Cutler. He's determined that the team will win not by
feeding the runningback, but by relying on the quarterback. Cutler may have a fine career when all's said and done, but
he's not the guy you want to bond yourself to right now. Just as he did a few weeks ago, Cutler threw backwards
and almost coughed the game up. Selvin Young was there to bat the ball out of bounds. For most of the day he was hurried and his
franticness forced the team to settle for field goals of the miss and hit variety. It's not a good sign to have your quarterback throw 39 times and only notch 15 points.
Perhaps Shanahan is frustrated at all the "he's never won without Elway" talk and desperately wants to show the world
that he can make a QB. He tried and failed with Brian Griese. It must've driven Shanahan nuts when the team had their
best non-Elway Year in 2005 by running the ball more and throwing the ball less. That just cannot be, in the world of Shanahan.
Cutler's the latest science project for Shanahan and the team will only go as far as he'll take them. If Shanahan could get away with it, he'd prefer that Cutler line up at DE and rush the QB. What's frustrating is that the team has enough "talent" that they don't need to do that. They could lean on other players and go farther. The One Man Gang was an overweight pro wrestler from the 80's,
not a second-year quarterback in 2007.
Lean on someone like Travis Henry. 9 kids already do. Henry was stuffed a few times in the first half, but soon found
the creases in the "one cut and go" scheme and helped move the ball between the 30's. Javon Walker also had good production,
but it's kind of hard not to, when roughly 12 balls are thrown your way.
But heck..this game had "Broncos Loss" written all over it from the first quarter, when Roscoe Parrish ran back a punt
for a TD. A better team could've but the Broncos away by the half. If the Broncos are to tally their usual 8-10 wins
and final weeks of wild card mumblings, this win could prove beneficial, as Buffalo looks to be another of
those mediocre 8 or 9 win teams. Only difference is that Buffalo discovered about halfway into the game
that they can hitch their ride to rookie runningback Marshawn Lynch. Lynch busted for a rugged TD run in the 3rd quarter by running
through everyone on the Broncos defense, from Champ Bailey, D.J. Williams to Tom Jackson and Rubin Carter.
Well, at least they got to visit Buffalo in September, not December. Reports are surfacing that on the flight back,
Shanahan insisted Jay Cutler be allowed to fly the team plane. Then cook dinner for everyone...then handle everyone's luggage...then wash everyone's car...
Chop Blocks
...||... Dammit. It's happening already. Some guy from the Patriots ran back a kickoff for "a record 108 yards". What,
are we playing Canadian Football all of sudden? Are there suddnely more than 100 yards on the field?! Grrrrr...
...||... If I'm Browns coach Romeo Crennel, I'm mailing a freeze-dried bag of dogshit to Bill Cowher's home.
My job's already tough enough--coaching the frickin' Browns-- but now I'm suddenly in "jeopardy" because a
ridiculous rumor has surfaced about Bill Cowher coaching for Cleveland.
...||... Ever notice that the guy who loses his helmet in a pile in always the guy with dreadlocks? It's going to take
a broken neck before these clowns realize they should shave that stuff for the season.
...||... John Madden and Al Michaels were kidding this week around about future guests on the Jay Leno show. Madden wondered
how they're always able to show pictures of future guests, already on the show. Michaels countered that it was
probably from previous appearances or, as he put it, "Photoshop". Right... that's like me standing in front of
a car with a bad engine and saying "Tires". Dork. Do not use words of which you do not understand.
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