Postgame - Broncos vs Chiefs

Well guys and gal, the Broncos took on the Chiefs today at home. And can I say...WOW, where has this team been? Well I think I know, this team hasn't changed that much, what has changed is the team is getting healthy and the team has found some heart and pride, plus a bit of luck doesn't hurt. But back to the heart and pride, where did the team find that? Did McD send the team into the mountains to search for some soul? No, McD got probably the biggest name in pride, heart and passion into the building to talk to the team. Yes that is right, John Elway stopped by at training this week to address the team. He is a little of what he had to say: (from ESPN)

"Elway’s travails in Denver, and the need to try to win on a daily basis and to enjoy the moment. Elway, 50, told players he still occasionally wishes he had the opportunity to play again and that they needed to seize the moment and not waste their opportunity as NFL players.

At one point, Elway asked players to raise their hands if they would be relieved to win against the Chiefs on Sunday. When several players raised their hands, he said that was the wrong attitude to take. He said winning teams are built during the week and hard work is the key. Elway works for the Broncos as a marketing spokesman and he is interested in becoming a part owner of the team. He has been a presence at some practices this season. "

Well lets take a look at the game and who played well.

The O-Line was great, finely healthy and with 2 weeks worth of training the O-line was on fire, blocked very well on both the pass and the run. Clady looks much better and Walton and Beadles had great games. Plus did Orton get sacked today? Nope, was such a good game from these guys.

Since the O-Line played so well Knowshon Moreno had big holes to run through, he had his first 100 yard rushing game and scored a TD on a reception. Moreno looks much better when he has holes to run through and is starting to play up to his 1st round pick status.

Larsen, I love this guy, is a beast, give him the ball some more.

Orton was on song today, throwing 4 TDs, looked really at easy throwing the ball around to a number of receivers. Lloyd and Gaffney had TD receptions and both had good days. Thomas had a number of good grabs, still think we need to get him more involved. He looked good as a kick returner as well, but I noticed when ever he got hit he got up with a limp, but I think that is just him as he was fine for the game.

Tebow was solid again in the redzone, need to get him more involved with his packages.

And Trick plays made a return but instead of just running one we ran a few trick plays which was nice to see.

Onto Defense, first the defensive line was really good, Vickerson has been one of the best finds for us. But Bannan and J-Will had really big games as well, eating blocks and letting the Linebackers run free. There was a noticeable difference when these guys left the game, just look at the last quarter.

Hunter had an awesome touchdown that was really cool to get a TD on defense.

Haggan had a really good game, 3 sacks and the forced fumble that resulted in the TD was massive. Imagine if Doom had played, he would have had a field day haha.

Joe Mays was a monster, shows some real aggression and hits hard, the problem that is stopping him from being a great player is that it isn't a controlled aggression and he gave away a few stupid penalties in the first half before he was taken off for DJ.

McBath you got to pick that s#$&!

Now onto DJ, I thought he was not meant to play today but he did, and he didn't even miss the first quarter like the other guys. The fine he got was the maximum the team could give so the team couldn't do more there. And getting stripped of the Captaincy will hurt him so much. But it would not surprise me if the league fines him or he misses a game or two.

Jarvis Moss, not many would have noticed him play today, but I did and watched him closely. And not much has changed in him. He has no power and gets blocked out easily if he can't beat his man with speed. At one point the LT was blocking him with one arm. But if he gets the edge with his speed he usually beats his guy. If they could put Ayers (power) and Moss (speed) together then we would have the most dominating push rusher in the league.

And finally on for the defensive side I am going to talk about Champ. And as I figured people are going to say he played bad and like a chump. But to be honest all the people that watch this game must not have been paying attention until the commentators started talking about it. Champ had Bowe locked down in the first half, when the Chiefs went to the pass after the run didn't work they still couldn't get it going, as no one was open. But in the second half BoweBowe did make were on come back routes, which had Champ between him and the goal line, giving Champ the easy tackle. Pretty much the defense played really soft football in the last quarter hence so many points. When safety McCarthy, a practice squad and now ST guy is in with the starting defense you know they ain't trying anymore. The last goal line stand the TV flicked to McD on the slide line and the whole starting defensive line was standing behind him, so you know what I mean about playing second stringers. So Champ can't do it all himself, he did make some good plays though, the fumble that Bowe recovered and then the blocked two point conversion is classic Champ, he had a number of other good plays as well. Champ is still Champ.

Few other notes:
Here is what NFP said about the game: The numbers from Kyle Orton should stand out (22-34-296-4TD). But when I look at this game the play of the Denver O-Line and the defensive front seven is impressive. Go back to the last month for the Broncos. They were soft at the point of attack, couldn’t get off blocks on defense and were outright physically beaten against teams like Baltimore and Oakland. However, they run for 153-yards as an offense and limit a very good K.C. backfield to 51-yards on 22 carries (Jamal Charles: 14-41).

DP had this also: However, for a defense that has performed better when its regulars are a little healthier, seeing safety Renaldo Hill leave the game with a neck injury in the third quarter was not desirable.
Hill did not return in what was a 42-10 game at the time. "But I'm OK," Hill said after the game.

Todd Haley, dude low class, even if we beat you down and over celebrated, so what, be respectful.

Final word
Coming into this game we said we had to go back to simple football, back to basics and we did that. Stop the run, run the ball, rush the passer and cause turnovers. And we did that until we clocked off in the second half.

Looking Ahead
We have a number of winnable games coming ahead and it all starts with the Chargers next week who are also starting to come on a roll. A win there will be huge and start as rolling onwards to playoffs, yes I said it playoffs. But we can always hope ~ Aussie Out!

Pictures from DenverBroncos.com and NFL.com