Another weekend of football is just minutes away! Week 3 of the NFL season gets underway with another marquee (JV) match-up involving a couple of the league heavyweights in Dallas and Chicago on Monday night. The Chargers have to face another tough opponent, when they travelto Lambeau? The Bolts are just lucky that it ain’t cold weather Wisconsin, yet. I haven’t made my picks yet, but as you could imagine, “make mine, Green Bay.”
The local team will be hosting the Jax Jags this Sunday as they look to improve upon their mesmerizing offensive inequities. #1 in the league in total yards, but only 17th in points? Since the departure of Elway, this has been a problem for Coach Shanny’s teams. This year, however, it just seems like a matter of time before Henry starts punching a few more in, as Cutler, Javon Walker, and Brandon Marshall figure out their timing. One topic that has gotten some pretty good play over the week has been the lack of tight end production. That “extremely heavy white canvas sack with the huge dollar bill sign on it” that we gave the Daniel Graham needs to start paying more dividends than just his mashing, run-blocks. I’m thinking in the red-zone, a la Shannon Sharpe.
This Jacksonville team is a one-headed monster. Defense. With the full-time switch to David Gerrard, the Jags are sealing their fate to mediocrity. The defense is tough, fast, and will make things hard on the Broncos all day. But like last week, I just don’t think that the Broncos defense will allow for much on the other end. Yes, the Raiders made plays/should have won the game. Yes, the Broncos don’t have the best history with playing this team on the west side of downtown. (To steal a dorky Harry Potter reference, THE GAME THAT SHALL NOT BE MENTIONED.) But the (degenerate) straight up play here is the home team for many reasons. The Broncos have actually defended Fred Taylor much better than many of the other teams around the league. David Gerrard is their quarterback (not a racially charged statement, he just kinda sucks.) And finally, the Broncos’ coach will make Jack Del Rio melt under the pressure.
“Remember, Coach Del Rio, if you get the chance, call a timeout and ice the kicker, it works.”
Like I mentioned in my preview a couple of weeks ago, a win in this spot would put the Broncos at 3-0 and in a nice position to figure out where they stand. A week-four trip to Indianapolis will allow Denver to measure out the length of the gap between them and the league/AFC’s elite.
Broncos 31 Jags 10 is gonna be my call today. I think the Broncos are busting out (did I say that last week, too?) and despite the stoutness of the Jags defense, the Broncos have the ability (and the arm strength) to counterattack. If the Jags want to sell the farm with their two big defensive tackles in an attempt to stop Henry, let the kid throw. Want to pressure Cutler and bring blitz packages, let the Atomic Dog go wild, buck wild.
If the weekend culminates with the Broncos sitting two games ahead of San Diego, the future looks bright for the Orange and Blue. The Packers have the defense to take down the Bolts and their (suddenly?) mortal leader, Felipe Rios. Oh yeah, DeathTruck, Sammy Winder, TroutDog, and myself will be accepting. BRING IT!
4 comments:
I must agree with Young Bear... in that our red zone woes are directly related to the lack of production/utlization of the tight ends.
I think JAX has more than just a solid D... they have a dynamic duo of RB's that migh give the Broncos some trouble. The run defense has given up good games to Lynch and Jordan thus far. I want to see the Broncos stuff the run and make Garrard beat them with his arm... won't happen with Champ/Bly locking things down in the secondary.
My prediction is 31-21 Broncos... but I think the game won't be that close... the Jags will score late to make it look more respectable.
I have a beloved CU college football story of mine in the works. Prolly be posted later today or tomorrow.
Lynch and Jordan seemed to get a lot of late game yardage and that does concern me.
I'm not concerned with the run defense unless it is 3 & more than 5. Young "Elias" Bear, run some research on how many yards have been gained on the Broncos on 3rd down.
I agree we could use more production from our TE's in the Red Zone or ANYONE for that matter including some of the play calling. Shannon Sharpe made the comment this week that Graham's game against the Raiders was the best performance, all around, from a TE he has seen in a long time hence, where is Scheffler??
A lot of 31 predictions out there. My prediction goes 24-13! 3-0 headed into the toughest part of the schedule!
I've been on the fence on the Bolts Greenbay game and now am leaning towards SD. James Jones (rookie wideout who figures to be the #3 but has been the #2 due to an injury to Greg Jennings) tweaked a hammy in Wednesday's practice leaving his status up in the air.
Greenbay put their #5 wideout in IR last week and inserted a practice squad player in his place. This shat happens every year with the Pack. Why don't they go into the season with 6 WR's like every other team in the league?
No running game (and I doubt that will change this week) means the offense will have to lean on #4 with a depleted set of WR's.
Return game has been solid and the D as well. The Pack will need a score or two from those groups in order to win the game.
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