When you’re 7-0, you really forget what it feels like to lose a game, huh?
Now, I understand that Broncos Country is upset — I am, too — but let’s all take a collective breath and look at the big picture. The Broncos are 7-1, and in great position to get a first round bye. I think we’re going to be alright.
That doesn’t mean Sunday’s loss isn’t allowed to sting, but it definitely doesn’t mean that the Broncos are suddenly a fundamentally flawed team. Literally every NFL champion aside from the ’72 Dolphins has suffered a lost during the regular season, and I’m sure they’re fan bases felt just as frustrated as we do now.
Hell, the ’97 Broncos lost four. After some of the reaction we saw on Sunday, if these Broncos lost four games, people might start calling for Gary Kubiak and John Elway‘s jobs.
And if you’re still having a hard time calming down, let me help you. Here are three reasons why Denver Broncos fans need to chill out:
The defense has shown enough to get a pass
Listen, if we’re all fine with giving Peyton Manning a pass for six sub-par performances to start the season, then I think we owe the defense at least one. I mean, they may have lost the Broncos this game, but they also single-handedly won the team’s first six.
This is still a FANTASTIC defense. That hasn’t changed.
Just because the Broncos gave up 27 points to Andrew Luck and the Colts doesn’t mean the defense transformed into an average unit over night. In fact every single all-time great defense has done the same: The ’85 Bears gave up 28 to the Buccaneers and 38 to the Dolphins; the ’00 Ravens gave up 36 to the Jaguars; and the ’13 Seahawks gave up 34 to the Colts.
Sure, maybe we hyped the Broncos defense up a little too much; they’re not perfect. Like every other great unit that came before them, the 11 guys who line up on that field are human, and that means they’re bound to make mistakes.
I can’t predict that the Broncos defense won’t have another performance like the one they had against the Colts, but I think it would be entirely unfair to act as if that’s the type of performance we should expect going forward. Wade Phillips’ squad played seven of the best games we’ve ever seen, and they followed it up with a dud. Until proven otherwise, I’m going to treat that one dud as the aberration.
Peyton Manning was solid once again
I’m not going got lie, I was a little afraid that Peyton Manning might turn back into a pumpkin, but that wasn’t the case. Even with the two interceptions, The Sheriff was slinging it again on Sunday.
Manning finished with 281 yards and two touchdowns on 58 percent passing, but it could have been a whole lot more if his receivers held onto the ball. Manning went deep on several occasions in the first half, but they just missed. On one throw, Vernon Davis could have made a catch, but his hand was clearly being held back by the Colts defender. On a couple others, Emmanuel Sanders had the ball slip through his hands on diving attempts.
In the second half, Manning was nearly perfect. And while the deep passes to Owen Daniels and Sanders were nice, what really impressed me was his pocket movement. The Colts were getting the best of the Broncos linemen all day, but but thanks to some nifty footwork, Manning only took one sack.
If this is the Manning we continue to see for the rest of the season, then the Broncos should have nothing to worry about.
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[adrotate banner=”6″]A loss may be exactly what the Broncos needed
This may go against conventional wisdom, but I’m not sure the Broncos didn’t need to get this loss off their chest.
Again, for as much as we may have begun to talk ourselves into it, teams don’t go undefeated. Everybody loses, and it’s how a team responds to those losses that really matters.
For these Broncos, especially the defense, I think they got comfortable; I think they got cocky. They shut down Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, they had everybody with a keyboard (*cough, cough*) blowing smoke up their you know what, and they thought they were unbeatable.
Well, guess what? They’re beatable, and they know it now.
More importantly, they’re motivated to prove everybody wrong once again. Just look at this Instagram post T.J. Ward put up early Monday morning.
A photo posted by TJ Ward (@bossward43) on
Somehow the Denver Broncos are underdogs at 7-1, but that’s fine. I think they tend to play better when they think nobody believes in them.