Even with the absence of the legendary Peyton Manning, the narrative would mostly be exactly the same as last year if not for that SB50 victory by my hometown Denver Broncos. and the hindsight view of what Manning did for this team as well as what he demanded of the AFC West opponents who hope to be champions too.....and because of concussions.The Dallas Cowboy fans would like to remind you how they still dominate apparel sales even though Denver is the team defending the crown. I'm the kind realist like true Broncos fans who've seen highs and lows, and who understand that Peyton did improve the AFC West, making it harder for this team to beat a bunch of improved teams without him. In reality, the America's Team shows plenty of signs of being better than 4-12, and expecting a healthy version of the richest team in football to continue to stink is a tainted glasses view of things.
In reality, we kind of need the Dallas Cowboys to become truly relevant on the field again just to offset the negative impact of all the concussion conversation that keeps hurting the league. The future influx of our best athletes into sports other than football will reveal the impact of all this hysteria. What the league could really use right about now is a return of those Boys, Love them or hate them it matters little. They have the LeBron effect that draws both sets of eyes to the viewing. It is an effect that the NBA will sorely miss when LeBron finally calls it quits. It's an effect that the NFL needs back via Dem Boys.
Some of this prediction might be might deep down longing for a league I love, but I am predicting that the richest team in football, the Dallas Cowboys, won't suck forever and the end of forever is now. I am predicting that they actually bring the rookie running back along slowly enough, and he begins to show his promise near the end of the season, but they will grow terribly enamored by his talent and forget that he is not ready for playoff blocking assignments, causing them to lose in the Superbowl to my Denver Broncos, who will avenge the loss from our very first Superbowl, Superbowl XII.
Among the rest of football punditry the prognostication is mostly the same as last year, adjusted by two words; think and expect. They don't think we'll do quite as we'll or expect that we know how to overcome the challenge of losing key players without getting hungover from the thrill of a SB50 victory.
I'm here to show them all why that all sounds good, but they are likely to be wrong.
While certain things have changed, nothing about our performance inspiring, championship coaching will be different, and that's why we win.
Actually, it will be somewhat different for our coaches who are returning after instant success while teaching a brand new system. Last seasons success gives the coaches instant street cred that will shorten the learning curve a bunch. Their willingness to play everybody will give us an early glimpse of our future potential. Whether we realize that potential in the form of another Superbowl should not be a desperate goal of the fans, even if the team desperately intends to shut up the naysayers by repeating. Loads of low expectation league wide will help them perform, unless loads of unreasonable expectation from Broncos fans cause us to make changes not conducive to our long term development.
Kubiak won't plan to be knee jerk at QB, but Broncos fans_some still salty about losing Brock Osweriler- will be, and that is the one element that concerns me the most. From an outside perspective, our expectations this year is only distanced from last year by the trophy we bring to each game. Beyond that, we'll struggle to be favored in most of the games, meaning we will upset popular expectation- and Vegas- to do what we intend to do this year. But don't get mad at Vegas or popular expectation for the respect they are indirectly showing to Peyton Manning the legend while seemingly dissing us.
We won't have Peyton, and nothing is going to help us know the impact of that except playing. With honest analysis, there are just as many signs of potential for better as there are for worse. The challenge of going 3-3 or 4-2 in the AFC West is enough to make things tough given the difficulty of the rest of our non-conference, Superbowl champions schedule. Splitting in the AFC West used to be good enough. This year, add in the rest of the schedule and that might not be good enough to avoid a Wild Card(better)....or worse.
That offensive line seems better, more stout, more depth and eager to set league rushing records behind a guy who closed out games with amazing skill and style in CJ Anderson. For those who watch practice, they see CJ barking out protections to Mark Sanchez, who is seasoned enough to understand what the back is telling him. CJ says the barking is worse, or less useful with the younger QB's get more confused with such guidance, an early sign of which QB is getting the internal nod to lead this team this year.
Anderson stands poised to prove himself our new offensive team leader while proving his coaches game plan championship worthy, and not just something we accidentally won with. He also must prove himself able to stay healthy enough to help out his mighty might backup Ronnie Hilman, who is better...when used in small guy moderation- worse when overworked.
The entire stable of backs will be enlisted like back in the days of the original No Limit Soldiers and the Mile High Salute. I would expect that we carry an extra back with the return of the fullback too. The goal appears to be to make the team into a run whether you're expecting it or not team; a commitment that will demand chemistry they can't yet have with their rebuilt line, and health they've not shown in recent years at the offensive line or among the injury prone running backs.
Which is why we'll need depth and chemistry, the most challenging holy grail of any Superbowl pursuit.
Keep in mind that the run or bust approach (clock control with minimal turnovers) will also be forced to work despite a league of coaches not fooled by media skepticism or punditry. Opposing coaches will bring defending champion preparation against the Broncos, mindful of the film, the ring we just earned, the Superbowl MVP we just signed and the thunder our boys brought to bear while earning it last year. Until further notice, that is the vision of us that they all see on film. Which means that the media skeptics are either counting on mostly championship efforts from each of our potential opponents, or certain decline from us.
They are mostly predicting decline Broncos nation, even though there truly are as many reasons to be excited as there are to be worried.
Linebackers are in place and ready to wreak havoc.....assuming Demarcus Ware can bring as much to the field as he brings to the locker room. They will likely need both to win it all.....although Shaq Barrett and Shane Ray are potential stars that might be ready to fill a void if Ware can't overcome those dreaded back issues he's plagued with. It might be better, or a blessing in disguise if the young players get the lion share of the reps and all that much needed development while Ware slowly heals himself for another title. It will be worse if we get stuck with players who are not our guaranteed Hall of Fame end rusher and foolish to ask young players to perform like a legend.
Once again, it's all a coin flip either way. Just like the secondary.
The secondary should be better and the most reliable group with so many returning players, but worse without Aqib Talib whose future makes that an unanswered question while we wait to see if he'll face punishment from the league. I'm excited to let Bradley Roby get starter reps because I would love to see how he handles it- meaning even I really have no way to know until he gets the chance.
Unanswered question? Coin flip on the results.
Receivers are better with lots of depth from fresh talent in the fold....but they might appear worse because they must relent lots of pass opportunities to an uncertain, developing tight end core, a position vital in a Kubiak offense. Way too little tight end production last year lead to way too many turnovers and a less than stellar Superbowl jaunt, though winning it all is always better than losng, even when it's worse than you intended for it to look.
I would like to claim that learning how to win close games last year might actually be a sign of something better..... if it didn't feel worse because all of that good fortune seemed to come from Peyton's presence and prowess, and was used up on the successful pursuit of SB50..
After coming up short in recent years, scratching and clawing seemed a better approach last year......yet, expecting more of that again seems worse, maybe a little more desperate than confident now that we are defending our title and not chasing after one necessarily.
The Broncos really aren't claiming any cool rally cry, just an expectation for improvement of a team that most recently won it all. That shares no information about what improvement looks like or what other teams are doing to better themselves. Which means, getting better is always relative. If too many teams outpace your improvement, you're going to look worse and probably not repeat the same success as you had before.
Fans mostly react out of emotion, not reality. Until further notice, champions are suppose to be respected. Just because you doubt the champions chances doesn't instantly give you room to dismiss them until they've dismissed themselves. Those who actually compete understand this, so a few smart pundits who played are watching the practices, getting out of their emotions from last year and recognizing the potential for better, not worse, while the rest of you just want to be right about this team being worse than they were when they proved way better than you expected.2016 kicks off in less than two weeks for the defending champions, and we are all eager to know if the Broncos can get better, or if last season was a pure anomaly and the results will be dramatically worse. The signs are so unclear thus far, they demand WE watch closely. searching for signals that point either way.
In other words, until further notice- until we prove unworthy- my Denver Broncos are MUST SEE TV and the rest of your teams are optional viewing.
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| If you aren't planning to watch the Broncos preseason opener you aren't really a fan of the NFL. Just saying. |
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