Not The Thread For Everyone....BUT The Season Is Not Over

[sra84]

It's not like it's only been 1 or 2 years and people are acting like "the sky is falling ".

It's been 6 years, and this team has been trending downward every year. It's beyond the sky falling, we're at rock bottom and have been for a couple of years now.

True optimism is based on an objective evaluation of the current status of the team.

Objectively, with Fangio, Shurmur, McMahon and this coaching staff, and what we've seen,it's not unreasonable to expect little from this team.

Objectively, with Bridgewater at quarterback, it's not unreasonable to expect not much offensive efficiency from this team.

Combine those with the injuries, it's not unreasonable to believe that this team has little chance of winning more than one or two games in our remaining schedule.

Had we followed up the win in Dallas with another solid win against the Eagles, it might be a different discussion. What we saw Sunday is why many of us refuse to truly believe that this team has what it takes to make a run at the playoffs. We again struggled to score 20 points, our special teams can't go one week without a major blunder and injuries are finally catch up to us.

There's a difference between true optimism and blind faith.

I want this team to win every week. I want to see us back in the playoffs. But that doesn't mean I'm going to ignore the obvious problems and just say we have a chance when I know that, while technology we do, realistically, we don't.

I have no problem if people still want to believe that we can make the playoffs. But those of us who aren't buying it, aren't acting like the sky is falling. We're reacting to the reality of the situation, and frankly, our stance is more justified.

[Hadez]

Broncos control their own destiny.

Question is do they have the heart and leadership to get it done.

[rst08tierney]

In 2007 after week 11 the broncos were 5-5. I was so confident that team was going places because of the young core and Shanahans leadership and experience with a young gunslinger in Cutler.

Here we are in 2021 with no leadership, Zero accountability from an ownership perspective and Teddys whos just one check down away from another 3 & Out. Maybe the polar opposite happens this time?

Playoffs?

[jazzbodog]

The Broncos season is basically over. They stink up their home games. They're horribly frustrating to watch (exception Jets - Dallas games) and the play call is atrocious.

Very, very SAD!

[Capt. Jack]

Broncos control their own destiny.

Question is do they have the heart and leadership to get it done.

Prolly knot

[cousinal111]

Chiefs twice
Chargers twice
Raiders (who already embarrassed us)

All 3 beat the Eagles who just punked us yesterday.

Bengals
Lions.

I see one more win against Detroit.

Sorry but there is no chance we win more than 6 games..unless we play a game where our opponent rests their starters. But given how close the division is, I doubt it happens.

This unfortunately

[CanDB]

Williams has what it takes to be a superstar back, he really is fun to watch. Surtain, is well on his way too. Paton's first draft class, seems a winner to me, and its only been a little over half a season. He does this well consistently, and we will be in good shape talent-wise going forward.

Thx for that. A nice transition back to what the topic was trying to initiate.

Williams is a powerful dude. I think Miami is still ticked that we moved up to select him, because they were lined up and ready to go.

Surtain is such a technically sound rookie CB. I was not wanting a CB at 1, but he is an excellent choice.

I like that we acquired some daft cap for Von, and hope we add a little more, because I can see some intriguing trade possibilities, or trade up scenarios.

As for this year....I look at our record, and try not concentrating on some of the repetitive themes in this forum, and just accept the fact that a wild card position is there if the team plays a bit more consistently. I don't see winning the division, but at the same time, why do we think the other teams are for real either? KC finally showed up. LA has lost of 3 of 4. And The Raiders are looking like The Raiders, good and bad. Again, mathematically after 10 games, and we're in both races - division and wild card.

[CanDB]

I'm totally with you that this season is far from over. Nobody in our division looks unbeatable and we've seen what our team can do. Nobody competing for a wild card is head and shoulders better than us. This team is close. We've got alot of talent on both sides of the ball. It's miraculous that we've played as well as we have defensively with all the injuries we've dealt with. The offensive line is good enough, RBs have been really impressive, and we have a good group of receivers/TEs. We need more consistency, we need to be better on 3rd downs and extending and closing out drives, and we need a QB. This team can make the playoffs and compete in the playoffs but certainly not if they play like they did on Sunday.

As for Paton, there is some good and alot of bad:

Good: Draft appears to have been a good one & nice LB acquisitions especially Young
Bad: TERRIBLE job on free agent signings.....Darby (very disappointing), Fuller (very disappointing), Boone (total bust and waste of $....now we see why he was 3rd string in Minnesota)
Trading for Bridgewater was a horrible move. He is a mediocre journeyman QB and there is a reason he's now playing on his 5th team. Letting Lindsey go and bringing in Boone....I could go on all day about that one. Trading Von....I didn't like the move.

Overall, I give Paton a D so far. We'll see how he does after this season but I don't have any faith in him. His love and adoration for Bridgewater scares the hell out of me and makes me legitimately concerned that he thinks that Bridgewater can be a franchise QB.

Good to chat pal. Like your views on the season, and I really don't think it's a stretch.

I am a bit more positive about Paton than you. And in honesty, I do not know enough quite yet. But I can imagine it being difficult to come here and shake it up overnight. That's why his next offseason will define him much better for me. He did well in the draft, though I was not into a CB that early. But a thumbs up for Surtain and Williams, and that's only 2 of the possible talents to rise in the future.

I was not enthralled by acquiring TB, given I wanted a better option, but I did think the CBs would be more productive. I think many of us did. The weird thing about Lindsay was how many folks here were good to see him go. Seemed like yesterday that folks loved him on this board.

As for TB, tune in next season. I doubt Paton keeps him, and if he does, he's the backup. Believe me, if Paton likes him that much, then both you and I won't be impressed.

[LordTrychon]

It's completely understandable why so many have a negative outlook. A win last week puts us in great position, and its a game we 100% should have won and we didn't.

It's the amount and flavor of the negativity that really gets to me.

It's possible to say you don't have much faith in the team right now without saying everything and everyone sucks. Or that you can't point out a positive without getting 'But _____ sucks!' or it 'doesn't count because _____' etc. etc.

Yes, the team has been underperforming for 5-6 years now, and it's not just a recent issue. It spanned multiple coaches, so the right move was to get someone to step in and take over GM duties from Elway and that's what happened. 10 games is a bit too early to be ready to jump from the Paton ship, IMO.

It takes 2-3 years to properly evaluate a coach. I think it was perfectly reasonable to give this staff a third season given how 2020 went. Are they gone after this year? Almost certainly. Will firing them now save our season or do much positive for the team? Not likely. So you want them gone? You're going to get your wish, I can just about guarantee it. Is it possible to discuss football over the next 8 weeks without every thread having to be about that? (Not saying all here are guilty, the fact that there's a few here in this thread I enjoy discussing with is the only reason I'm even posting in here...)

Heck... even Drew Litton posted that Shurmur should be fired after this last week. But we won the last two games he was calling plays in, and one was amazing.

Everyone knew coming into the season we had an easy start to the schedule, yet I doubt many of the more negative outlook type posters really expected us to be at 5-5 come the bye week. Especially not if you told them we'd be at or near the top of the league in salary cap on IR again.

Am I thrilled with the way this season has gone? Absolutely not.

Do I think we can still win some games in our remaining schedule? Obviously.

Sure we've looked ugly when we looked bad. But let's not pretend that the rest of our division is floating on clouds of puffy dominance either.

Raiders have lost to - The Chargers, the Bears, the Giants (coming off a bye, no less), and the Chiefs. That's far from impressive. They've beaten the Ravens, Steelers, Dolphins (in OT), the Broncos and the Eagles. Only the Ravens game is impressive here.

Chargers have lost to - The Cowboys, the Ravens, the Pats, and the Vikings. Ok, that's not so bad. They've beaten WFT, Chiefs, Raiders, Browns, and Eagles. Not bad, but hardly a group of worldbeaters...

The Chiefs have lost to - The Ravens, Chargers, Bills, Titans. They've beaten the Browns, Eagles, WFT, Giants, Packers (with Love, not Rodgers) and the Raiders.

Maybe the Chiefs are turning it around, but they haven't looked great this year.

These teams are still beatable, and their years have hardly been standout above and beyond what we've done.

I don't think we'll make the playoffs or anything, but the season is still far from over. If every team with only 5 wins were to give up the way much of our fanbase seems to think we should... we'd have a pretty easy path to the playoffs, actually.

I love the way our rookies and backups have stepped up at times this year. Our LB corps looked more like a LB corpse for a minute, but with some additions and experience, they've improved very nicely. Similarly, our Offensive Line Depth seemed like it might actually be offensive, but they've performed admirably, particularly considering how many of them were not starters at the beginning of the year.

Bridgewater hasn't blown anybody away, and he had one ugly play I'd rather not get into.... but he's still by far the best QB we've had since Manning (unless Lock has turned a corner and we just can't see it because we'll never play him apparently), and he's a part of the reason why this team already has as many wins as we did last year... like it or not.

While our pass rush and our coverage have been somewhere between up and down and non-existent... we still have a great scoring defense thus far.

[CanDB]

It's completely understandable why so many have a negative outlook. A win last week puts us in great position, and its a game we 100% should have won and we didn't.

It's the amount and flavor of the negativity that really gets to me.

It's possible to say you don't have much faith in the team right now without saying everything and everyone sucks. Or that you can't point out a positive without getting 'But _____ sucks!' or it 'doesn't count because _____' etc. etc.

Yes, the team has been underperforming for 5-6 years now, and it's not just a recent issue. It spanned multiple coaches, so the right move was to get someone to step in and take over GM duties from Elway and that's what happened. 10 games is a bit too early to be ready to jump from the Paton ship, IMO.

It takes 2-3 years to properly evaluate a coach. I think it was perfectly reasonable to give this staff a third season given how 2020 went. Are they gone after this year? Almost certainly. Will firing them now save our season or do much positive for the team? Not likely. So you want them gone? You're going to get your wish, I can just about guarantee it. Is it possible to discuss football over the next 8 weeks without every thread having to be about that? (Not saying all here are guilty, the fact that there's a few here in this thread I enjoy discussing with is the only reason I'm even posting in here...)

Heck... even Drew Litton posted that Shurmur should be fired after this last week. But we won the last two games he was calling plays in, and one was amazing.

Everyone knew coming into the season we had an easy start to the schedule, yet I doubt many of the more negative outlook type posters really expected us to be at 5-5 come the bye week. Especially not if you told them we'd be at or near the top of the league in salary cap on IR again.

Am I thrilled with the way this season has gone? Absolutely not.

Do I think we can still win some games in our remaining schedule? Obviously.

Sure we've looked ugly when we looked bad. But let's not pretend that the rest of our division is floating on clouds of puffy dominance either.

Raiders have lost to - The Chargers, the Bears, the Giants (coming off a bye, no less), and the Chiefs. That's far from impressive. They've beaten the Ravens, Steelers, Dolphins (in OT), the Broncos and the Eagles. Only the Ravens game is impressive here.

Chargers have lost to - The Cowboys, the Ravens, the Pats, and the Vikings. Ok, that's not so bad. They've beaten WFT, Chiefs, Raiders, Browns, and Eagles. Not bad, but hardly a group of worldbeaters...

The Chiefs have lost to - The Ravens, Chargers, Bills, Titans. They've beaten the Browns, Eagles, WFT, Giants, Packers (with Love, not Rodgers) and the Raiders.

Maybe the Chiefs are turning it around, but they haven't looked great this year.

These teams are still beatable, and their years have hardly been standout above and beyond what we've done.

I don't think we'll make the playoffs or anything, but the season is still far from over. If every team with only 5 wins were to give up the way much of our fanbase seems to think we should... we'd have a pretty easy path to the playoffs, actually.

I love the way our rookies and backups have stepped up at times this year. Our LB corps looked more like a LB corpse for a minute, but with some additions and experience, they've improved very nicely. Similarly, our Offensive Line Depth seemed like it might actually be offensive, but they've performed admirably, particularly considering how many of them were not starters at the beginning of the year.

Bridgewater hasn't blown anybody away, and he had one ugly play I'd rather not get into.... but he's still by far the best QB we've had since Manning (unless Lock has turned a corner and we just can't see it because we'll never play him apparently), and he's a part of the reason why this team already has as many wins as we did last year... like it or not.

While our pass rush and our coverage have been somewhere between up and down and non-existent... we still have a great scoring defense thus far.

Exactly!!!!!!!

It's too bad the positive folks are few and far between....mind you, I believe that many of them prefer not to join in these threads given the likelihood of backlash, or even worse....the same ole junk that we've read over and over and over.

And I've been asked why I stay the course, even though frustrated at times. Well, I support The Broncos, and even more so this year than last, because I sense something good may be coming And I stick by TB even when he screws up. Why? Cause I like him, I feel for him and his career changing injury, and I don't see anyone else on that sideline who is better at the position. Sure he screwed up on Sunday, but lets not make it the final nail, because QBs screw up every week. Heck I've recently seen Stafford and Wentz and others throw pathetic balls directly to opponents when inside their goal line. I've seen terrible games all year, outside of our games.

The points are, as you say LT, most of us are not happy but we're seeing some light. And in the mean time, we're still in a race. No one knows how this will end, but those who have given up are set in their opinion. It's just that, opinion. As you say, and as I've stated many times, this division is not very good right now, and I can see us winning some divisional games. And The AFC is not settled by any stretch. I've listed before how many teams are in the middle of the pack, and that only one team in the wild card race has 6 victories. It ain't over. And I don't know about you folks, but I sure get excited when my team is in a playoff game, no matter how they got there.

So I am sure we will continue to see the "fire" threads/posts, which is a very convenient online thing to do. And Teddy will be chastised, unless Lock takes over, which might be worse. And if we win, it was because of a number of things unrelated to the word "deserved".

But just know, not that it matters, those who spread negativity are not making this place better. In time it can dilute the interesting dialogue, and anything good that would normally be discussed. We are missing out on good posters, who have had enough of the noise, and prefer to either sit back or go elsewhere, to talk about interesting topics. We lose that aspect on this board.

I compare it to a lawn. A nice lawn that may have a few weeds. Normally those weeds would disappear because of the good stuff growing all around, but if not tended to, the weeds could keep growing and expanding. In time, without proper maintenance and care, the weeds could take over....and what's left is not a pretty sight. Or in this case, SITE.

[Njbroncofan1]

even if we won 40-10 vs the Chargers the most likely scenario would be losing the following week 40-10. Oh and if some miracle we won both those games vs Chargers and Chiefs bet the farm that we lose at home against the Lions december 12th. I mean look at the garbage we saw vs the Eagles coming off the best win in a very long time vs the Cowboys.

[Kyousukeneko]

With this offense best we are a one and done likely we will end up like just outside at like 8-9 or 9-8.

[sra84]

Here's some positive outlooks:

A 6 win season is good for us. It'll mean Fangio, Shurmur, and McMahon are, in all likelihood, gone after the season. Hopefully Bridgewater is gone too.

Gordon, his fumbles and contract, are gone after the season.

Addition by subtraction!!!

Maybe we finally have an owner. Hopefully.

[GMTD]

Let's face it. Our division isn't very good. So much fanfare about the AFC West in the past couple of seasons and how it was going to dominate the rest and yet what do we have?

The best team at the moment (KC) has won 6 and lost 4. Hardly inspiring. The worst has won 5 and lost 5. Not a great deal different. In fact just a single game different.

Anyone looking at the table right now and making a prediction that any one if the 4 teans in it cannot make the playoffs is guessing. We have just as much of a chance to do so as anyone else - especially as 5 of our remaining 7 games are against others in this underwhelming division.

So as the OP said, the season is not over. In fact it's far from over.

[Taos_Broncomaniac]

It's completely understandable why so many have a negative outlook. A win last week puts us in great position, and its a game we 100% should have won and we didn't.

It's the amount and flavor of the negativity that really gets to me.

It's possible to say you don't have much faith in the team right now without saying everything and everyone sucks. Or that you can't point out a positive without getting 'But _____ sucks!' or it 'doesn't count because _____' etc. etc.

Yes, the team has been underperforming for 5-6 years now, and it's not just a recent issue. It spanned multiple coaches, so the right move was to get someone to step in and take over GM duties from Elway and that's what happened. 10 games is a bit too early to be ready to jump from the Paton ship, IMO.

It takes 2-3 years to properly evaluate a coach. I think it was perfectly reasonable to give this staff a third season given how 2020 went. Are they gone after this year? Almost certainly. Will firing them now save our season or do much positive for the team? Not likely. So you want them gone? You're going to get your wish, I can just about guarantee it. Is it possible to discuss football over the next 8 weeks without every thread having to be about that? (Not saying all here are guilty, the fact that there's a few here in this thread I enjoy discussing with is the only reason I'm even posting in here...)

Heck... even Drew Litton posted that Shurmur should be fired after this last week. But we won the last two games he was calling plays in, and one was amazing.

Everyone knew coming into the season we had an easy start to the schedule, yet I doubt many of the more negative outlook type posters really expected us to be at 5-5 come the bye week. Especially not if you told them we'd be at or near the top of the league in salary cap on IR again.

Am I thrilled with the way this season has gone? Absolutely not.

Do I think we can still win some games in our remaining schedule? Obviously.

Sure we've looked ugly when we looked bad. But let's not pretend that the rest of our division is floating on clouds of puffy dominance either.

Raiders have lost to - The Chargers, the Bears, the Giants (coming off a bye, no less), and the Chiefs. That's far from impressive. They've beaten the Ravens, Steelers, Dolphins (in OT), the Broncos and the Eagles. Only the Ravens game is impressive here.

Chargers have lost to - The Cowboys, the Ravens, the Pats, and the Vikings. Ok, that's not so bad. They've beaten WFT, Chiefs, Raiders, Browns, and Eagles. Not bad, but hardly a group of worldbeaters...

The Chiefs have lost to - The Ravens, Chargers, Bills, Titans. They've beaten the Browns, Eagles, WFT, Giants, Packers (with Love, not Rodgers) and the Raiders.

Maybe the Chiefs are turning it around, but they haven't looked great this year.

These teams are still beatable, and their years have hardly been standout above and beyond what we've done.

I don't think we'll make the playoffs or anything, but the season is still far from over. If every team with only 5 wins were to give up the way much of our fanbase seems to think we should... we'd have a pretty easy path to the playoffs, actually.

I love the way our rookies and backups have stepped up at times this year. Our LB corps looked more like a LB corpse for a minute, but with some additions and experience, they've improved very nicely. Similarly, our Offensive Line Depth seemed like it might actually be offensive, but they've performed admirably, particularly considering how many of them were not starters at the beginning of the year.

Bridgewater hasn't blown anybody away, and he had one ugly play I'd rather not get into.... but he's still by far the best QB we've had since Manning (unless Lock has turned a corner and we just can't see it because we'll never play him apparently), and he's a part of the reason why this team already has as many wins as we did last year... like it or not.

While our pass rush and our coverage have been somewhere between up and down and non-existent... we still have a great scoring defense thus far.

Clouds of puffy dominance LOLOL

Great Post LT, Agree there's lots to be excited about the Negative Nancy's notwithstanding. Hoping for improvements every week and some good division battles.