Broncos/Bears time to get back on track

[Orange Crush77]

Having a qb like Os who can throw it on a rope down the seam to V. Davis has me all kinds of excited. Os has a little fire inside him, I think he plays well and our defense settles back into being the dominant force they were

 

[CEH]

Wonder how long it will take to have Brock bootleg and then launch a 60 yard bomb ala Cutler to Walker. I say within the first 2 series. Hope it's successful. Probably to Bubba or Latimer. ES seems to be hurting

 

[cdumler7]

cdumler, I don't know if I agree that coaches have had bad things to say about Cutler after leaving. Believe it or not, Mike Martz only has good things to say about Cutler and predicted he would have a great year this season. He talked about how Cutler had pretty much nothing to work with on offense back then. Check out Martz's comments in this article...

Mike Martz: 'This could be a great year' for Jay Cutler - CBSSports.com

You definitely make some good points, but I do think Cutler has had a lot of bad luck in Chicago. Years where he had the worst OL in the league and no name targets to throw to. I think he did pretty well in a difficult situation. Less talented QBs would not have survived that. And he's also had some bad luck in only making the playoffs once. Like the year he was rolling towards the playoffs with a 7-3 record, but broke his hand making a tackle after an INT that wasn't even his fault. Another year he didn't make the playoffs at 10-6 because of a tiebreaker. He could easily have 3 or 4 playoff appearances with a little luck.

I just have a lot of respect for Cutler because he's incredibly TOUGH. Not many QBs would have survived the MASSIVE beating he took those years when they had the worst OL in the league. He took those beatings like a man. This season the doctors said he would likely miss 3 to 4 games with the torn hamstring, but somehow he came back after ONE week. John Fox and the players can't stop talking about how much they respect Cutler and how inspiring it was that he came back so quickly from a serious injury to lead the team to a good stretch. Cutler is just so tough and such a competitor. That's the type of player I really admire.

And as for the whole thing about Cutler trashing Broncos fans, I think that was overblown as well. Pretty much every player always said his own team's fans are the best. I've heard that a million times. So Denver fans shouldn't take it personally when Cutler said Bears fans are better. If he was still playing in Denver, he would say Broncos fans are better. I don't see what the big deal is.

I'm not sure it was overblown. There is a difference between saying something like "Well the fans here are great" and what he said. These are direct quotes..."In Denver, we didn't have this many fans at all, we weren't even able to accommodate that many fans at practice. That's Chicago Bears fans for you. They're proud of their Bears (so are Denver fans not proud of their team?). He goes on to say "It's a lot different. Denver's like a 6 and Chicago's like a 9. It's quite a bit different. Just the fans and how passionate they are, that's probably the biggest difference."

I'm sorry but the Broncos have one of the most passionate fan bases in the NFL. There is a reason we have one of the longest wait lists in all of football for Season tickets. There is a reason we have the 2nd longest sell out crowd streak in the NFL. So for him to say that we are not as passionate and act like we don't care about our team was a very classless act. I honestly will never cheer for Jay Cutler and while I don't wish for a player to fail it also won't hurt my feelings one bit to see him go out and have a terrible game.


Former coaches doubt Bears can win with Jay Cutler

There is an article for you to read about past coaches and even current players who do not believe in Jay Cutler and want out of Chicago because of him.

 

[cdumler7]

I like your optimism Cd but your basing this on Denver somehow pulling off a run game out of their hat which has been pretty non-existent existent since day one. Excuse my scepticism but seems hard to imagine that for some reason their going to fix that in one week. Magic dust to sprinkle on this Inept O- line or some curse on Bears D is possible I suppose.

Randymon there are a few reasons I am optimistic the run game will be better with Oz under Center.

1) Teams did not respect the play action with Peyton and kept all 11 guys usually within 15 yards of the LOS. They didn't respect his deep ball making it much easier to defend a very small field. Oz at least forces teams to back up a bit.

2) Teams have to respect the fact that Oz can actually run. I don't expect him to do it but a handful of times during a game but they still have to respect that it could happen. So on those bootleg plays especially that backside DE can't just crash down the line. Look at when Manning ran the bootleg this year. The DE crashed hard down the line because even if say Manning did get out on the bootleg his ability to throw on the run hasn't shown to be very consistent this year so they were willing to give him that play. Freezing that DE opens up the cutback lane on those zone stretch plays that make Kubiak's system go so well.

3) My guess is you will see Osweiler working under Center maybe 50% of all snaps this Sunday. This means the RB instead of being 7-8 yards behind the LOS is now closer to 4-5 yards. This should mean the OL doesn't have to hold the point of attack as long and it should help to eliminate some of the negative plays in the run game we have had.

4) Finally and maybe most importantly I do think there will be a bigger commitment to the run game. CJ Anderson our Pro Bowl RB who has been looking better lately only got 2 carries in this past game...2!! We only carried the ball 16 times. I'm sorry but that is just not even coming close to giving the run game a chance to get going. Now I know we had a ton of 3 and outs or turnovers to start the game so that hurt us and we were playing from behind but I see us actually committing to the run even if it doesn't work right away.

 

[cdumler7]

Wonder how long it will take to have Brock bootleg and then launch a 60 yard bomb ala Cutler to Walker. I say within the first 2 series. Hope it's successful. Probably to Bubba or Latimer. ES seems to be hurting

My guess is say the first play of the game they gain something like 4 yards on a run they then run the bootleg play 2nd play of the game.

 

[AmericanTebowFan]

I'm not sure it was overblown. There is a difference between saying something like "Well the fans here are great" and what he said. These are direct quotes..."In Denver, we didn't have this many fans at all, we weren't even able to accommodate that many fans at practice. That's Chicago Bears fans for you. They're proud of their Bears (so are Denver fans not proud of their team?). He goes on to say "It's a lot different. Denver's like a 6 and Chicago's like a 9. It's quite a bit different. Just the fans and how passionate they are, that's probably the biggest difference."

I'm sorry but the Broncos have one of the most passionate fan bases in the NFL. There is a reason we have one of the longest wait lists in all of football for Season tickets. There is a reason we have the 2nd longest sell out crowd streak in the NFL. So for him to say that we are not as passionate and act like we don't care about our team was a very classless act. I honestly will never cheer for Jay Cutler and while I don't wish for a player to fail it also won't hurt my feelings one bit to see him go out and have a terrible game.


Former coaches doubt Bears can win with Jay Cutler

There is an article for you to read about past coaches and even current players who do not believe in Jay Cutler and want out of Chicago because of him.

LOL, an article from Michael C. Wright. A guy that's known as a Cutler hater, and of course he never provided any quotes from these players and coaches that supposedly don't like Jay Cutler. I provided an article with quotes from Mike Martz, where he spoke very highly of Cutler. I've also never heard Lovie Smith or Trestman ever say anything negative about Cutler. Cutler handled his benching last season with class, defending his coaches and going out of his way to help the backup QB. He has clearly matured in the last few years. But all the stuff you claim is in the past anyway, so it doesn't matter. Fox, Gase and the players on the Bears have been raving about Cutler's leadership this season. That is a fact. They can't get over how hard he worked to come back after just 1 missed game with the hamstring tear. IF Cutler had problems with previous coaches, it does not matter because he loves the current coaching staff. He was raving about the coaches even when the team started out 0-3.

LOOK, I know I'm not going to change any minds here. The majority of Bronco fans can't stand Cutler, while a small percentage still like him and root for him to do well in Chicago. I'm part of that small percentage. I just wanted to point out what Sundquist said about why Cutler was traded from Denver, since most people assumed that Cutler was more to blame for the way he left Denver. McDaniels never had any intention of working with Cutler. That's why he asked Cutler's agent to join the first meeting he had with Cutler when he berated him. Cutler really didn't have much of a choice but to ask to be traded.

 

[cdumler7]

LOL, an article from Michael C. Wright. A guy that's known as a Cutler hater, and of course he never provided any quotes from these players and coaches that supposedly don't like Jay Cutler. I provided an article with quotes from Mike Martz, where he spoke very highly of Cutler. I've also never heard Lovie Smith or Trestman ever say anything negative about Cutler. Cutler handled his benching last season with class, defending his coaches and going out of his way to help the backup QB. He has clearly matured in the last few years. But all the stuff you claim is in the past anyway, so it doesn't matter. Fox, Gase and the players on the Bears have been raving about Cutler's leadership this season. That is a fact. They can't get over how hard he worked to come back after just 1 missed game with the hamstring tear. IF Cutler had problems with previous coaches, it does not matter because he loves the current coaching staff. He was raving about the coaches even when the team started out 0-3.

LOOK, I know I'm not going to change any minds here. The majority of Bronco fans can't stand Cutler, while a small percentage still like him and root for him to do well in Chicago. I'm part of that small percentage. I just wanted to point out what Sundquist said about why Cutler was traded from Denver, since most people assumed that Cutler was more to blame for the way he left Denver. McDaniels never had any intention of working with Cutler. That's why he asked Cutler's agent to join the first meeting he had with Cutler when he berated him. Cutler really didn't have much of a choice but to ask to be traded.

Well and obviously never going to change your mind on the kid either. That is just one article among hundreds talking about the attitude and personality of Jay Cutler being one of difficulty. As for coaches and players this year what do you expect them to say? "Yeah our QB sucks and we can't stand the guy" said no player ever. Of course they are going to speak well of him. All I know is everywhere he goes coaches seem to get fired very quickly. They keep bringing in these so called QB experts to work with this kid and next thing you know they are on the street looking for work.

Anyway how about we just move on from the Jay Cutler talk and his personality. There is much more to this game and honestly him leaving Denver was long enough ago that it is just time to move past it all. I think Bronco fans are happy with what has happened since Cutler left with now 4 straight division titles and looking like a good shot for #5. Never happened in Bronco history even with Elway as our QB. Need to take care of business this week though as we cannot go on a 4 game slide. Need to get some confidence going before the NE game.

 

[AmericanTebowFan]

Well and obviously never going to change your mind on the kid either. That is just one article among hundreds talking about the attitude and personality of Jay Cutler being one of difficulty. As for coaches and players this year what do you expect them to say? "Yeah our QB sucks and we can't stand the guy" said no player ever. Of course they are going to speak well of him. All I know is everywhere he goes coaches seem to get fired very quickly. They keep bringing in these so called QB experts to work with this kid and next thing you know they are on the street looking for work.

Anyway how about we just move on from the Jay Cutler talk and his personality. There is much more to this game and honestly him leaving Denver was long enough ago that it is just time to move past it all. I think Bronco fans are happy with what has happened since Cutler left with now 4 straight division titles and looking like a good shot for #5. Never happened in Bronco history even with Elway as our QB. Need to take care of business this week though as we cannot go on a 4 game slide. Need to get some confidence going before the NE game.

Here is Kyle long talking about Cutler's leadership this season. It's easy to tell that this is REAL, not someone just speaking well of him because he as to. Read this article, it's not too long...

Kyle Long: Jay Cutler Shining As Bears' Leader, Quarterback

I've always admitted that Cutler was very immature for a long time. But I've noticed that that has changed in the last couple years. No more yelling at coaches/teammates and he's even much more friendly with the media now. He takes full responsibility now when things don't go well. He's just so different in the way he acts now. I think having kids has helped him mature. But if you do not want to believe it, that's fine. You obviously need to see it for a lot longer to believe it. Cutler has an ugly past, so it will take time for him to change people's minds. So far this season he has clicked with the new coaching staff and is playing the best football of his career. Those are facts, let's see if he can keep it up.

I agree it's time to move on. I only brought up the Sundquist thing because you mentioned how Cutler left Denver. Nothing wrong with debating it for awhile, but it's time to move on to the game. My biggest concern is the Bears need this game a lot more than the Broncos do. Yes you do not want to drop a 4th in a row, but the Broncos have no competition in the division. It always concerns me when you're playing a team that needs a game a lot more than you need it. But you never know, maybe the Bears are due to play a stinker. They've played well 6 weeks in a row, winning 4 and losing the other 2 in the final seconds. Maybe they're overdue to play a bad game. Cutler played well against a good defense last week, but maybe Denver's excellent defense will get him to finally have a game where he throws a few INTs. I think Osweiler will be up and down. I could see this being a very low scoring game.

 

[cdumler7]

I predicted the score to be 20-14 so yeah I agree I could see a low scoring game here. For the Broncos there are a few things that I think are very important...

1) Don't get themselves into a hole so quickly. The 2 losses this year came when they made some very costly mistakes early. This defense is built to play in a close game and come up with big plays. They are not built to play from behind hoping the offense will do something.

2) Give Osweiler some easy reads to start the game. I think they will go a lot of 2-TE sets in this one to give him some max protection when needed but also then to sneak out on some routes and get some quick 5 yard gains on easy passes. This will help him to get into a rhythm and can be what helps us to really keep Chicago on their toes not knowing if we are running or throwing from the formation.

3) We cannot let the run game get going early for Chicago. The last couple of games they got some big plays early on that helped really open things up for them. Along that same lines is no huge plays early. Against St. Louis honestly I thought the game was a very close fought battle other than the 2 really big plays St. Louis gave up. You can't have that.

4) Win the field position battle. We don't have to try and score every drive but we do have to make sure to not have a bunch of 3 and outs in a row putting our defense in a bad spot. Move the football and protect it will be the keys for the Broncos offense.

5) Stop with the stupid penalties. Every game this year we have gotten those stupid penalties that go beyond just playing aggressive. The extra shoving after the whistle has blown is just uncalled for. I know they are trying to intimidate an opponent but there is a line where it actually hurts the team.

All of this is very possible for the Broncos. To me if #1 happens the rest of these stand a very good chance of happening.

 

[Peter Gozintite]

I prefer to call him BrockWeiler

 

[cdumler7]

I prefer to call him BrockWeiler

Here are some of my favorites...

1) Brock N Roll
2) Brocket Launcher
3) The Deputy (since Manning is called the Sherriff here in Denver)
4) Brocket Man
5) The Brock (After Dwayne Johnson who happens to be a Bronco fan)
6) Plan B (Manning was considered Plan A and Elway always said there was no Plan B well now we are hoping there actually is)

 

[randymon]

Here are some of my favorites...

1) Brock N Roll
2) Brocket Launcher
3) The Deputy (since Manning is called the Sherriff here in Denver)
4) Brocket Man
5) The Brock (After Dwayne Johnson who happens to be a Bronco fan)
6) Plan B (Manning was considered Plan A and Elway always said there was no Plan B well now we are hoping there actually is)

I think I like the last one best. Seems to fit perfectly. In the meantime I'm going to hope the Great and Powerful Oz guides Denver to victory in the windy city Sun.

 

[randymon]

Randymon there are a few reasons I am optimistic the run game will be better with Oz under Center.

1) Teams did not respect the play action with Peyton and kept all 11 guys usually within 15 yards of the LOS. They didn't respect his deep ball making it much easier to defend a very small field. Oz at least forces teams to back up a bit.

2) Teams have to respect the fact that Oz can actually run. I don't expect him to do it but a handful of times during a game but they still have to respect that it could happen. So on those bootleg plays especially that backside DE can't just crash down the line. Look at when Manning ran the bootleg this year. The DE crashed hard down the line because even if say Manning did get out on the bootleg his ability to throw on the run hasn't shown to be very consistent this year so they were willing to give him that play. Freezing that DE opens up the cutback lane on those zone stretch plays that make Kubiak's system go so well.

3) My guess is you will see Osweiler working under Center maybe 50% of all snaps this Sunday. This means the RB instead of being 7-8 yards behind the LOS is now closer to 4-5 yards. This should mean the OL doesn't have to hold the point of attack as long and it should help to eliminate some of the negative plays in the run game we have had.

4) Finally and maybe most importantly I do think there will be a bigger commitment to the run game. CJ Anderson our Pro Bowl RB who has been looking better lately only got 2 carries in this past game...2!! We only carried the ball 16 times. I'm sorry but that is just not even coming close to giving the run game a chance to get going. Now I know we had a ton of 3 and outs or turnovers to start the game so that hurt us and we were playing from behind but I see us actually committing to the run even if it doesn't work right away.

I agree with all the above and think Brock and run game has the "potential" to turn things around. I just not so sure Fox and Co. are going to do anything different ( load the box) than they would do if Peyton were to start the game. They`e going to challenge Brock to beat them before they start to back off and he proves he is able to stretch the field with his arm and legs if necessary. Their not going to be afraid of Brock until he proves to them they need to back off. I agree Brock gives Denver the best chance to get D`s to back off, but they better do it right out the gate because until Denver and Oz/run game show differently, that`s what they have been facing from D`s up to this point and that`s what has stymied this O-line and the backs. I hope he rattles them right off the get go, I really do. But they will have to earn Bears respect before they deem Brock and the running game a threat. Your right... there is hope for sure but do they really have the pieces to implement it????? I sure hope so and believe me, I am rooting for the offense to get their shit together and wins some games on their own or at least help that D out more than they have. Good stuff Buddy!

 

[cdumler7]

Injury update for the Broncos. Ware, Manning, Walker, and Smith all did not practice again today. Ware and Manning have both been ruled out for the game and the coaches sound like they are not planning on having them travel with the team. Emmanuel Sanders was limited today. Would have been a full go but the team had to practice inside again today and coaches didn't want him to aggravate his ankle on the artificial turf.

 

[cdumler7]

Some stats for this game...
Broncos
Points per game: 22.8 (17th in the league
Bears: 22.1 (20th in the league)

Very surprised by this as so many have talked about how well Cutler is playing but it doesn't seem like the points have really been there for their offense. Part of that could be that Chicago is 26th in Red Zone touchdown percentage.

Defensively Broncos are allowing 18.7 points per game. Chicago is allowing 26 points per game.

After watching another couple of games I have actually been more impressed with the defensive growth of the Bears. The points per game stat for the offense does show some of my thoughts as well in the Bears can move the ball decently but they do seem to depend on big plays to get points. If they don't get the big plays they seem to really struggle offensively points wise. Now I will say stats wise they were hurt by that 26-0 embarrassing game against Seattle.

More than anything though I see a team that is wildly inconsistent. They lost the first 3 games and they for the most part were not all that close. Then they won a couple of very close games to then lose a couple of close games to now have won 2 in a row with one of them being very close and the other being a big win. So they don't seem to be able to sustain their success from week to week. Usually a sign of a team trying to figure out who they are. It does seem though that since that 26-0 beat down in Seattle they have kept games very close whether they win or lose so I wouldn't look for the Broncos to blow them out if we do win.

 

[cdumler7]

Bears injury report has Pernell McPhee, Eddie Royal, Matt Forte, and Alshon Jeffrey all not practicing today. Grasu, McClellin, and Rolle were all limited today.

 

[cdumler7]

Couple of big things from practice today.

1) From what I understand the Broncos worked quite a bit with Osweiler under Center instead of the Pistol or Shot Gun. So while the coaches can say this will be the same offense we have been running that does change up a lot.

2) The RB's said they very much prefer when they can run with the QB being under Center. Both Hillman and Anderson today commented about how much easier it is to read the defense when they are not having to look around a tall QB. They feel much more comfortable with the QB being under Center and knowing the hole that will open up.

Have to see how these things help or hurt our offense. Although not sure you can hurt our offense at this point with how terrible it has been.

 

[Peter Gozintite]

Here are some of my favorites...

1) Brock N Roll
2) Brocket Launcher
3) The Deputy (since Manning is called the Sherriff here in Denver)
4) Brocket Man
5) The Brock (After Dwayne Johnson who happens to be a Bronco fan)
6) Plan B (Manning was considered Plan A and Elway always said there was no Plan B well now we are hoping there actually is)

You heard what I said. I'm

 

[iknowftbll]

Some stats for this game...
Broncos
Points per game: 22.8 (17th in the league
Bears: 22.1 (20th in the league)

Very surprised by this as so many have talked about how well Cutler is playing but it doesn't seem like the points have really been there for their offense. Part of that could be that Chicago is 26th in Red Zone touchdown percentage.

Sounds like the Cutler we've always known, actually. The 2008 Broncos were the 2nd ranked offense in yards gained, but scored a tic over 23 PPG which put them in the middle of the pack.

 

[cdumler7]

Sounds like the Cutler we've always known, actually. The 2008 Broncos were the 2nd ranked offense in yards gained, but scored a tic over 23 PPG which put them in the middle of the pack.

Yup that has been his MO his entire career. Now while he is keeping the interceptions down it just means they have been playing more field position football instead of him putting his defense in a bad spot. The defense being near the bottom in the league in points per game given up then should show they are at best a very inconsistent defense. They have played some great games like holding the Chiefs to 17 or the Rams to 13 but then they have had the 48 they gave up to the Cardinals or 37 they gave up to the Lions.

One stat that has to improve for the Broncos in this one though is what they do on 1st and 2nd down. Part of the problem for the offense this year has been that no other team in the league has had as many 3rd down and 8 or longer plays. We are not getting it done on the early plays on the ground or through the air. We have to pick up positive yards. This is where @randymon would say "we have to get the run game going." I agree. The run game is going to have to step up. As I listed before I do like the chances of the run game having a bit more success in this one.