Fair Comparison

[dblakejr7]

Had a coworker thats a cowboys fan try to through salt on the wound after this weekends game. I gave him the following scenerio ... see if this is fair.

The cowboys start the season with only cole beasly at WR ... the rest of the wideouts have never caught a pass from tony romo.. gone are dez bryant and miles austin ... the cowboys also lose tyron smith the starting tackle.. oh you can only use jason witten for a few games... on defense you lose both starting DT and your middle linebacker.. you take turns starting rookie corners to fill in and your RB breaks his hand in the middle of the season... what do you think your record would be.. would you make the playoffs?

Not to make excuses cause the Pats played poorly on sunday... but when people try to rub it in it irritates me..

take this scenerio with any of the teams... would manning have as good of season if he didnt have D thomas, E. Decker to throw too ? welker and amendola were about the same.. what happens if denver loses knighton and williams fro mthe center of the D line would the game been different ? yes every teams has injuries.. but i think this is a valid point. what other team did so much with so little?

 

[cdumler7]

Well Broncos this season lost their starting players in Moore, Harris, Miller, Vickerson, Wolfe, and Bradley on defense then lost Walton and Clady on offense so in all they lost 7 starters to IR this year plus played all but 3 games without Champ Bailey. If you want we can count losing our head coach for a month as well with heart surgery. We also had Welker and J. Thomas miss time along with a couple of the OL players missing games because of injuries. We also have had some of our other defensive starters like DRC, Ayers, Woodyard, and others miss at least one game.


Now yes I agree that this guy that was trying to rub it in especially as a Cowboys fan has no room to talk considering how pathetic they have been as an organization for years but I would say the Broncos survived through quite a bit as well this off season with suspensions and Front Office people being arrested then all of the injuries during the season.

 

[Drawmeomg]

Well Broncos this season lost their starting players in Moore, Harris, Miller, Vickerson, Wolfe, and Bradley on defense then lost Walton and Clady on offense so in all they lost 7 starters to IR this year plus played all but 3 games without Champ Bailey. If you want we can count losing our head coach for a month as well with heart surgery. We also had Welker and J. Thomas miss time along with a couple of the OL players missing games because of injuries. We also have had some of our other defensive starters like DRC, Ayers, Woodyard, and others miss at least one game.


Now yes I agree that this guy that was trying to rub it in especially as a Cowboys fan has no room to talk considering how pathetic they have been as an organization for years but I would say the Broncos survived through quite a bit as well this off season with suspensions and Front Office people being arrested then all of the injuries during the season.

The Broncos have definitely held together through a tough run of injuries, hard to dispute that.

 

[cdumler7]

As did New England and that is why I fully expect next year we will see the same two teams fighting it out for the AFC Crown. Both teams will get some big time quality players back plus both have pretty young rosters other than a few older veterans. Should be a fun race for 1st. I do honestly think though New England will have the better shot at the 1 seed next year (obviously depending on injuries once again). The Broncos play in a division on the upswing plus have to go to Foxboro once again and that place is never fun to try and win in.

 

[Drawmeomg]

As did New England and that is why I fully expect next year we will see the same two teams fighting it out for the AFC Crown. Both teams will get some big time quality players back plus both have pretty young rosters other than a few older veterans. Should be a fun race for 1st. I do honestly think though New England will have the better shot at the 1 seed next year (obviously depending on injuries once again). The Broncos play in a division on the upswing plus have to go to Foxboro once again and that place is never fun to try and win in.

We'll see. I think you're going to have a harder time holding that roster together than we are. I know this is not something Denver fans want to hear but I'm not at all convinced that if you hoist the Lombardi trophy this year Manning won't retire.

 

[cdumler7]

We'll see. I think you're going to have a harder time holding that roster together than we are. I know this is not something Denver fans want to hear but I'm not at all convinced that if you hoist the Lombardi trophy this year Manning won't retire.

Well if Manning retires then yes all bets are off of how the Broncos will do next season. Only saving grace about him retiring would be then it opens up $20 million in cap space so the Broncos could actually go out and sign some quality players. Then again it would still come down to whether Osweiler could play well or not.

Now as for holding the roster together this off season actually won't be too bad for the Broncos. They have a few key players up for contract but at this point none of them are the stand out stars on the team. I would say right now 3 major guys the Broncos will have to think hard about would be Beadles, Decker, and Moreno. All 3 have been a big part of the offense this year but are the only 3 right now that the Broncos might lose. Now they do have room depending how they work the Cap to sign all 3. On defense Woodyard, DRC, and Phillips are the only 3 that have started that are up for contract. My guess is they resign DRC and Phillips. Woodyard has been benched for the last month so not really seeing him resigned.

Now yes I do expect the Broncos to lose a couple of these guys but for the most part should be able to keep the roster they have right now plus get back quite a few guys from IR.

 

[eric5577x]

Well if Manning retires then yes all bets are off of how the Broncos will do next season. Only saving grace about him retiring would be then it opens up $20 million in cap space so the Broncos could actually go out and sign some quality players. Then again it would still come down to whether Osweiler could play well or not.

Now as for holding the roster together this off season actually won't be too bad for the Broncos. They have a few key players up for contract but at this point none of them are the stand out stars on the team. I would say right now 3 major guys the Broncos will have to think hard about would be Beadles, Decker, and Moreno. All 3 have been a big part of the offense this year but are the only 3 right now that the Broncos might lose. Now they do have room depending how they work the Cap to sign all 3. On defense Woodyard, DRC, and Phillips are the only 3 that have started that are up for contract. My guess is they resign DRC and Phillips. Woodyard has been benched for the last month so not really seeing him resigned.


Now yes I do expect the Broncos to lose a couple of these guys but for the most part should be able to keep the roster they have right now plus get back quite a few guys from IR.

That would be huge for Denver. I thought the same thing. You can now def bring back Decker for sure. Both teams have the room to improve, and that is scary for the AFC in general. Going to be interesting to see what happens. Does Den have the confidence in Brock, esp with those weapons coming back, not to mention, LOL, I think your running game will be more improved, weird huh?

 

[Drawmeomg]

Well if Manning retires then yes all bets are off of how the Broncos will do next season. Only saving grace about him retiring would be then it opens up $20 million in cap space so the Broncos could actually go out and sign some quality players. Then again it would still come down to whether Osweiler could play well or not.

Now as for holding the roster together this off season actually won't be too bad for the Broncos. They have a few key players up for contract but at this point none of them are the stand out stars on the team. I would say right now 3 major guys the Broncos will have to think hard about would be Beadles, Decker, and Moreno. All 3 have been a big part of the offense this year but are the only 3 right now that the Broncos might lose. Now they do have room depending how they work the Cap to sign all 3. On defense Woodyard, DRC, and Phillips are the only 3 that have started that are up for contract. My guess is they resign DRC and Phillips. Woodyard has been benched for the last month so not really seeing him resigned.

Now yes I do expect the Broncos to lose a couple of these guys but for the most part should be able to keep the roster they have right now plus get back quite a few guys from IR.

You've got a lot more 'maybe gone' guys than we do either way. Talib, Blount, Edelman, Spikes and Wendell are the only starters with a real chance of leaving. Wendell is a journeyman who wont be hard to keep and wont be hard to replace if he leaves. Spikes is all but gone but their starting LBs are still amazing (Mayo, Hightower, Collins should be a GREAT group). Talib, Blount and Edelman should all be doable.

The Patriots' starters should be essentially the same next year as this year, with a bunch of injured players returning and whatever they manage to add via the draft.

 

[cdumler7]

You've got a lot more 'maybe gone' guys than we do either way. Talib, Blount, Edelman, Spikes and Wendell are the only starters with a real chance of leaving. Wendell is a journeyman who wont be hard to keep and wont be hard to replace if he leaves. Spikes is all but gone but their starting LBs are still amazing (Mayo, Hightower, Collins should be a GREAT group). Talib, Blount and Edelman should all be doable.

The Patriots' starters should be essentially the same next year as this year, with a bunch of injured players returning and whatever they manage to add via the draft.

Like I said the Broncos actually have quite a bit of cap room even if Manning stays. I'm guessing if we win that Champ Bailey will retire which frees up over $10 million in cap space. Again even if he doesn't the Broncos should have enough to keep all but maybe 2 of the guys I listed and my guess right now is Woodyard is gone and maybe Beadles is gone. The only 2 that will be somewhat a challenge to sign are DRC and Decker but both have already suggested they want back with the Broncos next season.

But hey Off Season is still a couple of weeks away so who knows at this point how it will all play out.

 

[Drawmeomg]

But hey Off Season is still a couple of weeks away so who knows at this point how it will all play out.

You had to get that in there, didn't you?

 

[cdumler7]

You had to get that in there, didn't you?

Haha sorry one final little jab. Have to say though gained a lot respect for the Patriot organization with all that they took on this year to still finish 2nd in the AFC is pretty impressive. Does that make up for my little jab? And hey if your team wants to wait till after the Super Bowl they can by all means.

 

[Yankee Traveler]

The Patriots' starters should be essentially the same next year as this year, with a bunch of injured players returning and whatever they manage to add via the draft.

And a few WR's with a years worth of experience.

 

[Broncosr0k]

And a few WR's with a years worth of experience.

And Brady getting out of that funk he was in for some of the games this season. I expect we see the patriots contending again next year. You guys did a lot more that I expected this year after being hit with all those injuries.

 

[#1BostonFan]

I think if both the Patriots and Broncos are 100% healthy the Patriots would win. If we had Wilfork, Kelly, Mayo, and Spikes. Plus is Talib didn't get hurt again. He manhandled Thomas in the 1st game and he would of slowed him down a lot.

Injuries do happen though, it's part of football. Losing Harris was a huger loss for them, but we didn't capitalize on it enough.