On to Indianapolis

[MileHigh64]

Well, this one's been circled on the calendar for awhile now. When the schedule first came out, I thought this would be the emotional return of Peyton Manning to Indy and that's it, but the Colts are looking like a very good football team right now. With convincing wins against the 49er's (on the road) and the Seahawks, it's hard to deny that this football club will be a stiff test for us. Here are my thoughts on this game and things I'm wondering as the Broncos begin preparations for next Sunday night's game:

• Jim Irsay has stated that they will have some sort of mini ceremony at the start of the game to thank Peyton for all his years of service in Indy. I'm not sure why, but this bugs me. I want Peyton Manning focused as hell on beating the Colts and we don't need to kick it off with "nicey-nicey". There's no doubt in my mind that the crowd will be going bonkers for their team once the game starts. It's going to be a playoff type atmosphere all night. I guess this could be a wash since I'm pretty confident that Peyton Manning will want nothing else than to beat his old team and get the Broncos to 7-0.
• Von Miller's return should be fun. I hope he's able to play loose and doesn't feel any pressure to have a monster game to make up for his bone-headed behavior over the last six months. He's reportedly in terrific shape and should force the Colts to double team him. Look for Ayers, Phillips, Wolfe or Jackson to get some sacks if Von is doubled all day.
• If Woodyard is back on the field, I would expect the Broncos defense to respond in better fashion than they have against our opponents offensive game plans. With the kind of questions being asked of our defensive players after the game yesterday, I'm guessing that they want to really provide a little whoop ass on the Colts to right the ship, so to speak. I hope so!
• What will be the status of our offensive line? Winston at right tackle? Vasquez, with Kuper at guard? Our O-line makes me pretty nervous right now.
• Another Broncos nationally televised game on Sunday night. We've spent so much time in the spotlight this year! So far, the Broncos have performed well under the bright lights. The Colts haven't had as much experience at it and I'm hopeful that this provides an advantage. The Colts will also be coming off of a short week, since they're playing tonight.

I'm going to be glued to my TV set tonight to see what the Colts are all about. I haven't been able to watch them play much this season, but the highlights have looked good.


I'm predicting a tight victory in Indy next week. Peyton and company pull it out in the end and escape with a narrow victory. Go Broncos!!


MH64

 

[cdumler7]

Very good break down. It will be nice to finally have all of our defensive pieces all on the same field at the same time! Honestly this should work well in our favor as there is no game tape on how Del Rio will call this game now that Von especially is back. He changes the whole scheme of both the offense and defense in how they play.

Also not too happy about the Irsay thing as it seems like a scheme to try and get in Peyton's head a bit and distract him. This week is one of those that either I could see Peyton just lighting it up or really struggling some as it will be an emotional week for him. There is no way of getting around that.

 

[DownSetHutch]

I agree that the pregame ceremony BS is probably partly intended to distract Peyton, but I don't see that working, especially since he had three turnovers yesterday. He will come out focused and ready to show Indy why they should have kept him (although they actually did make the smart move in moving on to Luck). I'm glad this one's on national TV. It should be a helluva game. The Colts are pretty legit and could definitely take this one from us.

Peyton vs. Luck. Gotta love it!

 

[MileHigh64]

Colts don't look so great through 3 quarters against the Chargers tonight.

 

[MrDoc420]

I really don't see any pregame stuff getting into Peyton's head, and frankly, if that is Irsay's intention then maybe he didn't get to know Peyton too well when he was in Indy. I definitely agree with Hutch that the Colts did make the best move in securing their future by saying goodbye to Manning and moving onto Luck. That kid has every attribute you want in a franchise QB and he's shown it bigtime since day one. That being said......he didn't look all that great against SD last night. Too bad his receivers couldn't save the "dropsies" for next week, but they looked out of sync all game last night.

I think with Von, Ayers and Wood returning we'll have a very good chance of keeping that offense grounded, but I doubt Luck plays two crappy games back to back. If we are able to shut down the big plays then I really like our chances of going into Indy and getting the W. I kind of have a feeling we're gonna go up there and put it to em'. We'll see how the rest of the week plays out though before I get too ahead of myself there. Hopefully all the guys are 100% and ready to go Sunday night.

Good news on Franklin, huh?

 

[WalkerBoh]

I doubt there's any ulterior motive going on here. Manning put in a LOT of years in Indy, took them to two super bowls, and brought home the Lombardi for the Colts. It could be the last time they see Manning on the field at Indy too. It's a goodwill gesture.

I think this will be Denver's toughest test yet. Would like to see Manning do FOR us what he used to do TO us in that building come Sunday.

 

[mcro_rave_2001]

Bronco fans have to feeling more confident after watching that game last night.

 

[KwitYerWhinin]

Bronco fans have to feeling more confident after watching that game last night.

of course but



nothing is fucking free

 

[Broncos6482]

I doubt there's any ulterior motive going on here. Manning put in a LOT of years in Indy, took them to two super bowls, and brought home the Lombardi for the Colts. It could be the last time they see Manning on the field at Indy too. It's a goodwill gesture.

I think this will be Denver's toughest test yet. Would like to see Manning do FOR us what he used to do TO us in that building come Sunday.

Totally agree with the first part. The Colts never really got to say goodbye to Manning. If you think there are any ulterior motives to this I think you underestimate just how much Manning means to that franchise.

The Colts look much less scary after last night's game, but I think they are a lot better than they showed. I think they were looking ahead to the upcoming game and their lack of focus killed them. I expect them to play much better on Sunday and give us their best shot.

 

[Morpheus]

I think last night's performance by the Colts was a bit of an anomaly with all the dropped passes and the questionable play calling by Pagano.

They kept trying to run the ball a sif proving a point and while that maybe because of all the dropped passes and them not having confidence in their receivers, I was really surprised to see such a conservative game plan.

Maybe his old man is wearing off on him or maybe his brother just schooled him last night. Their dad was a very successful high school coach here in Boulder at Fairview High School. he won 2 state championships in 20 years or so, but rival Cherry Creek got the best of them most years.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

Should be an interesting pre game.

38-17 Denver

 

[Morpheus]

As long as we protect the football an d don't provide the Colts extra scoring opportunities, I don't think they can keep pace with our offense.

 

[ChicagoIrish]

As long as we protect the football an d don't provide the Colts extra scoring opportunities, I don't think they can keep pace with our offense.

Are you crazy!? Sure they can....... Ooops sorry, they don't have Manning anymore, you guys do.

Manning rolls again. 7-0