Orange Colored Glasses Vol. III – Denver vs. Indy & welcome back, John
Here you will see volume three of the series better known as Orange Colored Glasses – the rants and ramblings of Oklahoma’s very own Denver enthusiast and twitterati, John Krischel a.k.a. @mtokBronco. Thanks ever so much for gracing the freelantz readers with your presence – even if it is only once a month!
So as I sit down to write my diatribe on the state of the Denver Broncos, I want to apologize my dear reader (yeah, I said reader, in the singular sense…but I do appreciate that one reader) about not writing last week. I guess I’m rather hit or miss on my motivation. Blame it on my upbringing, blame it on my lack of work ethic, blame it on my upbringing, but whatever you do, do NOT blame it on the rain. I want to apologize to the web master, sorry Jessica, I’m worthless, but hey, at least our Broncos are not worthless.
After I left them for dead after their loss to the Redskins, the Broncos have decided to start playing some football again. 6-0, 0-4 and 2-0. I guess that is a sign of an inexperienced team - rather than fold after losing four in a row, the Broncos took it on themselves to turn it around. In my eyes, that shows class, character and a desire to get better. There was a players only meeting headed by Brian Dawkins, and after that meeting, Denver decided to not give up and push through the adversity.
Next up in Week 14, the humble heroes in orange and blue will visit the great and mighty Peyton Manning in Lucas Oil Stadium. Now, the Broncos do not have a great history against the Colts. Let’s reflect and cry a little:
2002- Colts 23 Broncos 20
2003- Colts 17 Broncos 31
2004 (playoff) – Colts 41 Broncos 10
2005 (Peyton did NOT play) – Colts 14 Broncos 33
2006 – Colts 34 Broncos 31
2007 – Colts 38 Broncos 20
Looking back at this, when it counted, Peyton Manning is the Broncos daddy. If Peyton says jump, the Broncos say how high. But wait, John! Broncos won 31 – 17 in 2003, no??? Sure, I’ll give that one a legit W - we thoroughly kicked their posterior, but the Colts made up for that by destroying us in the playoff game later on that year. We throw 2005 out; Jim Sorgi doesn’t count. 2006 was finally a close game but we still lost and then 2007 was destruction.
Now we turn to 2009 and the Broncos are coming to town, are the Denver boys and girls scared? As a player I doubt they are, but as a fan I’m already accepting my fate. I’m visiting the prison TV series Oz and taking it like a real man would. The Colts enter this game 12-0 and fresh off a victory over the once hot Titans. The Broncos enter this game with a record of 8-4 and winning two games in a row.
The Broncos are basically the last hope, sans a playoff game, for the 1972 Dolphins. If the Broncos don’t beat the Colts this weekend, there is little hope, based upon the opponents left, that Indy will lose to any of the teams. The Colts have and easy schedule and to top it off, if the Colts win this weekend, they are guaranteed home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
What can the Broncos do to stop the Colts? Nothing, plain and simple.
Manning the elder is playing at such a high level that Bill Belichick had the right idea - keep the ball away from Peyton, do NOT give him a chance to beat you. The only thing you can do is to keep the ball away from Manning, but even then, that doesn’t always work out. That doesn’t mean you don’t want to run the ball though - you have to keep the ball away from Peyton as much as possible. The more Peyton has the ball, the more he is dangerous. I view him as the Predator and us as Jesse “The Body” Ventura.
We are going to be left an empty shell with our chest cavity exposed. So should you blitz Peyton so disrupt his timing??? Surely, that’s what you do, I mean, it’s only Peyton, he has happy feet, he is going to make a mistake right??? No he won’t, I believe his stats from this year are just ridiculous versus the blitz. I can’t think of what they are, but let’s just say they are near perfection. So you can’t hold the ball from him, you can’t blitz him??? What can you do, nothing really, other than pray deeply! Seriously, nothing you can do, other than just laugh at it and hope he has a bad game.
The Colts own us, plain and simple, and I don’t see this week being any different. With the Colts having the motivation to win home-field advantage throughout, you go over every possible scenario and in every scenario you see the Broncos getting destroyed by the Colts.
I just can’t go against logic, no matter what my heart says. In my heart, I think the Broncos pull it out, but in my head, I don’t even see that being possible. Colts are going to win this big, 37 – 18. So close up the barn doors and prepare for a butt-whipping of epic proportions.
Until next time……….
