BRONCOS // ROCKIES

BRONCOS ---   ADVANTAGE, Broncos! That’s the appropriately predicted starting moment for this Monday night’s Denver/Oakland NFL opener. There are several reasons why. Let’s begin with the fact that though pre-season games are not part of the wins over losses that each NFL team craves during a regular season, Oakland having lost all four of its pre-season challenges takes its toll in a game that’s almost as much mental as it is physical. Such affects confidence at the same time that it intensifies a team’s desire to avoid failure, which, in turn, can create negative tension and cause players to try too hard and make mistakes. I would not eliminate this factor, though other factors should play a more important role in Denver causing Oakland to fall behind quickly and stay behind, for instance, Denver won two of its four pre-season matches and in three of them demonstrated strengths where Oakland had shown to be particularly weak, examples: (1) Denver proved to contain the more experienced quarterback in Kyle Orton and superiority re. QB/receiver teaming, plus effective QB matches with receivers new to the Broncos; (2) WR Brandon Lloyd exhibited once again his ability to be a magnet drawing the opposition’s defense away from Denver’s receivers working the running game just forward of the QB, as well as positioning himself for a QB switch to the long throw, doing so with greater speed and alacrity than his Oakland counterparts; (3) Not only is Elvis Dumervil back in form as the NFL’s Mr. Sack, he’s assisted by the as fast and punishing Von Miller for the sack; (4) The Broncos pre-season defense proved to be more pro-active than the Oakland defense, quite capable of forcing a Raiders offense to enact plays that cannot succeed.

BUT knowing one’s advantages can also result in overreach and unnecessary risk. It will do well for the Broncos to begin its first game of the season conservatively. A Broncos offense driving relentlessly to set up the guarantee of a field goal before attempting a TD makes good sense, which means concentrating on being able to drive at least to the enemy 40, but still being able to rush or pass forward inside the 20 so as to then fight for the TD. Should that TD attempt fail, the FG option is still there. Important, then, will be pass protection, Orton having enough time in the pocket to locate his best short pass and handoff options. Failure at this could lose space, time and potential points for the Broncos, possibly the game. Ironically, while this could occur, the weaknesses in the Oakland defense could present deep pass opportunities for Orton and his receivers to exploit, causing Orton to break from a running game strategy, with potential for missed throws in that the "attempt/caught pass ratio” is rarely ever 100 percent for any QB (thus the Coach John Fox demand for a Broncos run-the-ball season) .  .  .  As for the Raiders offense it will probably be forced into QB & receiver attempts to keep the ball in the air and deep, which will put significant pressure on the Broncos cornerbacks and the secondary to have to man up and enact interferences, torpedo-tackling and the intercept.

ROCKIES  ---  YESTERDAY the Rockies had 67 wins and 76 losses, team average .469, keeping the team in fourth place in the NL-W, a disappointing season indeed for an essentially talented ballclub. Commendable is that no Rockies coach, player or front office exec has run from the recent understandings of why this has happened. As cited in earlier columns by me and elsewhere in media, the Rockies have suffered since early May from a near-lethal combo of (a) insufficient depth of team-winning capabilities and (b) injuries, for example, the pitching staff has not been able to offset Ubaldo Jimenez’ regression from superiority to marginality or Jorge De La Rosa having been placed on the DL months ago, and no batters except for Helton and Smith were able to make up for Gonzalez and Tulowitzki getting a late start as high average batters; and, when Helton, Gonzalez, Tulowitzki and Smith gained higher on-base proficiency, only occasionally had Rockies batters exploited that good fortune with follow-on hits for a succession of runs for winning more games. So, the Rockies are now thinking about correctives and next season, of undoing the flaws within the pitching staff and searching for more reliable clutch hitters.

END/ml