NFL: LIONS & THE BRONCOS // WORLD SERIES: A BRIEF ASSESSMENT

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NFL ---   WAS it that the Detroit Lions were a nearly perfect football team on Sunday, capable of destroying the Denver Broncos by an unusually wide margin? Or, was it that the Broncos were incredibly imperfect in ways that made it possible for the Lions to step up and win, 45-10? A proper take on this is that the Lions weren’t as close to football perfection as the Broncos were to inviting the Lions to dominate, humiliate and appear nearly perfect with a defense that controlled the Broncos offense, practically numbing a Denver quarterback who appeared to lack the versatility needed to lead an NFL offense under pressure. When Denver QB Tim Tebow could not run the ball within a narrow tunnel, he seemed clueless, was sacked (7 times) or forced to pass poorly.

It was bad enough that the Broncos defense allowed the Lions offense to put 31 points on the board, worse is that the Broncos offense gave away 14 via an intercept and fumble. The Lions defense seemed fast as could be at reading the Broncos offense, knowing that Tebow wouldn’t be quick enough in the pocket to find receivers to release the football to effectively, though Tebow deserves some credit for now and then running the ball when a chute opened up for him.

Tebow completed only 18 of 39 pass attempts, though in the first, third and fourth quarters he and his offense bested the Lions rushing yards with more than 50 per---by endgame, the Broncos accumulated 195 rushing yards, the Lions, 113. And though the Broncos defense seemed out to lunch during many drives created by the Lions, the Broncos cornerback, Champ Bailey, had good moments tracking and interfering with Lions wide receiver, Calvin Johnson, maybe preventing 14 more points for the Lions.

Tebow and his receivers had several connects, yet only two had meaning relative to winning a football game, for it’s touchdowns and field goals that crown the winner, they are what’s needed to obtain a post-season billet and an over .500 finish. The Broncos are now 2-5, in last place within the NFL-American Conference’s Western Division, at .286 the third worst of 16 teams in the AC after the Miami Dolphins and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Next up for the Broncos is the 4-3/.571 Oakland Raiders, a team that the Broncos lost to in September under now back-up QB, Kyle Orton.

A disappointing aspect of the vs. Lions game was absence of the already viewed Tebow magic, which may have the appearance-consistency of Haley’s comet, for which it seems Tebow has only a few tricks to pull from the proverbial hat, one of them a superb running game when an opposition is vulnerable enough for it to commence. Nowhere in sight on Sunday was the come-from-behind ability that outsmarts an opposition, produces successive first downs, reaches into an end zone and grabs a TD, as seen from Tebow during a fourth quarter drive vs. Miami on Sunday, October 23. Against the Lions, Tebow seemed stuck inside the skin of a mediocre quarterback, unable to shift to the higher competence level that he’s been tagged as having.

But Tebow’s not one to wither quickly from defeat---anyway, until he reaches up to the potential that he’s been reported to own, there’s no Santa Claus and there’s no QB-savior for the Broncos.

WORLD SERIES .  .  .  THE Texas Rangers became the first MLB team to reach the World Series two years in a row since the NYY won three consecutively, 1998 through year 2000. This certainly deserves respect; and, it shouldn’t diminish in importance because the Rangers are the team that lost in a WS two years in a row, the first MLB team to have that happen since the Atlanta Braves blew two, first to the Detroit Tigers, next to the Toronto Blue Jays, 1991 and 1992. That can’t be said about this year’s St. Louis Cardinals, reaching the WS for the first time in five years, having taken the series vs. Detroit in 2006.

And certainly a nice fact is that the National League has won the WS two years running, evening up the tally between the two leagues, six wins apiece since year 2000. As for a swing in one direction, it’s slight, the AL accumulating 32 won WS games since 2000, the NL 30 because the Houston Astros lost 4-0 to the Chicago White Sox in 2005 and that the Colorado Rockies lost to the Boston Red Sox, 4-0, in 2007. But from 1980 until 2000, the NL won the WS only eight of the 20 attempts, no NL team taking the WS more than once in that period. No doubt, this AL/NL balance since 2000 is good for professional baseball and is why the number of games in each series held since 2000 have gone, like the Cardinals/Rangers WS, to seven and were nail-biters.

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