NFL: BRONCOS LOSE TO PATRIOTS // NBA: DENVER NUGGETS

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            UNTIL AFTER THE CURRENT NFL SEASON, “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL POST NEW EVERY MONDAY INSTEAD OF ON TUESDAY, continuing with a new post every Friday.  Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

NFL ----  OVER and under, up and down, inside and out as the NFL’s Green Bay Packers lost a game yesterday after winning 13 straight. Meanwhile, the Indianapolis Colts won its first after losing 13, and Tim Tebow’s fourth quarter game-winning leadership occurred unexpectedly in a first quarter as the Broncos led the New England Patriots, 13-7. The football Gods must have decided to sleep all day, leaving matters to a stoner.

In the fourth quarter versus New England, Tebow moved only one of his miracle plays forward for a touchdown, when in previous games he’d been able to deliver more, transitioning from a marginal performance over three quarters to win off of last minute heroics. And, the Broncos defense failed to stop the Patriots offense often enough in the second half, enabling the Patriots 41-23 takedown.

The situational awareness that the Denver defense displayed in previous Sunday outings was slow to actualize and then couldn’t maintain except periodically---the Patriots quarterback and his receivers were able to evade a Broncos defense that seemed to lack catch-up speed after knowing just who had the football and where, end result: tackles and blocks late and weak, some never materializing, and a defense line that was penetrable, especially within Denver’s 20.

It’s hard to fault Tebow alone for the loss to New England when he captained numerous deep drives, unfortunately most of them getting nowhere, reminding observers of former Denver QB, Kyle Orton, who often failed getting that final leap onto enemy territory for a game-winning TD, though Tebow did cross over for that fourth quarter TD from an 80+ yard drive.

That extra fourth quarter Tebow magic didn’t come about fully due to a lack of open receivers for him, and because several of his fourth quarter passes were late, or inaccurate, from the Patriots defense forcing him to pass when he couldn’t rush the ball. And when Tebow did rush the ball, the fourth quarter Patriots defense had his likely moves in its sights just enough to get in his way more easily than during the first three periods of the game. 

An irony is that of the last nine Tebow-led challenges, yesterday’s loss to New England included Denver’s third highest number of points-per-game obtained. In addition, Tebow rushed for 93 yards and his two TD’s from 12 carries, becoming the game’s leading ball carrier, and he completed 50 percent of his 22 pass attempts, gaining 194 yards total, respectable compared with his earlier pass achievements, even if opposing quarterback, Tom Brady, completed 23 of 34 attempts for 320 yards.  

Good news for Denver is that the Oakland Raiders lost to the Detroit Lions on Sunday, securing Denver’s edge atop the AFC-West at 8-6. Noteworthy for re-match fans is that a Denver team remaining the AFC-West leader could again face the now 11-3 Patriots, a team that is still the AFC-East’s leading team, both then pulling for an AFC championship.

NBA  ---   SING no sad songs for the Denver Nuggets, for enough of last year’s team will return for the 66 game 2011/12 NBA season. That means Denver’s starting five could include center Nene, point guard Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari and Kenneth Faried, or Hamilton Jordan and/or Andre Miller, though gone possibly or unavailable early on will be point guard, J.R. Smith. These were among starters who surprised the competition in an early post-Carmelo Anthony era, positioning the team for a 2010/11 post-season berth.

Another upside for the Nuggets is that its December and early January schedule includes games that can quickly empower the team for a quick rise to readiness for the short NBA season. It’s two pre-season games will be against the Phoenix Suns, games that will likely allow the Nuggets to be its own “adjustment bureau,” that is, it will be able to test and fix enough offense and defense plays without being penned in by a bullying presence denying enough maneuverability and shooting opportunities, in a way preparing the Nuggets for its December 26 challenge vs. the current NBA championship team, the Dallas Mavericks, which seems to be good preparation for what’s next, the aggressive Portland Trail Blazers on December 29, this becoming, in turn, a kind of practice session for meeting the L.A. Lakers on December 31, and again, January 1.

Not that the rest of January will present the Denver team with an easy glide across eight games away and eight home games. Rather, until February the Nuggets will be up against teams that the Nuggets are roughly at par with, so there will be a fair number of opportunities for the Nuggets to be a winning team before meeting the Mavericks and the Lakers again in February.

END/ml