NFL:  NO TEARS FOR THE DENVER BRONCOS    

For more sports analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

            STARTING FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL AGAIN POST COLUMNS RE. OTHER NATIONAL AND WORLD SPORTS, E.G., SOCCER, HOCKEY, BOXING, TENNIS, THE LONDON OLYMPICS AND SPECIAL OLYMPICS. “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL ALSO RETURN TO POSTING COLUMNS ON TUESDAY AND FRIDAY, EVERY WEEK. Editor/Publisher, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

NFL  ---   IT was just one of 18 games played since September, 2011, a bad January evening for the Denver Broncos at Foxborough, Massachusetts, a humiliation and the fifth competition during 2011/12 when 40 or more points were given away by a Broncos defense to an opposing team. It should not have happened---it did and it marred, though not drastically, the best season that the Denver franchise has experienced in several years. Finishing 8-8 in regulation and 1-1 in the post-season isn’t sizzling hot and high end, but it’s a record that swelled from a mid-season 2-5 record.

Make no mistake, the Broncos are a comeback organization with room to stretch and do better during 2012/13.

On positive noting, the Broncos have a quarterback potentially one of the better QB’s of the NFL, though no way a savior, not a super-hero, not the hype and hope that fans bought into during 2011/12. As shown in two games this year against the NE Patriots and from a loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in December, Tebow, when compared with New Orleans QB Drew Brees, Green Bay’s Aaron Rogers and the Patriots Tom Brady, is still “the emerging threat,” more like the proverbial diamond in the rough---yet from what he’s accomplished since October, 2011, any giving up on Tebow would be a grevious error, which Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, VP John Elway, and head coach, John Fox, are quite aware of.

Final scores and other stats are history, they belong to the past; they shouldn’t be taken as definite forecast. The Broncos have done better, we’ve seen it happen. And, a particular stat of Saturday night proves that the Broncos offense is far from pathetic in spite of the 10 points it gained behind the Patriots (ugh!) 45. The Broncos were roughly equal with the Patriots regarding one of the more important achievements and reflections of NFL team competence---the Broncos offense rushed for 144 yards gained versus the Patriots 146, neither a great accomplishment but competitive nonetheless, the key difference being that the Tebow-led offense couldn’t convert the Broncos yardage into more than one TD and a field goal, while the Tom Brady-led Patriots offense converted territory won into six TD’s and a FG, three of those TD’s from completed passes to a receiver on the run.

It was the Patriots passing game that outplayed the Broncos by large measure---363 yards gained versus the Broncos purchase of 108, signaling defects within the Broncos defense as well as the Broncos offense. Against the Broncos defense and offense, the Patriots were tricksters and exceptionally fast and forceful. Surprise tactics joined by speed and strength caused the Broncos to experience temporary disorientation and a need to recover quickly via improvisations, which rarely occurred for the Broncos---Tebow and his intended receivers weren’t quick enough moving into positions for the football to go forward for first downs and then points.

And---the Broncos defense met that same pressure: surprise + speed/strength = severe butt-kicking, Denver's defenders left behind or to the sides---the Brady/receiver “pass, run & lunge thing” repeated for points atop points.

Okay, what’s to be learned by the Broncos and applied? Foremost, that all the errors committed on Saturday and in previous season losses are correctable, and that it isn’t a broad string of complex strategic changes that must apply, it’s that some Football 101 skills need leap-ahead enhancements, for example, “defense response,” which needs to be infused with keener and faster alertness to the opposition’s offense maneuvers, and probably with twice the speed so that any receiver of an opposing team can be tracked and covered, Too, needed is faster Broncos jailing of opposition QB’s, keeping them from rushing out of the pocket except to locations where they’ll be stopped before gaining significant yardage, or kept from passing well.

Moreover, Tebow has to do better from behind center, getting rid of the football faster from instant sightings of receivers and for finding openings for his own amazing rush power. A QB can’t be tricked into thinking he has an opening so as to run the ball by himself, only to be forced to the ground by a swarm of defenders turning back around after having deliberately created the openings---it’s football entrapment, and it loses games. In other words, Tebow needs better radar for what can happen to him, otherwise he won’t have enough moments in 2012/13 spotting targets immediately for a handoff or a completed throw, and not enough time to implement escape tactics with speed and alacrity. He, of course, needs the targets to be there for him and open, and that demands a crop of receivers he can look for instantly, trusting that they will be open for the killshot.

Also, teh Broncos seemed to play Saturday’s game without sufficient attention to what the Patriots could do vs. the Broncos worst vulnerabilities. Probably with less confidence in what the Patriots defense could do for covering the Broncos receivers, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick may have emphasized attacking Tebow’s weaknesses above all else, sacking him (it happened to Tebow five times), detouring or stopping his rushing attempts, forcing him to pass late and inaccurately---his passing on Saturday was a meager 9-26 (Tom Brady got to 26-34).

Also, offense and defense tactics employed should evolve greatly from what’s known about an opposition, so if a team like the Patriots can easily hide its intentions, the widest possible number of response actions ought to be available and brought as close to perfection as possible, the right choice implemented; therefore, when plans A., B and C fail to work, a team will have plans D, maybe then E and next F, always emphasizing assaults on the enemy’s vulnerabilities. If a team’s defense can’t be outpaced, then it has to be out-tricked, BS’d into making the wrong moves, which wasn’t a course that the Broncos were able to follow effectively vs. the Patriots. Surely if an opposing QB isn’t as good at the running game as he is at passing, he should be forced to run, which was tried by the Broncos vs. Brady but remained too slow in the process, outsmarted by a Patriots back charging with the football mid-range and center of the field inside Broncos defenders that had spread out though vaguely.

We’ve said it on this page before: improved pass and rush protection for a more alert and radar-enhanced Tebow, plus near-perfect QB/receiver connectivity (short- and long-range completed passes), also faster, stronger and trickier coverage and neutralization of the opposing offense---to our thinking, these are the tickets for another and better Broncos playoff-slotted season.

END/ml