NFL:  Broncos Defeat of the Raiders; Week Four’s Results.

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

“SPORTS NOTEBOOK” will continue to post its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week---Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone.

NFL:   WHEN a reasonable expectation intersects with what has just happened, well, that’s where happiness resides. It’s where hope invested in former Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Peyton Manning, and a 37-6 Denver Broncos win against the Oakland Raiders, joined and provided satisfaction at Denver, Colorado’s Sports Authority Field, Sunday afternoon, September 30.

It was an NFL Week Four win for the Broncos, a team that had lost two of three games since the start of the 2012 season, raining doubt upon a Manning-led offense and a defense that wasn’t measuring up any better than during 2011. More than metaphorically, the Broncos are now “race qualified” if we’re talking “post-season promise,” having reached .500 at the end of the first four-game package of the NFL’s regular 16 game season.

            For the strategists behind the amazingly balanced Broncos offense/defense that beat the Raiders on Sunday (former star QB John Elway, now a Denver Broncos VP, and Broncos head coach, John Fox), the victory was a lot more than a double-digit success; it demonstrated that QB Manning and his preferred receivers among wideouts, tight ends and running backs may have reached a point of no return when it comes to moving a football forward effectively against canny and strong adversaries, call it “applied precision.”

QB Manning completed 30 of his 38 passes during drives that included 26 first downs, delivering a gain of 338 yards. Denver wide receiver, Eric Decker, caught seven of nine intended passes, and running back, Willis McGahee, gained 112 of the Broncos 165 rushed yards, averaging 5.9 per rush, more than his usual 3.5.

Total net yards achieved by the Broncos---503, versus the Raiders less than half that, 237.

Noteworthy was the number of options open to Manning, evidenced by the four Broncos TD’s landed by four different players---Decker, McGahee, RB Lance Ball and tight end, Joel Dreeson.

Too, at no time during the game was Manning sacked, nor were any of his passes intercepted. No Broncos fumble contributed to Oakland points, and the Broncos hadn’t had to punt.  

Much to the credit of Denver’s defense, the Raiders had to execute seven punts to avoid likely short TD-attained drives by the Manning-led Broncos offense. Denver’s defense held the raiders to six points from the first quarter on, which speaks to the possibility of opponents rarely scoring during remaining games, punting, punting, punting---Denver’s defense savvy and skills, speed and strength were on display throughout the vs. Raiders game, with, of course, the Broncos defense coordinator and head coach hoping to add “consistency” to the list of the defense squad’s positive attributes.

Denver football possession lasted for more than 37 minutes, while the Denver defense was directly responsible for the Raiders holding the ball under 23 minutes. And, Raiders RB Darren McFadden, usually a land-grabber to be feared greatly, remained at the effect of Denver’s defense---by endgame, he’d totaled fewer than 40 rushed yards.

Maybe the best way to describe Denver’s Sunday defense is to say that it kept getting to the right places at the right time and in the right way. Add, Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller combining for three sacks of Raiders QB Carson Palmer, whom the Broncos defense held to 11 fewer completed passes than Manning had.

Next Sunday, the Broncos will face the New England Patriots, a game already touted as a duel among championship QB’s Manning and NE QB, Tom Brady, though neither of the two passed for as many yards as five other QB’s on Sunday, each of the five having thrown for 350 or more yards, New Orleans Drew Brees leading with 446 yards and three TD’s, in spite of the Saints having lost to the Green Bay Packers, 28-27 (the Saints are now 0-4---Brees will go up against Manning and the Broncos defense, October 28).

On Sunday, the Patriots reached a 2-2 record after defeating the Buffalo Bills by a much wider margin than expected, 52-28. Like Denver’s Manning, the Patriots Brady had an extremely successful second half but a better one than Manning’s re. accumulation of points, Brady having led six successive TD drives.

Yet the NE defense hadn’t pinned back the Bills on Sunday as effectively as Denver’s defense “numbed” the Raiders.

*          *          *

NFL: WEEK FOUR’s RESULTS  ---  The NFL teams that are yet to lose a game, and that are leading their divisions at 4-0, are the Houston Texans (AFC South), the Arizona Cardinals (NFC West) and the Atlanta Falcons (NFC South). Except for the 2-2 New York Jets (AFC East, first place), all other division leaders will be entering Week Five from 3-1 records, e.g., the San Diego Chargers are leading the AFC West now at 3-1, after beating the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

Other 3-1 contenders are the Baltimore Ravens (AFC North, first place), the Cincinnati Bengals (AFC North, second place), the San Francisco 49ers (NFC West, second place), the Philadelphia Eagles (NFC East, first place), and the Minnesota Vikings (NFC North, first place). 

Still at the bottom of the 32 team NFL are the Cleveland Browns (AFC North) and the Saints (AFC South), both 0-4.

Four of the remaining six last place division teams are at 1-3, the Raiders (AFC West), Miami Dolphins (AFC East), the Tennessee Titans (AFC South), and the Detroit Lions (NFC North).  

Last season’s Super Bowl winner, the New York Giants, are at third place in the NFC East, 2-2.  

END/ml