NFL:  BRONCOS DEFEAT THE STEELERS

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

            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  ---  “Luck,” “Skill & Return of the Tim Tebow Magic,” “Answered Prayers,”  call it as you wish: the Denver Broncos, having upset the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Mile High Stadium, 29-23, are headed east to face the New England Patriots for an ascension game, the team’s not-so-distant goals an AFC championship and Super Bowl XLVI dominance.

After a slow start against the Steelers, the Broncos Tebow-led offense racked up 20 points by halftime, the Steelers, six. However, the Steelers came back and scored repeatedly, regulation play ending at 23-23, thus overtime and an alignment of happenings that favored the Broncos, starting with a luck of the toss: the Broncos won the OT call. Next, a Steelers kick set up a Broncos possession that ended with receiver Demaryius Thomas running 80 yards for a touchdown that put Denver ahead, Hey Steelers, see ya next year.

Hard to say if intended but what worked efficiently for the Broncos was Tebow being a lot less readable than during the team’s eight losses. The Steelers wanted to force Tebow to pass the ball, figuring that he’d pass late and suffer numerous incompletes. But throughout much of the game, it seemed that Tebow was fulfilling the Steelers wish “on purpose,” surprising them with accurate throws: ten of Tebow’s completions resulted in a gain of more than 310 yards, and his short-range passes resulted in a 30 yard TD catch by Eddie Royal (wide receiver), plus a 40-yard TD catch by Daniel Fells (tight end).

Too, the Tebow-led offense included three successful Matt Prater FG’s, and Thomas receiving for more than 100 yards during regulation play.

And, while a penetrable Denver defense allowed openings in the second half, it held the Steelers back when it counted most, example: Elvis Dumervil keeping Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger from achieving enough yards for a game-winning FG during final seconds of the game.

The Broncos and Patriots will face off come Saturday night. This page will carry pre-game analysis, Friday, January 13.  

ON Saturday, the Houston Texans beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-10, and the New Orleans Saints defeated the Detroit Lions, 45-28. On Sunday, the New York Giants demolished the Atlanta Falcons, 24-2. The Denver 29-23 takedown of the Steelers was the only weekend post-season competition won by less than 14 points---though it’s uphill now for the Broncos, there’s “Luck,” “Skill & Return of the Tim Tebow Magic,”  and “Answered Prayers.” 

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NFL: BRONCOS & THE STEELERS // NBA: THE GOOD START 

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

            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  ---  “WE’ve got to play it hard and full out, for there’s no coasting for a football team that wants to be an AFC champion, Super Bowl-bound.” Surely this phrase approximates what’s on the mind of each Denver Broncos player manning up to face a Pittsburgh Steelers counterpart this weekend, hoping to be as combat ready as a Navy SEAL or Army Ranger given a difficult mission, determined to avoid any error that contributed to the Denver franchise losing eight games during the regular NFL season, giving away more than 250 points to opponents.

But if the Broncos are anything like the team that faced the Kansas City Chiefs last week and lost, the Steelers will own the day more easily than the Chiefs had. If the Broncos quarterback, Tim Tebow, is, for whatever reason, as limited in the pocket/shotgun as he was versus the Chiefs, he’ll be too late locating receivers, therefore unable to rack up a sufficient number of handoffs or passes for territory enabling field goal and touchdown attempts.

There’s hope for the Tebow-led offense, however, from a Steelers defense putting speed ahead of smarts, leaving openings for either Tebow or backs like Willis McGahee to rush the football for a streak of first downs, and if the Steelers secondary fails to cover Denver’s wide receivers completely and Tebow manages to throw accurately to a WR, as he had for some of the Broncos mid-season wins.

Yet if a resurrection of the Tebow magic occurs versus the Steelers, with an early Denver lead accrued the Broncos defense will have to rev up its attempts to keep Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger from the short angular and deep pass completions that he’s capable of, those deep passing stops depending greatly on speed and skills employed by Denver cornerbacks, Champ Bailey and Andre Miller.

The Steelers finished the NFL regular season at 12-4, the Broncos, 8-8. Also suggesting superiority over the Broncos is that the Steelers beat teams that during the regular season hadn’t just beat the Broncos but had taken the Denver team down by more than 14 points, among them, the New England Patriots. And, a comparison of wins shows that the Steelers prevailed against teams that the Broncos had beaten, among them, the Tennessee Titans, Cincinnati Bengals, San Diego Chargers and the Chiefs.

Too, in any win or loss during the season, the Steelers defense never once gave away more than 20 points to an adversary, while the Broncos gave away more than 40 points in each of four lost games---vs. Green Bay, New England, Buffalo and Detroit. Also, the Steelers lost games only to teams high in the rankings, each a post-season contender, while most of the Broncos wins were against marginal franchises.

Though the heavy hitters among betters are with the Steelers beating the Broncos by more than a TD, it’s unwise to discount a Broncos team that won six games straight this year. No-one should mistakenly think that a Tebow-led offense can’t re-establish as a winning unit in the manner that it had for its successive wins, primarily from Tebow’s surprisingly fierce rushing.

So, if the Steelers could lose four games since September, they could lose a fifth providing that the Tebow magic of past games aligns with third and fourth down opportunities at, say, goal and five or 10, this because Tebow had the necessary pocket/shotgun protection and receivers helping him get there. Of course, the Broncos defense will need to emphasize fundamentals, neutralizing enough of the Steelers opportunities to score by being sufficiently mobile, tackling and blocking speedily. Also, there can’t be Broncos fumbles or interceptions of Tebow’s passes, either for the FG or TD, and there will need to be minimum Broncos penalties and very few Tebow sacks---all an extremely tall order, a set of outcomes difficult for any NFL post-season team to make happen,  yet still  possible.

NBA ---  IT’s probably too early to pick up on which exactly are the positive effects of a shorter NBA season, but less than a month into the 2011/12 foray a few signs could make the cut for convincing the NBA commissioner that there’s merit to a shorter than 82 game year, for instance, teams seem to be playing full out, as if already in a post-season---good for the teams, good for the fans. The slow start that can occur in the longer season while some teams work out kinks and experiment with a whacky idea or two is now unthinkable. More precisely, the current first NBA month has been a heightened race compared with the first 30 days of previous seasons.

Also, because a 2011 lockout denied early preparation for an upcoming season, the NBA teams entered recent competition raw. This going to war minus the usual readiness has resulted in an unexpected necessity, players depending on each other more than in the past, cooperation among players becoming more key to winning, for even the league’s superstars went back a notch in skill-sets from the lockout.

In other words, the notion of superstar dominance could take a back seat to the concept of five-guy + reserves teamwork and the cooperation that exists as its core element. When I asked Denver Nuggets head coach, George Karl, a few seasons ago what he’d change in the NBA if he were king of the sport, his first response was that he’d enact a shorter season. Presently, the Nuggets are the likely NBA poster-guys for the concept of teamwork, beating last year’s championship team, the Dallas Mavericks, and runner-up, the L.A. Lakers, from “cooperative fires,” no Nuggets player forgetting to leave ego in the locker room, at the hard wood lots of passing, rebounding, blocking, plenty of assists, no wasted shots because a single player wants to impress via his three-pointer style.

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NFL: BRONCOS LOSE TO THE CHIEFS // WORLD SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS, 2012

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

            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  --- JUST as the Denver Broncos were leaving a football field after losing a final game of the NFL season on New Years day, the Oakland Raiders struggled to escape a loss to the San Diego Chargers with six minutes and around 30 seconds left to play, but no turnabout occurred: the Chargers became a Broncos partner by stomping Oakland, 38-26, a loss keeping Denver atop the AFC-West at 8-8, post-season billeted. Up ahead, then, for the Broncos, will be challenges for the AFC title possibly against the New England Patriots, the Baltimore Ravens, the Houston Texans.

Even if unintended, it’s good to have a partnering franchise, though to the more valorous and also cautious side of sports it’s always best to cross a season’s finish line without the help---beating Kansas City would have guaranteed the AFC-West’s top slot for the Broncos without the team relying on Oakland tapping out.

While the Broncos did not lose to the Chiefs embarrassingly, the Tim Tebow-led offense hadn’t converted its more than 200 rushing yards into other than a field goal: final score, Chiefs 7, Broncos, 3. Tebow was readable enough for the Kansas City defense to be able to thwart most of his rushes and handoffs when it came to end zone opportunities, and not enough of Tebow’s passes were thrown accurately and caught, his receivers zigging often when they should have zagged, allowing an intercept when a pass completion mattered most, that is, when Tebow was leading a drive for a TD with less than a minute of play left in the fourth quarter.

When a defense squad can hold an opposing team to seven points, it’s up to the offense to overcome that, but such just didn’t happen for the Broncos offense that had contributed to seven wins since the team’s Bye week in October. No doubt, the Broncos are the year’s best comeback NFL franchise, and they are led by a quarterback better than most, yet the Broncos are now at .500, respectable but clearly at the game’s middle ground, which, though the Broncos are currently the AFC-West’s winning team, is low when compared with other NFL teams capping their divisions, for instance, the New England Patriots, the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans are leading the AFC-East, North and South respectively with more than 10 wins each. Also, only three of the Broncos eight wins for the year were won by six or more points, the other five by only two or three points, while five of Denver’s eight losses have been by more than two touchdowns, and four of the Broncos eight losses saw more than 40 points given away.

Anyway, as the cliché goes, “A win is a win,” and the Broncos have what it takes to conquer the AFC and get to the Super Bowl, “if.”  

What, then, are the “if’s,” and what’s the likelihood of the “if’s” actually happening? The simple answer is to comment that what has to happen is what hasn’t happened in the last three games that the Broncos played, and that what happened in the team’s wins against Oakland, Kansas City and Minnesota in November and December has to happen again. More precisely, a very readable Tebow isn’t going to cut it against the Patriots, the Ravens and the Texans. Too, Tebow will need zero-defect pass protection, with improved defending after he leaves the pocket for passing on the run.

In addition, Tebow’s percentage of pass completions will require further continuance, nearly perfect throw accuracy as well as more instantaneous adjustments to the limitations imposed by an opposing defense upon receivers gone shallow and deep. And, many of this year’s New England, Baltimore and Houston wins were offense-dominant, which puts added pressure on the Broncos defense, especially the Broncos secondary, in that the AFC competition will be against teams preferring a passing game strategy.        

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HIGHLIGHTS, 2012 ---  MAYBE before the ancient Olympics, or possibly around the same time that the Mayans  invented a roundish thing that they liked kicking across dirt fields, there was, “Camel Wrestling.” Well, it’s still happening and it will be one of 2012’s off beat sports events. This month, at Selcuk, Turkey, camels (yes, real camels, not the name of a team) will compete to see which are the world’s best at wrestling. With luck, this sport won’t expand into any of the martial arts conducted by humans, for what camel could stand a chance against champion fighter, Manny Pacquiao, though a camel may be the only fighter willing to face Pacquiao in 2012 now that a certain contender is in jail.

Other “odd” sports events of 2012 will be some parachuting competition at a centenary event in March, celebrating the world’s first parachute jump, and not against enemy fire in Afghanistan but at peaceful St. Louis, Missouri (assumption: the STL Cardinals winning the WS has brought calm and stability to the mid-western city, in spite of the STL Rams’ dismal NFL season). Less weird (maybe) will be September’s “World Farm Plough-Driving Competition,” held at Croatia. And somewhere in America, before December 31, 2012, pie and hot dog consumption athletes will compete (we probably won’t be reporting on this).  

On a serious note, come February there will be the 46^th Super Bowl, our wish: Broncos vs. the San Francisco Giants. Our pick: New England vs. the Green Bay Packers.

In March, there will, of course, be “March madness,” then the start of the Formula One Grand Prix auto racing season, and, in April, sanity will return to the planet with the start of Major League Baseball and golf’s, “the Masters,” held again at Augusta, Georgia, plus the start of the NBA's post-season for finals to be held in June. In this time-period, there will be the Indy 500 and there will be hockey and “the Stanley Cup.”

In June, expect soccer’s “Euro-2012,” which will determine Europe’s best soccer franchise, and, for tennis fans, the French Open. In July, it will be time to set all else aside for the London Olympics, and if you’re a tennis fan it’ll be grass-court Wimbledon, next, “the U.S. Open.” Come August, the Paralympics, a follow-up to the London Olympiad. In September, golf’s “Ryder Cup,” and the professional baseball season heading for October’s race for the World Series championship, and the start of the NFL season and "college football," then in October the start of the 2012/13 NBA season.----

--- probably we’ve failed to include some major events. Still, enough is shown to indicate that for athletes and fans a year is never like that classic Bill Murray movie, Ground Hog Day.

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NFL'S AFC-WEST: BRONCOS & THE CHIEFS, RAIDERS VERSUS CHARGERS

For more sports analysis. go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1520 or FM93.7, and to Denver's best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com. Editor of this page, Marvin Leibstone, Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com.

NFL ---   OF course, the 8-7 Denver Broncos want to win Sunday's game versus the Kansas City Chiefs because they are professional football players and that is what professional football players are paid to do---try to win, give their all.

But there are other reasons for the Broncos claiming victory over the Chiefs, for instance, finishing the NFL season at 9-7 instead of 8-8, therefore as a winning team above .500.

Moreover, by beating the Chiefs, and if the Oakland Raiders lose to the San Diego Chargers this weekend, the Broncos will be be set for post-season play as top dog/AFC-West.

Also, a Denver quarterback Tim Tebow win over a Kansas City QB Kyle Orton win could undo the publicly accepted idea of an Orton vendetta existing from Orton being let go by Denver at mid-season this year, even if the idea doesn't exist full-bloom (if it exists, at all), and at the same time a win over the Chiefs could put to rest whether Orton should still be with the Broncos, Tebow then remaining a bench QB (another silly notion).

The big question, however, is how can the Broncos prevail against the Chiefs on New Years Day?

Truth be told, a Broncos win has to include reliance on football fundamentals, for example, where Denver's offense is an issue the Broncos will need unyielding pass protection enabling Tebow to keep from being sacked and so he can find the right targets for handing off or passing the football, which means that Denver's running backs and wide receivers will have to keep evading the Chiefs defense successfully, with Tebow's passes containing the accuracy that empowers a successful catch.

So, a Tebow "possession result" will have to be that which has been his in past won games, in effect, numerous first downs leading to end-zone appearances, with Tebow having rush, short wide-angle pass or easy field goal options available.

As for the Broncos defense unit, more of "the basics" will be required, such as consistency at being a mobile and yet seamless wall keeping QB Orton from pass completions and from rushing well enough to achieve first downs, therefore denying the Chiefs from having red zone opportunities, "which means that the Broncos defense will have to rev up and improve its ability to force the Chiefs offense into positions where Orton and his unit could only fail."

RAIDERS & CHARGERS ---IF being motivated were all that it takes to win a football game, it would appear that the Raiders could have little trouble lording it over the Chargers this weekend. From beating the Chargers, and if Denver loses to the Chiefs, the now 8-7 Raiders could own the AFC-West, while it's too late for the Chargers to have a playoff billet under any circumstances. Yet this doesn't mean that the 7-8 Chargers would go soft vs. the Raiders, for the Chargers certainly want to end the season at .500 and not be recorded officially as a losing franchise.

Also, the Chargers winning its last game of the season could help erase that the team lost six games since Bye week, which followed a loss and then four wins that gave false hope. Whenever San Diego wins a football game, it's usually from "the fundamentals (Football 101)," from a ground-rushing offense finding holes in the opposing defense, while its defense keeps finding pass interference opportunies. Without that happening, the Raiders deep passing offense could overtake the Chargers.

ALL of this said, this page wishes all readers a most successful 2012, hoping, of course, that readers will continue to check us out during and after prefferred games.

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NFL: BRONCOS LOSE TO THE BILLS---ELEVENTH HOUR, CLOCK TICKING  // NBA: CHANGES & SOME BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

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

            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 ----    IT was a bad day before XMAS for the Denver Broncos on two counts, losing to the Buffalo Bills, 40-14, next the Kansas City Chiefs losing to the Oakland Raiders. Now Denver is 8-7 and tied with Oakland for numero uno of the AFC-West when hopes had been high for Denver being 9-6 today and Oakland, 7-8.

If Denver loses its last game of the season to the Kansas City Chiefs on January 1, and Oakland beats the San Diego Chargers next week, then chances of a Denver playoff berth will slip away (the Chiefs were able to beat the 13-0 Green Bay Packers in December, ending the Packers perfect record for the season, and, in October, Green Bay polished off the Broncos, 49-23, signaling a rough New Year’s Day for the Broncos versus the Chiefs). 

Two factors that sided with the possibility of a Broncos win over the Bills were AWOL throughout most of the second quarter and second half of the competition: Broncos starting quarterback, Tim Tebow, wasn’t primed for executing those plays that in the recent past had freed his best skills for rushing, or for his passing accurately when on the run, and a Denver defense seemed incapable of stopping Buffalo’s drives to where field goals could insure a winning game, even if only one touchdown were to occur.

Tebow became readable, and he hadn’t any new tricks. In the NFL, “quarterback redundancy” diminishes the quarterback greatly, “it’s game suicide.” Tebow had to be advertising his moves inadvertently, ditto his selected receivers. Starting in the second quarter, Buffalo’s defense kept suppressing Tebow and his go-to-guys (relentlessly!). Neither running back Willis McGahee, nor wide receivers Eric Decker and Eddie Royal, were able to break away for game-changing action (for each, there was no there, there). By endgame, Buffalo had 160 rushing yards to the Broncos 133, and 191 passing yards to the Broncos 164, but it was the four Tebow interceptions and a punt return for a Bills touchdown that pushed Denver beneath the margin of teams seeking playoff distinction.    

NBA  ---   Here are some major changes for the 2011/12 NBA 66-game season: Lamar Odom, from the L.A. Lakers to the Dallas Mavericks // Andre Miller, from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Denver Nuggets // Chris Paul, from the New Orleans Hornets to the L.A. Clippers // Chauncey Billups (formerly of the Denver Nuggets), from the New York Knicks to the Clippers // Tyson Chandler, from the Dallas Mavericks to the Knicks //  Mehmet Okur, from the Utah Jazz to the New Jersey Nets.

Where’s the drama? It’s in the questions:  How will the Lakers fare under its new coach, Phil Jackson gone? Can the Mavericks repeat? Will the Bulls be leading its division before mid-season? Will the Heat’s LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade actualize into the unbeatable tres amigos boasted of two years ago? Will the season’s surprise ascent be Michael Jordan’s Bobcats? Can the Denver Nuggets prove that teamwork provided consistently can trump star power, and win the team’s division, starting with a win over the Lakers on January 1? Will the Oklahoma City Thunder’s potential for being the West’s winning team show up early and jump ahead of the Mav’s? Will Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups change the direction and fate of the Clippers more than they had helped bring skills and wins for the Hornets and the Nuggets, respectively? Will Carmelo Anthony be this year's ppg-winning star of the East?

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NFL: BRONCOS VS. THE BILLS  // NBA: DENVER NUGGETS, FAVORABLE ASSETS

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

            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 ---- THE Denver Broncos are a team that’s won six games straight this season. Tomorrow, they will face the Buffalo Bills, a team that’s lost seven straight. Presently, the Broncos are 8-6, recovering from last week’s embarrassing loss to the New England Patriots, 41-23. The Bills are 5-9 and an unlikely candidate for post-season competition, whereas the Broncos could own the NFL’s American Conference-West title easily if the Oakland Raiders (7-7) lose to the Kansas City Chiefs (6-8) on Saturday.

Denver’s six losses add up to 204 points given away, while Buffalo’s seven losses total 224 points given up. Also, Denver’s eight wins add up to 178 points, and Buffalo’s five wins total 167 points. This data suggests rough Denver/Buffalo parity, though Denver has given away more than 40 points per game three times, while Buffalo has let that happen only once, most of its losses being in the high 20’s.

Okay, the Broncos look a lot better than the Bills when it comes to a running game---2,283 Bronco rushing yards gained during the season so far, the Bills attaining 1,655. But the Bills look better when it comes to passing---3,354 season yards vs. the Broncos 2,463.

From past data, we can argue safely that the Broncos/Bills final score will include a difference of only a few points, no matter which side prevails, unless, of course, the magic from Denver’s quarterback Tim Tebow resurfaces, sticks like Velcro and delivers the needed numbers, with the Broncos eliminating problems that got in the way vs. the Patriots, namely fumbles, insufficient protection of a QB in the pocket, inaccurate QB passing and lack of connectivity between QB-passing and selected targets, also a Broncos defense that had moments when, as a phalanx protecting an end zone, it stayed penetrable, plus moments when the Denver secondary couldn’t run fast enough for effective tackling and interferences (Fact, and Football 101: all NFL team defenses commit these errors in every game they play, it’s those defenses keeping these errors to a minimum that prevent an offense from obtaining a string of touchdowns and field goals). 

Last week, however, the numbers based on past achievements indicated that the Broncos could beat the Patriots, which failed to occur. The take on tomorrow’s game is really anyone’s guess.

NBA:   Denver Nuggets General Manager, Masai Ujiri, has been like that character in the classic western film, The Magnificent Seven, who rides from place to place rounding up top guns, but Ujiri has been traveling more by telephone than by other means, putting together a competent franchise for getting a job done, that is, for winning more than 50 percent of the about-to-be 2011/12 NBA season’s 66 games. Like that team-builder in the movie, GM Ujiri’s round-up now comprises top guns, in other words, capable starters and reserves, among them, point guard and returnee Arron Afflalo, returnees PG Ty Lawson, center Nene, also big men Wilson Chandler, Chris Andersen, Al Harrington, also Kenneth Faried, Timothy Mosgov, Kosta Koufas and Andre Miller.  

What makes Ujiri’s chosen players unique? Possibly it’s that neither player is unique in ways calling for a hardwood five to be four guys feeding a superstar. There is real conduciveness within today’s Nuggets for the dynamics of “teamwork,” a policy that allows for the larger array of floor strategies and tactics that win basketball games, which has been Nuggets head coach George Karl’s preferred policy for coaching success.

Not that there won’t be freedom for Ty Lawson to achieve what he did the other night in a pre-season game against the Phoenix Suns. Lawson scored 21 points within 26 minutes. Note, however, that against the Suns, Lawson also put up seven rebounds, while second PG Andre Miller delivered six rebounds and 12 assists, signaling “Team first, all else left in the locker room.”

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

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

            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.

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