Week 2: Cleveland Browns

[Diehard]

Well, all those a$$holes who picked us to be the worst team in the league are looking pretty foolish right now.

The defense looks solid - hitting hard, getting some turnovers and of course you gotta like Doom's 4 sacks.

The offense still needs work, but it was a lot better this week. I like the way our backs and receivers are shaping up. Too bad we can't have Buckhalter carry more of the load, as he looks good out there, but there's no point tempting the Injury Gods. The two main areas to improve are: 1) Orton needs to stay calm and 2) the OL needs to run block more consistently.

Special teams coverage units are good, but Prater's accuracy sucks and we still aren't doing much in terms of KR/PR.

[Timbathia]

This is exactly what has sh*t me all preseason. One of the biggest knocks on McDaniels by the dumb as dog sh*t hater's in here was that by largely ignoring the defense in the draft he did nothing to improve it. Now after 2 games the D have given up 13 total points to two teams that managed to put up 31 points on Green Bay and 20 points on the vikings. Now I am not for a second calling the Broncos defense as the one of the best in the NFL (far from it), but they are obviously a vastly improved and solid defense (and that was very clear coming into the season). The free agent signings were a huge improvement on the personnel last year and anyone that watched the Broncos last year knew that. There are just so many posters in these forums that talk smack about the Broncos when they have clearly never actually watched them play at any point in their lives. F*cken d*ckheads.

End rant.

[MichaelJordanEberle (sabf)]

... The F?

How the hell are we 2-0? Oh well. This seems to happen every year. I think the team will suck, we start off hot, I start thinking the team will do great things, and then we fizzle by the end of the season. Hoping we stay strong, but still cautiously pessimistic.

Kyle Orton still sucks.

[Timbathia]

Originally Posted by slightlyabroncosfan

... The F?

How the hell are we 2-0? Oh well. This seems to happen every year. I think the team will suck, we start off hot, I start thinking the team will do great things, and then we fizzle by the end of the season. Hoping we stay strong, but still cautiously pessimistic.

Kyle Orton still sucks.

I wouldnt start thinking the team will do great things, but what you can think though - is that the new coach is better than most gave him credit for, that this team is good enough to beat bad teams and should be at least competitive against most of the other teams in the NFL. Considering how bad the division looks so far, the Broncos may have as good a shot as anyone at winning the AFC West.

While Orton is never going to be the the offense, I hope he can improve to the point that he is not the weak link holding them back. If you combine that with the talent everywhere else on that side of the ball, then we should be able to win a lot of games.

[MichaelJordanEberle (sabf)]

Originally Posted by Timbathia

I wouldnt start thinking the team will do great things, but what you can think though - is that the new coach is better than most gave him credit for, that this team is good enough to beat bad teams and should be at least competitive against most of the other teams in the NFL. Considering how bad the division looks so far, the Broncos may have as good a shot as anyone at winning the AFC West.

While Orton is never going to be the the offense, I hope he can improve to the point that he is not the weak link holding them back. If you combine that with the talent everywhere else on that side of the ball, then we should be able to win a lot of games.

Yeah. I certainly wouldn't think THIS team could do great things, but last year with Cutler it was certainly easy. His first two games he looked absolutely incredible, but tailed off into a borderline pro bowler. For this team, I'm starting to envision 8-8 or even 9-7. Much better than my pre-season prediction that saw us winning 3-5 games. However we need to remember that our first 3 games are easy(The Bengals are an enigma though, one week they look awful against us, the next they beat GB, who looked super strong against Chicago, who just beat the Steelers. We'll see which Bengals team sticks). Still though, team is much better than I ever could have anticipated, basically meaning the defense is much, much improved. Offense doesn't look good, though. I am prepared to eat some serious crow if the defense stays anywhere near this good(holy ****, imagine if we still had Jay? ****!!!).

[the decider13]

Dooms 4 sacks need more credit, awesome performance by him. The D has been nothing short of amazing thus far. I'll wait till a tough opponent until I get too happy though. Still, giving up 6 to a team that put up 20 on the vikings is pretty impressive.

Annoyed by the little use of Hillis, Marshall and Royal. All three of them can be great weapons but they hardly see the ball.

[Diehard]

Originally Posted by njx9

you're right... i didn't account for brady quinn being as dog-**** bad as he apparently is. in all honesty (and worst team ever hyperbole aside), i'm still not sure this is better than a 5-11, 6-10 team.

I wasn't even thinking of you when I made that comment - IMO, it's the god-given right of any fan to trash their own team. It was more directed at the offseason groupthink that the Broncos would suck that seemed to be based almost entirely on some high profile headlines.

I'm not saying we'll be a strong team with a gaudy record. I'm saying we're going to compete every week, which is a refreshing change from some of the piss-poor efforts we've seen in recent years.

that said, it would be great if someday we could get someone who has some vague clue how to return a kick.

IMO, we need acquire someone (via FA or draft) specifically for this purpose.

[MichaelJordanEberle (sabf)]

I think we're cursed when it comes to kick returners. Remember Dom Hixon? We drafted him, he was **** and we cut him. Then he returned one for a TD for the Giants and won a super bowl.