You almost had us.
It was tempting.
But I'm not falling for it.
Not again.
Since Peyton Manning retired, following the Super Bowl winning season of 2015, you have tricked us into thinking that you could be a contender a few different times.
Not only were you not a contender, for the most part, you were utterly abysmal.
So forgive me if I don't come running back when you show well in two measly preseason games.
Through their first two exhibitions, the Denver Broncos have now outscored their opponents 61-32.
Big deal. You are playing against the backups. You are playing as if these games actually matter.
They don't.
Sure, rookie quarterback Bo Nix has looked good. He has gone 23 for 30 with 205 yards, and two touchdowns, during two games in very limited playing time.
Drafted quarterbacks don't fare well in this town. Ask Jay Cutler, Tim Tebow, Drew Lock, Brock Osweiler, Paxton Lynch, or Tommy Maddox.
Nix has looked good, he has looked comfortable, and he has looked confident. What else would you expect from a nearly 25 year old rookie that played five seasons in college?
He has faced vanilla pass coverages and soft pass rushes. He has yet to be sacked. These things will change drastically once the season begins.
Speaking of that offensive line, they have actually looked better...at times. Not only have they done a decent job of protecting their quarterbacks, but they have opened up holes in the run game too.
Top running backs Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin have averaged over seven yards per carry through two games.
That will change when they start facing real defenses.
And that might be the part of this team that I trust the least. The defense.
While they have only allowed 16 points per game, they have not even faced a true starting quarterback yet.
Of course, the defensive line looks like it has more depth, and Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper could be primed for big seasons, but can this defense really stop the potent passers that will be on their schedule this year?
Are these Broncos really going to be that much better than the team that went 8-9 last season and collapsed down the stretch?
Can Nix really be that much better than Russell Wilson was last year? Wilson, for the record, is doing nothing whatsoever so far in Pittsburgh.
Can one full year under head coach Sean Payton have shored up that many deficiencies and flaws that this team could not overcome a year ago to actually vie for a playoff berth?
No way.
I don't believe it.
Okay fine, I might be starting to believe it.
But only a little bit.
No comments:
Post a Comment