With just five games remaining, its getting to be do-or-die time for those teams that want to make the postseason. There are a lot of great storylines this season, from the Packers quest for a perfect season, to Cam Newton and his ability to run AND throw the ball as a rookie quarterback. For me, there's nothing more impressive than what Tim Tebow has done since taking over for Kyle Orton as the Denver Broncos starting quarterback.
Since being named starter by John Fox, the Broncos are 5-1. Throw in the fact that they traded away his best receiving option before his first game (Brandon Lloyd), and it makes it that much more impressive. Say what you want about Tebow's mechanics (which is probably fair, since his footwork, route anticipation and release all need work), but for all his mechanical flaws, he has two traits that supercede his faults: Leadership and protecting the football. In his six starts, Tebow has thrown all of one interception, and lost a total of one fumble in those games (both in their loss to the Lions). He has also averaged 69.7 yards per game rushing, which would mean that if he averaged that for an entire 16 game season, Tebow would run for 1,115 yards, which would break Michael Vick's 2006 quarterback rushing record (1,039).
Credit the coaching staff after their loss to Lions, with creating a playbook built more towards Tebow's strengths. A lot of credit also has to go to the wide receivers. A position that's often known to have "diva" players, the Broncos wideouts have become largely blockers, but you haven't heard one complaint from them, as they are all true team players. With Tebow as the starting quarterback, the Broncos are averaging a ridiculous 208.0 yards per game on the ground, which would lead the league by almost 50 yards (even though they are already #1 in the league in that category).
With five weeks to go in the regular season, the Broncos are one game back of the Oakland Raiders for the AFC West lead. The remaining schedules are as follows:
Denver: @ Minnesota (2-9), Chicago (7-4), New England (8-3), @ Buffalo (5-6), Kansas City (4-7)
Oakland: @ Miami (3-8), @ Green Bay (11-0), Detroit (7-4), @ Kansas City (4-7), San Diego (4-7)
In breaking down the schedules, Denver has one more home game than the Raiders, and play an easier schedule, as the 7-4 Bears struggled without Jay Cutler in their loss to Oakland, and the Bills are struggling due to injuries. 3-2 for Denver seems do-able. Oakland has to go on the road to take on a resurgent Dolphins team, followed by a road game against the Packers (yikes). 3-2 is possible for Oakland, but so is 2-3. Ultimately, this division could come down to the last week.
There are some that believe this amazing mid-season turnaround cannot continue. To a certain extent, the premise that consistently scoring 20 or fewer points will lead to more losses is true. However, many NFL "experts" have said an option attack would never be able to consistently work. Denver has proven that untrue, as although they aren't purely an option team, forcing opponents to spend valuable practice time preparing for something they almost never see. The Broncos have continued to defy odds with a quarterback that isn't a true passer, in an increasingly pass-friendly league, so I ask, why can't the Broncos break that trend?
No comments:
Post a Comment