Call it a big win.

A must have.

A must win situation.

Call it what you will, just call it what was: it was a giant win for the Denver Broncos.

Not even the likes of the FOX pre-game show prognosticators saw this one coming.  

Granted the Denver Broncos have been down for a solid month, but even the professionals missed big time when it came to picking this game.

Not even Howie Long from the AFC West picked Denver.  Then again he always was a Raider.

Hopefully you and yours were able to stuff enough Thanksgiving food in your faces that you were feeling rather large by the time the kickoff rolled around on the NFL Network.  A feeling is sublime, as you’re content in life’s emotional here and now.

The Denver Broncos played host to the New York Giants on a Thanksgiving evening in what was supposed to be the night they wrapped up the AFC West Division title.

At least that was how it appeared a month ago with the Broncos 6-0 and the struggling Chargers at 3-3.  That would have happened had the Broncos not gone on a four game skid and the San Diego Chargers not gotten so hot to make the division race drastically flip-flop in less than a month.

For their part the Broncos decided before it was too late that it was high time to air out things in a player’s only meeting on Tuesday night.  It was called for by their team’s new found stalwart and spiritual leader Brian Dawkins.

No one outside of the team really knows what was said or done, and no one needs too.  The end result was a full team effort akin to the effort of the first six weeks of the season. 

The team did struggle from time to time on offense but did start producing points on the majority of their drives.  It is something that has not been seen out of the Broncos since the Mike Shanahan era. 

Something else not really seen and in severe neglect since the Mike Shanahan era in Denver was the running game.  In particular the zone running scheme reared its head and turned into a huge problem for the New York Giants defense.

Offensively the Broncos showed a lack of composure at times to the point of being reamed by their youthful head coach Josh McDaniels.  So much so that his verbiage bomb nuked more than a few front-range households to the tune of an NFL Network full apology in real time as the recorded tirade was replayed still intact.  No bleeps but plenty of blunder to go around at the NFL Network offices.

This all came about after three penalties caused a Broncos drive to stall and the team had to settle for a Matt Prater field goal. 

In spite of the minor discombobulated offense, the Broncos were productive and the zone running scheme against the Giants front was lethal. 

The Giants front line has been battling the injury bug and their lateral pursuit and contain did not make the trip to Denver for Thanksgiving.  The Broncos used and abused this advantage in a dominating performance in a game they had to have.

Meanwhile, the Broncos’ defense rose from the dead.

This happened because the offense was moving the ball, make no mistake about it.  The offense and the defense are joined at the hip.  When one succeeds, the other prevails; when both are bad things are terrible.

Additionally the Denver Broncos are very hard to figure out this season. 

At the moment, there is only one description that fits them best.

They are a streaky football team: hot or cold, never both.

 

 

Bright Stats on the Sheet

 

The most important number right now is one.

The Broncos got the one victory they needed so desperately to build the rest of their season and playoff hopes on, and it is far from over for this team.

If the Broncos are able to retain the momentum they will reel off more wins and more stats to be sure and they might possibly win the division if they can play solid like they did on Thanksgiving night.

Statistics from the game bear the fact that they dominated on both sides of the ball. 

Denver had 23 first downs to the Giants’ 15.  The Giants only attained two of their first downs rushing the ball, which shows that their bread and butter on the ground was taken away from them by Denver’s tenacious defense. 

The Broncos offense racked up 373 total yards to the Giants 267.  Keep in mind the Giants faced a prevent defense much of the second half of the football game.

Denver controlled the tempo and the clock at 35:30 to the Giants 24:30 in the telling statistic, time of possession.

On the ground Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter combined for 139 yards.  This combination still only has one rusher over a hundred yards for the season, but provided a much needed shot in the arm.  The Broncos remained committed to the run game and Moreno did eventually score one touchdown.

Kicker Matt Prater has matured a great deal this season and went 4-4 on field goals, with two extra points on the night.

The Broncos scored 26 points on the night, their fifth highest output this season, but it solidified the template they must have for their success.

The Broncos must stay on the field offensively, own the clock, score points in any way they can.  The fact that the Broncos went with the zone blocking scheme was a pure concession from head coach Josh McDaniels that his version of the run game was not playing to his teams’ strengths. 

The Broncos dominated the edge of the line of scrimmage and opened up endless opportunities for Moreno and Buckhalter to run downhill, something that was not seen much in the first ten games of the season. 

This offensive control allowed the defense to be unpredictable and as hard hitting as they were in the first six games of this season.   The Broncos took care of the ball on offense and created turnovers on defense.  Both teams had one interception, but the Broncos forced three Giant fumbles, two of which were recovered by the Broncos with the third rolling out of bounds after a vicious hit by Dawkins.

Furthermore, to add to the Broncos determination came a few shining examples with Brandon Marshall hauling in a pair of spectacular one hand grabs.  Kyle Orton also distributed the ball well to tight end Tony Scheffler on a few keys while Brandon Stokley and Daniel Graham hauled in one big catch each to help the team. 

Defensively the Broncos kept pressure on Eli Manning all night long and turned in three sacks for a loss of 20 yards.

 

 

For the Record

 

The Broncos are now 7-4 and have more than a fighting chance to make the playoffs.  The team will however have to stay on track if they are to secure their playoff slot.

Going to Kansas City in the past has never been automatic by any stretch for the Broncos.  But, if the Broncos are indeed elite in the AFC, look for them to dominate in Kansas City in a very winnable game.

The Broncos are 1-2 in the early games this season, winning in Cincinnati and losing in Baltimore and Washington.  Ironically enough the Broncos have three more early games remaining on the schedule at Kansas City, at Indianapolis, and at Philadelphia.

The Broncos are also 2-1 against the NFC East this season with the remaining game at Philadelphia two days after Christmas in the second to last game of the season.

 

 

Final Note

 

For the Broncos the theme really should be to win out at all cost.  If Denver does win out, they will more than likely surpass San Diego again and win the division.  That would guarantee them one or two home playoff games and anything is possible at that point.

The Broncos had a much better effort out of Orton on Thanksgiving, sprained ankle and all, and again appear headed in the right direction.

Yes it is late in the season; however, it is not too late for the Broncos to look at signing a veteran backup quarterback over the upcoming extended week. 

Should Kyle Orton go down again he is probably done for some time.  The idea of signing a Jeff Garcia makes a great deal of sense when you consider the fact that he is a gamer, not just a game manager.  There is more creativity and more possibilities to bringing in a veteran of his caliber to help the Broncos solidify the position overall.  Without a doubt Chris Simms has proven that he’s not ready and can’t be trusted at this juncture.

Finally they say winning cures a number of ills, in the Broncos case this could not be truer as they are sticking together as a team and grinding it out again to win games.  To Coach McDaniels’ credit, he’s not afraid to get in his players’ grills to help them realize what’s at stake.

 

contact Chaz at sportsmanagement@gmail.com

Read more Denver Broncos news on BleacherReport.com

Sponsored Links

Buy Denver Broncos Tickets, NFL Tickets, Football Tickets and Sports Tickets at StubPass.com.

BroncosZone Latest

• The Denver Broncos Must Face Their New Reality
• Denver Broncos: The Beginning of a New Era, Or The Beginning of the End?
• Hey Denver, Where’s the Love for Josh McDaniels?
• Josh McDaniels Is the Poster Boy for “Too Much, Too Soon”
• Denver Wide Receiver Brandon Marshall: “I Love Being a Bronco”