-
Website
http://blogs.denverpost.com/broncos -
Original page
http://blogs.denverpost.com/broncos/2006/10/30/history-indy-has-jakes-number/ -
Subscribe
All Comments -
Community
-
-
Top Commenters
-
Popular Threads
All Comments
He is a 1st ballot hall of Famer.
The Easter Bunny is real.
The Great Pumpkin is real.
And politicians are honest!
Now, stop your lies!
That game was close. The offense moved. Plummer showed that the good Jake from last year is still around. That sack/fumble is one thing that may've cost the game, but another thing that may've cost the game is Darrent Williams not getting any help against Reggie Wayne. And the pass rush not being there. Do you think Gerard Warren and Courtney Brown being out have anything to do with that? I sure do.
You give Manning time to throw, and he's going to put it on the money. That's what Manning does.
This team looks to go 12-4 or 11-5, make the playoffs and possibly be 2nd seed with a 1st round bye, thanks to having beat New England. It's possible we won't even have to face the Colts again.
And if we do, well. We'll have to come up with something different to stop Manning. The key will be finding a way to get past that offensive line and put some pressure on Manning. History has shown that if Manning is flushed out of the pocket, his accuracy comes back to normal QB stats, and our defense can deal with that.
Are you kidding me? He's not "telling it like it is" Armstrong, and these other talking whacks, are hopelessly committed to a position that Jake Plummer is not the guy. So every bit of information they filter through that lense.
The broncos are 5-2 with an offense that has shown it can perform and a defense that had one (one!) bad game. Who cares that two years ago the team lost in Indy. That has absolutely no relevance. This is a new team that came up a bit short Sunday. A bump in the road is right.
Plumer (PLUMMER), everyone hateing (HATED) ... no (KNOW) nothing about football..would of (HAVE) done the same thing to the broncos d-fense if he had 5 to 8 secounds (SECONDS) to through (THROW) the ball like payton did!!!!
IMHO, the broncos were the better team sunday.
what upset me, is that coyer took nothing from new england and pittsburg on how to beat manning... blitz the hell out of him.
Gold, lynch, baily and d-will have the speed.
INDIANAPOLIS PUNTED ZERO TIMES!!! You going to say that's plummer's fault??
Plummer's offense scored 30 points.
Don't even blame this one on Jake, it's a team loss, but if I could say where we went wrong, it was Coyer's inability to shut down Manning.
I hope we meet again in Indy, because our speed will outrun their speed.
Hold your heads high bronco fans, we have a hell of a team.
needed was a pass rush and cover two defense.
The Colts have had great starts before. They've had great offenses before too. But their defense is still porous and everyone conveniently forgets that when Peyton wins another high-scoring game. Then in the playoffs it costs them and everyone suddenly remembers why the Colts end up losing every year.
I do agree about Plummer, however: He alone will not take the Broncos to the promised land.
1) It was ONE game. And this one wasn't Jake's fault. I agree with the comments that the D failed us and that Coyer failed to adjust.
2) We might have won had we blitzed more. You can't give that QB that much time, esp. on every down.
3) Yes Indy owns Denver, but NE owns Indy, and we own NE. Alot can happen in the playoffs -- look at last year.
4) For that matter, this is not as good a Colt team as they were last year. They almost lost to Tennessee at home for God's sake.
I expect NE To beat Indy, and hopefully Coyer will be watching.
Blaming the loss on Plummer is idiotic. The defense kept the same scheme the entire 2nd half, that's why Denver lost. Stop comparing post-Elway quarterbacks to Elway. This is 2006. Get over it. He had a great team around him, remember...?
Comparing Elway to Manning is useless.
I'm a Denver fan here in upstate New York and that's not always easy, I get crap from relatives and co-workers all of the time.
I would like to see Indy win the big one if Denver can't but Indy's run defense is pitiful.
You can't always count on Manning to carry every game. Although I'll be rooting for Indy at New England, I wouldn't be suprised to see the Patsies take it. The Colts have had consistent trouble beating New England like the Patsies have had trouble beating Denver. Don't count Denver out of it after one very close game. If Denver would have had the ball with 2 minutes left, they would have won. In the playoffs Denver wants New England, any time any place. Go Broncolts!
Dennis in Phoenix
Plummer will be a great #2 QB next year when the Jay Cutler era begins!!
First and foremost, the Broncos D should NOT bear the brunt of the blame.
Payton Manning, for as good as he is, had a carreer day on Sunday. Don’t take my word for it, go to Sports Illustrated on-line and read Peter King’s article about Payton having had the best game of his carreer this past Sunday. It may sound like a stretch, specially when you consider all of the big number games that Manning has had during his brilliant carreer. But when you go 32-39, 3 TDs and 0 int in a hostile environment, against the best scoring defense in the league, you had a carreer day!
If any blame for the loss is to be dished out the target should be the Denver offense and its ubiquous collapse during their last drive in the fourth quarter. It was 3rd down and 9 and the Broncos were driving toward a go-ahead, and potentially winning, touchdown.
If you break down that play on film you will see that there are number of HUGE breakdowns:
1. Jake Plummer didn’t call the proper(or any!) audible to adjust to the obvious on-coming blitz. The Colts linebackers were stepping up to the line of scrimmage and Jake didn’t do a thing! He could have stepped back into the shotgun and changed up on the play, possibly shifting around some of his receivers by putting some or all in motion. Granted, this may not have been Jake’s fault but the coaching staff’s innability to call the proper play.
2. Under the ensuing pressure from the Colts blitz the Denver offensive line collapsed and caused the play to break down. Plummer "snaked" out of the grasp of several Colts, stepped toward the East sidelines and threw a pass a few yards shy of Rod Smith. Jake’s fault right?! WRONG! Please read my next point(#3)
3. The real and only problem during that infamous 3rd and 9, aside from the innability of the Denver offense to adjust to an obvious blitz, was Rod Smith! Yes, Broncos die-hards, I said Rod Smith! Rod is the goat of this loss. Let me explain…
For all of the great and timely plays that Rod has made throughout his carreer he let the Broncos down this past Sunday in a HUGE way. Why? Well, contrary to his playing style, and cutting directly against the grain of what he does best, Rod forgot his place on the field!!! Yes, you’ve read right. Rod was lingering around the 15 yard line about the same time that the pocket collapsed and, although being covered like a blanket, he refused to run back up field, towad the line of scrimmage.
This brain flatulence on Smith’s part is VERY significant given the fact that the first down marker was somewhere near the 22 yard line!!! Why didn’t Rod attempt to shorten Jake’s throw, after seeing the pocket collapse?! Why did Rod continue running West to East when covered so perfectly by the defensive back? Jake did the right thing by throwing toward Smith, hoping that Rod would come BACK TOWARD the ball! But Rod was not on the same wavelength as Plummer. Unlike Manning and his receivers, the Broncos don´t have the same chemistry. Plain and simple!
The answers are easy: Rod is not the same Rod from the Elway days. He doesn’t have the quickness or the energy(mental or physical) to perform the most basic tasks, like first down marker awareness. I think it’s time to give Brandon Marshall more playing time.
I FULLY agree with Shanhan when he says that the offense let the team down. The Colts run defense is beyond bad and all the Broncos needed was a first down somewhere inside the 20 yard line and there was NO WAY that the Colts were going to stop the Broncos from getting a touchdown.
Unfortunately, the Denver offense didn’t come through when they needed to. When they HAD to have a touchdown, they instead got a field goal.
Is it fair to blame the loss on ONE down?! Of course! Both teams were perfectly matched and the one that made the least mistakes came out the victor. Unfortunately for the Broncos, Manning and company made ZERO mistakes, mental of physical, when they needed big plays.
A great game that came down to execution and the Colts executed best. Hopefully the Broncos have learned something along the way.
1. You have a good team.
2. You lost to a better team (Colts).
3. The last time that the Colts played NE, the Colts ran all over them...in NE.
4. The NFL has scheduled the Colts in NE the last three years, not including the playoff games. Things are different in the RCA Dome.
5. The Colts will win the Superbowl this year.
6. To GI, grammar...spelled with two A's and no E's. If you are going to cast stones, make sure you don't live in a glass house.
7. Peyton and Elway are/were both excellent QBs.
So for all of you who continue to hate on Jake, just remember this.. IF YOU DONT LIKE JAKE PLUMMER, YOU DONT LIKE WINNING. Plummer wins. Thats the bottom line.
And no.. it isn't his supporting cast. Under Elway in his last 4 seasons, he had TERRELL DAVIS. Meanwhile, Jake has dealt with new RB's every year and none of them have done anything close to what Davis did for Elway. Also, Elway had Shannon Sharpe and Rod Smith in THEIR PRIMES. He also had Ed McCaffery and a better offensive line. Elway had by far the better supporting cast, yet Plummer has a higher winning %. SO GET OFF HIS BACK.
Us REAL BRONCO FANS love you Jake!! And more importantly, your coaches and teammates love you and trust you, so nothing any of these idiots has to say matters. They are just retarded.
and Plummer is a liability unlike Elway.
Elway made stars out of Sharpe and Rod Smith and Terrel Davis, he struck fear in every defensive coordinator in the league(like Manning).
Jake trys to get through the games without screwing up and leaning on the defense to hold the team down to under 12 pts.
The broncos are currently a good team and have a solid defense with a good chemistry.
They have a few missing links from being a great team though.
I think they need a stronger defensive line with at least one bigtime sack specialist.
They also need to upgrade at the QB position and that is why Shanny picked up a QB in the first round of the draft.
(maybe he does know what he is doing afterall)
If Plummer was being backed up
by Griese or some other clipboard carrier I would say lets go with Plummer and probably not be as critical but with Cutler who appears to have all the tools sitting on the bench, it makes no sense to not play him.I think Denver could win 10 games this year with Jay Cutler playing and maybe even better and get him experience this year. With Jake they will probably go 11-5 at best and get a wild card birth go on the road and lose in the playoffs(blah). Next year Cutler WILL start and probably make the typical mistakes that will at times set back the team. If they play him this year I think Denver can still get in the playoffs and at the same time get him ready to really make a splash next year.
If Jakes such a winner how come he hasn't even won a conferance championship? Elway won 5!!! Thats why he is a hall of fame player and got all those car dealerships while Jake Plummer is driving around in a Honda Element and getting into fights with old guys who rear end him!
That untested rookie running back Mike Bell sure looked terrible against Indy didn't he?(and he wasn't even drafted).How absolutly foolish of Shanahan to play him, and in crunch time no less!
You all cry that Jake Plummer isn't Elway, Manning, or Brady, but who else is??? These are elite, special players that are labelled as such because they are so rare to begin with.
The thing that irritates me the most is the extra dose of venom that goes into criticizing Plummer, especially when it gets personal. One of you buffoons mentions the "road rage" incident, but clearly forgot to mention that the guy was on the way to a charity event to present a check of $100, 000. When's the last time any of you people of such high moral fibre did anything close to that?
The same mental defective notes "How many conference championships has he won?" Well he's won about as many as Manning has, with FAR less talent around him, and without the league changing the rules around to accommodate him.
That's right folks, he's won exactly one less playoff game than Manning, and has lost LESS than DOUBLE the playoff games Manning has. If Plummer started his career with Denver instead of the worst organization in sports, his record, and GROWTH as a Q.B. would be much more impressive.
So lay the blame squarely on one player. Fool yourselves into thinking he's been surrounded by elite offensive talent for 3.5 seasons and he's the one holding them back. Keep invoking the built in excuses for other quarterbacks, who have failed even more miserably than the one you hate yet defend them because of draft status and pedigree...or a clean shave and perfect haircut.
Not convinced? Pretend our starting Q.B. is Jay Cutler, or any other Q.B. for that matter, and had Plummer's exact same numbers and winning percentage these past 4 years. You'd all be clamouring for more help in every other positions OTHER than quarterback, and that to me, is the most hyppocritical thing of all.
Both offenses clicked well. I was actually happy to finally see Plummer break out of his funk. We were 13-3 last year with a playoff win. We may not reach the same number of wins this season, but if we win 2 out of 3 games in the stretch, we can win 11 games and make the playoffs. Anything can happen in the playoffs depending on how your team is peaking, injuries, etc - good example is Pittsburgh. they weren't the best team until the final stretch. The problem with the Colts is they peak too early.
How good is Peyton Manning? He's in his ninth season and hasn't been to the Superbowl. By this time in his career, John Elway had been to the Big Game three times. Heck, the Broncos have been to the superbowl SIX times since the Colts' last appearance in 1971!
Let's get over this inferiority complex, and worry about next week!
1. Making adjustments like say, Bill B. in New England makes them elite. They overcome injuries, adjust to offenses and defenses play to play not just half to half, and they max out their talent which they don't have an abundance of.
2. I knew Harrington was out in Detroit when I saw him at a Pistons game and then saw one of his main wideouts sitting somewhere else. I see and read about Chad and Carson going to Indy to watch Peyton and Marvin with notepads together. It takes sacrifice and a relationship to be great. Some people have the desire, some don't. Plummer and his wideouts don't, yet?(will they ever?)
3. Denver needs to get pass rush stars! I know I already posted it. We have great linebackers, corners that CAN run and cover anyone in man. We need a line that can put pressure on people up the MIDDLE. Peyton and any other QB has trouble with people in their face. Can we get some stars on the line PLEASE?
In conclushion, I love the Broncos, but i can't stand rooting for a 2nd or 3rd best team. We own the Pats and we get the beat up and desperate Steelers Sunday. We need to take our frustrations out on them this Sunday in front of their home crowd and redeem this loss. We keep getting better and better against the Colts in most phases of the game, most importantly the scoreboard. We have to get to the playoffs where I think we have a real good shot of beating anyone. We can then see if we can get it done against the Colts when it counts.
What happened that last time Denver got the ball Sunday? You're two best RB's fell down, FELL DOWN, on consecutive plays leaving the offense third and nine and Jake still completed a pass to the only option he had.
You so called Bronco fans don't deserve to have another Elway at QB when you treat a dedicated starter the way you do. When are you guys gonna figure out that Elway was one-of-a-kind. Once in a franchises history you get a player like Elway.
Plus, it takes more than one guy to carry a team. Elway had Rod Smith (at his peak), Shannon Sharpe, Mark Schlereth and a whole cast of supporters.
Jake has who? Darrent Williams?
The defensive coaching did not make significant adjustments at the defensive line until it was too late. If the front-four cannot get pressure on the QB, and you’re content to remain in the four-three base, then you’re basically banking on the other team not executing. That’s quite a risk to take when that other team is made up of a pro-bowl QB and pro-bowl receivers.
And even when they did blitz, they did it with too much predictability. Blitzing a line-backer 5 yards back from the line will not yield success against a QB like Manning. That simple scheme is child’s play to him. The blitzing scheme needs to be more elaborate and elusive than that (e.g. the scheme the Broncos used in a regular season game against the Colts two years ago). It was the same problem in the AFC championship game against Pittsburg. With every blitz, everybody in the stadium knew who Ben was going to throw to next.
You have to make a cerebral QB like Manning second guess himself. Bring the line-backers up to the line and then drop them back. It still leaves the front-four to do the work, but at least gives them an edge by making Manning and the O-line think about alternate assignments! The fleet feet of the Broncos line-backing core surely can make up the difference. I just don't understand how anyone on the coaching staff could bear to watch such a painful display. Even though there were few points scored by the Colts in the first half, Manning would soon realize how much time he really had in the second. It was almost as painful as when Rich Gannon broke the single-game consecutive completion record that was at that time.
I believe Larry Coyer defended altering his game plan with clichés like “We were going to stick with what got us here� and “We all just have to get better�. I agree with the strategy of letting great players execute. But, when that’s not happening, then your job as a coach is not to sit on your hands, but rather play with alterations to even the difference. Whatever happened to the idea of having a Plan B?