Early Broncos prediction: 10-6
| July 27, 2009 | 8:45 AM
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It’s been an unusual summer. Here it is, the last week of July, Denver Broncos rookies are reporting camp and the full squad comes later this week. In any other year, it’s already Broncos season. But this summer, we have the Colorado Rockies to occupy our attention. What the Rockies do in their next 10 games seems more urgent than what the Broncos will do in the next month and beyond.
But it is Broncos season now, too, more or less. So while we wait for first pitch tonight against the Mets, let’s take a second to think about the Broncos. Despite the sky-is-falling reaction to the past offseason that featured the longest-tenured NFL coach getting fired, a former first-round quarterback being traded for a former third-stringer and the team’s top receiver demanding a way out, too, the Broncos maybe aren’t in that bad a spot. A few thoughts:
- In the NFL, the gap between a good team and an average team is so slim, that a couple things going right can mean the difference between 7-9 and 11-5.
- The Broncos made some good moves on defense. The addition of safety Brian Dawkins alone could make a huge difference, but the Broncos added more depth to the secondary and drafted players like Robert Ayers, who are ideal for the 3-4 defense they’ll roll out this season.
- They’ve upgraded at running back significantly, assuming Knowshon Moreno eventually signs.
- The loss of Jay Cutler is a less of a concern than the impending loss of Brandon Marshall. That said, Kyle Orton still has more targets in Denver than Cutler will have in Chicago.
So, based on little other than late-July optimism: 10-6. The Broncos, for the first time in a long time, are a team with a lot of question marks. It will be another month before we know if the answers are sufficient.
In the meantime, Rockies-Mets, first pitch 5:10 p.m.
Journals, Sports, Steve Foster
brandon marshall, brian dawkins, denver broncos, jay cutler, knowshon moreno, kyle orton, robert ayers
