Recap: Titans vs. Broncos

The Broncos have now won 2 straight games for the second time this season. The only question is whether they can continue to play inspired football. After defeating the Titans 34 to 20 in front of a national audience, the Broncos are now tied for first place in the AFC West. For the first time this year the Broncos played great in every facet of the game; offense, defense, and special teams. We are now 5-5 after playing one of the most difficult first half schedules in the league.

The Titans are a physical team and have been playing good football, which is what makes this victory all the more sweet. Unlike some of our previous games we got up early and continued to make plays. The offense is finally making big plays and had 3 touchdown plays of more than 40 yards. These big plays are taking the pressure off of the defense and allowing the Broncos to play more physical football. I was fortunate enough to be at the game and I couldn't be happier with the Broncos team that showed up to play this past Monday night. What a BIG win for the Broncos. This team is showing a lot of character and is finally playing physical football. It's a good week to be a Broncos fan.

Defense

The defense played very well overall, however the numbers do not accurately reflect their performance. As we are all aware the primary deficiency in our defense is our inability to stop the run game. We gave up 133 yards on the ground, which does not sound all that impressive until you realize that we held Tennessee's primary rusher to only 42 yards with a 3.2 per carry average. The majority of the rushing yards came via the quick feet of Vince Young in passing situations. VY had 74 yards rushing and one TD. He is a special player and I feel that the Broncos did a very good job containing him. Young passed for 305 yards and a touchdown on 41 attempts, but made his typical mental errors and threw for 2 picks. The Broncos constantly kept a QB spy on Young which allowed him to dump short passes off to the backs or TEs. He received quite a bit of yardage as a result, but only averaged 7.4 yards per pass play.

The defensive line played their second good game in a row. While they did not get a whole lot of pressure on the quarterback, they did play the run well. The lack of pressure is more a result of Young's ability to move around a make plays then an actual lack of execution. Bates has moved away for the big body defensive lineman and has now focused on making speed and strength the core of the defensive scheme. We are playing much better as a result. Good coaches design schemes around the personnel and not the other way around. It took Bates half the season to realize the error of his ways, but at least he was man enough to say "Hey, this isn't working. We need to make an adjustment." Crowder played a great game against his former college teammate and ended the game with 2 tackles and 1 sack. "Johnny Hustle" Engelberger showed some toughness by fighting through a 3rd degree shoulder separation and chalking up 3 tackles to lead all D Lineman.


The linebackers are really starting to step up. It appears that they are finally getting comfortable with Jim Bates scheme. They are no longer hesitating and are attacking downhill. Ian Gold led the team with 8 tackles (7 solo), an interception, and a fumble recovery playing an overall solid game. He is still over running some plays and he missed a few tackles, but has improved 10 fold compared to his early season performances. Welcome back Ian, we missed you. DJ Williams has been playing great football. He seems much more comfortable in the MLB position now and ended the game with 7 tackles (5 solo). His improvement in the passing game is also noticeable. He has been taking deep drops in passing situations and has really made players pay for coming across the middle. I just love the physical play he is bringing to this defense. Webster also played a good game with 5 tackles, which is pretty solid considering the Broncos played a lot of nickel packages (Webster comes off the field in nickel and dime packages).

The secondary is really starting to come together after battling injuries through the first half of the season. Young challenged the secondary with his run/ pass ability and they played solid a game against him. I predicted that Champ and Dre' would both "snag a VY floater." Well I was half right, Dre' Bly had a great interception in the 4th quarter to ice the game. Both of our star corners played well with 5 tackles each. Hamza Abdullah continued his high level of play notching 8 tackles (6 solo). He has made a huge difference and is one of the reasons we are playing so much better. Lynch and Foxworth were rotating at free safety when the defense was in obvious passing situations. This is a really good coaching adjustment by Jim Bates. Foxworth had been playing well when Lynch was injured and provides much better pass coverage and ball hawking ability. Lynch had 5 tackles (4 solo) and was a big reason we played the run so well. Foxworth ended the game with 4 (2 solo). I hope we continue the situational rotation at the free safety spot.

Stopping the run was the priority and we were able to do that defensively. The LBs had another good game and made plays. The defense really came out and hit against a physical football team. I think we really made a statement and this should give us some confidence and swagger down the stretch. Still we need to continue to get better and take care of business on Sundays.

Week 10 Defensive MVP

• Ian Gold - 8 tackles (7 solo), fumble recovery, and an interception.

Offense

Due to injuries the Broncos really struggled to find their groove early in the season, but they seem to have found some serious production. We were able to move the ball at will on one of the better defenses in the league and had 3 offensive touchdowns of 40 yards or more. We were effective both on the ground and through the air. Jay Cutler had the best game of his young career by passing 16/21 for 200 yards and 2 TDs. He did a great job managing the game by not turning over the ball and coming up with a number of big plays. Cutler made some spectacular throws and there is no doubt that he has all the skills to be a great quarterback. His first touchdown to Brandon Stokley was thrown over the LBs right into the open zone between the safeties, a great ball. Cutler moved away from pressure in the pocket and was putting balls on the money. He kept the Titans defense off balance the entire game, they simply could not stop him.

Selvin Young and Andre Hall ran the ball effectively and most importantly held on to the ball. Young left the game in the second half with a knee injury after running for 54 yards on 14 carries. This left the door open for Hall who later took a run off the left side for 62 yards and a touchdown. He finished with 7 carries for 89 yards and a TD. I have been impressed with both backs ability to always fall forward to get those extra couple yards. Hopefully we can overcome some injuries and continue to hold on to the ball.

The offensive line played a great game. Granted the Titans best player (Albert Haynesworth) did not play, but they still contained Vanden Bosch and an overall strong unit. Cutler had all day to pass the ball and we were able to get movement on rushing plays. We played a lot of max protect to help out the offensive line and we need to continue to protect Cutler. We have a young line and they are gaining critical game experience.

The TEs and WRs have stepped up since the drop fest in Detriot. Stokley continues to be consistent and seems to catch just about everything thrown his way. He had 3 catches for 75 yards and a touchdown, a 25 yard average. B Marsh is playing great ball right now, especially for a 2nd year player. He has all the skills and a unique blend of size and speed. If we can get Javon Walker back, the Broncos will have one of the most potent 3 WR sets in the NFL. We are really utilizing our best players by playing a lot of single back double tight or I-Form 2 WR. This has really helped to get Scheffler and Graham some quality looks. Scheffler had 3 catches for 38 yards and DG had 2 for 20 yards. The Broncos have been spreading the ball around and getting everybody involved.

Week 10 Offensive MVP

• Jay Cutler 16/21 200 yards and 2 TDs - QB Rating 137.0.

Special Teams

The Broncos have really improved on special teams each and every week so far this season. Some of the free agent pick-ups are playing all out on kickoff and punt coverage. I know that I have not been very high on Glenn Martinez, but he had an excellent punt return for a touchdown by going against the grain and finding a seam. However he did have a critical fumble on a punt that gave the Titans great field position and a chance to cut it close. He still needs to be more consistent, break a big play or two just like this past week and hold on to the ball. His punt return really put the Titans in a difficult situations by giving the Broncos a 14 point lead in the middle of the first quarter.

Going Forward

We are starting to come together as a team. A lot of the media has pointed to the "players only" meeting called by the veterans after the Detroit drumming as the reason for the turnaround. I think that is only part of the story, but certainly it circled the wagons and woke this team from its slumber. I think the coaches have been also doing a good job by making adjustments and that has really corrected a number of issues. We need to continue to focus and play physical football. There are still a lot of work to do, so we need to keep our players healthy and take it one week at a time. The Broncos are right in the mix and if we can get hot the second half of the season, we could really surprise some people come the post season. (AP Photos/Jack Dempsey)