End of 17-Week Preseason Notes

[grog]

Well the real preseason is over now and the playoff season begins. Here are a few thoughts to consider on our bye week.

1) That was a heck of a pre-playoff season. The typical slow start and team building seemed to take place again. The team absorbed it's share of injuries and continued to perform well. As stated elsewhere, job well done.

2) Wake up call: The 49er game was a downer but hopefully a good slap int he face for the team. We got it handed to us big time in that game. Yeah, we made a nice comeback, but we cannot play like that in the playoffs. My hope is that was the attention getter that propels the team.

3) Pats against the world: I am 100% convinced that the NFL wants the Broncos to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. I have a friend that works in Marketing with the NFL and he says that is exactly the case. I sure hope the refs call the game fairly. With Roger Goodell in charge, the integrity of the game he oversees and claims to protect is not what it once was and I fear "blown calls" may not go our way in an AFC championship game if played in Denver.

4) For some reason I am not as confident in this team. I hope that is a good thing. I hope they can finally get over the hump this time around. The bye week is huge and I hope we get a fully recovered Gronk, Hernadez, Welker, Niinko, Solder, etc, for the playoff run.

5) Pats against the world part 2: Fans across the country hate us more than ever. If you live in New England, you may not be aware of this that much, but the sentiment around the country is "anyone but the Pats". I wear my Pats stuff around Indiana and have been catching more grief than ever, even during the height of the Brady/Manning years. I have learned to embrace the hate, but I do wish people would look at this team and acknowledge the amazing accomplishments. BB is the lightning rod for the hate though, so as long as BB is here, we are the black sheep of the NFL.

[midgar8784]

After being a fan of football for 25 years and being part of the new internet media world of blogs and message boards, I have come to one conclusion...if your team is not the one doing the most winning, you hate the team that is.

[Ryan91]

Originally Posted by grog

Well the real preseason is over now and the playoff season begins. Here are a few thoughts to consider on our bye week.
3) Pats against the world: I am 100% convinced that the NFL wants the Broncos to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl. I have a friend that works in Marketing with the NFL and he says that is exactly the case. I sure hope the refs call the game fairly. With Roger Goodell in charge, the integrity of the game he oversees and claims to protect is not what it once was and I fear "blown calls" may not go our way in an AFC championship game if played in Denver.

This worries me, although it hasn't been made public that the support for the Broncos to go to the SB is there from the League itself, such bias if revealed to be true along with a large amount of supporting evidence would ruin the league as the supposed integrity of officials at the League itself is called into question.

For that reason alone I hope we get to the Super Bowl and spank Manning and the Broncos along the way to victory.

[Oswlek]

2) Interesting tidbit, several recent SB participants used moral victories to propel themselves into the playoffs.

2007 - NYG 38-35 loss to NE

2008 - Ari 47-7 loss to NE (yes, this isn't close, but several players have referred to that game as the catalyst for turning things around

2009 - None

2010 - GB 31-27 loss to NE

2011 - NYG 38-35 loss to GB

It is also noteworthy that losses to NE are still counted as important moments, years after NE's last SB.

3) That is my biggest concern in the AFC.

4) Care to extrapolate? This is the most playoff prepared Patriots team since 2007. 2010 was arguable better heading into the playoffs, but they were very young and that ended up burning them against the Jets. These guys are damn close to that unit and most guys have playoff experience.

[grog]

Originally Posted by Oswlek

4) Care to extrapolate? This is the most playoff prepared Patriots team since 2007. 2010 was arguable better heading into the playoffs, but they were very young and that ended up burning them against the Jets. These guys are damn close to that unit and most guys have playoff experience.

It's probably just me. I have nerves of steel mush. I know these things are coached, but for example I worry about our huge takeaway vs giveaway ratio and think law of averages. I worry about being hot at the right time. I worry our DBs. Yet I agree, they are in much better shape then any recent entrant into the tournament and the bye is really a nice bonus.

I guess that is why I read posts here. Guys like you point out why I need not despair...

[midgar8784]

Originally Posted by grog

It's probably just me. I have nerves of steel mush. I know these things are coached, but for example I worry about our huge takeaway vs giveaway ratio and think law of averages. I worry about being hot at the right time. I worry our DBs. Yet I agree, they are in much better shape then any recent entrant into the tournament and the bye is really a nice bonus.

I guess that is why I read posts here. Guys like you point out why I need not despair...

I think a large turnover to giveaway ration shows a trend, in fact the last couple of weeks, we had a few more turnovers than usual, so that go those out of the system. One thing people are not talking about with Denver is how bad their turnover to giveaway ratio is.

[grog]

The other thing I worry about is the number of rookies we have playing key spots. Dennard, Jones, Hightower come to mind. Plus Talib doesn't have a lot of reps in our system. He's done great, but has there been enough time to develp that "trust" element that is so important to DBs.

[midgar8784]

Originally Posted by grog

The other thing I worry about is the number of rookies we have playing key spots. Dennard, Jones, Hightower come to mind. Plus Talib doesn't have a lot of reps in our system. He's done great, but has there been enough time to develp that "trust" element that is so important to DBs.

They did better than the vet guys at those spots last year and we went to the superbowl.