Raiders Week! Remembering Oct 23, 1973

Last week I reminisced about a classic 1969 Broncos/Jets game in Denver - the Broncos victory that day served notice to a National TV audience that Denver was a very difficult place to play for visiting teams. As I get ready to attend this week's game against the Oakland, I think back to another classic game in Bronco history - the team's first ever Monday Night game on October 23, 1973 against the hated Raiders.

When Monday Night Football debuted in September, 1970 it was an instant success. The NFL gambled a solo prime time game would be the perfect end to a football weekend, and they were right. TV Ratings soared in the early years of Monday night football. For the first three years of the telecasts, though, you wouldn't know there was a franchise in Denver!

The Broncos not only failed to make an appearance on Monday night football in 1970-1972, they were also rarely mentioned on the popular "halftime highlights" segment with Howard Cosell. I remember tuning in to Monday night football after a big Bronco win (like the upset of the KC Chiefs to go to 3-0 in Sept 1970), but no highlights were ever shown. Letters flooded into ABC saying "why no broncos???!!!" Howard Cosell finally during one broadcast said "logistical problems with games played in Denver prevent us from showing Monday night highlights of the Bronco games." That made the Bronco fans even angrier - a popular activity at a Denver bar at the time was throwing a brick through a tv set when Howard's face appeared!

This all changed in 1973 when the Monday night crew FINALLY came to Denver. I was a teenager sitting in the South Stands on October 23, 1973. The city treated Howard, Dandy Don, and Frank Gifford like royalty that day, with a special lunch. Denver is known to get big snow storms in October (as it did years later in a home Monday night game against Green Bay) but that evening the weather was perfect - like a warm summer night. The Raiders had not lost in Denver since 1962 and were heavy favorites. I remember one sign hung on the fence in front of the East Stands, "We were going to give out 1,000 Copies Of The Book Cosell, But Logistical Problems Prevented It"

The game itself was memorable, with Billy Thompson returning a fumble for a touchdown in the first quarter. Oakland took a late 23-20 lead before the Broncos tied it with a Jim Turner field goal at the end. Never had a tie been so satisfying!

I think back and wonder why was the approval of Howard Cosell and the Monday night crew so important to the city? I was as guilty as the rest of the Bronco fans, tuning into Monday night highlights for a mere mention of the Broncos, only to be disappointed time and time again. The Broncos excellent performance that night was a sweet redemption from the three previous years of no Monday night appearances.

That 1973 Bronco team reminds me of the 2010 team. If I had to pick one quarterback in Bronco history to compare to Kyle Orton, it would be the 73 Broncos Charlie Johnson. Like Orton, Johnson didn't have the strongest arm and he wasn't very mobile, but he was a smart and accurate passer who distributed the ball well to a variety of weapons. The 73 Broncos also got a slow start to the season, two games under .500 after four games compared with the current team's 2 - 4 record after six games. Despite the slow start, the 73 team came on and became the first winning team in Bronco history, even playing for the division title in the last game at Oakland (they lost the rematch to the Raiders 21-17). The 73 team was fun to watch, and had some players who turned out to be key members of the 77 Super Bowl team (Haven Moses, Billy Thompson, Riley Odoms, and others).

I'm thinking better days are ahead for this 2010 Bronco team, starting with a win this week against Oakland. Demaryius Thomas touchdown catch last week over the best cornerback in the NFL was an indication of the immense potential of the Bronco #1 draft choice. Tim Tebow scored his first touchdown and looks to get more involved in future games. The patched up offensive line and defense were significantly improved. Like 1973, maybe this Bronco team still has a chance to win the division despite the slow start.

Jets/Broncos 41 years ago

As I am excited about going to the Broncos/Jets game tomorrow I think back to one of the most memorable Broncos/Jets games played in Denver - September 21, 1969.

It was my 2nd year of having Bronco season tickets. I was 13 years old, sitting in the South Stands for the game. The Broncos had won handily over the Patriots in the first game that season (35-7), but the Jets would be a much stiffer test. Joe Namath's team was coming off a stunning Super Bowl winning season, and the Jets had easily defeated the Bills 33-19 in their opener. This Bronco/Jets game in week 2 of the AFL season was to be televised across the country on NBC, one of the first ever national games featuring the lowly Broncos. The draw of course was Broadway Joe and the Jets, not the Broncos.

This game featured 3 memorable plays:

1. The Hit - Dave Costa's helmet to the gut hit on Joe Namath (pictured above) is one of the best sports photographs ever and captures what AFL football was like in the late 60's. No doubt Costa would be suspended for weeks if he made such a hit in the sanitized NFL of 2010 - back in 1969 there were no such restrictions. The grizzly old vet Costa had a clear shot at Namath and he took full advantage of it.

2. The Catch - The Broncos had quickly fallen behind the Jets 13-0 after the 1st quarter and it looked like it would be a long day for the home team. Floyd Little scored to make it 13-7, then later in the quarter Mike Haffner made one of the greatest catches in Bronco history to give Denver a 14-13 lead. Haffner was wide open in the end zone, but Bronco quarterback Pete Liske overthrew him. Haffner dived and caught the ball with his fingertips in the back of the South end zone. I wish I had an old video clip to show you how great a catch this was. Haffner's catch made all the football highlights shows that week, including a showing on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

3. The Perfect Punt - This one comes from the Jets. With New York backed up to its 1 yard line Steve O'Neill pulled off the greatest punt in AFL/NFL history. I was sitting in the South Stands watching the punt come towards me from the shadow of the North goal posts. The punt came off O'Neill's leg like a low rocket. Not much height - just a line drive. Bronco returner Billy Thompson misjudged the ball and jumped up trying to catch it, but it sailed over Thompson's head. When it hit the ground the ball rolled and rolled and rolled before resting on the Broncos 1 yard line - a 98 yard punt! To this day that punt has never been equaled, and what made it more amazing was that it went from the 1 yard line to the other 1 yard line. Truly the perfect punt!

More than these three plays, the best thrill of the day was watching the Broncos upset the Jets 21-19 on a national stage. For one day the Broncos upset was the talk of the pro football world.

Would the 2-0 Broncos finally be contenders? It was not to be, as Denver went on to a disappointing 5-8-1 season, while the Jets again made the playoffs with a 10 win 4 loss record.

Tomorrow the injury plagued Broncos are again the underdogs with the Jets coming to town. New York is rated the 2nd best team in the NFL by Sports Illustrated and ESPN coming into the game, very much like that powerhouse Jets team of the late 60's. Will the Broncos win? I don't know, but one thing I have learned over the years is never count the Broncos out at home. Maybe, just maybe, like that Denver team of the late 60's, the Broncos have a Mile Hi surprise waiting for the visitors from New York!

Tennessee win was HUGE for the Broncos

My 4-12 prediction if the Broncos lost their opening game to Jacksonville is looking shaky thanks to a great win last week vs Tennessee. I'd much rather be wrong and have the Broncos win!

What I was afraid of in my 4-12 prediction was the difficult opening schedule for the Broncos. I figured a 1-2 start would quickly turn into 1-4 with tough road games at Tennessee and at Baltimore, followed by a home matchup vs the 2009 AFC runnerup Jets. A 1-5 start after the Jets game could have caused a negative spiral just like last year when the Broncos lost to the hapless Raiders and Chiefs at home in their 2-8 finish.

The win at Tennessee changes all of that. This week's game at Baltimore will still be very tough to win (Sport Illustrated's Peter King rates the Ravens as the best team in the NFL right now). Even with a loss in Baltimore the Broncos have a good chance to beat the Jets and finish the tough early part of their schedule with a 3-3 record.

What has impressed me with the Broncos so far? I expected Kyle Orton to have a good year, but he's showing much better mobility in the pocket and accuracy on deep passes than what we saw from him in 2009. Orton says he was hobbled by an ankle injury last year - this year is the first time he's been completely healthy in 3 seasons. Last season we rarely saw the Broncos throw deep - this year the long ball is back in the game plan. The 48 yard td pass from Orton to Brandon Lloyd in the Colts game traveled over 60 yards in the air and could not have been placed any better, settling into Lloyd's hands in the back of the end zone. Last week the key pass interference penalty on Jabar Gaffney was a result of another accurate long pass that traveled over 50 yards in the air.

The Broncos defense has also been impressive. Josh McDaniels made shoring up the run defense the #1 priority in the offseason and so far the results have been good (ranking 12th in the nfl vs the run this year compared to 26th vs the run in 2009). Linebacker Robert Ayers had his best game as a Bronco last week vs the Titans and has shed his "1st round bust" tag in the eyes of many fans to "future star".

There are still problems, most notably with the anemic rushing attack and Knowshon Moreno's inability to stay healthy, but last week's week gives me hope. This week's Baltimore game will be a good test on how much the team has improved over last year. The Ravens had the Broncos well scouted last year in handing Denver its first loss after a 6-0 start. The Ravens have an impressive run defense, but a shaky secondary. Give Orton time to throw and I am confident the Broncos will score points this week.

Fan Vision Enhances NFL Stadium Experience

I was one of the fortunate Denver Bronco season ticket holders yesterday to try out FanVision - a hand held device for viewing replays, other games, stats, and more while attending an NFL game. I liked it!

You can watch ANY nfl game on FanVision in addition to the NFL red zone channel. What I liked best, though, was the replay capability. After each play you could select one of 3 replays - from a camera on the 50, from one on the 25, or one at field level. A personal instant replay system! During the Bronco/Seahawk game yesterday I replayed several plays multiple times. Once the next play starts the replay is lost but still this is a really cool feature. I liked not being dependent on the network tv feed of the game to see the replays I wanted.

I did think the audio on FanVision could be louder - with the earbuds I had the volume all the way up and I couldn't hear the Fox play by play of the game. The Red zone channel was better for volume. Also when I seated in the sun the 1st half the picture was a little hard to see. With my seats in the shade the 2nd half the FanVision replay system really shined.

Overall though FanVision gets an "A" from me. I look forward to trying it out again at this week's Broncos/Colts game!

Jacksonville Game Will Tell Alot About The 2010 Broncos

It's time to reveal my predictions for the 2010 Denver Broncos season. Just like last year I am going to base my predictions on what the team does in its opening game. Last year in this blog I wrote "If the Broncos can beat a good Bengals team on the road, I predict they start out 4-0. The schedule then gets much tougher, and they'll finish with an 8-8 record." Read all of my last year's prediction here.

That is exactly what happened last year (lucky guess), though I would never have expected the Broncos would start out 6-0, finish the season going 2-8, beat all the AFC West opponents on the road, and lose to them all at home. A very strange season!

I'm hedging on my prediction this year because the Jacksonville game this Sunday will tell alot about what type of team the Broncos will be in 2010. The Jaguar game is not as tough a matchup as the 2009 Cincinnati opener, but it won't be easy. The Broncos historically do not play well in the Florida heat in September games. They lost 34-10 in the 2005 opener at Miami, and lost 23-13 on Sept 23, 2007 at Jacksonville. The Jaguars often seem to have the Broncos number, too, as Jacksonville has won four of the past five games between the two teams.

Going into the Jacksonville game I am most concerned about the Bronco offensive line. Denver's two star young tackles, Ryan Clady and Ryan Harris, may not even play. Harris is out for sure with an ankle injury, and Clady is questionable with offseason knee surgery. Most of the interior of the Broncos offensive line is new, too, with rookie center JD Walton getting his first start. Quarterback Kyle Orton has had an impressive preseason, but he has to have time to throw. If Denver's patched up offensive line cannot give Orton proper protection on Sunday, it will be a long day for the Broncos. They won't be facing the vanilla defenses of the preseason. The Jaguars, no doubt, will come up with some special blitz packages to take advantage of Denver's offensive line weakness.

One sure way to neutralize a good pass rush is with an effective running game. Here too, the Broncos have problems. Starter Knowshon Morino has missed the whole preseason with a hamstring injury and will not be 100%. The line has had problems in run blocking in the preseason too.

On defense the Broncos are healthy except for missing star pass rusher Elvis Dumerville (out for the season with a training camp injury)

If the Broncos can get decent offensive line play and protect Orton I think their precision passing game will carve up the Jacksonville secondary. I think the defense can hold the Jaguar offense in check. If the Broncos struggle with pass protection and run blocking, Jacksonville will win easily.

My season predictions:

If the Broncos beat Jacksonville, it'll be a good sign that the offensive line is coming around and that the defense can be effective without Elvis Dumerville. I think they follow up a Jaguar win with a win against Seattle at home. This puts the team at 2-0 heading into a huge home game against defending the defending AFC Champion Indianapolis Colts. Just like last year, when the Broncos capitalized on momentum from early season victories to beat powerhouses Dallas and New England at home, I think the Broncos can beat the Colts and start 3-0. After that the schedule gets tougher. I'll predict a 9-7 season if the team beats the Jaguars.

If the Broncos lose to Jacksonville, it could start an early season tailspin that the team will not recover from. I still expect a win against Seattle at home the next week (1-1), followed by losses to Indianapolis, at Tennessee, at Baltimore, and to the Jets at home to start out 1-5. The losing will affect the morale of the team, and the seemingly easy games of the schedule (Oakland home and away, KC home and away, etc) won't look so easy. The team scratches out a few wins on the way to a disappointing 4-12 record.

Even if the team struggles, I think it will be an interesting season. Rookie quarterback Tim Tebow will no doubt see more playing time if the team is out of playoff contention. I also like the initial indications of the 2010 draft class (much better than the 2009 class). The Broncos are building a young talent base but it probably won't come together this year.

CU Scrimmage

Every August I like to go to one Denver Bronco practice and one University of Colorado scrimmage to get an early indication of the prospects for our local teams. Today I headed up to Boulder for the last scrimmage and practice open to the public for the CU Buffs.

The CU scrimmages are sparsely attended - there must have been less than 200 spectators today in the 50,000+ seat Folsom Field. The CU scrimmage is more like a real game than what you see at Bronco practices - the quarterbacks for one are fair game for tackles by the defense.

My impressions of the CU Buffs based on today:


Tyler Hansen (#9) is CLEARLY the best quarterback on the team. Hansen to me was the star of the scrimmage. He looked really good. He has much better pocket presence than when I saw him at the preseason scrimmage last year. He had several deep balls that were right on the money. One was dropped by Tony Clemons, another was dropped by Will Jefferson. He hooked up with Scotty McKnight on a nice 40 yarder despite tight coverage. Hansen ran for a td, too, showing his mobility.


Cody Hawkins was Cody - he just doesn't have the arm strength of Hansen and skipped some balls off the turf. He's an adequate backup with a great attitude but you don't want him as your starter.

When I attended the same scrimmage last year I thought Cody SHOULD be the starter based on that scrimmage. Hansen last year was too raw. This year Hansen was much much improved.

Freshman quarterback Nick Hirschmann reminded me of Hansen last year. He has a good arm (much stronger than Cody's) but he was indecisive in the pocket and needs more work.

Others:

Heralded transfer wide receiver Toney Clemons from Michigan is predicted to be Big 12 offensive newcomer of the year but he didn't do much today. He had a drop on the long pass I mentioned and on another shorter pass he bobbled it before getting it under control. Clemons just didn't seem to be getting as many looks as the other receivers.

UCLA transfer wide receiver Paul Richardson looks very good - the most impressive receiver to me. Other than his drop on the long pass Will Jefferson had his moments too.

There were mixed results on the kicking:

Marcus Kirkwood made his first field goal (about 35 yds) then on another try he kicked it straight into the line. Also Kirkwood was short on kickoffs. If it were just kirkwood I'd be concerned about the fg kicking but ..

Last year's field goal kicker, Eric Goodman looked OK - he made 2 fgs in the 35 yard range. He looked ok in the scrimmage last year and later struggled during the season so let's see if he can be more consistent this year.

Freshman kicker Justin Castor has a good leg. He boomed a kickoff from the 30 that went 5 yards deep into the end zone. I saw Castor make one medium range fg, too. After I left I read that he made a 52 yard field goal.

I was more concerned about the punting. Grossnickle had a series of punts from the 20 yard line: the distances I recorded: 24 yds, 31 yds, 35 yds, 35 yds. His best kick was a high one that was fair caught after 35 yards. This is a division 1 punter? He also had a terrible shank when kicked from the 40 (went out of bounds after 10 yards and into the stands). After I left I read that Grossnickle was booming kicks later in the practice, so there is still hope he can get his act together before the CSU opener.

There were lots of receivers open during the scrimmage which caused someone near me to say "we either have a very good offense or our defense is terrible" I do think they were just playing basic sets on defense so I'm not too worried about the secondary.



My early gut feel on the CU Buffs:

6 wins 6 losses because of much improved quarterback play (Hansen) and more receiving weapons.

A day at bronco practice

Yesterday I ventured out to Dove Valley to see the Broncos practice. Here are some pictures I took (with comments):



My son and I were even with the goal line. We arrived about 45 minutes early and had no problems getting a shady spot. Weather was great - not too hot with a cool breeze.




tebow mania was in full force - these kids were yelling "tebow! tebow!" throughout the practice




Tebow looked good to me - like a fullback playing quarterback. He's bigger than Elway was as a rookie (though John bulked up after a few years). Tebow wasn't accurate on all his passes but he has a confident presence in the huddle. I think he's going to be good!




Demaryius Thompson is huge. In fact that's one thing I noticed compared to the Shanahan Broncos - McD is gradually increasing the size and strength of this team.



Eric Decker has been compared to Ed McCaffery - he reminded me more of Steve Watson. Very smooth.




I wasn't all that impressed with Brady Quinn. I think Tebow will eventually be #2 qb this year.

I like making an annual visit to Bronco training camp. Rarely do you get a chance to be so close to NFL players in action. It's not for everyone (not near the excitement of a game) but I like getting a first look at the rookies and seeing the player/coach interactions.

My initial overall impression is that the Broncos will be like last year - with a good veteran defense and alot of youth on offense. The offensive line struggled yesterday and they really need a healthy Ryan Clady back (and the rookie linemen to make an impact). Regardless of the record this year I think it'll be fun to watch the development of the young players (Thomas, Decker, and especially Tebow)