Emotions must have eyes. Everything just looks so different today. The 2005 football schedule, for instance.
Only in fickle and fanatical Broncoland can the dispiriting season-opening defeat in Miami suddenly seem so far away, while the playoffs in January seemingly move to right around the corner.
There is nothing quite like a dominant performance against a division leader to swing the faith in the local football team.
Needing to convince a national television audience and – more important – their demanding local fan base that fears of a Denver demise were grossly premature, the Broncos didn’t just beat the Kansas City Chiefs, they thoroughly trounced them 30-10 on Monday night before a sellout crowd of 76,381 at Invesco Field at Mile High.
“We’re football players, the gloom and doom is what’s out around us,” said Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer, who threw one touchdown pass and bootlegged for another. “When we get in that facility and get on that practice field, it’s us and only us, and that’s all that matters.”
Nary a boo was heard Monday night. Then again, ABC and the Broncos never gave the fans much chance to complain.
Just before kickoff, the crowd waved orange pompoms and helped wrestler and motion-picture celebrity “The Rock” shout the “Monday Night Football” theme line, “Are you ready for some football?”
Has Invesco Field, in its fifth season, ever been louder?
The exhilarating environment was in stark contrast to the previous week when the Broncos were mercilessly booed while falling behind 14-3 at halftime to the San Diego Chargers.
“I’m not taking anything away from anybody, but this is what the NFL is – you’ll get your behinds kicked in a minute if you’re not ready,” said Broncos defensive end Trevor Pryce, who drew at least three holding penalties from the injury-riddled Chiefs line. “But then you can also dominate a game like this. It all depends on the swing on how do we feel, how do they feel. It all factors in.”
Last week the Broncos rallied to beat the Chargers thanks to their hyperaggressive and opportunistic defense. Monday night they were up 17-0 against the Chiefs before “The Rock” could find his seat.
A short field goal by Jason Elam, a long touchdown run by Mike Anderson and a medium-range touchdown pass from Plummer to Rod Smith put the Broncos up 17-0 before the Chiefs could say AFC West. It’s a division that now has Denver and the Chiefs at the top with 2-1 records.
“They beat us in every way you can beat us,” Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil said. “The only thing we outscored them on was on penalties, 13-4.”
The Broncos are hardly a perfect team and injuries to two of their best players on defense and offense – Champ Bailey (hamstring) and Smith (concussion) – may raise concerns for their immediate future, which comes Sunday at Jacksonville. But give the Broncos this: They have responded and then some to that embarrassing 34-10, season-opening loss in Miami.
“This organization wants to win, and even after last week we weren’t real happy,” Plummer said. “We want to win and win big. Today was a dominating performance on both sides of the ball.”
The defense in particular raises hopes this team is considerably better than the one that finished 10-6 and was drilled in the first week of the playoffs the past two seasons. The speed and athleticism of Ian Gold has complemented the otherwise bruising linebacker corps of Al Wilson and D.J. Williams. Strong safety Nick Ferguson has been magnificent in holding down the likes of tight ends Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez in consecutive weeks.
And to all those pundits who laughed at the Broncos for restructuring their defensive line with a bunch of Cleveland Browns castoffs? They need to meet Courtney Brown.
After the Broncos sacked Chargers quarterback Drew Brees four times in the second half last week, Brown, Trevor Pryce and Ebenezer Ekuban, among other Denver defensive linemen, consistently harried the Chiefs’ Trent Green into missing open receivers or settling for short completions.
“For the most part they were bringing one linebacker with four down linemen,” said Green, who was 23-for-44 for only 221 yards. “They were getting good penetration, so they didn’t lean on the blitz.”
As for Green’s Monday night counterpart, never mind what the national audience thinks of Plummer. Broncos quarterbacks always have answered first to the local crowd. The way he played Monday, Plummer should no longer be referred to as Jake the Snake.
How about No-Mistake Jake? Plummer was 13-for-18 for only 152 yards, but he had the 12-yard touchdown throw to Smith, ran a bootleg from the 1-yard line for another score and threw no interceptions.
“I think Jake played one of the best games I’ve seen a quarterback play around here,” Pryce said.
And heard no boos. Now the next question Broncos fans have for their team:
Are they ready for some Jacksonville Jaguars?
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached
at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
