If all goes well for the Broncos, Sunday will be trash day.
Three seasons of this 5-1 swoon garbage is piling up.
The Broncos were 5-1 in 2003, yet reached the season’s midway point 5-3. Again in 2004, the Broncos were 5-1 only to lose their next two games and enter the second half 5-3.
This season? The Broncos were 5-1. The general feeling, though, was this 5-1 was better than the other 5-1 starts. This year’s 5-1 record came against a tougher schedule. It was built by a mistake-free offense, and noticeably improved defense and punting. Even the most ardent skeptics were beginning to soften.
Then the Broncos blew a 13-point fourth-quarter lead last weekend against the New York Giants and lost 24-23.
Uh-oh. Denver is 5-2. For Week 8, the Broncos could have used a gimme opponent such as Houston or San Francisco or any team from the NFC North.
But the Broncos get the Philadelphia Eagles. The defending NFC champion, Donovan McNabb and Terrell Owens-led Eagles. The game will be played Sunday before an anxious sellout crowd at Invesco Field at Mile High.
It’s as if the schedule-makers wanted to determine whether the Broncos’ 5-1 trend was coincidence or hex.
“We’re not looking at it as trying to break the curse of whatever happened the past two years,” said Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams. “I really don’t believe in the past having an effect on the game you’re playing this week. Every time you go out there, you’re in control of your own destiny.”
Williams’ attitude about the past having nothing to do with the present is pretty much unanimous among all sports. Outside the Dove Valley walls, though, the perception may well become same old, same old if the Broncos can’t beat the Eagles on Sunday.
For people to buy into the Broncos as better than the past two seasons, when they made the playoffs but were bounced in the first round each time, a 6-2 record could be crucial.
“I haven’t played an unimportant game yet, know what I mean?” Broncos defensive end Trevor Pryce said. “The record doesn’t really play into it other than after the game. You’re either 1-0 or 0-1. Then at the end, you add them up and say, ‘Oh, we won 13 and lost three.’ But there’s no pressure from a record that anybody actually takes into a game.”
The only time 5-3 comes up at Broncos headquarters is when reporters remind players and coaches about the dangers of falling to 5-3. Some may call this pessimism. Others would call it reality.
The reality is, if the Broncos enter their bye week 5-3, they could well spend the second half of the season toting around all that 5-1 to 5-3 garbage from 2003 and 2004.
“It’s human nature for people to have those thoughts,” said Broncos safety John Lynch. “We know that’s pretty pervasive in this town. But I think we’re all very confident that we’re a better football team. We just like the makeup of this team. But again, you’ve got to show it on the field.”
Should the Broncos beat the Eagles, everybody knows what the consensus probably would be then: Sure, they have a better team this year. But can they win a playoff game?
“One thing I’ve learned about this game,” said Lynch, a 13-year NFL veteran, “is you’re never done proving.”
Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
