As the notes column turns. …
The Broncos blew a 17-point lead at home Sunday and lost their most important game of the season. Now for the bad news: They have to play again Thursday night in Kansas City.
Forget all those quotes about about how nice it is that they won’t have much time to dwell on Sunday’s come-from-ahead loss to the Chargers. Fact is, the league didn’t do the Broncos any favors by allowing NBC to switch the game to Sunday night from Sunday afternoon.
I’d tell you what one Broncos player called the situation, but this being a family-oriented newspaper, it isn’t going to happen.
The Broncos already were up against it, what with the Chiefs having played at home Sunday afternoon and Denver having to travel on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving night game. Now the Broncos’ short week is even shorter, so short that Mike Shanahan and his coaches spent parts of Friday and Saturday game planning for the Chiefs instead of preparing for the Chargers.
Remember that the next time somebody tells you TV isn’t running pro sports. …
Not that the Broncos figure to be a lost cause at K.C. They’ve won four straight on the road since losing their season opener at St. Louis. For the record, they’ve won more than four in a row on the road once in the Shanahan era – in 1998, when they won the first 13 in a row, six on the road. …
In case you’re a glutton for punishment, the game marked the Broncos’ biggest collapse at home since they blew a 20-point lead vs. Seattle on Dec. 10, 1995. They lost that game 31-27. …
Once again, special teams played a big part in a Broncos loss. This time, it came in the form of a 44-yard kickoff return by Michael Turner after a Jason Elam field goal had put the Broncos ahead 27-21 with 11 minutes to play. “We gave them some life with field position,” said Shanahan. …
It’s hardly the first time. The greatest mystery of the Shanahan era is how the Broncos could have performed so poorly for so long on special teams. After Sunday’s game, Shanahan was asked if he might use more starters to try to improve the special teams’ play. “I don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said, “but we’re going to have to do something to be more productive.” …
Just wondering: Was that sixth or seventh gear LaDainian Tomlinson swung into on that 51-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter? The Broncos blitzed on the play, leaving Tomlinson matched up with Ebenezer Ekuban. “You’ve got a defensive end on LaDainian,” said John Lynch. “That’s tough duty and they exposed it.” Good thing there was an end zone handy or L.T. might have run all the way to Wyoming. …
That play, by the way, was the sixth-longest catch of L.T.’s career. Nothing out of the ordinary there. The longest run of his career, a 76-yarder in 2002, came against the Broncos. …
Darrent Williams returned an interception 31 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter. And to think, Philip Rivers had gone into the game with 122 straight throws without a pick. Oh, and did I mention he hadn’t thrown a second-half interception all season? …
The victory was Marty Schottenheimer‘s fourth in 18 games in the city he once called home. It’s true. Back in the day, he spent a year selling real estate in Colorado before deciding his future was stalking sidelines. …
Back-to-back wins after trailing – on the road, no less – by 21 and 17 points. So it’s official then. The Chargers made the right decision when they let Drew Brees go and handed the keys to Rivers. …
By the way, if you’ve ripped up your scorecard in disgust, that’s 70 second-half points the Chargers have scored in the past two weeks. …
The Broncos have faced Tomlinson and Peyton Manning, the leading candidates for the MVP award, and lost to both. Said Darrent Williams, when asked who would get his MVP vote, “It’s hard to say. Both of them are on top of their game right now. I’ll do a split vote.” …
The final word, courtesy of Lynch: “It’s disappointing. If you want to be a championship team, you’ve got to put games like that away, and we didn’t do it.”
Catch Jim Armstrong from 6-9 a.m. during “The Press Box” on ESPN 560 AM. He can be reached at (303) 954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
