CLEVELAND — Part of the charm of traveling the country for 14 years as an MLB beat writer was learning the weather along with how many creative ways a local baseball team could lose.
Hot in Washington D.C.’s old RFK Stadium is a different kind of hot than 90 degrees at Dodger Stadium. Hot in Atlanta or St. Louis in July is much stickier than a midsummer’s night in San Diego. Same goes for cold. New York in April can be brisk. But Midwest cold is unique. Having covered winter meetings in Indianapolis and Milwaukee, April games at Wrigley and World Series games with the White Sox, there’s nothing quite like the chill-to-the-bone freeze of the Midwest.
With temperatures expected in the mid 40s, it would behoove the Broncos to be able to run the ball Sunday at Cleveland. (Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post)
I mention this because it’s cold Sunday in Cleveland. Not stupid cold. But 47 degrees by the lake is different than 47 degrees in Wash Park back home. My point? If the Broncos have designs on going 6-0 for the seventh time in franchise history — they have reached the Super Bowl five of the first six times — they need to run the ball in bad weather.
So let’s get to the three keys of the game:
Run the ball
The Broncos can’t be this bad on the ground can they? The Broncos’ 358 rushing yards ranks as the third-fewest in the NFL. Their average of 3.3 yards per attempt sits second-worst. Cleveland allows an average of 5.0 yards per carry, second-highest in the league. If the Broncos can’t run on Cleveland, then who can they run on? Coach Gary Kubiak insists that C.J. Anderson and Ronnie Hillman are co-starters. Kapri Bibbs is the third back. If one of the backs gets going, feed him. If the Broncos fail to establish a ground game today in the windy cold, not only will it jeopardize their undefeated record, but it will be time to look at personnel changes.
Contain Big Play Barnidge
T.J. Ward knows all about tight end Gary “Big Play” Barnidge. “When I played with him in Cleveland he was ‘Big Block’ Barnidge. He was a really good dude. He just was stuck behind Jordan Cameron,” Ward said. Barnidge has become the Browns’ top target, catching 24 passes for 374 yards and three touchdowns. The Broncos will likely use a variety of looks to cover Barnidge, including Ward, David Bruton, Brandon Marshall and Aqib Talib, who told me he expects to play after spraining his right ankle against the Oakland Raiders.
Eliminate the turnovers
Peyton Manning is not a game manager. He has directed critical drives in wins over the Chiefs, Lions and Vikings. But the late-game excellence was necessary, in part, because of his own mistakes. Manning has thrown interceptions in the first five games of a season for the first time since 1999. He has never thrown an interception in the first seven games of a season. The Broncos must improve in the red zone. That starts with Manning and the receivers, who rank 10th in dropped passes this season with eight.
