Is it luck or guts? The Broncos are undefeated, 6-0 headed into the bye week, but there appears to be more problems than solutions.
Struggling against inferior teams that lead to seemingly improbable wins has been the storyline for every game this season.
“No I’ve never played in a game like this. This was probably the closest, back-and-forth, bogus-play game I’ve ever been a part of,” Broncos safety T.J. Ward said about .
The keyword that struck me was “bogus.” Is all of this bogus? Will the Broncos’ many flaws soon be exposed?
There’s no doubt Denver’s ball-hawking, quarterback-hitting defense has bailed out the offense week after week, but there are signs that the offense is getting better.
The NFL is a fourth-quarter league. And there should be a lot of credit given to a team able to win every crunch-time game.
In the NBA, the word for that would be clutch. For some reason, the NFL doesn’t have the same standards.
Instead, fans are asking to bench quarterback Peyton Manning. A 6-0 quarterback. Maybe winning isn’t all that matters, like they say.
“I truly in my heart feel like we are the ones that beat ourselves, more so than the Broncos beating us,” Browns outside linebacker Paul Kruger said after the game Sunday.
No offense to what Mr. Kruger feels in his heart or Cleveland’s valiant effort Sunday afternoon, but I feel like I’ve heard a variant of that quote by a losing opponent every week.
“We had them right where we wanted them,” they say. “If we take care of the ball on that last possession, we win the game,” they say.
Or maybe we should channel former Arizona Cardinals coach Dennis Green’s “They are what we thought they were” speech in reference to the undefeated Chicago Bears in 2006.
The main variable in all of those cases was that the team talking lost.
It may not be pretty, but the Broncos are undefeated. Is it sustainable? That’s the million-dollar question, but we’ll find out real soon.
The Broncos’ November schedule: versus Green Bay, at Indianapolis, versus Kansas City, at Chicago, versus New England.
Yeah, I’d say we’ll find out how good this Broncos team is starting in about two weeks.
CHEW ON THIS
• Columnist Mark Kiszla looks at the Broncos’ uneasy — but successful — .
• Broncos linebacker , but he’s came through big for Denver on Sunday.
• Another Denver linebacker, first-round pick Shane Ray, .
• game Sunday.
• .
• . Well, parts of it.
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The Indianapolis Colts with …
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Colorado’s own Trey Parker turns 46 today. The “South Park” co-creator put the state’s on the national map with a blend of raunch, social commentary and gross jokes. Then he took that .
Cameron Wolfe: cwolfe@denverpost.com or @CameronWolfe
Online sports producer Joe Nguyen contributed to this story.
