Orange Colored Glasses: Nine and Two damn cold
“After KC come the Titans, Chargers, Texans and Raiders. Even allowing for one surprise loss among those games, the Broncos will finish the season no worse than 13-3. But let’s not forget … they did that last season, too. And the Nuggets won 57 games. “
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Let’s be honest. Before the season started, back when the Broncos were still in camp, when we all sat down with the schedule and peered over the match ups in 2013, having no other information other than what our guts told us, we all penciled in an “L” next to “@New England”. It was tough to find any other sure Denver losses on the slate but that one jumped out. If not for New England’s injuries and the fact that they had sputtered some earlier this season we all would have still felt that way right up until kickoff. In fact, I still did. Read my pre-game prediction. It’s eerily accurate, right down to the 31-34 final score. But that doesn’t make what happened last night any less disappointing.
There have been times when I have wondered if this foray into amateur “sports media” had affected me as a fan – if my heart had grown colder as I had turned from simply watching games to trying to analyze them. If there is anything positive that came from last night’s soul-crushing Broncos loss to the Pats it is that I now know for certain that the fan in me has not gone anywhere. After Tony Carter touched that punted ball and Tom Brady was able to trot out onto the field only to center the ball for his place-kicker – and I realized that the Broncos were going down – a vague kind of pain filled my chest cavity and moved through my neck up to my eyes which I realized were watering. I cried – or almost did anyway.
It’s odd to become so emotional over a loss that sends your team to 9-2 and still ranked atop its conference. But what happened last night was much more than just a loss. It was a near confirmation of our worst fears about Peyton Manning.
I have not listened to the radio this morning or read Mark Kiszla’s column in the paper. I don’t have to do those things to now what the diatribe is. Peyton Manning really is bad when it’s cold outside. He had his moments last night, and he did manage to drive the Broncos down field to tie the game at 31 and force overtime, but some of his passes were simply awful. Manning looked as though he was shot putting the ball at times. One pass in particular, a screen to CJ Anderson, had to travel only a few yards – and didn’t. Even some of the throws that were completed had to be snatched out of the air by Thomas and Tamme, essentially intercepted away from defenders. What’s worse is that Manning didn’t look like he wanted to be there. There was no look of ferociousness on his face or any sense that he wasn’t going to be denied a win.
Sadly, Manning wasn’t given the change to change our perceptions. With three minutes left in overtime old number 18 might have taken over the game, driven his team right down the field and either thrown a touchdown or gotten Matt Prater into position to win the game. Had that happened all this cold weather talk would be a subtext at most. As things stand now though it’s the crux of the story of Denver’s loss – and of their hopes in the post-season.
As with the playoff loss to the Ravens there were about a half-dozen plays that can be considered turning points in last night’s fiasco. There was the Ball fumble, the Holliday muff (and the injury to DRC that resulted), the Manning pick and the dozen or so inexcusable drops by receivers. For that matter, though, the Broncos benefited from a positively surreal first half after which they lead 24-0 and several spotty calls in their favor late in the second half. For every item you can point to in explaining the loss you can point to another as a reason that the Broncos weren’t blown out.
Ultimately, this game doesn’t matter. It didn’t matter before kickoff and it doesn’t matter now that’s it’s over. The Broncos remain firmly in command of their own fate. They will beat Kansas City next weekend, which will lock the AFC West of for good – and probably the first or second seed in the playoffs, the bye week and at least one home playoff game. After KC come the Titans, Chargers, Texans and Raiders. Even allowing for one surprise loss among those games, the Broncos will finish the season no worse than 13-3. But let’s not forget … they did that last season, too. And the Nuggets won 57 games. The 2013 regular season has always been viewed an extended pre-season for a team expected to blast through the playoffs and go all the way to the Super Bowl. The fact that the Broncos lost by three to the Patriots in a prime-time game at their place does not change anything. The way that they lost might, though.
The Broncos’ best weapon was rendered useless last night by forces of nature. If Peyton Manning is going to continue to rely on ideal circumstances to produce his “Star Wars numbers” then he is going to make Jim Irsay look like a genius for relieving him of his duties as quarterback of the Colts and moving in the direction of a more rugged guy and the Broncos are going to see their massive investment bear no fruit. It will be right back to the QB drawing board in a year or two and it could be who-knows-how-long before the team settles down at the position again. That’s the real worry, not the overtime loss to the Patriots.
Peyton Manning’s legacy is on the line. He simply must find it within himself to produce in poor weather. No matter where the Broncos play in the post-season it’s going to be cold, whether that’s in Denver, New England, Kansas City or Cincinnati. The Super Bowl is in New Jersey in February. Cold is part of life in the NFL and if Manning can’t handle it then John Elway made a mistake.
It will be around 40-45 degrees and possibly rainy next week when the Broncos go into Arrowhead. Manning will clean up. The Broncos will dominate the Chiefs. They’ll probably win by 20 or more and the chatter around town will turn back toward Denver’s championship aspirations. We will all be able to turn the page – at least for now.
Hopefully the Broncos got their outrageous loss out of the way early this season. Hopefully Peyton Manning understands that this team will only go as far as he can take them – regardless of the weather.
