When is a Bronco not a bronco?

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, June 20, 2007  |  Comments( 12 )

Denver Broncos
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When it's a dark horse, of course!

Quick! Whom do you like for AFC champion in 2008? Setting all blindness because of loyalty aside, if you're in step with bookmakers and pundits, you probably chose:

A) last year's Super Bowl champion, who played the offseason conservatively and returns to perhaps the weakest division in the NFL;

B) the three-time champion who signed the best available linebacker and two of the top WRs on the market during the offseason; or

C) the league's best regular-season team, which responded to running up a 14-2 record by shedding first a better part of the coaching staff and finally the head coach.

Don't like the 5-1 Indianapolis Colts, 6-5 New England Patriots, or 7-2 San Diego Chargers? OK, here's a radical suggestion: D. As in the Denver Broncos.

Going off at a mere 9-1 to win the AFC and a big 17- or 18- or even 20-1 to take Super Bowl XLII, some gamblers have got to be thinking about Mike Shanahan's boys.

What might they be thinking?

Consider:

As good as the Patriots' offseason was, the Broncos can boast one amazing addition in cornerback Dre' Bly, adding him to an already respectable 'D'. This creates the most fearsome secondary in the league; today's speculative depth chart puts the starters as Champ Bailey, Bly, John Lynch and Nick Ferguson.

The Broncos are 123-69 over 12 seasons with Shanahan at the helm. That's an average record of 10-6 and a playoff spot. And, to overuse my favorite argument once again, hey, once you're in the playoffs, anything can happen. Just ask the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As for Shanahan's, um, eccentric choice to switch QBs in Week 13, well, let's just say "the past is the past." The truth is that Jay Cutler's numbers were actually quite impressive: an 88.5 QB rating, with nine TD strikes against five picks while often on the run (he suffered 13 sacks).

Stats aside, Cutler has some ridiculous skills; the NFL should leave the clip of the effortless 54-yarder he threw in the first quarter of Week 15 against Arizona. Check it out. That throw is 54 yards plus backpedaling yardage from the line of scrimmage into the end zone to Javon Walker. From A to B with exactly zero yards after reception. Scary.

In answer to the favored options listed above, Denver fans hope the super secondary the Broncs got going on is enough to stifle a Peyton Manning. This writer's general dumbfoundedness over the celebration of Chargers head coach Marty Schottenheimer aside, going back to 2003, Denver is 7-3 against San Diego; last season's twin debacles aside, the Broncos have a 5-1 record against their division rivals.

And then there's the Patriots. Or, as acknowledged by many of us, this year's Supermen. So call Shanahan the Kryptonite Man.

Yes, it's true that Shanahan hasn't won -- or even visited -- a Super Bowl since he had a guy named John Elway. Sure, he's only 1-4 in the playoffs this decade. There's one thing you can't take away from the man, however: He's the sole living being to be able to claim dominance over Bill Belichick.

Shanahan's Broncos are an incredible 5-2 against Belichick's Pats and 5-1 against Tom Brady. When Denver took the divisional game in 2005, it became the first team to beat the Brady/Belichicks twice in a season.

Tell you what, the Patriots can go 15-1 this season and stomp Indy in the playoffs and all that, but if that road to the Super Bowl includes a visit by the Broncos, folks in New England will be more than a bit nervous.

And at that point, some gamblers will be loving that longshot...

RealFootball365.com does not condone gambling of any sort, except for harmless legal forms such as lottery tickets, town hall bingo games, office pools, stock market speculation, blackjack in Las Vegas, etc.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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CommentsComments: 12  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Manic-Bronco		06:25 AM
06/20/2007
Man I can't wait for the season to start. Os Davis hit the nail on the head with this article. The Broncos are not the favorite...
No.2
Kirk A		11:15 AM
06/20/2007
Reading that article and then following the link to Cutler's unbelievable 54 yard strike to Javon gave me goosebumps. I've been...
No.3
Diego Hernandez		07:45 PM
06/20/2007
Did I hear him refer to the denver backfield as the most fearsome in the league? PUH-Lease! Since when has Lynch ben fearsome?...
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