Let’s get this party started we continue the never too early series with the Denver Broncos season preview.
Denver Broncos Season Preview Overview:
In the words of Homer J. Simpson “ohhhhhhhhh, the Denver Broncos?!?!?!”
Of course, that reference is now severely outdated as Denver will be everyone’s Super Bowl favorite this preseason.
In the most over-hyped, over-anticipated and overrated Super Bowl of all time, they finished runner-up in the NFL just five short months ago. The “game,” as awful as it was did accomplish two things: 1.) breaking the ratings record as 115 million Americans tuned in and 2.) gave credence to old shopworn cliche “defense wins championships.”
Peyton Manning is no underdog, no “plucky upstart,” but with a humiliating loss like as it was, coupled with the fact that his slighter better than mediocre brother has one more ring than him, and there’s a fire lit in him now. He has a lot to prove this season, and there’s only one way the 2014 Denver Broncos season can be considered a success.
Anything else is a failure.
Denver Broncos Season Preview Offense:
John Elway is the oldest quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl at age 38. Manning is 38. Obviously, his window is closing. Luckily he has all the talent all around him. No team had a better offseason than the Broncos. They raised expectations; sort of. At 13-3, and with an offense that broke the scoring records of the 2006 New England Patriots, expectations are already there.
The Broncos will keep on rolling with Emmanuel Sanders replacing the departed Eric Decker and Wisconsin Badgers product Montee Ball taking over for as the new tailback. They’re really good, we’ll just leave it at that. Oh wait, Pro Bowl LT Ryan Clady returns. He went out for the season in week 2. So now they’re going to get even better.
Denver Broncos Season Preview Defense:
When you’re 27th in the NFL in pass defense, you’re going to lose some games. That stat is misleading, as the Broncos often pummeled and then buried their opponents early in games, so they had to try to catch up/run out the clock by passing, passing and more passing. Hey. it’s what today’s NFL wants as its product. I don’t really care much for their draft picks though. I believe Bradley Roby is destined to be the next Brandon Meriweather; and that’s not a compliment. They made a huge splash in free agency, adding DE DeMarcus Ware, S T.J. Ward and CB Aqib Talib; the last of which will make a huge difference if he can avoid getting arrested and having to spend time and money fighting legal battles.
Von Miller, Rahim Moore and Chris Harris are all healthy now, and they’ll upgrade a unit that will see seven new starters on opening day. That concludes the 2014 Denver Broncos season preview
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports and Yahoo! He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world. He’s also a special contributor to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Banks has been featured in numerous media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, NBC, CBS, the History Channel and more. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)