Denver wins home opener, shutting down Seahawks 31-14
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On a day where there was as much talk in the stands of the record-breaking heat in Denver as of the home team’s chances of coming away with a victory, it was the steady hand of Kyle Orton that stayed cool, even as the temperature soared into the mid-90s.
Orton found rookie Demaryius Thomas in his NFL debut a total of 10 times for 97 yards and a touchdown, while also spreading the ball to Eddie Royal (who made some nifty plays, including the reception on a razzle-dazzle), Jabar Gaffney, and Brandon Lloyd, combining for over 300 yards.
We’ll start with the good, because the Broncos did come out on top, after all. Orton was solid. There’s no question now that this is Orton’s team, and each week he’s proven that he has the stuff to make good decisions, make good throws, and generally show why he’s always been considered a “winner” – he wins games, and doesn’t lose them by costly mistakes.
Also in the ‘good’ column, Demaryius Thomas introduced himself to the NFL in a big way, outshining Jabar Gaffney and Eddie Royal to show why he was deserving of a first round pick – which, incidentally, came higher than Tebow.
The secondary played admirably, with Bailey, Dawkins, and Cox each coming down with an interception, and never really getting burned for the big-time score.
The 31-14 victory wasn’t without issue for the Broncos, however. This is a Seahawks team in a bit of a shambles, one that has yet to find its identity as a football team. For each of the positives in the game, Denver had its negatives to be concerned about.
For starters, the special teams coverage unit again was downright pitiful. The only successes on kick coverage were when Seattle fumbled one kick, and when Prater put the ball out of the end zone. Otherwise, the opposing return men had a field day against a unit that had similar troubles in Jacksonville last week.
Another issue to be addressed is the defensive line. The inability to consistently pressure Hasselbeck left the Seattle QB with tons of time to run around in the pocket, and in one case to inexplicably slip free and dash 20 yards untouched into the end zone for a touchdown. At some point, this unit that misses Dumervil intensely is going to have to figure out how to apply the heat to the opposing QB, or the Denver secondary will simply get gassed from chasing receivers around all afternoon.
My final point of analysis on the negative side is probably more subjective than the others, but even from the heights of Section 530 I could see the futility of Knowshon Moreno, and it wasn’t pretty. Yes, he broke off that one big run, and there’s no denying he’s electric when he hits the open field. The problem is, he never hits the open field. 51 rushing yards, on 24 attempts. that’s an average of barely over 2 yards per carry. A guy gets the rock 24 times a game, he shouldn’t have too much trouble cracking 100 yards. Moreno barely got half that. It’s a bit tiresome watching him slam into the line time and again, occasionally doing his little ‘happy feet’ dance looking for a hole. The offensive line is not good enough to open the gigantic gaping holes he was used to in college, and in the NFL a sliver of light between the tackles is often all you get. Moreno needs to either learn how to hit the hole and power is way through, or find a home as a kick returner where he has nothing but open field to work with. It’s this exact dynamic that actually makes me glad for the acquisition of Laurence Maroney – with the hope that we’ll find a runner that can provide a little muscle and mix it up with the linemen. Buckhalter just looks finished, and Moreno got way too many chances against a suspect defense… when Denver runs into teams with a more solid defense, Moreno might be lucky just to get to 50 yards.
Even with that said, it was a good solid effort from the boys today in the home opener. It takes the sting off of a demoralizing defeat at the hands of the kitty-cats – er, Jaguars, and gives hope that this team might in fact be on an upward trend. Nothing like the Colts coming to town to stifle an upward trend, but for now I’m enjoying the victory and trying to rehydrate after a scorcher at Mile High.
