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Published: July 17, 2010
The Denver Broncos finished a very streaky 2009 season with an 8-8 record and missed the NFL playoffs for the fourth straight year.
The 2009 team really lacked mental toughness. It was a roller coaster year. They opened the season with 6 straight wins. They then lost four straight, won two straight and closed the season losing four straight games. Denver had a disappointing 4-4 home record in 2009.
The Broncos sat 15th in the league in total offense with 341.4 yards per game. They fell to 18th in the league in rushing offense averaging 114.8 yards per game.
Rookie running back Knowshon Moreno in 247 carries rushed for 947 yards and only a 3.8 yards per carry average. After a good start Moreno hit a wall in his rookie season.
Quarterback Kyle Orton passed for 21 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 2009. The Broncos drafted quarterback Tim Tebow in the first round and acquired Brady Quinn from the Cleveland Browns to battle for the #2 behind Orton.
The Broncos on the defensive side of the ball in 2009 ranked 7th in total defense allowing 315 yards per game.
The pass defense was exceptional early on for the Broncos as the team allowed just 186.3 yards per game through the air ranking 3rd in the league at seasons end.
The Broncos defense tanked badly down the stretch allowing an average of 30.5 points per game to their final 4 opponents. While competing for a playoff spot down the stretch in 2009 the Broncos allowed 44 points to the Kansas City Chiefs, 30 to the Eagles, 20 to the inept Raiders offense and 28 to the Colts in their final four games of the season.
The Odds:
The Denver Broncos 2010 season win projection has been set at 7 ½ wins by Bodog sportsbook with over favored at -120 an under returning -110 odds.
Denver has been posted as 50-1 odds by Bodog sportsbook to win Super Bowl XLV.
Bodog has lined the Broncos at 25-1 to win the AFC Championship and are +600 underdogs to win the AFC West.
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2010 Denver Broncos Regular Season Schedule:
Denver plays in the AFC West and the club will host and play a game away against the Oakland Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers.
The AFC West is matched against the AFC South and NFC West in 2010.
The Broncos games against the AFC South will be home games against the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans with road games to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Tennessee Titans.
Their NFC West games will be home games to the Seattle Seahawks and St Louis Rams and away against the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals.
As the second place finisher in 2009 in the AFC West the Broncos will compete against the two other second place finishers from the AFC and that will bring a home game to the New York Jets and a road trip to the Baltimore Ravens.
Denver is only featured in 1 prime time game in the 2010 season and it is scheduled on the road to San Diego on a Monday night in week 11.
Denver catches a bad break in scheduling. They must play three road games in a row from week 13 to 15 with games at Kansas City, Arizona and Oakland.
They do have the good fortune on finishing the regular season at home with games against Houston and San Diego.
Offense:
Kyle Orton retained his starting quarterback position and entered training camp as the teams number one quarterback. The 6 year pro completed on 62.1% of his passes for 3802 yards in 2009.
Where Orton really struggled is in the red zone when the playing field shrank as the Broncos converted touchdowns just 48.1% of the time and ranking 23rd in the league.
That is an important stat because the Broncos suffered losses twice by three points or less and with better red zone conversions in the losses to Oakland and Philadelphia late in the season the team would have made the playoffs.
Orton does not gamble and would rather throw away a ball than to make a tight pass into coverage and especially in the red zone.
Veteran running back Correll Buckhalter was plagued with injuries last season. He was the most efficient back for the Broncos as the 10 year veteran rushed 120 times for 642 yards and a 5.4 yards per carry average. He missed two games last season and has moved up the depth chart to number one running back for Denver as camp opens.
Five year veteran J.J. Arrington returns after missing all of 2009 with an injury. He spent most of his time with the Arizona Cardinals where he amassed just a 3.6 yards per carry average running behind a suspect offensive line during the teams down years.
The receiver position for the Broncos underwent massive turnover. Gone is Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler. Penciled in as the #1 and #2 wide outs for the team are Eddie Royal and Demayius Thomas with Jabar Gaffney and Brandon Stokely as the #3 and #4 option. Thomas was the teams first round pick out of Georgia Tech. Eric Decker from the university of Minnesota was drafted in the third round to provide depth. Daniel Graham is the teams tight end and he had 28 catches for a 10.3 yards per catch average a year ago. Marshall and Scheffler combined for 132 of the Broncos catches and over half their pass catching touchdowns a year ago.
The offensive line shapes up with Seth Olsen at center with Russ Hochstein and Chris Kuper at guards. Ryan Harris and Ryan Clady man the tackle positions. Denver allowed 34 sacks a year ago. Guard Zane Beadles was drafted out of Utah in the second round and center J.D. Walton from Baylor in the third round to provide depth.
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Defense:
The Broncos will run a 3-4 in 2010 that features a new look with Justin Bannan and Jarvis Green at outside tackles with Jamal Williams as the nose. All three come over in free agency as Bannan played with the Ravens, Green with the Patriots and Williams from the Chargers in 2009.
The linebacker position looks like Mario Haggan and D.J. Williams lining up inside with Robert Ayers and Elvis Dumervil on the outside. Dumervil had monster season with 17 sacks in 2009.
The Broncos secondary is outstanding as the unit features the veteran Champ Bailey and Andre’ Goodman at the corners with Renaldo Hill and veteran Brian Dawkins at safety. Nate Jones was acquired from Miami in free agency to help bring stability in the nickel package. Corner back Perrish Cox was drafted in the 5th round out of Oklahoma St to provide depth.
And now to my Selection:
The Broncos overhauled their front three and will bring better run stoppage in 2010 as Denver will improve on a #27th ranked run defense in 2009. The question for Denver is can the team contribute with enough offense to support a defense that will come into great form in 2010.
The Broncos coaching staff will find plays for Tim Tebow to help improve touchdown performance inside the red zone. I really think the club drafted Tebow to extend drives and to give them a different look on third downs to take pressure off of Orton in those situations where he tends to play it way to safe.
One extra touchdown and 1 less field goal is a +4 point swing for the team and 4 extra points in the Eagles and Raiders game in 2009 would have got them to 10 wins and a playoff spot.
Based on a stout defense and better third down and red zone conversions with Tebow the Broncos will be a plodding team that gets to at lease 8 wins this season.
Selection: Play Under 9 wins in 2009 Regular Season.
