Angel
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Lincicome: Don't set execution for Broncos offense
October 13, 2006
To feel is to fret. The thought that the Broncos offense might be worse than the whole Oakland team cannot be dismissed, not that a warm wind couldn't beat the Raiders, not that the Broncos won't.
But Oakland's dreariness is only rumor while Jake Plummer and friends have revealed themselves weekly - minus a harmless week off - to be something between an annoyance and a nuisance.
The Broncos are aiming higher than are the ragged Raiders, a team searching for its first victory, enduring a 10-game losing streak, while trying to disregard the prospect of becoming the first team to lose every game in an NFL season since the expansion '76 Buccaneers.
While the Broncos wish to exceed last season's AFC title game loss, and the season will be a failure if they do not, the Raiders are part of a parallel chase toward ignominy, neck and neck and neck with Tampa Bay, Detroit and Tennessee for the winless bottom.
The last team not to win a game in a season was Baltimore, then the Colts, in a season shortened by a strike in '82, but a tie marred perfect futility.
One can recall during the season that led to the Broncos' first Super Bowl win, the Raiders reeking of similar aroma and still beating the Broncos. And this will be a rivalry as long as Mike Shanahan is on this side.
When scheduled as a Sunday night showcase game, it must have seemed more worthy than it is, two old enemies always content to get into each other's way, the Raiders renewing themselves and the Broncos aiming for a better January.
That it has turned out to be more like the hammer meeting the thumb will be compelling only if it turns out the Broncos are the thumb, and the smart money makes the Broncos more a two-touchdown favorite, hammerwise.
Another way to look at this game is a Parity Bowl, meaning that in the NFL, any team can beat any other team anytime anyone doubts it can't be done.
The Broncos have defeated New England there and an undefeated Baltimore team here, to hold up their end of the concept, and should those games be played again (and they might, thinking ahead to the playoffs), the result could be the other way around.
And just last week, winless Tennessee went into Indianapolis and alarmed the undefeated Colts before resuming their lot.
The shambles that is Oakland ought not to cause similar anxiety against the Broncos. Already a minimutiny has undermined the return of the very decent but probably outdated Art Shell as coach.
If Oakland receiver Jerry Porter isn't benched in limbo, then Randy Moss is hinting for a trade or threatening to smell the roses, or whatever that odor is. Things are so miserable for the Raiders these days that the World Series might push them out of their stadium next Sunday and into the invisibility of Monday night.
Pardon me, while I wipe away a tear.
Here's about as good a case as can be made for the Raiders winning: stuff happens.
Or in the case of the Broncos offense and in particular, Plummer, stuff doesn't happen often enough.
As a team, the Broncos offense has been outgained in yards, has fewer first downs than the opposition, fewer passing yards and fewer completions, and the four touchdowns scored in four games would seem more feeble were it not that the Broncos defense had given up only one.
Only the rushing game, fourth in the league, is a measurable benefit. Even that old bugaboo, touchdowns inside the red zone, is clicking along at a familiarly disappointing 40 percent, only two touchdowns in five.
As for Plummer, he is not the worst quarterback in the league, merely the 27th worst of the 30 who are ranked, ahead of only Tampa Bay's Chris Simms (out with a ruptured spleen), Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger (finally ordinary) and Tennessee's Kerry Collins (benched for Vince Young, who has been worse).
Plummer's quarterback rating of 60.9 echoes his years in Arizona, where he was consistently in the 70s or less, as does his ratio of interceptions to touchdowns, now five to three, which would project out to 20 and 12 for the season, hardly the kind of production that foresees a Super Bowl.
That winless Tampa Bay team that Oakland is chasing prompted the response from coach John McKay, when asked about his offense's execution, that he was for it.
The Broncos are not quite at the point of asking for a blindfold and a last cigarette, but if things don't pick up against the woeful Raiders, you'll be able to hear harmonica music in the background.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_5063218,00.html
October 13, 2006
To feel is to fret. The thought that the Broncos offense might be worse than the whole Oakland team cannot be dismissed, not that a warm wind couldn't beat the Raiders, not that the Broncos won't.
But Oakland's dreariness is only rumor while Jake Plummer and friends have revealed themselves weekly - minus a harmless week off - to be something between an annoyance and a nuisance.
The Broncos are aiming higher than are the ragged Raiders, a team searching for its first victory, enduring a 10-game losing streak, while trying to disregard the prospect of becoming the first team to lose every game in an NFL season since the expansion '76 Buccaneers.
While the Broncos wish to exceed last season's AFC title game loss, and the season will be a failure if they do not, the Raiders are part of a parallel chase toward ignominy, neck and neck and neck with Tampa Bay, Detroit and Tennessee for the winless bottom.
The last team not to win a game in a season was Baltimore, then the Colts, in a season shortened by a strike in '82, but a tie marred perfect futility.
One can recall during the season that led to the Broncos' first Super Bowl win, the Raiders reeking of similar aroma and still beating the Broncos. And this will be a rivalry as long as Mike Shanahan is on this side.
When scheduled as a Sunday night showcase game, it must have seemed more worthy than it is, two old enemies always content to get into each other's way, the Raiders renewing themselves and the Broncos aiming for a better January.
That it has turned out to be more like the hammer meeting the thumb will be compelling only if it turns out the Broncos are the thumb, and the smart money makes the Broncos more a two-touchdown favorite, hammerwise.
Another way to look at this game is a Parity Bowl, meaning that in the NFL, any team can beat any other team anytime anyone doubts it can't be done.
The Broncos have defeated New England there and an undefeated Baltimore team here, to hold up their end of the concept, and should those games be played again (and they might, thinking ahead to the playoffs), the result could be the other way around.
And just last week, winless Tennessee went into Indianapolis and alarmed the undefeated Colts before resuming their lot.
The shambles that is Oakland ought not to cause similar anxiety against the Broncos. Already a minimutiny has undermined the return of the very decent but probably outdated Art Shell as coach.
If Oakland receiver Jerry Porter isn't benched in limbo, then Randy Moss is hinting for a trade or threatening to smell the roses, or whatever that odor is. Things are so miserable for the Raiders these days that the World Series might push them out of their stadium next Sunday and into the invisibility of Monday night.
Pardon me, while I wipe away a tear.
Here's about as good a case as can be made for the Raiders winning: stuff happens.
Or in the case of the Broncos offense and in particular, Plummer, stuff doesn't happen often enough.
As a team, the Broncos offense has been outgained in yards, has fewer first downs than the opposition, fewer passing yards and fewer completions, and the four touchdowns scored in four games would seem more feeble were it not that the Broncos defense had given up only one.
Only the rushing game, fourth in the league, is a measurable benefit. Even that old bugaboo, touchdowns inside the red zone, is clicking along at a familiarly disappointing 40 percent, only two touchdowns in five.
As for Plummer, he is not the worst quarterback in the league, merely the 27th worst of the 30 who are ranked, ahead of only Tampa Bay's Chris Simms (out with a ruptured spleen), Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger (finally ordinary) and Tennessee's Kerry Collins (benched for Vince Young, who has been worse).
Plummer's quarterback rating of 60.9 echoes his years in Arizona, where he was consistently in the 70s or less, as does his ratio of interceptions to touchdowns, now five to three, which would project out to 20 and 12 for the season, hardly the kind of production that foresees a Super Bowl.
That winless Tampa Bay team that Oakland is chasing prompted the response from coach John McKay, when asked about his offense's execution, that he was for it.
The Broncos are not quite at the point of asking for a blindfold and a last cigarette, but if things don't pick up against the woeful Raiders, you'll be able to hear harmonica music in the background.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_5063218,00.html