Eagles coach Chip Kelly had to be envious at the way the Broncos ran their hurry-up offense yesterday. It’s what he envisioned his Eagles doing all season long. The Broncos showed the Eagles how it’s done on Sunday. By scoring at will all game long, the Broncos scored more points than they ever had in their 54-year history by scoring 52 points in their 52-20 victory over the Eagles.
Watching the Broncos is like watching the Rams play offense in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Both teams feature offense that is hard to game plan for defensive coordinators. Like the Rams had with Issac Bruce, Torry Holt, Ricky Proehl and Az-Zahir Hakim, the Broncos have speedy wide receivers that are hard for defensive players to stop in Julius Thomas, Wes Welker, Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas. Like Rams had with Kurt Warner, the Broncos have a quarterback that makes everything go in Peyton Manning.
The Broncos have that swagger when they are on offense. They know they are going to get the job done when they are on the field. They are not scared of any great defense. It’s easy to feel that way when they know they are good.
With the Broncos, it’s quiet confidence. They don’t need to tell the media how good they are. They let their play do the talking. With the way they are scoring, it’s easy to say wow to what they are doing, especially when they average a league-leading 44.8 points per game.
The current Broncos have the best offense ever in team history. That’s high praise considering the Broncos in the late 90s featured a potent offense with guys such as Shannon Sharpe, Rod Smith, Ed McCaffrey, John Elway and Terrell Davis.
This offense is something else. Manning puts on a clinic when he orchestrates the offense. Julius Thomas and Demaryius Thomas are hard to keep up. Once they catch the ball, they burst through tackles and get an crucial first down or they score. They do a good job of being in a position to be open. We can talk about how good Manning is, but his job is easy when Julius Thomas and Demaryius Thomas run to the end zone after being in the opposing team’s territory at the 30.
Thomas had two touchdowns in the third quarter yesterday afternoon, and he has four touchdowns this season. He has become the receiver that Manning enjoys throwing to.
Wes Welker is a receiver Manning can rely on to execute a third-down conversion. He always seems to make the plays when he gets the ball. He has the height and smarts to catch the ball to get that first down. He also can run like a running back when he has to.
Those three receivers are so good that Eric Decker tends to be overshadowed. Decker can catch the ball, too, and he demonstrated that yesterday afternoon.
Considering how good Manning’s receivers are, it’s no wonder the Broncos quarterback has thrown 16 touchdown passes with no interception.
It says a lot about how good Manning is when he does a good job of disturbing the ball to all of his receivers, so that they can be happy. Wide receivers tend to be divas because they know they are difference makers and they make quarterbacks better. It’s not easy to make every wide receiver happy, so that’s a credit to the Broncos quarterback for being a good facilitator on offense.
With the passing game that is hard to stop, it makes Knowshown Moreno’s job easy. He can find many holes to run, and he is capable of getting to the end zone. He showed that in the second quarter when he ran for a four-yard touchdown to extend the Broncos’ lead to 21-13. It’s important he keeps on producing as he is going to be vital this January when the running game is going to matter in the cold elements.
This offense is so much better than last year with the addition of Welker and the growth of Julius Thomas. Manning is more comfortable in his second year as the Broncos quarterback. First-year Broncos offensive coordinator Adam Gase knows how to balance the offense by using the running game and passing game in attacking the other team’s defense.
Considering there are not many great defensive teams in the AFC, the Broncos shouldn’t have a problem with their offense in January. They can worry about their offense if they play the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
There’s no reason to think it’s not going to continue. These guys will get better through repetition. They are already comfortable with this offense. Only injuries can derail that offense.
Considering the Broncos are playing the Cowboys, Jaguars, Colts and Redskins coming up, the offense should continue to score 30 to 50 points. Those four teams are not good defensively.
There’s so much to like about this Broncos team. They are not only winning, but they play an entertaining style of football. That’s a hard combination.
The fans are not taking this for granted, and they shouldn’t. It’s hard to build a team like that. If it was easy, many teams would do what the Broncos are doing.
That’s why Broncos fans are appreciating this now. They know January is long time from now, so they are going to appreciate what the Broncos are doing offensively with three months to go rather than fret about the offense sustaining this in January. It’s a smart thing to do, too. Sports should be about entertainment first and foremost, and the Broncos work hard to great entertainers each and every week with their style of play.
The only mystery about these Broncos is how much better they can be offensively. There is a definitely more room for growth when one realizes the Broncos played only four games. That’s what makes this season even more interesting.
Here’s the only question about the Broncos from now to January:
Can the Broncos do even better offensively than they have showed in four games? They sure did put the Eagles on the endangered species list in Week 4.
Leslie Monteiro
Leslie is a contributor for Lightning Rod Sports. He covered high school sports in Bergen County out in North Jersey, and has written op-ed columns on sports such as Bleacher Report and NY Sports Digest.
