Tag Archives: John Elway

Broncos QB’s Will Be Better in 2016 (Seriously)

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If you’ve been watching SportsCenter lately, you know that the experts don’t think much of the Broncos’ chances to defend their Super Bowl title. Apparently, the team is about to endure its first losing season since 2010, when some guy named McDaniels was sent by Bill Belichick to ruin the Broncos flaming out as a head coach. The losses of Brent (or is it Brad?) Osweiler, Malik Jackson and Danny Trevathan are insurmountable. Never mind the fact that the Broncos had some of the worst quarterback play in the league last season, or that Super Bowl MVP Von Miller and members of the No Fly Zone still spearhead the NFL’s no. 1 defense. The “experts” have spoken and 2016 is going to be a horrible year at Mile High, right?

Well, maybe for Sports Authority, but for the team? Not so much.

I don’t think I have to defend the idea that despite the loss of two starters, the defense will be pretty good again this season. Probably damn good. I also believe that it won’t be overly difficult for the Broncos to improve on their quarterback situation from a year ago, and that is indeed an idea worth exploring. Hit the jump and we’ll take a look.

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The Price of Going Back-to-Back

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John Elway spoiled Broncos’ fans during free agency his first few years on the job. There were always huge, splashy signings to look forward to and he had a knack for signing the biggest names available on the market, like a kid playing Madden with the salary cap off. That changed last year when the most notable players who came to town were Owen Daniels and Darian Stewart. Don’t get me wrong, those were two solid players, but it was a far cry from the days of reeling in Peyton Manning, Wes Welker, DeMarcus Ware and Aqib Talib. That’s what happens when you draft and develop great players and then have to resign them.

Like last year, a lot of those players will be leaving us. Here’s my look at what our free agents should do, even though we all know what they will do.

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Broncos Offseason Evaluation: Rebuilding or Replacing?

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Before free agency started, I was planning on doing a preview for every position on the Broncos that was about to undergo some addition or subtraction. I made it through a couple of these and was determined to power through the rest, but then a funny thing happened. Teams were given an unofficial window to negotiate with players the weekend before free agency, during which they could discuss terms with players but couldn’t actually sign them. That didn’t prevent a flurry of “agreements” from being announced during that window, as teams were practically backing up the money trucks to the front lawns of the players they coveted and took full advantage of the leeway that the league offered to them.

Once it became abundantly clear that A) the Broncos were not going to be major players in free agency and B) they wouldn’t even be resigning the majority of their own free agents, it just didn’t make a lot of sense to move forward with my initial plan. It’s nice when life provides you with an excuse to be lazy, but I still feel like I owe you guys something after we promised that there would be all those others posts to look forward to. Thanks a lot NFL, you made me feel guilty.

Here is a rundown of what the Broncos have been doing so far in the new league year, and why most of it isn’t nearly as bad as you may think.

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Ku-Biak to the Future by Jesse Schaffer

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I spent the last week trying to make sense of everything that has happened. Last Sunday, the Broncos were primed to make another run at the Super Bowl. The roster was much healthier and supposedly more talented than the one from the year before, providing plenty of incentive to feel hopeful about our chances. Then the game started and all of that optimism disappeared on the horizon as quickly as a winter sunset. Not only did the Broncos get outplayed by an inferior Colts team, but the coaching staff did little to adjust when things went awry and the players went out without so much as a whimper.

This was completely unacceptable, or as John Elway put it so bluntly, if the Broncos were going to lose then they needed to go down “kicking and screaming.” They didn’t, seemingly content with a fourth-straight AFC West title and yet another one and done showing in the playoffs. On a team whose expectations were sky high heading into the season, someone had to pay for such a lackluster, uninspired effort in the first game of the 2014 campaign that truly mattered. That someone turned out to be John Fox.

Flash forward to today and Elway has made the parameters of his revised “Plan A” abundantly clear; in order to claim more Super Bowl titles in the future, the Broncos are going to re-embrace their past. Enter Gary Kubiak, returning to Denver after nine years in a quest for that elusive third Lombardi trophy. It just feels oh so right.

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Remedies for the Super Bowl Hangover by Jesse Schaffer

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Today is the last day of the NFL Combine and you know what that means; we’ve just been subjected to endless amounts of drills, 40-yard dash times and everyone going bonkers over Michael Sam, most of which none of us will care about when next season starts. Sam is a big deal right now, and I applaud his bravery and the way he’s handled himself in the media, but once he’s drafted he’ll just be another player. That’s what he would prefer anyway I’m sure and that’s how teams are going to treat him. We do live in the year 2014, after all. Back on subject, this is also the time of the year when teams start devising their plans for the off-season and commence putting it into action. Here at Pegboard, we love trying to predict the future and figure out just what our beloved Broncos might do to kick their Super Bowl hangover. I’m not going to talk at-length about that game because I have absolutely no desire to relive it. The Seahawks were dominant, the Broncos were dreadful and I’ll just leave it at that.

The defending AFC Champions will be good enough to contend once more next season, but here are five steps they can take this off-season to ensure that the conclusion will be more satisfying.

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Broncos Training Camp Primer: Julius Thomas by Jesse Schaffer

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Unless you are an absolute baseball fanatic, this time of the year in the wide world of sports is tough to stomach. No basketball, no hockey, and a painstakingly long wait for football season. Sure, technically it’s not that far off, but it feels like we’re all doing 30 years in Shawshank with Red and Andy Dufresne. Don’t worry if you find yourself watching hours upon hours of Nathan MacKinnon highlights on YouTube or if you are overreacting to every little bit of Broncos news you can get your hands on. Believe me, we are right there with you, but don’t despair friends: Pegboard has got you covered. For the next four weeks, Kevin and I are excited to present to you our first annual Training Camp Primer, where we will analyze eight Broncos who have a great deal on the line for the 2013 campaign.

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