TJ Aaron

Kate Frost

ENG 105

11/6/13

The Broncos Bowl

The Denver Broncos are going to win the super bowl this year. It may sound blunt, but all the

facts are there. Peyton Manning has set records in scoring and is on pace for records in passing yards.

With one of the best receiver cores in the NFL, and a solid running game in Knowshon Moreno,

Denver has all the weapons it needs to dominate on offense as it has been doing all season. With a near

perfect record so far, few things stand in the way of this near unstoppable force.

First and perhaps most impressive in this Denver team, the quarterback and future hall of famer,

Peyton Manning. This QB is setting the league aflame with 2,919 passing yards, 29 touchdowns, and 1

rushing touchdown opposed to only 6 interceptions going into week 9. (www.denverbroncos.com) He

has a completion percentage of 71.2% second only to Phillip Rivers (72.2%). (www.nfl.com) The one

yard rushing touchdown may not seem like much, but keep in mind that the last time Peyton scored a

rushing touchdown was in 2008. Aside from completion percentage, Manning leads the NFL's

quarterbacks in every other category by a fair margin. (www.nfl.com) Peyton is on track for the best

season of his career and maybe one of the best seasons for a quarterback since Brett Farve hit the 500

career touchdown mark in his last season with the Packers. Manning's command on the field with his

many audibles and infamous code words have lead to many big plays, in this regard Peyton fills the

role of another coach on the field and truly embodies the title of leader on the field. It also doesn't

hurt to mention that most of the time Manning either has all day to make the pass or has enough room

to maneuver in the pocket to make the play as he has only been sacked 11 times in eight football

games.
 However, all the credit doesn't belong to the QB. Manning's receivers have been on their game

this season and have made huge plays in every game. First and foremost among the Denver receivers is

the 5'11 veteran wideout Wes Welker. Welker leads the team with 50 receptions for 555 yards and 9

touchdowns, and while he isn't a favorite for Peyton, he has certainly made his mark since coming to

the Broncos. One thing to note though is that Welker does not lead the team in reciving yards as he is

targeted more often for medium yardage gains and red zone plays. Not far behind Welker are two other

impressive receivers; Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker. Demaryius Thomas has 48 receptions (just

two behind Wes Welker) for 685 yards and 6 touchdowns while Decker has 46 receptions for 669 yards

and 3 touchdowns. (www.denverbroncos.com) While Decker doesn't get very much red zone attention,

he has the highest yards per reception rate on the Broncos at 14.5 yards per catch.

For short and medium yard gains the Broncos have the indomitable tight end; Julius Thomas.

While Julius ranks just 6th overall in the NFL (behind such names as Jason Witten and Jimmy Graham)

he is solid when it comes to catching passes and when he has to hit someone to get that first down.

Speaking of first downs, Thomas gets the 1st down an impressive 61.5% of the time he's targeted which

is higher than the current leading tight end, Jordan Cameron. (www.nfl.com) Julius has 39 receptions

for 451 yards and 8 touchdowns this season, he is second for receiving touchdowns on the team trailing

only Wes Welker. Even the running backs on this Broncos offense have a solid receiving record with

their lead running back, Knowshon Moreno, pulling 29 receptions for 281 yards and a touchdown so

far this season. (www.denverbroncos.com) One of the first things that Denver running backs are told

when they get on the team is that they will be expected to be able to catch the ball as well as run it and

Moreno has delivered in that respect. These receivers should get even more credit because of some of

the stingy pass defenses they have faced this season such as Baltimore and Indianapolis. Baltimore

especially because how badly they were torched in the opening game by Denver. With sterling

receivers all over the field, it's no wonder that the Broncos have one of the best passing offenses in the

league.
 It isn't just the passing game that the Broncos have excelled at this year. The Denver rushing

game, while not as effective as the passing game, is still a thing to be feared. Lead running back

Knowshon Moreno has 108 carries for 456 yards and 8 touchdowns. He has a 4.2 yards per carry

average which may not sound like much but is actually quite good for any running back.

(www.denverbroncos.com) Moreno's backup is Montee Ball, the rookie out of Wisconsin. (EBSCO

Host) Ball has 55 carries for 177 yards and 1 touchdown. He also has a 3.2 yards per carry average

which is quite good for a rookie running back. Denver has a running game that can pound home goal

line scores, grab first downs, and run defenses ragged when the receivers need a break making for a

truly dynamic and electric offense.

While it's true the Denver defense has struggled a bit this season, they shouldn't be cast aside so

quickly. Their secondary is not too shaby with players like Dominique Rodger-Cromartie and Chris

Harris guarding opposing wide outs. The Defensive line has also had their big plays with 22 sacks on

the season so far which is double what opposing teams have been able to hit them with. They total 507

tackles this season with 378 of those being solo tackles. This team has also accounted for 6 fumbles

(almost 1 per game) and 2 interceptions which totals to at least one forced turn over per game.

(www.nfl.com) (www.denverbroncos.com)

Last but most definitely not least is the Broncos kicker, Matt Prater. Perhaps the most

overlooked position in the NFL, kickers have been the deciding factor in football games beyond count.

It is fairly uncommon to see a kicker have an absolutely perfect record, however as this week comes to

a close, Prater is still perfect having made every field goal and extra point asked of him. Having such a

reliable kicker on a team gives that team a substantial edge over the competition as they can be counted

on to win close games or extend the score whenever their team fails to reach the end zone. Although it

isn't just field goals that make Matt Prater a good kicker, he often has very good kickoffs which set up

the defense to make a key stop before the opposing team's offense can get rolling. At the end of the day,

a kicker with a perfect record speaks for itself.

 There is one thing though that the Broncos still haven't had to face yet; the undefeated Kansas

City Chiefs. The Chiefs defense is the most effective and vicious defense in the NFL, leading the

league in sacks, allow an average of 12.3 points per game, have a third down conversion defense of

25% (that opposing teams convert on 3rd down just 25% of the time against the chiefs), and have 20

forced turnovers so far this season. (www.espn.com) This may look intimidating, but the chiefs have

also allowed suspect offenses like the Browns and Texans to score as much as 17 points. Their offense

is effective, but not nearly as explosive as Denver's offense and is not unstoppable. That being said,

when these two teams do play each other, it will be exactly like the old clich; an unstoppable force

meets an immovable object.

Overall Denver has all of its bases covered when it comes to beating Kansas City. Their offense

has enough firepower to get passed the star studded Chiefs defense. The Denver defense is capable of

stopping the Chiefs offense which haven't had many high scoring games so far this season. In fact, the

Chiefs haven't had a particularly high scoring game all season, with 7 touchdowns coming from their

defense this season. While the Broncos have to play the Chiefs twice in three games, there is a strong

chance that they will be able to win both games.

As the NFL season passes its halfway mark, it is increasingly evident that the Denver Broncos

will go to the super bowl this year. Peyton Manning is the leading QB in the NFL by a substantial

margin. He is an outstanding player as well as leader, acting as another coach on the field. His

receiving weapons, including Wes Welker and Eric Decker, are dangerous at any range down the field.

Even the Denver running backs are legitimate receiving threats at short and medium distances. The

Denver running game is also solid with reliable running backs Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball

grabbing key first downs and goal line scores. This is all supported by the thus far perfect kicker Matt

Prater who has hit key field goals throughout the first half of the season. Topped off with a defense that

can make stops and force turnovers, this Denver Broncos team may just have the best shot at a super

bowl win this season.

 Annotated Bibliography

Broncos Statistics Team. Www.denverbroncos.com, football, statistics. Denver: Team Stats Publisher,

2013

The Denver Bronco's team website was extremely helpful with this paper. It provided at least

half of the statistics described for each player. This was particularly helpful in describing the offensive

side of the team and also in showing that Denver's defense isn't actually that bad. The website also

provided a lot of information which helped compare the different players at each position, most of all

the receivers. Most of my information came from this source.

NFL official statistics. Www.nfl.com, football, statistics. New York City: NFL Publishers LLC, 2013

The official NFL league website was helpful in filling in the places not covered on the Bronco's

website. It was very helpful when it came to finding comparisons with other teams and players. This

allowed me to show how good the Denver players were when matched up to their peers in the rest of

the league. One of this sources main contributions was the statistics on the Kansas City Chiefs, but only

as they compared to the Bronco's. Like the first source this one also provided many helpful stats.

EBSCOhost. Www.ebscohost.com, news, football. Denver: The Denver Post, 2013

This source didn't provide much of the information I was looking for in most parts of the paper.

It did however give me valuable information on some of the players I wanted to write about,

specifically Montee Ball. There were some other helpful articles on here describing some of the other

parts of the team like Peyton Manning and Wes Welker, but it was mostly personal interviews that

didn't have anything to do with this paper. Overall this source contributed little, but was useful for

getting information about some players.

ESPN fantasy league stat tracker. Www.espn.com, statistics, football, New York City: ESPN Network,

2013

This source was useful in gathering more in depth statistics about the defenses mentioned in this

paper, particularly the Chiefs. It gave both stats on the defenses as a whole and on in some cases on

individual stand out players. ESPN is a great place to obtain stats on really any team or player you want

and it helped a lot by not only giving stats on defenses, but also helped in showing what to look for on

the other websites when looking for certain stats on players. It also made some of the more confusing

statistics clear and easier to understand and convey.