DENVER BRONCOS HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN

Opening statement

“So I think we had a chance to take control of the football game early after the first drive and the turnover and we didn’t take advantage of it.  Unfortunately we had three turnovers which gave them ten points and that got us behind the eight-ball.  In the second half, give credit to them, they made plays and had a couple long drives and they did what they needed to do to win the football game and we couldn’t respond.”

On injuries at the wide receiver position

“Hopefully we’ll have them back.  [WR Brandon] Stokely had a concussion and we’ll see how serious that is.  Hopefully [WR] Eddie [Royal] can come back next week.  He’s got a bone bruise, and hopefully that will clear up.”

“I thought [WR Glenn] Martinez made plays in there.  For the first time, [WR] Darrell Jackson was back.  We had those guys play a lot of plays in the second half.  We lost a couple guys and a couple guys stepped up and unfortunately we didn’t get it done.”

On the defensive performance

“I think we wore down a little bit.  We got a little tired.  At the end we were trying to strip the ball when they were pushing.  They made the big plays.  They had a big run for a touchdown and a pass.  We responded to one of those but couldn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”

On RB Michael Pittman

“I have a lot of confidence in Mike.  He does a great job.  He better be able to step up because we only have two guys left.”

On the interference call on the Broncos in the fourth quarter

“I didn’t think it was interference.  I was right there, right on the spot.  I’m not sure what it was like on the replay, but I didn’t think it was.  In fact, being right there, I’d better a dollar to doughnuts that it wasn’t [pass interference].  It doesn’t really matter.  We had a lot of opportunities to do things throughout the game.”

On Jacksonville QB David Garrard

“He makes plays.  The one quarterback draw at the end versus a blitz…I give credit to him for showing what type of athlete he is.  He got away from a few sacks and he’s a heck of an athlete.  [He is] very strong.”

On the defense

 “We had a chance to control the football game but we turned [the ball] over three times, and it’s hard to win those kind of games.  But we did get two turnovers on defense and a couple of sacks, but we just couldn’t keep it going.  We had improvement on both sides of the football and special teams.  We just have to keep on working, we know what our record is, and get ready for New England.”

On going for it on fourth down in the second quarter

“It was not a bad choice on my part.  I would have went for it again.  I wish I could have chosen a different play.  You second guess yourself on that, but I take total credit for the mistake.  Sometimes you’re going to make it and sometimes your not.  I thought we could get the fourth-and-one.  I’d probably go for it most of the time, and probably make it some of the time.”

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Final Game Stats

HOME WINNING STREAK SNAPPED

* - The Broncos, who entered Sunday’s games vs. Jacksonville with an NFL-best six-game home winning streak, lost at in Denver for the first time since a 19-13 overtime loss to the Green Bay Packers on 10/29/07. With the loss, the Broncos fall to 3-4 (.429) all-time against the Jaguars in the regular season, including a 2-2 (.500) mark at home.

RB MICHAEL PITTMAN

* - Broncos RB Michael Pittman, who made his first start as a Bronco and the 80^th of his career against Jacksonville, finished with 20 rushes for 109 yards (5.5 avg.), becoming the first Bronco to rush for 100 yards in a game since RB Selvin Young had 156 yards vs. Kansas City (12/9/08). His 109 yards marked his highest rushing total since he had 127 rushing yards as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2005 (15-127, vs. Mia., 10/16/05).

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Start of 3rd Quarter

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Start of 2nd Quarter

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2008 OFFENSE

2008 DEFENSE

After a 1 week hiatus, THE EDGE returns with a battle between the Broncos(4-1) and the Jacksonville Jaguars(2-3).  These teams met in Denver in Week 3 of last season, with the Jags "man-handling" the Broncos, winning 23-14.   This year's Jags team isn't nearly as physical and is missing some key components, especially on the offensive line.  Can the Broncos take advantage and keep up with their winning ways?

It's Broncos/Jags. Who has "The Edge"?

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the confidence of an extremely talented, and very young, quarterback or disrespect?  Depends on who you ask, but there is no doubt that Jay Cutler is very confident in his abilities.  In an article to be published in The Sporting News magazine, Cutler talks about the cannon he has as an arm and how it might compare to the legendary quarterback's, among other topics - 

— Cutler on his arm vs. John Elway’s: “I have a stronger arm than John, hands down. I’ll bet on it against anybody’s in the league. Brett Favre’s got a cannon. But on game days, there’s nobody in the league who’s going to throw it harder than I am at all.”

— Cutler on whether there is a team in the AFC with a better chance to reach the Super Bowl than Denver: “I don’t think so. With Tom (Brady) out, I think there are three, four, five teams that have a legitimate shot of getting there.”

— Cutler on how surprised he’ll be if the Broncos don’t win the AFC West: “At this point, pretty surprised. Very surprised, actually.”

— Cutler on his expectation that the Broncos will score every time they have the ball: “I think we can score 30-plus points a game. I don’t see why we couldn’t.”

— Cutler on his battle with Type 1 diabetes: “I lost 35, 36 pounds. I was always tired. My mouth was always dry. I didn’t really want to play football. I didn’t really want to go out there. I was tired before the game and exhausted after the game. I’d sleep all the time.”

Elway also has some quotes in the article --

— Elway on Cutler’s arm vs. those of some NFL greats: “Joe Montana, Steve Young, Brett Favre—they all could get outside and make big plays. Cutler is either more athletic or has better arm strength than each of them. His arm is pretty special, might even be as good as mine when I was his age. Certainly, it’s better than mine was at the end.”

— Elway on comparisons between himself and Cutler: “Some people have asked how he compares to me. He’s closer to me physically than personalitywise. But even I struggled a bit with expectations and the Denver spotlight when I was his age. It can be overwhelming. Once he wins some big games, he’ll start to feel like he belongs. It didn’t happen for me until my fourth year, when we went to Cleveland and won “The Drive” game. It was a big boost for me to win the AFC championship game, especially on the road.”

— Elway on what’s next for Cutler: “Cutler just needs to keep growing. His teammates’ confidence in him and the coaches’ confidence in his abilities have grown by leaps and bounds this year. It’s obvious. Hey, everybody follows a winner. And he’s going to win a lot of NFL games.”

I am a Sporting News subscriber and can't wait to read the whole thing.  Your thoughts.  Do you like Cutler's confidence or is even mentioning that he is better than Elway at anything blasphemy for a Broncos quarterback?

YOUR SOURCE FOR THE VERY BEST

IN DENVER BRONCO PRE-GAME ANALYSIS

MILEHIGHREPORT.COM

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What a difference a few weeks makes!  Teams that looked tough going into the season have suffered injuries (Brady in NE) or declined (SD and INDY) while other teams have shot ahead (TENN and DEN).  If you had asked me before the season what my thoughts were on JAX, I would have told you that the only thing holding them back was INDY.  But their offensive line was decimated by injuries, and the team has never bounced back.

As for Denver, I expected them to sweep KC this year, but to win two of four games against SD and OAK.  I also thought that either TB or NO could sneek up on DEN.  But KC managed to beat Denver, while Denver beat the other four teams.  Denver's offense is playing at a SuperBowl level, and while the defense has looked weak, it showed a lot of talent in week five.

Let's take a look at the Denver / Jacksonville match-up this week, and discuss some if the issues surrounding the game.

Read on...

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Each week I'll "sit down" with Lee Rasizer, Broncos Beat Writer at the Rocky Mountain News.  He is as close to the team as anyone and has a solid handle on the pulse of the organization. My thanks to Lee for taking the time.  Remember to join me, as well as Kyle from BroncoTalk and Sam Adams from the RMN for a Pre-Game Chat about the Broncos over at RMN's website!  This week we start an hour before kickoff - 1:00 PM mst!! 

You can see last week's edition RIGHT HERE.

On to the questions --

MHR - Casual football fans may not have been entertained by how things went down during the Broncos win over Tampa, but how important do you think it was for the Broncos to win a game primarily with defense as we move forward in 2008?

LR - The way I look at it is, it's important only if they keep it up. Any team can have one solid game. But can the Broncos string together several? There were some encouraging signs. Tampa hadn't allowed a sack in two weeks and Denver's pass rush was just shy of anemic for almost a month but the Broncos were able to hit Brian Griese where Drew Brees, Philip Rivers and Damon Huard stayed clean. But largely Denver did it by deception, after proving its four-man front doesn't have the personnel to generate sufficient heat. Its pliable 4-3, 3-4 scheme featured zone drops, a few blitzes and at times, dropping eight in coverage and confused the Tampa front. But opposing coordinators will study that, and what happens when the element of surprise is gone? Can they still get there? The other positives were the gang-tackling to the ball and a lack of big plays. The effort should continue. We'll all see if the big plays continue to be kept down.

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The Denver Broncos (4-1), who hold a two-game lead atop the AFC West, aim for their 400th overall victory on Sunday when they host the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-3). Kickoff at INVESCO Field at Mile High is set for 2:05p.m. MDT, and the game will be broadcast on CBS with Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf calling the action.

Denver is coming off a 16-13 win at home against Tampa Bay last week. The Broncos posted three sacks against a Buccaneers squad that had not allowed a sack in its last two games while Denver kicker Matt Prater made all three field goal attempts, including a 55- yarder that marked his fourth 50+yard conversion this year.

The Broncos face a Jaguars team that lost 26-21 against Pittsburgh on Sunday night. All five of Jacksonville's games this season have been decided by seven points or fewer, and its defeat to the Steelers snapped the club's two-game winning streak.

Having won their last six home games in the regular season, the Broncos enter Sunday's game with the NFL's longest home winning streak. Quarterback Jay Cutler has sparked Denver's recent home success, throwing 15 touchdown passes and two interceptions in addition to completing 70 percent of his passes in that six-game period.

Named AFC Offensive Player of the Month for September, Cutler has directed a Broncos offense that ranks second in the NFL in both yards per game (415.0) and first downs (117) while placing third in the league in points per game (29.8). Brandon Marshall has been a key part of Denver's offensive success, leading all NFL wide receivers in receptions (34) and posting the second-best receiving yards per game average (105.8) in the league.

Denver's defense has helped the club build early leads with the Broncos one of just five teams in the NFL to not allow a touchdown in the first quarter.

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