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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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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HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN

On the Broncos’ defense

“They played well. We did a lot of good things on defense. Any time you have six series with three plays and out, it is a good start. I was pleased with their effort throughout the game. We are starting to build and starting to make some strides forward. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

On the defenses having more enthusiasm against Tampa Bay compared to previous weeks

“I wouldn’t go through that. I think people have a short memory sometimes. We played three quarters against the Raiders that we allowed 128 yards in total offense, 27 zip. They are a pretty good rushing football team. We did some good things against San Diego. We have had some opportunities where we have played a good three quarters or a good quarter, but in this game we played a good four quarters.”

On how WR Brandon Marshall is handling being double covered

“That is football in the National Football League. You have to understand what it takes to win and the quarterback, I thought, managed the game very well. In that situation, most people don’t look at the fact that we had three third-and-2’s, two third-and-3’s and a third-and-4 that we missed. We were 6-of-14. The ones we missed were ones that keep drives going. Instead of having 16 points, you end up having 30 points. We have been much better in our third down area. When you miss three those and you are still 6-of-14 against an excellent defense, you are doing some good things. We just have to work on that third down area to keep the ball and get some more plays. We completed 68 percent of our passes for 227 yards and that is good. You can’t turn the football over and you can’t get second and long and third and long, and for the most part we didn’t. That is what you have to do to win the football game. Especially some of the young guys, they want to contribute but they don’t understand what it takes to win sometimes. You have to make those third downs.”

On the contributions of DT Dewayne Robertson

“He is doing what we ask him to do. It is always a change going from a 3-4 to a four-man front. You have to be pretty unselfish in the four-man front because a lot of times the linebackers are going to get the tackles. I think it was obvious after you saw the stats following the game that the defensive line did a good job occupying the offensive lineman and giving the linebackers an opportunity to make some plays.”

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FINAL GAME NOTES

WIN NO. 150 FOR SHANAHAN

* - With the win, Broncos Head Coach Mike Shanahan earned his 150^th overall career victory (150-96-0, .610) and became the 17th coach in NFL history to reach that win total. His overall record with the Broncos improves to 142-84-0 (.628).

SIXTH IN A ROW AT HOME

* - The Broncos extended their home winning streak to six games with their victory against Tampa Bay. It is their longest such streak since posting 13 consecutive home wins in the regular season from Dec. 12, 2004, through Oct. 15, 2006.

CUTLER MILESTONES

* - Broncos QB Jay Cutler completed 23-of-34 passes for 227 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions for a 96.1 passer rating.

* - His 10-yard touchdown pass to WR Brandon Stokley in the third quarter moved him ahead of QB Steve Tensi for sole possession of seventh in Broncos history in career touchdown passes (39). 

* - Cutler also became the eighth player in Broncos history to reach 6,000 career passing yards, finishing the game with an even 6,000 for his career.

* - The victory improved Cutler’s career record as a starting quarterback to 13-13.

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It's time to take an honest self evaluation.  There are a lot of good things to take comfort in if you are a Broncos fan.  There are also some things that need to be faced that should keep you awake at night.  I want to look at both.

Coming from a coach's perspective, folks shouldn't panic over one game.  On the other hand, folks shouldn't get too excited over the 3-0 mark we were at before the KC loss.  What we have on our hands is a very, very good team that has some terrible flaws.  Yes, we beat SD and NO, but the games were close enough to be decided by a two point conversion and missed FGs.  We beat Oakland, but that's not much to brag about.  We also lost to KC, and that's a concern.

We'll look at what can be adjusted for and what probably can't, and where this puts the team as it continues The Quest.

Read on...

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