#denvsno

The Broncos lost to the Raiders 20-30 in one of the biggest games of the year and the game was not as close as the score would suggest.

AFC West Standings by divisional winning percentage

KC 100%

Oakland 66%

Denver 33%

San Diego 25%

There are no divisional games this week.

During the Week

Opponents of Trevor have targeted the bye week, which starts on Monday, as the time to replace Trevor at quarterback. Aqib Talib continues to suffer from some mysterious back problem. He won’t play on Sunday and the Broncos let slip they hope he can return after the bye week.

The Season Reviewed

I can’t remember the coach that mentioned this in a press conference, but he grades the season in quarters, which I think is a great idea. So here it is for the Denver Broncos.

The First Quarter

The Broncos started out hot and finished the first quarter with a perfect 4-0 record. That seemed great at the time but those teams that were great last year are terrible this year. This made the Broncos look better than they actually are. GRADE: A

The Second Quarter

During this part of the schedule the Broncos were gifted with two games against the San Diego Chargers. That should have been an easy 2-0 right there. The Broncos shocked me by splitting the series with the Chargers. Atlanta is a team that starts out strong and then fades during the season. The Broncos played them to early in the season and lost. Next up was Houston, a playoff team last year, who signed Brock over the summer. Denver was finally motivated for a game and they beat the Texans. They finished this quarter 2-2. GRADE: C

The Third Quarter

They have only played one game during this period but they lost to long time rival the Oakland Raiders. 0-1 so far. GRADE: F

I thought it was a great time to break the season by quarters because it shows a clear trend. The Denver Broncos aren’t improving, they’re getting worse.

Week 6 Metric?

Another NFL yardstick is week 6. It has been said in the past that after week 6, the book on every team is out and opponents know how to beat you. The Broncos are even Stevens on this metric. They won 67% of their first six games and 67% of their games after that. If we look at points instead of wins, the offense has actually improved since week 6, while the defense has gotten worse. I think this is not the impression many fans have.

I’m pointing this out to make a point about the New Orleans Saints. They won 33% of their games during this period, but they’re now on a two game winning streak. Why? Both their offense and defense have been improving. Over the Saints first 6 games their defense gave up an average of 33 points. On their current winning streak, the defense is only giving up 22 points per game. A major improvement.

The Saints first quarter record was 1-3. Because of their bye in week 5, they have only played two quarters. They finished their second quarter at 3-1.

At the end of the day I hope you can see these teams are heading in opposite directions.

The teams ranked by stats

New Orleans Saints

Points: 2nd

Yards: 1st

Passing Yards: 1st

Rushing Yards: 15th

Passing Touchdowns: 21

Rushing Touchdowns: 8

Defensive Touchdowns: 0

Denver Broncos

Points: 13th

Yards: 27th

Passing Yards: 24th

Rushing Yards: 23th

Passing Touchdowns: 12

Rushing Touchdowns: 8

Defensive Touchdowns: 3

Outlook