After a night of reflecting back on the playoff game and going over the pick over and over in my mind, a few things really stand out to me (before I let this game go and just begin looking forward to the next season):
#1 - Peyton Manning took the blame for the audible in the 4th. It really gets me thinking who was really responsible for the super-conservative play calling in the second half that seemed so out of sync with what the Broncos were trying to do in the first half. Manning was getting slightly pressured on occasions, but he also had multiple times when he had forever to throw down field and he would be dumping it down for 3-4 yard passes every time. Yes, the Ravens were in a 2 man under defense almost the entire game, but Manning seemed to be playing scared. Was he the one who was responsible for the shift to running on nearly every single first down in the second half? Was he audibling to those runs multiple times? Manning was the best solution for the Broncos at QB, but it really feels like he's not the same QB in Playoff games as he is in the regular season. When the Broncos were up by 7 in the regular season, Manning would almost always be looking for the dagger (deep throw to Thomas (Edit-said Marshall by accident lol) or Decker) to put the game away. Where was THAT Manning yesterday?
#2 - Denver needs to find a solid solution at Running Back that is not as injury prone as Moreno or McGahee this offseason. Hillman has potential, but his size is going to limit him on short yardage plays, and as nice as McGahee has filled in for the Broncos, his injury prone nature (and complete lack of explosiveness) is holding back the offense for consistency. Moreno stepped up, but Moreno cannot be relied on. Though he played like a different back the last half of the season, he's always shown sparks of greatness in between a lot of mediocrity.
#3 - Discipline on defense completely went out the window yesterday. Yes, most of the penalties being called were extremely ticky tack penalties, and some were phantom penalties altogether, but between Bailey's performance, Moore's performance, Leonard's performance, and Carter's performance in the secondary, we deserved to lose. The secondary let Joe Flacco beat them, and honestly, they should let that sink in and stew quite a bit. Everyone wants to target Moore for going for the ball at the end of regulation (and I absolutely agree that was the worst fucking decision in the entire world), but it wasn't like he was the only player in that secondary that was giving the game away. There were several passes that should've been picked. There were several plays that should've been deflected. And there were several receivers that should not have gotten behind our defense. As good as Jack Del Rio's schemes were this season, I think its safe to safe that the biggest weakness we had was against TE coverage and the deep passing game (Houston/Atlanta/New England/Baltimore all come to mind here).
#4 - Did anyone else get the impression that the Broncos almost played like they expected to win that game with very little effort? There seemed to be no hustle on Defense. We didn't run a quick no huddle on offense (when the quicker snaps were working). There wasn't a lot of fight for extra yardage in our backs. It just seemed like the Broncos had the wrong attitude on that field. It was like we were already looking ahead. That's a coaching issue more than anything... And I know the Broncos probably won't admit it, but they played like a team that felt like they were so much better than the Ravens that they didn't really have to try.
Oh well. Rooting for the Seahawks and the Texans today (Fuck you Josh McDaniels, I hate you), but my choices haven't fared to well this post season lol. Bring on the offseason rumor mill.
