New Season Mile High Expectations! (Not really)

Here we go. Before we jump into this season, a quick recap of last year.
Finished 3rd in AFC West with an 8-9 record
Offense Rank - Yards (32 teams): Total 19, Passing, 24, Rushing 18
Defense Rank - Yards Allowed - Total 24, Passing 22, Rushing 30
Best moment of 2023: Beating the Chiefs for the first time since 2015 (16 Ls in a row)
Worst moment of 2023: Getting throttled by Dolphins 70-20
Reason for poor season: Russell Wilson - According to Advanced Stats: RW held on the ball too long. DEN had the highest pocket time (2.7secs) tied with BAL, SF, CHI, yet he was sacked 6th most. DEN was not blitzed much (lower 1/3 of league) but he was among the most hit QBs. These numbers, along with watching the game, showed how indecisive/ineffective he was in SP's offense. The split was necessary.

Coaching: Sean Payton has the 6th best active win % at .620. That is tied with Mike McCarthy. Last year (year 1 with Broncos) was the second worst offense in his coaching history. What does that mean, nothing probably, unless he has his QB.

Defensive Coordinator: Vance Joseph is back for year 2 as DC. Hard to be excited about him. His reputation far exceeds his performance. In his 8 years as DC or HC, he has only had 1 top ten defense (yards) and 0 in PA. He seems to be out-schemed a lot, ala Dolphins, Lions, and Chiefs.

2024 Outlook:
Betting sites have Broncos about O/U of 5.5 Wins.
Cross-Division Opponents: AFC North (tough), NFC South.
Reason to be excited: Bo Nix looked really good in the Pre-Season. Seemed to understand the offense. Hard to tell if it will translate in regular season with actual starters and schemes. Still like to see a QB looked poised and with so much college experience. He has shot up to 5th best odds-on winning ROY. I may homer-hammer those odds.
Reason to be worried: Defense.
Thoughts: Can't hold out much hope that this team will contend in the division, let alone playoff race. The defense is a big question mark, and we are now hoping a rookie QB is the answer. The schedule is tough. You want to think this team can win 6 games. I'll try:
Wins: Steelers (welcome back Russell!), Jets, Raiders (1-1), Chargers (1-1), Carolina, Colts
Excited about Broncos' football being back.
Aw, screw it: LETS GO WIN THE SUPERBOWL!!!

is the hype around Jaleel McLaughlin legit?

I hope so. They released Perine. He seemed to be there best bet on passing downs. Jaleel looked solid and comfortable with Nix. His college numbers are crazy, I hope some of that translates this season.

More Odds and Notes heading into the 2024 Season:
ESPN BET Lines
Broncos Super Bowl 150-1 Conference 75-1 Division 20-1 Playoffs (Y/N) +750/-1200

Prop Bets
Bo Nix to win Off ROY 11-1
Courtland Sutton to record 1000+ yards 2-1

Notes:
Broncos have missed the postseason in 8 straight seasons, second longest active streak
ESPN Analytics has Denver favored in only 1 game this season, v. Carolina
Denver has a 1% chance to win Division

Do denver has a board?

What a tough conference for those guys.
Chiefs in the midst of a dynasty.
Chargers just massively upgraded their HC and you imagine they'll be Super Bowl contenders in short order.
Raiders are kind of a mess though.
So the Broncos have a hard slog ahead to get out of 3rd place…

Heard Venezuelan gangs took over the practice facility-

Today's update
Top Ten Celebrity Fans:
Jessica Biel
Don Cheadle
Kate Hudson
Lindsay Vonn
Amy Adams
Tim Allen
Chauncey Billups
Trey Parker/ Matt Stone
Warren Buffett
Jimmy Butler

Broncos 2024 team captains.
WR Courtland Sutton
Guard Quinn Meinerz
QB Bo Nix
CB Pat Surtain II
LB Alex Singleton
Kicker Wil Lutz

Payton and VJ getting outcoached by a rookie staff. Same crap, different year.

Damn Nix looking good in first start all things considered.

6 point game at 2m in 4th

Out coached again. VJ will always put the defense in poor position.
SP was too inconsistent and took too long to get the plays in. Put Nix in tough spot setting play up with clock under 5. Reminded me of Jimbo play calling.
Up to nix too many throws and read defense better.

It's so easy to find the weak spot in our defense.

Replica of yesterday's game the way the Aggies imposed their will on the dline

Calling it now, first win on the season

Nice dub.

And a very ugly win brings them to 2-2

I may have to (gladly) back off my VJ hate for a bit.
According to Broncos best writer:

Entering Week 5, the #Broncos defense ranks:

2nd in yards allowed per game
2nd in touchdowns allowed
2nd in sacks
3rd in points allowed per game
4th in passing yards allowed per game
4th in third-down percentage

Expect to see a similar performance as Tampa Bay.

3-2

Not bad at all

About to be 4-3. Never look amazing but competing every single game. All losses by one touchdown or less. Rough division but the defense is salty.

Seeing some progress from Nix. Don't think he's an eventual superstar but may be an ok starter

5-3. Nice win, offense looked like it's figuring it out.
Tough stretch ahead, BAL, KC, and ATL.

VJ with no answer. No adjustment and poor tackling.
Play calling hurt Nix. He can throw and move, yet committed to running the ball and putting nix in tough spots.
Frustrating watching the Ravens and knowing that's what Reed and Moss can look like.
Another test next 2 weeks. Need to get one of those.