How They Got Here, Weeks 9-12

Cory Puffett

As you read these, keep in mind these notes are primarily for me, so my grammar may not always be as keen as usual. I’ve already published my notes from the first eight weeks of the season, so here they are for the next four weeks of Broncos and Seahawks football.

Week 9

Denver Broncos (BYE)

Seattle Seahawks (vs. Tampa Bay)

Seattle struggled defensively in the first half, but they only gave up a field goal in the second half. Maybe they overlooked Mike Glennon, but the secondary was definitely not focused early in the game. The second half saw a better pass rush and even though the run defense still wasn’t great, it was better.

Seattle’s punt return coverage is very underrated and allowed Golden Tate to field a punt at his own 5 and take it well into Bucs territory. Doug Baldwin made another amazing sideline catch and Jermaine Kearse continued to show why he’s a severely underrated 50/50-ball receiver.

Week 10

Denver Broncos (at San Diego)

Denver scored four touchdowns on their first six drives but really struggled to move the ball after that until they got some late first downs running the ball and taking time off the clock. Some of their short drives seemed to be the result of trying some new plays and Manning working to get his receivers reacting to back-shoulder passes and balls thrown to the defenders’ blind side.

The Broncos’ defensive front did a good job of getting pressure on the quarterback. Rivers was able to scramble from the pocket a few times early in the game but once Denver saw that he was willing to do so, they shut that down. For the most part their downfield coverage was very good and they didn’t let anything get behind them. Most of San Diego’s big plays came on underneath passes.

Seattle Seahawks (at Atlanta)

Seattle’s defense was very good throughout this one. They got a significant pass rush on Matt Ryan and they really did a good job in the run game keeping Steven Jackson and Jaquizz Rodgers from finding any holes. They gave up a few big plays on passes underneath but forced and recovered a fumble on one of them.

Marshawn Lynch put on a clinic with his strength, twice carrying three or more Falcons on his back for first down yardage. Golden Tate and Jermaine Kearse made some remarkable grabs for touchdowns as they continue to prove themselves trustworthy for Russell Wilson to throw up those 50/50 balls.

Week 11

Denver Broncos (vs. Kansas City)

Denver’s front seven did a good job for most of the game containing Jamaal Charles and keeping Alex Smith uncomfortable in the pocket. The downfield coverage lapsed a little from the previous week but still was not bad.

Offensively, Denver did not execute to their standards. Some sloppy play up front and several missed connections between Manning and his receivers kept this game closer than it should have been. Montee Ball fumbled early but bounced back and had two really nice touchdown runs.

Seattle Seahawks (vs. Minnesota)

Russell Wilson came out with about 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter. It took Seattle a while to get going, but they started forcing turnovers like crazy in the second half and the points came in bunches. Marshawn Lynch played a really nice game as the receivers took a step back. Percy Harvin had a fantastic kick return in his first game of the season.

The defense did a great job of forcing turnovers in the second half and they only allowed Adrian Peterson a couple of notable runs, and even those weren’t huge gains. Richard Sherman did get beat very badly on one touchdown pass in the first half. The only really worrisome thing for the defense in this game was the number of penalties called against them.

Week 12

Denver Broncos (at New England)

With Champ Bailey out and Rodgers-Cromartie getting hurt on the last play of the first half, Denver’s defense really struggled against Tom Brady in the second half. Maybe if they could have kept forcing turnovers this game would have ended differently.

Then again, the offense didn’t do so hot either. The Broncos got a lot of rushing yards, but it never really felt like New England was getting gashed. Peyton was clearly off his game as only one of their first half scoring drives started on their own side of the 50.

Seattle Seahawks (BYE)

It was a little easier to get through these four weeks with only six games to watch. I’ll try to get through the next eight for tomorrow and then the last six for Sunday.