Not the Broncos of Old

This post was actually requested by a friend/reader that lives in Colorado.  So, in the interest of keeping one of my 11 readers happy, here's my blog about the Denver Broncos, and Tim Tebow. 

First off, with the NFL season starting tonight, let's just face it...the Broncos are going to be terrible!  If I were a bandwagon fan like Nuke and rooted for teams that win all the time, I wouldn't be a Broncos fan.  I'd be a Steelers fan, and I'd probably predict a Super Bowl title.  As it is, I'm predicting 4-12 for my Denver Broncos, so one more win than last season.  I'm basing this on the fact that I think John Fox is a slightly better coach than Josh McDaniels, and I think the schedule is slightly easier this year.

As far as the team...it's awful.  Yes, they added Von Miller at Line Backer, but he's still a rookie.  And yes, Elvis Dumervil is back from injury, but they still have way too many problems.  Here's the problems I see:

1 - The Defensive line is not good.  Line backers are not free to do the things that they need to do if they have to tackle running backs 5 yards down the field all the time.

2 - The Offensive line is unproven.  Maybe they'll surprise me, but I wouldn't want to be a Quarterback for the Broncos this season.

3 - They are still relying on Knowshon (don't call me Slowshon) Moreno as their #1 running back.  The guy looks like he's running in quick sand all the time.

4 - The secondary is old.

5 - The wide receivers are unproven and probably overrated.

6 - Kyle Orton is not the long term answer at Quarterback.

So, I got to the sixth problem before I got to Quarterback, which is the position most fans want to talk about.  A year ago, the Broncos drafted Tim Tebow in the 1st round.  Tebow is definitely the most polarizing figure in all of football.  The left in this country hates him, because he's a good, upstanding Christian kid, who was probably taken too early in the draft.  The right in this country loves him for the same reasons.  Tebow is definitely not the prototypical NFL Quarterback.  But, it's not his fault he was taken early in the draft, and it's not his fault that the offseason was lost due to labor issues.  The bottom line is that nobody deserves the criticism Tebow has gotten.  If an African American QB were criticized the way Tim Tebow has been criticized, the sports media in this country would have a field day with the criticizers.  But, since it's a white, Christian kid, the criticism goes largely ignored.

I hope Tim Tebow is successful.  My eyes tell me he won't be, but I hope I'm wrong.  I do not understand the team's decision to play Kyle Orton over Tim Tebow.  We know exactly what Kyle Orton is...he's a system Quarterback who can win with a strong defense and running game.  On this team, he will win 3-4 games this season.  By starting Orton this season, the team is just prolonging the inevitable.  They have sold way too many Tebow jersey's not to give the kid a shot.  Whether it's this season or next, Tim Tebow must be given a shot to succeed in Denver.  And I, for one, think that shot should come this season.  Throw him out there and see if he can perform.  He's surprised people his entire life...who's to say he won't surprise us once again.

So there you go...my pessimistic, rambling Broncos preseason blog.  Go Team!