3 years ago
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Show them.
Make the yeah-buts stop.
“People don’t fear Denver,” CBS Sports expert Jonathan Jones said erstwhile asked wherever the 3-0 Broncos stood among the little elevated parts of NFL nation. “They fearfulness the altitude. The past sort-of home-field vantage that they person successful the NFL, they fearfulness that. But they haven’t struck fearfulness successful the hearts of different teams successful 5 years oregon six years.
“But if (they) get this Ravens triumph …”
Show them, Broncos.
Make ’em fearfulness you again.
“When I was coaching with the Chargers, we had a twelvemonth wherever we went 4-12 and the adjacent twelvemonth (2004) we came backmost and we were 12-4,” recalled James Lofton, the Pro Football Hall of Fame wideout who’ll assistance telephone Broncos-Ravens for CBS connected Sunday astatine Mile High astatine Empower Field. “We didn’t alteration a batch successful presumption of radical successful the building.
“When the docket came retired (in 2005), I was successful a country with my wide receivers and I was talking to them astir it. The (pundits) were saying, ‘You guys person to spell back-to-back playing Pittsburgh, and past you’ve got to play New England.’
“I said to the players, ‘No, they’ve got to play us.’
“And I deliberation erstwhile you get to that mentality of, ‘They person to play us.’ … I’m beauteous definite that’s wherever (coach) Vic Fangio is taking those guys.”
Show them.
Make a statement. Plant a flag.
Baltimore (2-1) has averaged 12 wins per twelvemonth the past 3 seasons. Ravens brag John Harbaugh, astatine the commencement of his 14th play successful crab country, has go a paragon of stableness successful a league that chews up and spits retired coaches similar smokeless tobacco.
Since 2019, Ravens backmost Lamar Jackson is 26-7 arsenic an NFL starter. The 7 losses were to teams that coiled up posting a combined grounds of 65-34 (.657).
No. 8 does not gladly endure fools. Or pretenders.
Show them.
Make them hide astir however wretched the Giants, Jaguars and Jets are. Make them retrieve conscionable however overmuch you pushed those 3 teams around.
“I deliberation (Denver fans) should beryllium truly excited,” Lofton said of the Broncos’ archetypal 3-0 commencement since 2016. “It’s similar idiosyncratic tells you that you person to instrumentality a Christmas gift. You don’t.”
You tin lone play who’s successful beforehand of you. Yeah, yeah. We know: The G-Men, the Jags and the J-E-T-S were combined 0-10 heading into the weekend, the NFL’s Three Stooges. Here’s the portion that tends to get glossed over, on the Front Range and elsewhere: The Broncos also caput into Week 4 tied for the NFL pb successful constituent differential (plus-50) with Buffalo.
They haven’t conscionable beaten the league’s dregs. They’ve lobotomized them.
Which is what bully teams do.
“You cognize what? Somebody’s worse,” Lofton noted. “You could beryllium successful that corner.”
You could beryllium Jets rookie backmost Zach Wilson. The erstwhile BYU prima channeled Garth Algar, the blond sidekick from the movie “Wayne’s World,” past Sunday during his postgame quality league astatine Empower Field — polite, subdued, and perfectly shell-shocked.
After Broncos 26, Jets 0, the mediocre kid looked similar helium wanted to fly to the Flatirons and hitchhike to Provo. Anything to support from going backmost to the Big Apple.
“And the Broncos played well,” Lofton continued. “They’ve done the occupation connected offense, and it hasn’t been casual offensively.
“Teddy (Bridgewater) has had to scramble astir a lot. You had 1 large tally by Melvin Gordon (in Week 1), but different than that, it’s been a batch of small runs, immoderate that got (stopped) down the enactment of scrimmage, wherever moving backs struggled. Everybody’s doing their jobs.”
Show them.
Make the doubters deliberation Steady Teddy has hopped into a clip instrumentality and taken america each backmost 5 years. That Fangio and violative coordinator Pat Shurmur, a brace of aged dogs, inactive person caller tricks.
“I bash deliberation they’re the slightest awesome of the undefeated teams,” Jones said. “I deliberation (3-0) Carolina edges them retired with that distinction. But successful the aforesaid breath, I’d accidental that doesn’t matter. Most certainly, a triumph against Baltimore is legitimizing.”
Show them.
Make naysayers admit this squad is legit. That the next antheral up tin instrumentality the baton and tally similar the wind. That Courtland Sutton’s genu and Tim Patrick’s hands are successful it for the agelong haul. That this violative enactment can clasp up with gum, soft ligament and Quinn Meinerz.
“We didn’t marque the schedule, we’re conscionable playing the games,” Broncos prima Von Miller offered a fewer days back. “We’ve got immoderate pugnacious teams coming up — the Ravens, the Steelers, past the Raiders close aft that. So we person much than capable clip to amusement the benignant of squad that we are.”
Show them.
Make them believe. Make Christmas travel early.
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