Oh, it was quite a big football weekend here in North Florida!

We’ll get to the Gators shortly; for now, I wanted to point to an article about the Broncos by Woody Paige at The Denver Post. He ain’t pullin’ any punches folks:

They were lucky the first two Sundays. They were lucky on the third Sunday they didn’t lose by the 1,000-0 score I predicted.

It was rather difficult for the Broncos to kick a winning field goal on the final play when they were behind by nine points. And on their behinds.

The previous week there was a half-hour postponement because of lightning. The Broncos needed an invasion of locusts Sunday.

…

Afterward the Broncos offered more excuses than the boy without his homework. The dog must have eaten their playbook. The Broncos said they have to look at the films. Wes Craven wouldn’t release those horror movies.

The final implosion occurred when the Broncos had fourth-and-5 at their 9-yard line with 4:19 left. They were within a touchdown. Jay Cutler threw down the middle to tight end Daniel Graham, who was more wide open than Wyoming.

Graham clutched the ball, then dropped it. "It’s a play I should make," he said. The 76,463 who got up to leave would agree.

Looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes.
- Elton John

…

Which brings up the special teams, whose play would bring up lunch.

Domenik Hixon, as mentioned here the week before, should not be returning punts or kickoffs or pop bottles. It will be mentioned here again. He fumbled the second-half kickoff. Jacksonville recovered at the 18 and kicked a field goal for a 20-7 lead.

The Jaguars had a 42-yard kickoff return in the second quarter – without a fumble.

Jacksonville attacked Denver where it hurt – up the middle against defensive linemen and linebackers who were playing as if they had motor oil on their hands..

How important was that 12 minute drive in the first half? If the Broncos have one minute, two minutes moe in the fourth quarter, do they go for that idiotic 4th and 5 or do they punt? I don’t know about you, but I saw some momentum swinging their way after the Jags had a series of disasters in the red zone. And if the Broncos had converted that 4th down and marched downfield for the score, winning 21-20, it’s Del Rio on the hot seat for that 3rd down spike at the one – talk about completely losing track of where you are in the game!

I said it before and I’ll say it again: Winning solves sports marketing problems. The Jags will sell a few more tickets thanks to this game, for which they should thank the Broncos.