Decked out in protective equipment and leading his band of warriors into an alien environment, the leader of our pack faced down a formidable foe and vanquished him into the good night.
No, I'm not talking about Mad Max or even the real life Mel Gibson. I'm talking about Broncos' quarterback Jay Cutler, captaining his band of merry men into the Meadowlands of New York and returning home with an impressive victory and a stranglehold on the AFC West Division title.
Nobody picked the Broncos to have a chance in this game. To hear the talking heads at ESPN tell it, the Broncos would have been better off taking in the beautiful snow here in Denver this weekend rather than facing the first place New York Jets.
But that, as they say, is why they play the game.
In the same way that the Oakland Raiders shocked the Broncos Country faithful with their 31-10 shellacking of Denver last Sunday at Invesco, the Broncos returned the favor to the Jets in a windswept day in front of their hostile home crowd.
All the talk leading up to this contest was the matchup of quarterback gunslingers: the old maid Brett Favre and the young rapscallion Jay Cutler.
Showing no ill effects from the rainy conditions, Cutler upstaged his aging counterpart by throwing for 357 yards and two touchdowns while Favre could only muster 247 yards through the air while amassing zero touchdowns and one interception.
- B/R Ticket Guide
The much maligned Broncos defense forced the balanced Jets' attack into three turnovers on downs, the aforementioned interception, and three fumbles, one of which Broncos safety Vernon Fox returned 45 yards for a first quarter touchdown.
The real story of this game, and of the 2008 season, has been the Broncos' utter ineptitude at home and their collective poise and performance on the road.
The Broncos now stand at 4-2 on the road coming off comeback wins against Cleveland and Atlanta and this commanding victory against the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets.
Road warriors, perhaps, but New York fans should be very familiar with inconsistent teams who get hot at the right time due to their ability to perform at a high level in front of belligerent opposing fans.
The 2007 New York Giants were muddling around in mediocrity for much of their Super Bowl season. After ripping off six straight wins, they lost two of three to drop their record to 7-4.
Then, after notching three straight road wins and snatching a Wild Card spot with a 10-6 record, the Giants went on the road for three playoff wins against the Buccaneers, Cowboys, and Packers before knocking off the perfect Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Now, this is not a Super Bowl guarantee for the Broncos, far from it, but teams that find ways to beat good teams on the road are able to gain the confidence needed to continue their streak of solid play into January.
With a three-game lead on the San Diego Chargers with four games left in 2008, the Broncos seem headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
The four remaining games include two home bouts with the 2-10 Chiefs and the free-falling Bills and two roadies against 9-3 Carolina and the hated rival Chargers to end the season.
Though it would take a mini-miracle for the Broncos to not make the playoffs, there is no time to get cocky, not with the way these Broncos have built us up one week only to break us down the next.
If they take care of Kansas City at home next week, like they should, they could make the end of the season drama with San Diego a moot point.
But the last two weeks have proven that on any given Sunday, anything can happen.
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about 1 month ago
We have to win at least 2 of these upcoming games to guarantee a birth in the playoffs. In addition, we will have a spot if San Diego loses at least 2. We (Broncos) still have Carolina, and SD is going to play us hard, while the rest of SD's schedule, other than Tampa Bay and ironically, the Broncos, is ultimately cup-cake. I don't know. I think it is all but possible that the end of the season for the AFC West could come to a head in San Diego.
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