Sunday, December 09, 2007
Denver v/ KC: C’mon, Ref…
I wasn’t going to write about the Denver Broncos/KC Chiefs game today until the game was over, but the refs just forced me to my keyboard. Brandon Marshall, one of Denver’s two great Brandons for the season, was just penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. Why? Because after catching his second touchdown of the day, he celebrated by running through the end zone, grabbing a couple handfuls of snow and throwing them into the air. It was completely spontaneous and not much like hiding Sharpies and cell phones on the field. That, apparently, constitutes a celebration with a “prop"--and was probably a good call in the sense that it abides by the letter of the rules.
But, c’mon, ref, that’s just stupid. The players should be allowed to enjoy themselves a little bit, shouldn’t they?
I haven’t seen much of the Chiefs this year, but from watching them during the first half, I would say that they have two glaring problems: an offensive line that isn’t playing with any consistency at all and a receiver corp that isn’t playing quite as well as their quarterback. There were a few dropped passes in the first half that not only should have been caught, but would have had the Chiefs closer at the half.
Now, that aside: the Broncos are obviously winding up a terrible season, but, boy, do they have a few young players that might be huge in this league. Obviously, Jay Cutler has the potential to be one of the league’s better quarterbacks, but Selvin Young has been playing really well. Brandon Marshall has the makings of a top notch wide receiver and Elvis Dumervil (at just 5’11") already is one of the league’s best young defensive ends.
There is talent--and there is young talent--on this Broncos team.
Comments & Trackbacks
I think we’ve seen what kind of a team the Broncos can decisively beat: a real bad one.
No, no, no: we had already lost to the real bad team (Oakland). I’m not sure what that says about KC and Denver, though.
Eeeeyeeuuwww, that was not a pretty game. That shows what a team that really knows Shanahan inside and out, know how to take his team apart.
Tonight saw the end of the season for the Broncos. You’ll see even worse play for the remaining games given that the Broncos know they are done.
Oh, hell, they played like they were done tonight. Not taking anything away from Kubiak and the boys, but the defense was atrocious tonight. The offense wasn’t so great, either, but the defense had chances to make plays and instead missed tackles, played slow and without passion, didn’t wrap on the tackles, and basically looked like they didn’t want to even make it a game.
On the plus side, Mario WIlliams looked great. Which doesn’t help us at all, but it proves that Houston made the right pick. I hope they make the playoffs--Kubiak has done a great job with a team that looked hopeless two years ago.
That’s stupid as you say. So what if he enjoyed playing with snow? It’s not like he was going to hit anyone. In football (soccer) the players have a weird way of manifesting their joy. They jump on each other and scream, run along the field with their t-shirts up and so on. Why aren’t they penalized for this?
I agree with you. The ref should not have done that. Every player should express the joy of every touchdown. I don1t see nothing wrong with that, its his work, he can enjoy it for a couple of seconds. The soccer players do this all the time, at almost everything that happens on the field.