Cleveland Browns Week Two Preview
The Denver Broncos
The Browns will make their first road trip of the 2009 as they travel to Denver, a place of catastrophic memories. Thankfully for the Browns the game will not be played in the house of horrors- Mile High Stadium and John Elway will not be the Broncos QB.
The Browns will try to bounce back from an opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings. The Browns had some positives to take away but the offense continued their struggles from 2008. Brady Quinn did not look decisive and his receivers seemed to be on a different page. The defense played solid in the 1st half until Adrian Peterson exploded in the 2nd half.
The Broncos pulled out a victory of monumental proportion. The Broncos held the lead for the vast majority of the game. They took a 6-0 lead late into the 4th quarter when Cincinnati Bengal QB Carson Palmer led his team to what appeared to be a 7-6 victory with less than a minute left in the game. Facing a 3rd a long situation, Broncos QB Kyle Orton threw a long pass in the direction of Brandon Marshall with 27 seconds remaining. Bengals DB Leon Hall went for the interception; incredibly the ball went over a host of defenders hands into the waiting arms of Bronco WR Brandon Stokely. Stokely ran in for an 87 yard touchdown, not before running the clock down to 11 seconds, giving the Broncos the miraculous win.
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Offense: Both offenses were putrid in week one. Neither team could establish anything. Broncos QB Kyle Orton struggled throughout the game finishing 17-28 for 243 yards and a touchdown with most of the damage happening on the miraculous 87 yard touchdown pass. Correll Buckhalter and rookie Knowshon Moreno were held down by the Cincinnati defense. The Browns did no better against a stiff Viking defense.
Defense: The Bronco defense held down Carson Palmer and the Bengal offense limiting them to only one touchdown. Palmer did complete 21-33 passes for 247 yards but threw two interceptions. The Browns defense limited ageless Brett Favre but gave up 180 yards and three touchdowns to Adrian Peterson.
Prediction: The difference in the game will be Browns left tackle Joe Thomas. Thomas shut down one of the best pass rushers in the game, Jared Allen. Broncos’ defensive end Elvis Dumervil is a good pass rusher but for him to be effective, he will need to line up on the left side of the d-line. Thomas and the offensive line will open holes for Jamal Lewis and get Brady Quinn on track. Browns 24 Denver 20
By
Scott Dryden
Scott Dryden is a member of the DFN Sports team and also writers for Ohio Sports Time, an