I still the Broncos have a lot of questions that people seem to want to brush over:
At 38, how much of a drop off will Manning have? His arm strength has been steadily declining over recent years and he seems to not be able to throw for more than 20 yards other than rare occasions anymore. When does his declining arm strength become a bigger factor than his football intelligence and quick release can overcome?
All I keep hearing is how everyone is assuming Emmanuel Sanders is going to get over 1,000 yards. But is he? If you look at the way Manning used Decker and D. Thomas last year, he threw a lot of floaters and used his receivers' height to his advantage to let them fight for balls in the air a lot of the time. Sanders can't do that. Can Manning work the sidelines throwing tight spirals to benefit Sanders' speed rather than Decker's size.
How much does Welker have left and can he take up the slack from the loss of Welker? Even before his two concussions, Welker started to show his age a bit and was slower than the year before. After the second concussion, he just wasn't the same player. Will we see the guy who started the year last year (who was good, but not what he was here), the guy after the concussions, or even worse? He is at the age where many receivers hit the age way hard and many players never come back from concussions.
Can Talib stay healthy and perform at an elite level? Talib's tenure here was overrated. I am on record last year that I didn't think his 2012 campaign was anything special except his addition allowed the Pats to move McCourty to safety which helped two positions in the secondary. He was a stud the first five and half games of the year last year, but was at best above average the rest of the year. He is constantly injured. If he can stay healthy and play like he did the first third of the season last year, he is an upgrade over DRC. If not, he could be a downgrade.
What about the Broncos' schedule? Their schedule looks to be much tougher this year (granted things could change radically). Last year, they had the NFC East that sucked (especially since they faced the Eagles when Vick was still starting). This year, they have the NFC West that has four potential playoff teams (although the Rams would need to make a decent jump). Three of those teams last year had double digit wins. Last year, their SOS schedule games in the AFC were the Patriots and Ravens, this year it is the Bengals and Colts. Should be two tough games instead of one.
Other questions:
- Do they have a lead RB? Ball had a decent two or three game stretch, but really wasn't anything special?
- Can they replace the interior part of their line?
- They have several key players coming back from injury. I would assume Miller will be back to close to 100%, but what about Chris Harris who tore his ACL in the playoffs? He has a much shorter recovery time.
The Pats have their own questions, but people act like the Broncos are all locked and ready to go.
