remember, they did just fine without him the 1st part of the season
Yeah, but they played Baltimore (absolutely no offense and they still scored 27 points), Giants (turnover machine and mediocre offense), Oakland (enough said), Philly (with Vick who was benched), Dallas (needed to score 51 points to win because they gave up 48 points), and Jacksonville (enough said again). So they only faced one good offense without Miller and they couldn't stop a cold in that game.
We are talking about the playoffs now. The Broncos will be facing much better teams without Miller this time than they did last time. Also, the Broncos' offense has been showing signs of weakness recently. The Pats and Chargers slowed their offense and the Texans kept their offense out of the end zone for 2 1/2 quarters.
Not saying that losing Miller is the death of the Broncos, but saying that they did just fine without Miller is misleading. They did just fine against Flacco, Vick, Terrell Pryor, Eli, and Chad Henne. Not exactly a murder's row of QBs (at least based on this year's production). Romo ate them alive. The Broncos are going to have to beat QBs like Luck, Dalton, Brady, Alex Smith, Russell Wilson, or Drew Brees to win a Super Bowl. Most of those guys are significantly better than the QBs they beat while they were without Miller the last time around.
BTW, I want to see the Broncos to collapse in the playoffs, but because Manning chokes and not significant injuries.