Broncos Seeking Revenge Against Ravens In Highly Anticipated Showdown
The Denver Broncos will be seeking Revenge Thursday Night against the Baltimore Ravens in a highly anticipated showdown.
The AFC Divisional Round playoff rematch will kickoff the 2013 NFL season Thursday night. Last January the Ravens beat the Broncos 38-35 in overtime to advance to the Championship Game. Many in Denver blame a conservative kneel down by Peyton Manning and a blown coverage by Rahim Moore for the heartbreaking loss.
The Ravens went on to win the Super Bowl.
The Broncos haven’t quite put the loss behind them. The team has hung a banner of Raven’s QB Joe Flacco at Sports Authority Field as a reminder. Flacco burned Denver’s secondary for 331 yards and 3 TDs in January.
Now the Broncos will look to start their season by putting the past behind them. They should succeed too. As a regular season team, Denver is better than Baltimore. Both teams feature great defenses and powerful offenses. The difference should be the quarterbacks.
Peyton Manning is one of the greatest QBs of all time. He makes the players around him better. There’s a reason the 49ers went after him after falling a field goal short of the Super Bowl in 2012. The only knock on Manning is his pension for turning pedestrian in the playoffs. Tonight is not the playoffs.
Joe Flacco is big game QB. He threw 11 TDs and 0 interceptions during the Ravens’ playoff run. He was rightly rewards with a $120 million contract. He is only a good regular season QB however. He does not make the players around him better. In five seasons in the NFL Flacco has only had a QB Rating higher than 88 once.
To make things harder for Flacco, his two security blankets from last season are gone. Anquan Boldin was traded to San Francisco after the Super Bowl. Then tight end Dennis Pitta was placed on injured reserve because of a bad hip.
In Denver Peyton Manning has seen weapons added. The Broncos signed Wes Welker, giving them one of the best WR corps in the league. Then they drafted RB Montee Ball to help sure up the run game.
The Broncos should get their revenge against the Ravens to open the NFL season. An improved offense and hall of fame QB should make the difference for Denver in what should be a classic season opener.
