Sunday Gravy Plays November 15th

The Denver Broncos (6-2) after a very nice start winning their first 6 games, have conceded 2 losses against Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, while the Washington Redskins (2-6) are in a deep crisis after 5 straight losses, which makes this game a very important one for both teams, but mainly for the Broncos who have the San Diego Chargers right behind them on the division standings.

QB Kyle Orton started the season with very good performances, but when he faced two teams that really know how to pressure the opponents' quarterback, he started to shake and wasn't unable to develop is usual game. Good news is that the Washington Redskins aren't quite the Ravens or the Steelers regarding defensive pressure and I think that we will see Kyle Orton going back to his old form in the early season.

Denver offense is quite good on the passing game and there is a simple reason for that: Broncos have two great quality players in the wide receivers positions, which are WR Jabar Gaffney and WR Brandon Marshall. Having these two great targets is very good because there are a lot of times that Orton doesn't throw correctly the ball but those two guys are always able to catch the ball and win good yards for their team.

Broncos' rushing game counts with the rookie RB Knowshon Moreno who's doing a great first season (3.7 YPC) and RB Correll Buckhalter (5.5 YPC). The ground offense is not the stronger suit of the Denver offense and that is why the team relies a lot more on the passing game than usual, which is understandable. Besides, they also have TE Daniel Graham who from time to time is a good option to pass the ball.

Denver defense is also very good, mainly against the opponents' passing game, the team is able to do a good coverage and is also capable to pressure the opponents' quarterbacks, causing several sacks. Stopping the running game is another matter, they had struggled a bit on their last games, but even on this subject luck seems to be on the Broncos side, because RB Clinton Portis will not play and an easier task is expected when having to face RB Ladell Betts. I expect the Redskins to choose to play much more by the air than using their ground offense and it is against the passing game that the Broncos D will make the difference.

Washington QB Jason Campbell has intermittent performances, he is able to mix a series of good calls with a series of bad calls and because of that he has almost the same number of interceptions (8) than touchdowns passes (9). It is also true that is has limited options on his offense to play with, because without WR Santana Moss, the team doesn't have anyone else with enough quality to pass the ball. WR Chris Cooley and TE Fred Davis surely aren't the best options to play with against an excellent Broncos' passing defense.

Without Clinton Portis, the Skins ground offense will have to rely on RB Ladell Betts and he is an unknown factor for this Washington rushing offense. For what I know, Ladell Betts is not a great rusher, but he belongs to that kind of rushers who make catches and with this option, I see two problems for the Redskins: if they don't go with the rush, the Broncos D will punish Jason Campbell very hard and get some sacks, if they use him a lot more on this game, then there are some good chances for the Denver defense to escape from big troubles, because defending against the rush is the weak spot of the Broncos D.

The Skins D is average against the opponents' rushing game, but when the matter at hand is the passing game, they really show great difficulties to stop it, which can be lethal against the Broncos O, because we know that Denver offense doesn't use much the running game, they will prefer to keep attacking the Redskins secondary and with the two wide receivers the Broncos have, I can't blame them, I see a lot of troubles for this Washington defense to stop them.

Denver has the best team and the greater motivation to win this game, they need to keep a safe distance from the San Diego Chargers on the league standings, while the Redskins apparently have already quit on themselves like everyone else in Washington, and with the Broncos offensive quality already displayed this season, against an offense that in the entire season wasn't capable to produce anything outstanding, take Denver -3.5 (-110)

Adding
New England +3 (-120)
New England - Indianapolis Over 48 (-110)
New Orleans -13.5 (-115)