The power rankings for the NFL came out after a very interesting Week 1 and there were some notable surprises. Monday Morning Quarterback has the Broncos sitting at number five on the complete rankings list with the Patriots in the top spot but Pro Football Talk has the Broncos sitting in their No. 1 spot. ESPN ranks Denver eighth and CBS Sports ranks Denver fifth. This early in the season, the only thing that’s clear is that no one really has a clear picture of where teams stand.
Afternoon Drive with Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro had some fun with former All-Pro linebacker Chad Brown and asked who he thought would win between the Broncos and Patriots, playing on a neutral field.
“I would give the advantage to the Broncos just because the Broncos defense is ahead of where the Patriots defense is,” Brown said. “The Patriots defense is certainty going to be a pretty good defense but I don’t think they are going to be a top two or three like the Broncos should end the season at.”
It’s hard to follow power rankings this early in the season for NFL teams. The true measure of every team may take time to come out.
“Even good teams will lose ball games if they haven’t handled the preseason well,” Brown said. “We saw across the league, defenses really begin to wear down in the fourth quarter because they only played a half of football during the entire preseason. You’re out there for a full four quarters and you begin to get fatigued and communication begins to break down. That makes a good team not look as good as they probably will be later in the season. I think by week six, we know who teams are.”
The Broncos started off in the top five in multiple power rankings for the NFL across the nation, but outliers like ESPN have them on the cusp of dropping out of the top 10. Brown, however, feels that the Broncos will only continue to get better with someone like Trevor Siemian as their quarterback.
“I thought Trevor Siemian was fantastic,” Brown said. “He didn’t let the pressure of the moment make the game to big for him. Whether it was replacing Peyton Manning, starting the season on a Thursday night, being the quarterback of the super bowl champions or just six months ago he was the scout team guy. For the super bowl matchup [rematch], I thought he did a fantastic job, considering all of that. I think he will get better as it goes along because of his mentality and not letting the moment be to big for him.”
Hear the full discussion with Chad Brown, including his thoughts on the “dirty” defensive play of the Broncos, in the podcast below…
https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/9-13-16-chad-brown-joins-the-show-with-his-take-on-the-broncos-ranking-in-the-nfl
