Week eight is in the books, which means it's HOT TAKE time!
1. Broncos shutdown Packers
Aaron Rodgers threw for 77 yards. It sounds like a boxscore misprint at first, but it isn’t. That’s how good the Broncos defense is right now. And it looks like the offense has finally caught up. Peyton Manning didn’t have a touchdown and he threw another interception, but he looked comfortable in the pocket and picked apart the Green Bay defense. On top of that, the Broncos run game finally got going, rushing for 160 yards and three touchdowns.
If these are the real Denver Broncos then the New England Patriots have a big challenge on their hands on November 29. Right now, it seems like the only team that is “legitimately undefeated” is the Patriots, so there’s no point in thinking that the Cincinnati Bengals can run the table. However, if the Broncos take care of business in the next three weeks (and it’s a favorable schedule) then the November 29 game against the Patriots could determine who gets home field in the AFC.
And with the news that the Broncos acquired Vernon Davis, Manning now has a reliable tight end to throw the ball to if his receivers can’t get open. Remember how good Julius Thomas (and really every tight end to ever play with Manning) was last year, how he turned that into a big pay day, and how you never hear from him in Jacksonville? And yes, I realize he was hurt to start the year but he’s played in three games, they lost two of them, and he wasn’t a factor in the game they won. Point is, Peyton Manning makes tight ends look good. And he’s about to make Vernon Davis look really good.
As for the Packers, they’re still the favorite in NFC, but that was a very discouraging effort. Very few defenses are going to be able to do to them what the Broncos did, but this performance is coming off the heels of a game where they gave up 500 yards passing. Before the weekend it was cool to make fun of the Panthers for being a fraud undefeated team, but the Packers hadn’t exactly beaten a murders row of teams either.