Jets-Broncos: Denver Dominates as the Rain Grounds New York

The Denver Broncos spent a soggy Sunday afternoon stampeding over the New York Jets on their own field. Jay Cutler threw for over 350 yards, and rookie Peyton Hillis ran for over 120 as the Broncos effectively attacked the Jets from all angles.

While everyone knows how explosive the Broncos' offense is, it was their defense that caught New York completely off-guard.

They played strong, fast, and refused to truly break—denying New York the opportunity to turn the game into a shootout on hostile territory.

The Jets started the game poorly, and never had an opportunity to execute a gameplan, as they were forced to play from behind from the first quarter.

Thomas Jones did everything he could with his two-touchdown performance, but it was never enough. Denver outplayed New York and muscled their way to a decisive 34-17 win.

Can We Abandon the Wildcat Already?

So the formation is a fun one. The opposing defense is knocked off balance when the quarterback is lined up as a wideout, and a quick, multi-purpose athlete takes the snap for an option play. It's a blast.

But it's not a shocker anymore.

It's either going to be an option, or a reverse. In New York's case, it was an early game-changing fumble.

The first offensive drives for the Jets and Broncos ended in punts. But a botched flip on a reverse to Jerricho Cotchery from the Wildcat formation only resulted in a deflating blow to the Jets.

Cotchery fumbled the toss, dove to recover it, and Vernon Fox ended up taking the slippery pigskin to the end zone.

This is not an effort to take anything away from Denver and the great game they played—but can anyone explain why possession after a fumble is not reviewable?

Jerricho Cotchery fell on the ball, had possession, and it slipped out from underneath his body after the Denver Broncos jumped on top of him.

Shouldn't that have been a dead ball? Cotchery had possession and should have been down by contact.

If the review was inconclusive, that's fine—but a controversial play that resulted in points for Denver should've had another look.

Fake Injuries: They're the New Timeout

Was that harsh?

So maybe the Broncos were legitimately hurt when they stayed on the ground after a play. But it's got to be questioned when it happened every single time Brett Favre tried to get his team into a hurry-up, no huddle offense.

Some of the hits looked legitimately painful after the replays, but every time?

The Broncos' defense played well-enough to stifle any momentum the Jets would've liked to establish. But it's got to be more than a coincidence that a Broncos' player was writhing in pain after the Jets converted crucial first-downs.

If they were legitimate, it's got to be a question of the Broncos' conditioning program. It was a slippery field, but the injury timeouts were excessive.

Either these guys aren't being taught to tackle properly, or they've discovered a new way to slow an offense down.

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