Next Man Up...Again

Written by: John Edward Betancourt

This has been an incredibly strange year for the Denver Broncos.  They have seen starter after starter fall to injury.  They have seen one of their franchise players suspended for six games.  Heck, they have even seen Head Coach John Fox need time off for heart surgery.  

This should have been, hands down, a disaster season for the Broncos.  No team survives losing so many starters and a Head Coach for a month...right? At least in my many years of watching football I've never seen a team survive this many devastating moves, yet the Denver Broncos are now 12-3.

They have clinched the AFC West Division Championship for the third straight year. They have clinched a playoff berth and a first round bye and if they beat the Raiders they snag home field advantage throughout the playoffs.  

Yet at times it seems they should not be in this fine of a position.  The Denver defense has some major issues still facing it.  They have major difficulty stopping the run, and at times they are just plain awful.  Now, they have to contend with Von Miller being out for the rest of the year with a torn ACL.  

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So here we go again, time for the next man up.  For those of you unfamiliar with that phrase, it has been in place since John Fox took over as Head Coach of the Denver Broncos.  The idea is simple.  If any man on this squad goes down due to injury, or suspension and what not, the man behind him on the depth chart is the next man up.  He must not only fill in that slot, but do the job of the last guy as good as if not better than him.  

So far it's been a pretty effective method for the team, but as I said before, cracks are beginning to show on Defense.  The last major wave of defensive injuries incurred in a game was against Dallas and it showed with the Cowboys putting up forty eight points on us.  Not to mention the fact the Chargers ran wild at Mile High and the D was unable to stop them.  It's major cause for concern especially with the playoffs on the horizon.  

Yet, the Broncos keep winning.  

It could be due to the fact that Peyton Manning can will a team to victory.  It may be that the Defense manages to show up at just the right time.  Or quite possibly, next man up works like a charm and we have solid depth.  Or maybe, something special is happening in Denver this year and good old fashioned luck keeps heading our way.  Either way, it makes for exciting and nerve wracking football, and we'll find out the real answer come the Divisional round of the playoffs. 

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