The Ticket Chest

NFL Action – Top Teams Battling – Broncos @ Ravens; Giants @ Eagles; Vikings @ Packers

Sunday, November 1st, 2009 | Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, New York Giants, NFL, Philadelphia Eagles, Sports | No Comments

Get ready for some NFL football action this weekend – boy are there some good games with some great story lines…

In the 1PM slot, there are 2 great games to catch:

The 6-0 Denver Broncos travel to the 3-3 Baltimore Ravens.  The Broncos are the biggest surprise of the 2009 NFL season and people still aren’t giving them any respect with their undefeated start.  The Ravens don’t want to fall to 3-4 with a loss, so look for the Ravens to pull off a close home win.

The 5-2 New York Giants and the 4-2 Philadelphia Eagles meet in an NFC East battle royale – a precursor for the BIG game in Philadelphia later that same day – Game 4 of the World Series between the Yankees and Phillies.  The Giants have lost 2 games in a row but would still be in control of the division with a win.  The Eagles lost to the Raiders and then defeated the Redskins without playing very well.  Look for the Giants to pull off the road win and punch a ticket for the playoffs a little early this year.

And in the Game of the Week – Brett Favre makes his triumphant return to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers and the Wisconsion Cheeseheads.  The Vikings have a 2-game lead over the Packers in the NFC North division and could wrap up the division early with their 2nd win over the Packers this season.  The Cheeseheads and Packers players would love for nothing more than to beat up on Favre on his new team.  We’re predicting a close 3-point win for the home team.

Enjoy – should be a lot of fun action to watch all day long…

Tags: Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb, Eli Manning, Kyle Orton, Matt Ryan, Ray Lewis

Bengals Crush Bears 45-10; Worst Loss During Lovie Smith Era

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, NFL, Sports | No Comments

Ouch – the Bears took it on the chin on Sunday, losing to the Bengals 45-10 in Cincinnati.  Right from the get-go, it looked like the Bears players wanted to be anyplace but Paul Brown Stadium.  It was clearly the worst loss during Lovie Smith’s tenure as Head Coach of the Chicago Bears.  Since their 2006 Super Bowl appearance, the Bears have been a .500 team.  They went 7-9 in 2007, 9-7 in 2008 and are currently 3-3 during 2009.  This is not good news if you are a Bears fan or if you’re Lovie Smith.

In Sunday’s demoralizing 45-10 loss, the Bears scored on each their 5 drives in the 1st half and on their 1st 2 drives of the 2nd half.  The Bengals led 31-0 and then 45-3.  It was the classic home team beat down.  Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer threw 5 touchdown passes, going 20 of 24 for 233 yards.  Former Bears cast-off Cedric Benson rushed 37 times for 189 yards and 1 touchdown, making it look easy against his former team.  Cad Ochocinco caught 10 passes for 118 yards and 2 scores.  Anyway who played for the Bengals on the offensive side of the ball had a field day against the Bears defense on Sunday.

The best side story was Benson.  In 3 seasons with the Bears, he frustrated Bears management and fans with his lack of dedication.  2 brushes with the law ultimately forced the Bears to cut ties with Benson.

Benson’s Bears stats – in 3 seasons, 35 games, 420 rushes, 1,593 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 3 lost fumbles.

Benson’s Bengals stats – in 1+ seasons, 19 games, 378 rushes, 1,467 yards, 7 touchdowns, and 1 lost fumble.  Benson is averaging over 100 yards per game in 2009 and he looks focused and ready like never before.

Another interesting look is Jay Cutler v. former Bears QB Kyle Orton (now with the Denver Broncos).

Cutler’s 2009 Bears (3-3 team record) stats – 6 games, 82.9 passer rating, 65% completion percentage, 1,452 passing yards, 11 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, and 7 fumbles with 1 lost fumble.

Orton’s 2009 Broncos (6-0 team record) stats – 6 games, 100.1 passer rating, 63.9% completion percentage, 1,465 passing yards, 9 touchdowns, 1 interception, and 1 fumble with zero lost fumbles.

Crazy crazy stuff…  The Bears are tied for 9th in the NFC while the Broncos are tied for 1st in the AFC.

There’s still time for this 2009 Bears club, but if they continue to play the way they did against the Falcons and Bengals instead of the way they played against the Steelers and Lions, it could be another frustrating season for Lovie Smith, Smith’s staff and Bears fans all over the country.

Tags: Carson Palemer, Cedric Benson, Chad Ochocinco, Jay Cutler, Kyle Orton

NFL Surprise – Denver Broncos 5-0 behind McDaniels, Orton

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 | Brandon Marshall, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Jay Cutler, Josh McDaniels, Kyle Orton, NFL, Sports | 1 Comment

While there have been a lot of pleasant surprises during the 2009 NFL schedule, none compare to the performance of the 5-0 Denver Broncos.  After a frustrating end to the 2008 NFL season (the team lost its 5 games to hand the division/final AFC playoff spot to the San Diego Chargers) and a tumultuous off-season, the team has rallied behind new head coach Josh McDaniels and new QB Kyle Orton.  Denver Broncos fans and Broncos tickets holders are now loving NFL action again in Denver.

The off-season saw the firing of beloved, long-time head coach Mike Shanahan.  After owner Pat Bowlen pulled Josh McDaniels away from the paws of the New England Patriots’ head coach Bill Bellichik.  Instead of endearing himself to franchise QB Jay Cutler, McDaniels ended up alienating him when rumors leaked that the Broncos tried to trade Cutler for Patriots’ back-up QB Matt Cassell whom McDaniels had mentored in New England.  Cutler immediately demanded a trade, and the Broncos eventually traded Cutler to the Bears for Kyle Orton and 2 future 1st round draft picks.  As if that wasn’t bad enough, Broncos’ superstar wide receiver Brandon Marshall who was upset with Cutler’s departure refused to participate in off-season workouts, demanded a trade and was eventually suspended by McDaniels for part of the pre-season.

It didn’t get any better once play started during the pre-season in August.  The Broncos won only 1 of 4 pre-season games and Orton was just downright bad – 4 interceptions with only 1 touchdown.

But the team did not let an awful off-season and pre-season get them down.  Somehow, McDaniels earned the respect of the team, even Marshall, and Orton proved that he could play at the highest level in Denver.  The Broncos pulled off a miracle come-from-behind win in Cincinnati in the opening week of the season, and the team has ridden that high ever since.  The Broncos went to 3-0 with easy wins over 2 bad teams – the Cleveland Browns and the Oakland Raiders – and then proved they were for real with wins over the Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots in Weeks 4 and 5.

In the Cowboys win, the Broncos rallied from a 10-0 1st quarter deficit to win 17-10.  The defense shut down the Cowboys offense through the final 3 quarters and Orton connected with Marshall on a spectacular 51-yard catch and run with under 2 minutes left to give the Broncos the win.

In the Patriots win, the Broncos pulled off another come-from-behind home win by outscoring the Patriots 10-0 in the 2nd half to force the game into overtime.  Once again Orton connected with Marshall for the game-tying score in the 4th quarter and then he led the Broncos on the game-winning drive that culminated with Matt Prater’s 41-yard field goal less than 5 minutes into the extra period.

Just like that the Broncos were 5-0 and flying high in Mile High.  The team loves McDaniels.  McDaniels has faith in his players.  Orton has emerged as a quality starter in McDaniels’ pass-oriented system.  Orton has a 97.4 passer rating and he is completing 63% of his passes.  He has thrown for 1236 yards and 7 touchdowns against just 1 interception.  He had the 3rd most passing yards of any NFL quarterback in Week 5.  And Marshall has found a way to work past his demons and learn to play as part of a team.  Marshall only has 283 receiving yards thus far this season, but he has 4 touchdown catches and he and Orton seem to grow together each and every game.

The schedule doesn’t get much easier for the Broncos over the next 6 games – 2 games against the division-rival San Diego Chargers, @ Baltimore, home against the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants and @ Washington Redskins.  It’s unclear if the Broncos can keep this pace up, but so far so good for McDaniels & Co. in Denver…