The Broncos had a good season, but as of this evening, it’s over.
In the three years we have lived out here, they haven’t looked even remotely like they had a chance of making the playoffs; this year, they topped the Conference. Across the season, they came back from a fourth quarter deficit something like 10 times, a league record, which is incredible when you consider the season is only 17 games long.
Coming from behind to steal it at the death requires skill and nerve, but it also requires a bit of luck. And sadly, when they needed that luck the most, it deserted them.
Last week, with only 2 minutes left to play, their star quarterback broke his ankle, ending his season. Even people with no idea about American Football (me) know that the Quarterback is an important position. Cracking your ankle doesn’t sound like a particularly clever strategy.
Then today, early on, the team decided to make a high risk play instead of taking the simple field goal and scoring three points. With three quarters left to play, they had plenty of time.
What they didn’t realise was that by half time, a blizzard had hit the city and it was dumping snow, blowing a gale, and the mercury had hit sub 10 degrees Celsius. Those easy field goals quickly became devilishly hard.
The final piece of bad luck was sartorial. Broncos aren’t orange, but the team decided to adopt that colour anyway. I’m a fan, I think it’s quite recognizable without being garish. An advantage is that it’s very easy to spot players in the snow.
The New England Patriots usually don navy blue, but this afternoon, decided to wear their second strip, all white. A terrible colour if you’re in charge of the team laundry. A great choice if you’re planning on ambushing your opposition by blending into the field.
The uniforms, injuries, and decisions all ended up costing the Broncos, who went down 10-7. I managed to catch the last 5 minutes, which was the total extent of football I watched all year. In fact, I have spent more time writing this post than actually tuning in.
Better luck next year.