and has little to do with Bronco.
First stringers can compete w/ just about anybody, but the 2nd string is populated with Chris Hale types.
As the season wears on, we get dinged up and can't compete as well against good teams.
Take a month off, the playing field is evened out a bit. Reminds me of our 6-6 year w/ John Walsh- the D was decimated with injuries and we were embarrassed often. We were playing a top 15 Ohio State in the holiday bowl. Peeps predicted bloodshed. But we got our LBs back and actually gave them a scare in the game.