DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2018 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 17 Broncos 16 Browns vs Broncos

I thought I saw a 4% decrease in athletic performance at altitude, but yeah, it’s a few percent. I heard we are flying in tomorrow night, not a fan of that, wish we got in tonight or tomorrow morning.

I believe the broncos have a higher than average home field advantage, and that’s not because of their fans.

Altitude sickness is a real thing, and it starts with dehydration.

The air is so thin & dry that you aspirate a LOT more water than you normally would. Add in lots of high-effort work that jacks your heart rate and you can not only wear down quickly, but you can end up vomiting.

My uncle lives in Vail and has always advised folks coming out to visit that they should allow one day of acclimation for every 1500 feet of elevation change, and you need to drink like twice as many fluids as you normally would until you get adapted.

A few years back, I ran a trail marathon up in Deadwood, ND. My fiance at the time and I went out to run it together. The race starts at 5500' and goes up to almost 6400' by mile 14 before being all downhill the rest of the way. We arrived from Cleveland two days ahead of the race and I hydrated like crazy, she didn't. On race day, at Mile 11 she was puking over a cliff and I was beat down, but doing okay. The elevation was taking a bit extra out of me, but not breaking me.

Meh... all that to say that I wish they went out today, and I hope they are hanging IV bags on everyone tomorrow night and Friday after their walkthroughs. And maybe top them off on Saturday morning, lol!

Bake don't need an IV,

Yeah I don’t need an IV, V, VI or VII.

So too be fair with the air, the NFL should require pressurized dome for home games.

Do the donks realize any benefits training and playing at altitude when they are in lower elevations? Purp's description for the run he described was interesting. Thanks for that.

Are they over-oxygenated in contrast? Might be real as fatigue factors into games.

I have to disagree with you. Every team uses any home field advantage they can get. Dome teams have to play outdoors sometimes in poor weather. So does that mean we should force every team, or should I say every tax payer in their city, to pay for a dome? I mean playing in poor weather isn't what dome teams are used to, right?

Boulder, CO is the unofficial home of most major league triathletes and other endurance athletes simply because their bodies get trained to be more efficient with oxygen by living and training up there.

The benefit is small, but when you're at the pointy end of the spear as far as ability, every competitive edge matters.

So, yes, they do benefit and likely are less prone to tiring as rapidly - all else being equal. That said, the things I know of people using training at altitude for are more aerobic activities whereas football is decidedly anaerobic. I'm not sure how much benefit there is there.... perhaps after a hard effort they recover from being out of breath faster?

It sure is, but Mile High is only 5,280 ft above see level.

From my understanding real altitude sickness starts around 8,000 ft. I did a lot of research on it before going to Peru, because, it's a big deal over there.


I think we'll be alright. I'm sure they're weighing, sending the guys out early (and having them sleep in hotels for multiple nights but getting more accustomed to the air) vs sleeping in their own beds, preparing in their facility for the big game.


Doc Rivers always said that sleeping in your own bed matters. I'd have to agree. I hate sleeping in hotels.

They know how big this game is. They've thought about the implications. I'm sure they're weighing the pluses and minuses. Bring a few more Oxygen machines if necessary. We'll kick these Donkey Butts

Pretty much doom & gloom on the Broncos msg boards. They think Baker will light them up.

I've been to Denver a bunch and never noticed a problem with catching my breath ... but then I wasn't playing pro sports. I did sky there a couple of times and was 100% fine. Whether it has a greater affect on athletes idk

The Browns left for Denver today to get acclimated to the altitude.

Well there it is. What's done is done. Sent them out one day early. I'm sure they weighed the pluses and minuses, and this was the result.

Doesn't matter to me. I'm very confident we're going to win this game.

Call it the Baker effect, but I just feel very good about this team right now. Couldn't be happier. We're in the zone. Everyone's feeling dangerous.


I just hope we can get Denzel back. Concussions are a weird thing though. At least we have Money Mitchell, and TJ Carrie seems to be playing well too

They should be going to Estes Park, which is 8500' to train. Then come back down to mile high to play.

Some comments about the air:

I disagree that players can acclimate in a day or two. Physiologically, even the short-term adaptations (enzymes and such) would probably take many days, even weeks to make a significant difference. The more hardened aerobic adaptations of the heart and blood vessels would take months and even years to optimize.

Going a day early isn't going to do much. It might make the team more aware of their limitations. If the players don't notice the effect, it's probably because they're not going very hard or for very long. We'll see on Saturday night. Pay particular attention to the defense, especially after sustained drives or late in the game.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/8480201/nfl-hot-read-best-home-field-advantage-no-5


How this affects the Broncos on the road is debatable. The players may have an advantage in conditioning but there's also a penalty in terms of strength/power adaptations. That matters a lot in football.

If you remember the Mike Shanahan-led Denver teams, they were always a smaller, more agile bunch. They used zone concepts in the running game, with generally smaller but quicker linemen. They played up-tempo a lot. Add it all up and that is exhausting for the defense. Some of their backs had monster rushing years.

Football is a mixed game anaerobically and aerobically. It depends a lot on the position and play style. The plays themselves are mostly (but not entirely) anaerobic but when a player has to play 40-50 or more of them per game, the aerobic component starts adding up. The aerobic system is working when recovering between plays, and as the ATP-PC and glycolytic energy systems fatigue as the game goes on, the aerobic system provides a larger percent of the energy for the body even during plays.

The strength and conditioning world has largely underestimated the importance of the aerobic energy system due to misunderstanding the nature of mixed sports. You see athletes clearly not conditioned enough even at the highest levels of sports-- from title fights in combat sports to NFL games on Sunday. Altitude amplifies this effect and it's readily apparent when there are contests in Denver, Mexico City, etc.

Train atop Longs Peak!

On a side note, I used to spend two weeks for several summers in Estes Park as a teen for our family vacations. Love it out there.

Seriously?
What a trip.


This must have been what it was like to scout a Dawg Talk/ Dawg Talkers from 1999... until- oh, about 4 weeks ago.


Damn.

Perspective, yo.

The air seems to impact people differently. Some feel it as soon as they get off the plane. Others don't feel until they do more physical activity.

When I moved out here I didn't feel it until I tried to ride my bike. Some people get dizzy and headaches. I never had that. I just got winded faster. When I go back down to sea level, only thing I notice is I don't get winded as fast.

My buddy comes out skiing each year, he acclimates in a day, and thats up in the 10k-13k feet altitudes.

Talk around the office seems to be split. Some think they can win, others are like "omg, we're going to lose to the Browns". Hopefully Monday will be a good day at work.

If I remember properly, it takes about 3-5 days to get adjusted to the thin air.

We lost three AFC championship games to these mofos, it would be nice to keep our playoff hopes alive and end their's.

They have Casey, we have Bake. 31-10 Browns.

I hope so. Should be an interesting game. Our tackles will play a big part of it going against Miller and the other Chubb.

You could say that about a lot of games, but a lot of times good teams also happen to have a good pair of edge rushers. Something to keep in mind as the Browns hopefully build this team for deep playoff runs in the future..

One minor thing to remember: Orson Charles, our best blocking TE, is not playing. That will affect the game IMO.

Side note: Would love to see Genard Avery go off this week with a couple sacks, a dozen tackles and an INT... has one team ever had 4 different players win rookie of the week in the same season?

Denver struggles with TEs. Quick passes to TEs and Duke could negate the pass rush. I was kind of worried about this game, but for some reason I feel we are going to see a statement game from our young team. These guys have confidence and a belief that they can beat anybody.

If the defense can limit Lindsay, I think we have a very good chance of winning this game.


Knocking Denver out of the playoffs would be so satisfying, a little retribution for the fumble and the drive.

No doubt, we're going to smoke them

National tv tomorrow.. chance to show off in prime time... hope we come to play...

We have our qb, we have our coach, we have players on both sides of the ball, and we have attitude (and altitude). Browns 27-24.

I have been sick all week, due to being in the mob at mls cup.

I am foaming at the mouth to get out of the house.

So I will be at the bar to watch this. Dont care if its on national tv.

31-17 Browns

I am dying to see how BM does on night games for us, one of those intangibles about him. Does he love this variation of the big stage? Hope he gets stupid dangerous and gets crazy.

The team can catch his fire. All dressed up . . . might as well win this thang.

LOL, Mobster! Some nights you shouldn't be alone. Tomorrow is one of them!

The Elf is off the shelf in Believeland.

I would suspect real lean and low body fat types have higher recovery ability and less fall off in the first place. Now the Big Fellas probably notice and fall off sooner and take longer time to recover. So edge to them what are more used to it.

Or it's minimal though real. Quit whining and win. You can breathe Sunday.

Play ball. But really, hurting them and early might be a great concept. And slower ball control might help. I was asking mostly because I was considering, say, the elevation's impact specifically on Chubb and Duke and our tackles. Also, what is a realistic expectation for MG?

Forget it. Just win, baby!

I think we can beat the Donks, but man they are a hard team for a rookie QB to beat. Much like Houston, they hold a serious record over rookie QBs in Denver. I do believe in Baker, though. I think that he is a legitimate franchise guy, on the rise.

Run the football

To expand on this a little... I agree that we are playing at a very confidant level. There isn't another NFL team that can take the field that the Browns don't feel like they have a legit chance to beat.... and, perhaps equally important, if we do get down by a couple scores.. we honestly believe we can stay in the game and come back... and that's HUGE.

I remember many years where a 7 point lead in the 3rd quarter was considered insurmountable, used to joke that a 7 point lead was a 3-possession lead because the best we could hope for was FGs..

This believe that we can play with anybody... and that we are never out of a game... is the most exciting thing I've felt in a long time.. (well, football related anyway)....

i think we'll employ someone we haven't seen much of: Duke Johnson