The following was written by Stujo4, Canal Street Chronicles' field reporter who was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to be at the game yesterday in Denver. He was kind enough to share his first hand observations and notes from the game. Much thanks to Stujo4 for his great write up. 

Gramatica displays obvious disappointment (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

My wife, Susan,  and I planned to ride the Light Rail train from our hotel in Greenwood Village all the way in to Invesco.  At the park and ride lot, I get out of the car and some woman yells immediately, Go Saints!  I’m feeling better about wearing my Archie Manning jersey at an opponent’s stadium.  Susan says “How many Saints fans do you think will be there?”  Out of 70,000, I’m thinking only a few.  Turns out to be a lot more than that.  We had Saints jerseys scattered all around us in my section.

• Invesco is a really nice facility.  Big concourses with lots of concessions and restrooms, hardly any waiting in line.  Saints fans every where.  I hear “Archie!  Hey Archie!” all day long.  The crowd is very well behaved and very friendly.  No taunting other than one jerk late in the game.
• The CSC fan jersey rules are mostly ignored at Invesco.  I saw a guy wearing a Gaffney-Eagles jersey.  Come ON!
• Saints take the field to stretch, I see that they have the white jerseys on.  That’s good, because the sun is hot as hell at 5,280 feet of elevation.  Good thing our seats are in the shade under the second deck overhang.
• 1st quarter-  Our tackling seems better, but we just keep giving up yardage.  On a 3rd down, Gay did not hit that receiver off the line nearly hard enough and didn’t cover him well.  He had the reception for the first down.  I’m not feeling so good.  Broncos score.
• Denver kicker very nearly had a field goal on the second kickoff, hit it really hard. Not much wind, it was all thin air and leg.
• I hope Martin’s squib kicks were intentional.  They appeared to be, but I don’t know why.  I don’t think Eddie Royal was back for the returns.
• On Bush’s outside run at the end of the first quarter, he stiff armed that defender to the ground.  Only thing I had to cheer about so far.
• 7:46 Second quarter:  Saints, 3rd down and 6.  I don’t like the play calling I’ve seen from Payton so far.  Pass complete to Billy Miller, first down.  I feel better now.
• Touchdown Pierre Thomas, at the goal line, my endzone.  We REALLY needed that one.  I feel a lot better, only down 11 points.
• Interception, Mike McKenzie!!  Stadium shows the replay on the video boards.  I notice that they often don’t do this, they only show the good Denver plays.
• Bush scores and it really shuts up the crowd.  I never saw a ref signal the touchdown, had to see the score change on the scoreboard before we cheered.
• At the end of the second quarter, the Saints are driving to a score so the Broncos call consecutive time outs.  The fans go nuts in protest, demanding to know why.  I guess Shanahan was trying to slow them down, or give his defense a breather.
• Another Saints fumbled snap. Looked like a QB sneak but we can see on the replay that Karney picked it up.  Fans howl that the Broncos missed a fumble recovery.
• 4th and short, no question you go for it.  I would have called a play to the outside, though.  Stopped short, I’m OK with it.  Then a safety!  Poor play calling by the Broncos (just take a knee and end the half) and heads up aggressive play by the Saints’ defense.  I’m feeling pretty good overall.
• Until I see Gramatica miss the field goal.  I shrug it off.

Halftime notes:  Fans and stadiums are different around the league.  At Arrowhead, the announcer leads the Chiefs fans in screaming FIRST…..DOWN!!! when the Chiefs convert.  At Invesco Field, the announcer prompts the Denver fans to yell IN—COM—PLETE!! when an opponent doesn’t complete a pass.  Also, Invesco is a Budweiser facility as is the Superdome.  But, the Coors brewery is just miles away from here.  Must be an NFL thing.

• 3rd Quarter:  McKenzie got burned twice, good thing Cutler overthrew the receiver.  I don’t think it’s his knee, he just didn’t play his man.  I don’t know why they’re picking on McKenzie, Jason David is on the other side.
• Brees finds Meachem deep, we go crazy while the crowd is quieted again.
• Nice tackle by Jason David on the RB catching the pass out of the backfield, he wrapped him up and rode him out of bounds.  That was 2nd down and Will Smith stopped Pittman to force a field goal.  Good work.
• Why is the idiot 2 rows back screaming “Shockey!   Suckey!!” every 4 minutes?  Denver fans are getting concerned about how this game is going.
• Invesco can get pretty loud, but not as loud as Arrowhead or the Superdome.
• 4th Quarter:  Pierre scores, crowd is quieted.  32 to 34 with 9:54 to go.  We’re in good shape.
• I see Shanle make a play, and I think “Shanle has badass potential.  He needs to step up.” 6 minutes left, Broncos are driving, in the red zone.  My wife says “We need an interception.”  I say “Yeah, a turnover of some kind.”  Shanle forces Scheffler to fumble, Jason David recovers!  Crowd gets quiet again.  I’ve got a big smile.
• Devery Henderson catches a pass on a big 3rd down, keeping the drive alive!  It’s all good!  But Payton calls running plays up the middle on 2nd and 3 and 3rd and 1, and the drive stalls at the 2 minute warning.  Susan says “Why don’t they go for it?”  I say “If they don’t convert, the game is over.  We should kick the field goal and put it on our defense to hold them off for 2 minutes.  Gramatica misses, making it a moot point. Susan admits she didn’t think the score would be THAT close. 

To sum up, I guess we have a new scapegoat in Gramatica.  Jason David played pretty well, as did Devery.  Meachem had another big catch.  After the game, I overheard a stadium worker say that a Denver fan drank too much and puked on a Saints fan sitting in front of her.  Seems about right.

Even though I’m a Saints fan and I know better than to get my hopes up, I am crushed.  It is really hard to lose a close one at an away game, harder than at the Superdome.  It’s a long ride back on the train.