Broncos Offense? Or Broncos' Offense?

[Eagleboy]

After giving this some thought and asking around, I can't really get a consensus and figured I'd ask here to see all of your practices.

I often see some variation of "The Broncos offense could not move the ball Sunday" a lot anymore and often wonder why it's not "The Broncos' offense." I've always used the latter and think to myself, the Broncos are the ones owning the offensive production, so it should be possessive.

However, because it's used so often without the apostrophe (as in the example), I must be missing something. It can't be that widely-used without being corrected, can it? Is the clumped "Broncos offense" be considered one packaged noun?

Or what about here: "The Saints coaching staff." Wouldn't it be "The Saints' coaching staff," since the Saints own the coaching staff? It's obvious when you substitute Sean Payton in there - "The Saints' Sean Payton" needs the possessive.

It's all got my head spinning.

Discuss.

 

[WazzuGrad00]

If you can substitute the city name without an apostrophe, then it's probably not needed for the team name.

 

[MileHigh]

The Broncos offense.
The Denver defense.

Not ...

The Denver's defense.

 

[Angola!]

My pet peeve is when writers change it to: Bronco offense. They are not the Bronco, they are the Broncos.

 

[joe king]

The Broncos offense.
The Denver defense.

Not ...

The Denver's defense.

No, but Denver's defense.

 

[Ace]

Joe King is right.

You substitute the city name, but don't use the "the"

Denver's offense sucked
The Broncos' offense sucked

Denver quarterback John Elway
Broncos quarterback John Elway

 

[MileHigh]

The Broncos offense.
The Denver defense.

Not ...

The Denver's defense.

No, but Denver's defense.

Yes, but the sentence isn't constructed that way.

 

[Ace]

The Broncos offense.
The Denver defense.

Not ...

The Denver's defense.

No, but Denver's defense.

Yes, but the sentence isn't constructed that way.

Yes, but hopefully you would never use "The Denver offense" in a sentence.

 

[blondebomber]

The Broncos offense.
The Denver defense.

Not ...

The Denver's defense.

But I think the Broncos' offense works, too, because it is THEIR offense.

 

[Columbo]

The Broncos offense.
The Denver defense.

Not ...

The Denver's defense.

The Broncos' kicker, Jason Elam....

Broncos quarterback Jake Cutler

 

[Nathan Scott Phillips]

The Denver omelet was terrible.
The Broncos omelet tasted better, but I don't care for horse meat.
The Broncos' oemlets were serverd to the press before the game.

 

[BNWriter]

The Broncos offense.
The Denver defense.

Not ...

The Denver's defense.

The Broncos' kicker, Jason Elam....

Broncos quarterback Jake Cutler

Just saying "Denver's defense..." works, too.

 

[MC Sports Guy]

We observe the city name replacing the mascot rule, too. Meaning, it should be the Broncos offense. At least, that's the way it was explained to me by someone who's opinion I deeply value.

 

[hotrobber]

But it would be ...
The Broncos' two-minute offense.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

The Broncos offense.
The Denver defense.

Not ...

The Denver's defense.

Denver's offense has struggled mightily while the Broncos' defense has tried to carry the team.

So, yes, you use the apostrophe. At least, you should. If somebody tells you different, send him back to second-grade English class for remedial education at once.

No, but Denver's defense.

Yes, but the sentence isn't constructed that way.

And it shouldn't be constructed that way -- the phrase "the Denver defense" contains an extraneous the that should easily be removed, forcing the use of the possessive Denver's.

We observe the city name replacing the mascot rule, too. Meaning, it should be the Broncos offense. At least, that's the way it was explained to me by someone who's opinion I deeply value.

Evidently that person failed second-grade English.