KC no Masterpiece

Sunday's game vs Kansas City was my 7th straight Broncos/Chiefs game attended since 2007 and was up there with one of the best. The Chiefs came in here atop the AFC West as 1-point favorites and the Broncos came out and made a statement. I wasn't too upset seeing coach Todd Haley snub McDaniels a postgame handshake afterward. I read articles that Haley was upset because he felt McDaniels ran up the score, showing poor sportsmanship. I remember looking at my brother in the 2nd quarter when the Broncos were up 35-0, and saying "we're a 2-6 football team. This is not over!" I was glad McDaniels kept the peddle to the metal. His job was on the line. Why would he have risked blowing a 35-point lead by benching his starters for the 2nd half only to show good sportsmanship? Forget sportsmanship, win the game and win convincingly. Make a statement. That's what they did. If anything, keeping the starters in the game showed respect to the Chiefs because we knew the game was not over. The Chiefs are a good football team. When the Raiders came into Denver and beat the Broncos 59-14 McDaniels still shook Cable's hand after the game. McDaniels took the loss like a man (he's lost his fair share as the Broncos' coach so he knows how to act after a loss, I guess).
Sarcasm aside, the Chiefs came in here with the NFL's best rushing attack and the Broncos managed to hold them to 51 rushing yards. On top of that, Moreno had his 1st 100-yard game of his career, with 106 yards rushing. 49-29 was a great score. What was most impressive was the Broncos' offensive line. What was once the Broncos' weakest unit at the beginning of the season is now one of their brightest spots now they are healthy. Having Zane Beadles at left guard and Ryan Clady at left tackle is just not fair to opposing defenses. Throw in Chris Kuper at right guard and Ryan Harris at right tackle also. JD Walton at center is coming along as well. Lets hope he can continue to snap the ball (see the game vs the Jets). If the offensive line can stay healthy, watch out. November and December may be months to remember for the Denver Broncos- for the first time in recent history. For now, faith in the Broncos is restored.

Happy Halloween

The Broncos are a disgrace right now! And it's all because of the stupid decisions Josh McDaniels and Brian Xanders! The Raiders who were 2-4 came in here last week and beat us 59-14 at home. It wasn't like Montana and Rice were on that team, or any other future hall of famers for that matter! The Raiders beat us with their backup QB in our house twice in a row under McDaniels' watch! (Jamarcus Russell last year Jason Campbell this year). McDaniels is 0-4 vs the AFC West at home up to this point. On top of that, the Broncos lost to a 1-5 San Francisco 49er team which now makes the Broncos 2-6 on the season. We all knew the Broncos would have their struggles rebuilding but this is not rebuilding. This is total destruction from within the organization by Josh McDaniels and Brian Xanders.
McDaniels has completely dismantled this team since he's been here. He traded Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Tony Scheffler, and he traded Peyton Hillis for a backup QB who will never see the field (Brady Quinn) all because he didnt like Hillis. Hillis is lighting it up in Cleveland right now. Top 5 running back in the NFL (believe me, I have him on my fantasy roster). Where does Denver rank in the NFL in rush yardage? 32nd! That's right, we are last in the NFL in rush yardage. Not only did he let Hillis go but he also let Ryan Torain walk, who coincidentally is a stud in Washington! Lets also give Tyler Polumbus an honorable mention. Another "Shanahan-guy" who McDaniels didn't like, he let walk, and now is flourishing elsewhere (Seattle). With all of the pass-protection problems Denver is having and a 32nd ranked rush offense, having Polumbus on our team probably wouldn't hurt. McDaniels has proven he doesn't know anything about how to draft. He traded all of our draft picks for Tim Tebow (non-starter), he drafted Alfonso Smith (gone), Robert Ayers (still has a lot to prove), Knowsho Moreno (always hurt and tired, has yet to have a 100 yard game), Demaryius Thomas (un-proven WR who cannot stay healthy). McDaniels has drafted the likes of Richard Quinn, Eric Decker, Seth Olsen, Darcel McBath, Tom Brandstater, who have rode the bench up or have been traded or cut by now. Drafts can either make or break teams and 2-6 says it all! McDaniels is 10-14 as the head coach of the Denver Broncos and since starting the season 6-0 in 2009 we are 4-14 under his watch.
Was McDaniels sent by New England to destroy the Broncos? Maybe. Prior to McDaniels' arrival the Denver Broncos had a record of 125-78 from 1997-2008 (including postseason), while New England had a record of 143-66 (including postseason) in that time span. Denver was the biggest threat to New England in all years under Shanahan, including 2005, when Denver sent New England home in the playoffs for the 1st time in the Brady/Belichick era. Once Shanahan was fired, was it possible Belichick made a plan to send McDaniels to Denver to infiltrate and dismantle the Broncos for years to come? Why did we trade our 2011 4th round pick to New England for washed up Laurence Maroney? Why did we trade our 2010 5th round pick to New England for the damaged goods of Le Kevin Smith? Why did we cut one of the best long-snappers in the NFL in Mike Leach, just to sign Lonnie Paxton from New England? Not to mention former Patriot, Jabar Gaffney, who signed signed a four-year, $10 million contract with Denver. Gaffney is a decent receiver, but $10 million dollar-decent? Or how about the fact Denver traded their 7th round pick in the 2010 draft for Russ Hochstein? If McDaniels drafted right, or knew how to coach he wouldn't need all of these New England rejects! The only New England Patriot I would want to suit up for the Denver Broncos is Tom Brady, which is not happening. So everyone else who New England dumps, comes to Denver, which raises suspicion. New England is getting rid of their damaged goods AND stacking draft picks for their future while Denver gets rid of their future by trading for New England's washed up players! Oh yeah, let's not forget how McDaniels waived our up and coming young safety Josh Barrett and sure enough 24 hours later, yours truly picks him up.
It's obvious McDaniels is the wrong coach for the Denver Broncos. He's done his damage to our team. The only way Denver can get better is to fire McDaniels at the conclusion of the season and hire a proven, winning coach head coach; not a coordinator. Two coaches come to mind: Bill Cowher who has a head coaching record of 149-90-1, including 6 AFC Championship appearances, 2 Super Bowl appearances, and 1 Super Bowl Championship. The chances of him coming to Denver are slim, seeing as he lives in North Carolina, and the Carolina Panthers will soon be looking for a head coach themselves. Jon Gruden is other head coach Denver should consider. Gruden has an overall record of 100-85, including 1 Super Bowl Championship vs the Oakland Raiders. Gruden hates the Raiders and he likes Tim Tebow. Seems like a good fit. One thing I pledge not to do. I am not one of those fans cheering for the Broncos to lose so that McDaniels gets fired. Hopefully things get turned around! It just looks ugly right now!

NFL's Top 100

Apparently, the same panel who voted the NFL’s top 100 is the same panel that has been screwing very much deserving Broncos out of the hall of fame for all these years.
Elway only led Denver to 34 comeback wins in the 4th quarter & overtime, which tied him for third with Johnny Unitas. He had 148 career wins, placing him second to Favre in NFL history. 300 career touchdown passes which places him 5th in NFL history. He is only one of 4 QB’s to pass for at least 3000 yards in 12 seasons, next to Favre, Marino, and Manning. 2-time Super Bowl Champion and Super Bowl XXXIII MVP. All of these stats equal 23rd in the NFL’s top 100?
Elway isn’t the only one screwed here.
If Tony Gonzalez made the list Shannon Sharpe not only should be on the list, but he should be higher than Tony Gonzalez. Shannon Sharpe reinvented the tight end position. Sharpe was an 8-time Pro Bowler, 4-time first team All Pro, 3-time Super Bowl Champion, member of the 1990’s All-Decade team, he had over 10,000 career yards, and 62 touchdowns in his career. He deserves to be in the top 100.
Terrell Davis deserves to be in the top 100. He accomplished everything any NFL running back would want to accomplish in an NFL career. Super Bowl XXXII MVP, 2000 yard rusher, 1998 Season MVP. Two-time Super Bowl Champion. Enough said. If the argument against Davis is longevity, then why is Gale Sayers on the list? And why is he ahead of Elway?
Hall of fame left tackle Gary Zimmerman belongs on this list too. 7-time Pro Bowler, 5-time First-team All-Pro selection, he was a member of both NFL 1980’s and NFL 1990’s All-Decade Teams!
How about Randy Gradishar? He was a 7-time Pro Bowl selection, 5-time First-team All Pro selection, 7-time All-AFC selection, and he was the 1978 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. As great as Jack Ham and Jack Lambert were, Randy Gradishar stands just as tall as they do in the history books. He doesn’t have the championship rings like they do, but individually he’s right there. Gradishar has been screwed by the Hall of Fame committee year after year. From what I am hearing he is eligible to be on the Senior ballet this year which increases his chances of getting in.

Broncos vs Titans

The Denver Broncos had the Colts within their grasp. Until the 4th quarter. As earlier mentioned in my last post, in order to beat Peyton Manning, it would take risk. Our risks didn’t pay off, going 5-15 on 3rd down and 1-4 on 4th down. I appreciated the aggression by McDaniels but I disagreed with the play-calling. Denver’s redzone failures can be attributed to our inability to run the football. It seemed like McDaniels gave up on the run at moments instead of being fully committed to the ground; two times where McDaniels called a play for Orton to float it to a receiver, falling incomplete. Orton played a good game, throwing for 476 yards, but it only produced 13 points. It sure doesn’t help seeing the Broncos with their non-existent run-game and the same week witnessing Peyton Hills (traded from the Broncos for basically nothing) rush for 144 yards with Browns against a very formidable Ravens defense. So far in 2010 the Broncos are a stellar 30th in rush yards. You think the Broncos could use Peyton Hillis?
Okay, I’m done being negative. I like Denver’s match up vs Tennessee this week. So far the Broncos have proven to defend the run well (10th best in the NFL). We’ll need our best run-defense of the year vs 2000 yarder Chris Johnson. If Denver can contain Johnson I like our chances vs Tennessee who has a 30th ranked pass offense. Offensively, Denver is 1st in the NFL in pass yards, and Brandon Lloyd is actually 2nd in the NFL with 339 yards. We all know what Denver needs to do offensively to win the game; establish a respectable ground game and score in the red zone.

Broncos vs Colts preview

The Broncos have their hands full this week; in more ways than one. To start, my condolences go out to Kenny McKinley’s friends and family. Tragic. Not only do the Broncos have to deal with the death of their teammate, but they also have to deal with the Indianapolis Colts, whom they haven’t legitimately beaten since October 3rd 1993. Denver’s last two wins vs Indianapolis were in 2003 and 2004, which both games were thrown by the Colts so they could prepare for the playoffs. Peyton Manning is 7-2 vs Denver (including those 2 meaningless games). How can Denver win this Sunday? Keep Peyton Manning off the field. That means converting on 3rd down by running the ball and spreading the ball evenly on offense through the air, keeping Indianapolis off balance defensively. Indianapolis is very good on defense with all star pass-rushers Rashean Mathis and Dwight Freeney. Ryan Clady should be able to neutralize Freeney on the left side, however we might have issues on the right side with Ryan Harris unable to play due to injury. Facing Mathis might be too much for rookie Zane Beadles, so Denver must line up in the “bunch” formation utilizing Daniel Graham and Spencer Larson to help block these monsters. If the Broncos expect to score points we must keep Kyle Orton’s jersey as clean as possible. One thing Denver can lean on is the fact that Kyle is 1st in the NFL in QB rating on 3rd down (138.3) with 2 TD’s, a completion percentage of 73.7, and 181 yards. He is 8th in the NFL in winning percentage among active starting NFL Quarterbacks with at least 40 starts (30-20, winning pct .600). Cutler is not on that list. Defensively, Denver must create a pass rush. Robert Ayers must produce. He has shown improvement but must continue to wreak havoc in the pocket. Denver must find a way to hit Peyton Manning, considering the fact cornerbacks Andre Goodman and Champ Bailey are banged up. If they are unable to play, it will be up to rookie cornerbacks Perrish Cox, Syd ‘Quan Thompson, Cassius Vaughn, and veteran corner Nate Jones. Peyton Manning has a history of torching rookie cornerbacks and torching the Broncos so if Bailey and Goodman can’t go, it will be extremely difficult to win. In order to win this game, I come back to the fact that Denver must keep Peyton Manning off of the field as much as possible, not just by converting on 3rd down, but also through special teams; similar to how the Saints onside kicked in the Super Bowl. To win this game it’s going to mean taking risks like aggressive blitzes and onside kicks for chance to get the football back in Orton’s hands. For the sake of being positive I’ll mention some good historical stats, but honestly they have no bearing on this game! Since 1996, Denver is 1st in the NFL in the 1st month of the season with a record of 39-15 (ironically, Indianapolis is 2nd at 33-16). Since 2002, the Broncos are 14-1 at home in September (our one loss was vs Jacksonville on September 23rd, 2007).

The Rockies are in great shape right now. It's their favorite time of the year and they find themselves 4.5 games back from leading the NL West and 5 games back from leading the wild card. Ubaldo Jimenez finally got his 1st win since the all star break, bringing his total to 18 (1st in the National league, 2nd in the majors). After so many bailouts from Ubaldo early on in the season, Colorado's bats were able to return the favor yesterday vs the Reds, with 10 unanswered runs spanning from the bottom of the 3rd inning through the 7th inning, propelling Colorado to a 10-5 win.15 of Colorado's remaining 25 games are at home, which is a good sign since they are 44-22 at home up to this point in the season, 4th best in baseball. Carlos Gonzalez continues to play lights out with a .340 batting average (1st in the National league, 2nd in all of baseball), 31 home runs (5th in the National league), and 97 RBI's (3rd in the National league), which makes all Colorado fans forget about Matt Holliday. The Rockies currently are tied for 3rd in the National league in total runs this season with 645. This time last year the Rockies were 78-60 which is 5 games better than where they stand today. This means the Rockies must keep their bats going and continue not to leave games up to the bullpen. I like the Rockies' bullpen but they don't seem as strong as last year. The only positive has been Manny Corpas not blowing games. I'm sorry Manny, I hope you get better soon from your injury but with you not playing, it is simply addition by subtraction. Street had 35 saves last year, whereas up to this point in 2010 his save total is at 15, with many other opportunities left on the table. The season is far from over, and it looks like the Rockies' best hope for a postseason birth is going to be winning their 1st division championship in franchise history. And from the looks of San Diego losing 10 of their last 11, they aren't the team to worry about; it's San Francisco.

Final Preseason analysis

Finally, the 2010 NFL season is ready to start. The Broncos made their final cuts this past weekend and the 53-man roster is in tact. I was surprised by some of the cuts and other moves made. Lets start with Jarvis Green, who never played a down in Denver. Green signed a 4 year, $20 million deal on March 9, 2010, only to be released September 4th, of this year. Obviously McDaniels saw something great in Green in order to sign him, but what changed from March until September? The Green signing was a waste of time and money. The only positive thing I see from the Green signing was the emergence of Ryan McBean who eventually beat him out on the defensive line. One would have to think McBean would've stepped his game up with or without competing with Green for the starting roll. Alfonso Smith, who was acquired in 2009 in exchange for a 2010 1st round pick, was just traded to Detroit in exchange for tight end Dan Gronkowski, who originally was a 7th round draft pick. Green and Smith are two glaring examples where McDaniels failed to evaluate talent, which was why Mike Shanahan was fired at the end of 2008. Much like Shanahan, McDaniels has proven to be a great head coach and play caller, but he still has yet to convince me he knows how to evaluate and draft quality players. Last year's draft was a not good, drafting the likes of Alfonso Smith (no longer on the team), Richard Quinn (3rd string tight end), Tom Brandstater (no longer on the team), Robert Ayers (showing improvement), and Knowshon Moreno (wore down toward the end of the 2009 season). Until proven otherwise, David Bruton was the best player to come out of the 2009 draft. He is a promising safety who is great on special teams and gives us great depth in the secondary.
To McDaniels' credit, this year's draft was much better however none of these players have taken an NFL regular season snap. I love cornerbacks Perrish Cox and Syd'Quan Thompson. Both had a great preseason and if they play at that same level this regular season we have two great young corners to look forward to. Offensive linemen Zane Beadles and JD Walton also look very good. I was a little surprised to see them both take the majority of the snaps all 4 preseason games. If they play through all 16 games this regular season, they will have played 20 games in one season, which is unheard of for offensive linemen; at least since Ryan Clady did it in 2008. Wide receiver Eric Decker looked very good in the preseason and I look for him to be on Orton's radar all season. Eric Decker actually led the NFL this preseason with 16 catches. Demaryius Thomas has the build of a dominant receiver but he's been injured since Denver drafted him so I am not yet excited about him. And yes, Tebow showed flashes of greatness in the preseason, but he was playing against 2nd string defenses most of the time. He looked like a typical rookie at times against these 2nd stringers as well. I am excited for the potential Tebow has. He has a great attitude, he's physically gifted, and he has great coaching. Hopefully he will be patient learning from the sidelines until 2012.