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Published on 11/18/2008 at Tue Nov 18 16:26.
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Spencer Larsen up for Rookie of the Week

Posted Tue Nov 18th by

Spencer Larsen

Spencer Larsen is up for the NFL’s Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week Award for games played in Week 11 of the NFL season. The Denver Broncos 6th round pick started at both middle linebacker and fullback for the Broncos, as well as appearing in the special teams’ first formation. He led the Broncos to one of the team’s most impressive defensive efforts of the season in their 24-20 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, while tallying seven tackles of his own.

Click here to vote for Spencer!

Also, PFT has the scoop on Pro Bowl voting to date. Among the top 10 in overall votes for any position/conference is our own Jay Cutler, who ranks second in the AFC for quarterbacks behind Brett Favre. While turnovers saw Jay playing some ugly football for a few weeks, he’s still having a career season for the Broncos, primed to break all sorts of franchise records. Go vote for Jay (and other Broncos) for the Pro Bowl here!

Full press release on Spencer Larsen’s nomination after the jump.

JETS TE DUSTIN KELLER, BRONCOS FB/LB SPENCER LARSEN,
CARDINALS CB DOMINIQUE RODGERS-CROMARTIE,
TEXANS RB STEVE SLATON & PANTHER RB JONATHAN STEWART CANDIDATES FOR DIET PEPSI NFL ROOKIE OF WEEK HONORS

Fans To Vote For Winner On NFL.com and Via Sprint Wireless Service

Tight end DUSTIN KELLER of the New York Jets, fullback/linebacker SPENCER LARSEN of the Denver Broncos, cornerback DOMINIQUE RODGERS-CROMARTIE of the Arizona Cardinals, running back STEVE SLATON of the Houston Texans and running back JONATHAN STEWART of the Carolina Panthers are the finalists for DIET PEPSI NFL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK honors for games played on November 13 – 17, the NFL announced today.

Fans can vote for one of these five players on NFL.com/rookies beginning Tuesday at 8am ET and ending on Friday at noon ET to determine the DIET PEPSI NFL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK. The DIET PEPSI NFL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK will be announced Friday afternoon on NFL.com/rookies.

In addition, for the fourth year, NFL fans may cast their votes for the DIET PEPSI NFL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK using phones with Sprint wireless service – an opportunity available only to Sprint customers. This fast, convenient voting method involves texting the word PEPSI to short code 7777. Sprint customers will then receive an interactive text message that links fans to the ballot with the five finalists each week. Data and text messaging rates may apply.

After the regular season, five players will be nominated for Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year honors. Fans can vote for the winner on NFL.com/rookies throughout the month of January. The winner will be announced at a press conference at Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa Bay.

A closer look at the finalists:

* New York Jets’ DUSTIN KELLER made eight receptions for 87 yards including three in overtime to set up the winning field goal in the Jets’ 34 – 31 win against the New England Patriots on NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football.

* Denver’s SPENCER LARSEN was the first player in team history to start the same game on offense (fullback) and defense (middle linebacker). He had seven tackles as Denver beat the Atlanta Falcons 24 – 20.

* – Larsen became the first player in the NFL to start the same game on offense and defense since Dec. 14, 2003, when Baltimore’s Orlando Brown started at both right tackle and defensive tackle at Oakland.

* – He joins CB/WR Deion Sanders (Dal., 5 Gms., ’96), CB/WR Champ Bailey (Was., vs. Bal., 10/15/00) and Brown as one of four players in the NFL since 1990 to start the same game on offense and defense.

* Arizona’s DOMINIQUE RODGERS-CROMARTIE had four tackles and two interceptions including one with just under two minutes remaining as the Cardinals beat the Seattle Seahawks 26 – 20.

* Houston’s STEVE SLATON rushed for 156 yards including a 71-yard touchdown in the Texans’ 33 – 27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.

* Carolina’s JONATHAN STEWART rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown on 15 attempts in the Panthers’ 31 – 22 victory over the Detroit Lions.

This is Pepsi’s seventh year as the official soft drink sponsor of the NFL and the fourth year that Diet Pepsi will present the NFL Rookie of the Week and NFL Rookie of the Year awards.

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    2,972 visits today.

    4 comments.

    What the heck is going on? Did everyone get shy all-the-sudden? THE BRONCOS ARE WINNING THE AFC WEST WITH 6 GAMES TO PLAY! WAKE UP PEOPLE!

    /Diet Pepsi Max’d

    P.S. :)

  • http://broncotalk.net Kyle

    Oh, and DenverBroncos.com has the scoop on all Broncos Pro Bowlers – Champ Bailey and Brandon Marshall both lead their positions in the AFC. Prater’s getting some love too, but needs a few more votes.

    http://blog.denverbroncos.com/denverbroncos/2008/11/18/pro-bowl-voting-update/

    If I were to caption that pic, it would be simply, “Hi. We score points.”

    How Ryan Clady and Ryan Harris aren’t getting any love is beyond me. Go vote!

  • http://BroncoTalk.net East

    I voted for Spencer Larsen like 20 times.

  • kerry

    ok why the hell is Clady not getting any respect? Joe Thomas was a rookie last year and got plenty of votes for the Pro Bowl. Clady is playing better at this point then Thomas was last year. i cant believe Brett Favre is getting any attention at all. only his name is getting him the votes.

  • Sam P

    Okay, okay Kyle I’ll post. The longer this week goes on the more impressed I am thta he did so well, and I can’t help but make the comparison of one of the all time great Broncos that started out the same way. Larsen came in as a low round special teamer that no one really believes will be around for long but plays well on special teams and when given the opportunity takes full advantage of his chance: Larsen could be the defensive equivalent of TD… that’s my hopes anyhow.

  • merc22

    Larsen is a”football player” he is a tough hard hitting Line Backer…..i like him more than webster

  • Marv

    i voted like 50 times for cutler

  • Awesome, Austin

    Keep up his play and ROOKIE OF THE YEAR…ok might be a stretch but hey I would take Clady too. Also everybody says “the broncos do not we need an elite runner because the system works so well.” But what if we couple that with an elite runner like AP wouldn’t we have an unstoppable TD/Elway type offense again?

  • AKscott

    thats another good thing about the “what if” factor of Larsen.. as someone said before in this post and i eluded to the other day, Larsen being “the answer” so to speak at MLB give us so much more freedom, maybe we can use what was going to be a high draft pick on a MLB, and get a stud RB.. now i think we need to shore up the D first, but maybe through Free agency we do that, and round 2 we have the freedom to get someone like the Bears got in Matt Forte, or we got in CP a few years ago.. oh the possibilities =)

  • http://merlinofchaos.livejournal.com E. Halsey Miles

    Be sure to read Jeff Legwold’s Q&A. He says some really interesting stuff about our linebacker corps and the really tough decisions to be made when DJ comes back.

    Woodyard’s problem is that he’s too small to play any position but weakside. You can’t take DJ Williams off the field. So do you move DJ back to the middle? That means Larsen sits.

    Between Williams, Larsen, Woodyard and Winborn, I can see why the defensive coach wanted to experiment with a 4-3 to get all those players on the field. Pity that put even more pressure on a d-line that can’t take it.

  • merc22

    why cant he play SLB? hes a lot better than boss

  • AKscott

    i think its a good problem to have.. and winborn has played well. i think woodyard unfortunately should sit when DJ comes back and maybe in the offseason work on ways to get him on the field like 3-4 sets

    back to woodyard being too small for SLB
    Boss is listed at 6’3 235
    Wesley listed at 6’1 230
    Ian Gold 6’0 223

  • AKscott

    also in college he started at SLB and MLB as a freshmen, in the SEC mind you. So, whether its for depth or for starting now or in the future, i think he’s a valuable piece to have, and at least from that seems to have the propensity to learn the positions. I dont know that we can count him out as the SLB just yet. I wouldnt have expected to see Larsen start on ST, MLB, and play FB in the same game a few weeks ago.. who knows what shanny has tucked up his sleeve these days = )
    again, what a good problem to have

  • Orangecrush74

    What about Woodyard at safety? I’ve read that he played a little safety at Kentucky. His sized is comprable to that of Atwater. That we put a pop back into the position.

  • Triston27

    It’s already Wednesday, and still not one post about the Raiders. It’s Raider week people. Don’t let their awful “team” and record affect your hatred.

  • Socal Den Fan

    Someone pinch me. Hey kerry how did we get Clady ?Oh thats right Shanny drafted him.