Broncos' quarterback Tim Tebow and linebacker Von Miller are no strangers to awards and accolades. (Photo courtesy of John Leyba/The Denver Post)

On Saturday night, one day before Super Bowl XLVI, the NFL will salute its best players and plays from the 2011 season with “NFL Honors,” a star-studded football and entertainment event on NBC.  The first show of it’s kind, the  two-hour primetime awards special will air nationally starting at 9 p.m. (ET).

Taking place at the Murat Theatre in Indianapolis, the show will be hosted by Alec Baldwin. Fourteen awards we be announced, including seven Associated Press awards.

Among the awards that will be announced are the League MVP (AP voted), Coach of the Year (AP), Rookie of the Year (AP), Fantasy Player of the Year (NFL.com) and the Comeback Player of the Year (AP) awards.  There will be four Rookie awards given, with Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller a candidate for two of them.

With Miller a likely Defensive Rookie of the Year nominee, second year quarterback Tim Tebow may also be up for several awards.  The NFL’s Fantastic Finish of the Year and Play of the Year awards are expected to feature Tebow’s much-documented season heroics and accomplishments.

Red Carpet coverage of the event starts at 8 p.m. (ET) on NFL Network.  You can read about all fourteen of the awards at NFL.com/Honors.

Click here to watch the NFL Network crew discuss how far the Broncos can go this season (starting at the 5:33 mark).

Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey (24) intercepts a pass intended for Oakland Raiders wide receiver Denarius Moore (17) in the second quarter of an NFL football game in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011. The Broncos won 38-24. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  That has to be the thinking of Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer.

While in Cincinnati, Palmer played the Denver Broncos and cornerback Champ Bailey three times (2004, 2006 and 2009).  In those three games, Bailey defended three passes (one of which he tipped and was intercepted) and intercepted two more passes himself.

Surely, Palmer has learned his lesson.  Right?

Nope.

Early in the first quarter of Sunday’s game in Oakland, Palmer hit receiver Jacoby Ford on a traditional curl route against Bailey.  Bailey was not able to break on the ball in time and whiffed on the tackle and Ford was able to run for a 34-yard gain before Bailey tracked him down and made the tackle (forcing a fumble in the process).

Later in the second quarter, Palmer hit receiver Denarius Moore for a six yard gain against Bailey.  On the next play, as if he had been toasting Bailey all day and had a favorable match-up in a fifth round draft pick, Palmer targeted Moore again on a fade route — with Bailey in coverage.

The result was Bailey’s first of two interceptions on the day, the other coming later in the game when rookie linebacker Von Miller pressured Palmer into throwing off balance.  Bailey walked away from the game with 50 career interceptions, four courtesy of Palmer.

One thing is certain, Palmer obviously didn’t watch NFL Network while he was locked out and holding out the past few months.

Clemson defensive end Da'Quan Bowers is the consensus best player available, but do NFL teams agree? (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Round One is in the books, so tonight the Denver Broncos lock in to Rounds Two and Three of the 2011 NFL Draft.

The Broncos currently have three selections in these two rounds — 36th overall (4th pick in 2nd round), 46th overall (14th pick in 2nd round), and 67th overall (3rd pick in 3rd round), so it’s possible they could snag two of these players depending on who falls. Which prospects catch your eye?

Notes:

• Clearly Da’Quan Bowers is the consensus top pick, but will teams continue to shy away from the Clemson powerhouse following his knee injury? If he falls to the Broncos at 36 should they jump on him?
• (Not literally, that might hurt his knee.)
• Only two other players appear in all four Top 10 lists: LB Akeem Ayers (who, coincidentally, always appears third) and DT Stephen Paea.
• 29 of the 40 selections are defensive players.

Round Two is set to begin tonight at 4pm MT.

Taking advantage of his versatility, the Chiefs have found a wide variety of ways to get McCluster the ball. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Each week, coaches in the NFL watch film on their upcoming opponent.  They then come up with a game plan based off what they saw on the film.  Similarly, in BT’s Film Room, I’ll watch film on the Broncos upcoming foe week-to-week and give you my thoughts on what to watch for on Sunday. This week: Kansas City Chiefs Edition.

The Chiefs enter week nine with the best rushing attack, and one of the most talented offenses in the NFL.  To prepare for that, the Broncos will have to key several players on Sunday.  Among those players are:

WR/RB Dexter McCluster. A 22-year old rookie out of Mississippi, McCluster has contributed just about everywhere for the Chiefs this season.  Taking full use of his talent, the Chiefs have used McCluster in a variety of ways.  This season, Dexter has caught 15 passes for 147 yards and a score, rushed 11 times for 60 yards and returned 17 kicks for 361 yards, including a 94-yard punt return for a touchdown.

The Broncos can limit his productivity by not letting the Chiefs get him the ball in space.  For example, kicking away from him, containing the outside (where he’ll receive sweeps and reverses), and by not giving him as much of a cushion as Travis LaBoy did on the play seen below:

On the play seen in the video above, the Chiefs did a basic play-action pass play and McCluster snuck out into the flats – LaBoy’s zone.  The Broncos’ Jason Hunter, Mario Haggan and other linebackers could all find themselves in a similar situation this week, covering McCluster in the flats.  The Broncos will have to play tighter on McCluster when he goes out for a pass, and break down and wrap up when he has the ball in space, two things the 49ers’ Laboy failed to do – and he paid for it.

Faster than a linebacker and too shifty for a defensive back to bring him down, McCluster is an explosive offensive weapon. Speaking of explosive, that brings us to the next player Denver will need to key on:

RB Jamaal Charles — a name Bronco fans know all too well. Last season Charles rushed for 315 yards and 3 touchdowns against the Broncos in just two games.  Much to the Broncos chagrin, Charles is just as agile and powerful as he was last season, maybe even more so.

Jamaal does have his weaknesses, he’s fumbled 7 times over the past three years (370 carries), and prefers to not run between the tackles.  He tends to bounce his runs outside, and the Chiefs give most of the inside carries to Thomas Jones.  That said, he’s still often effective running inside plays.

The above play was executed to perfection by the Chiefs, everyone got to their blocks, opening a hole for Charles, who made the safety miss, and the result was a touchdown.

The Broncos will have to contain the outside when Charles is in the game, much like they did against the Titans’ Chris Johnson a few weeks ago.  Charles breaking big runs up the gut seems to happen only on rare occasions, so creating a defensive scheme that would prevent him from getting to the edge should effectively eliminate his productivity.

Joining Charles in the backfield is Thomas Jones, who, even at 32, is having a stellar year.  Having started six games this season, Kansas City’s Jones has rushed 137 times for 570 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Though he is more of a power back than Charles, Jones is also capable of breaking of big runs.

The Chiefs one-two punch of Jones and Charles is one to be feared, yet can be contained – to some extent.  The Broncos can slow down the League’s best rushing attack by stacking the line of scrimmage, bringing up Brian Dawkins to help in run support, and having the outside linebackers play their outside of the tackles responsibilities.  Doing that however, could open things up for the Chiefs passing game. Which brings us to another player the Broncos should key on Sunday.

WR Dawyn Bowe. Standing 6-2, and weighing in at 221 pounds, Bowe is a physical wide receiver that the Chiefs use as a deep threat and run blocking asset.  One of the Chiefs favorite passing plays is in trips WR sets with Bowe in the slot.  The inside receiver runs a out pattern and Bowe slips right underneath that route and continues across the field right under the linebackers’ zones.  The play has worked to perfection in previous games, and opened up other plays as well.  About two minutes into the video seen below,  you can see a few similar plays where Bowe crosses midfield, sliding right under the linebackers.

If you’re a Bronco fan you could really care less about this… actually if you’re in NFL fan you should love this. Nonetheless, the NFLN should have edited this on national television, and now they are hearing waves about this. Love it or hate it, McDaniels is passionate.

UPDATE: The NFL YouTube police took the earlier video down, so we posted a new working (and more, um, enthusiastic) version. Thanks to areferee in the comments.

Josh McDaniels (Reuters photo)

Josh McDaniels will appear in an interview on the NFL Network’s Total Access Monday to address the ongoing Jay Cutler trade situation. During the interview, McDaniels urges Cutler to “keep the line of communication open,” and tells the world that the young QB is “our quarterback.”

Total Access airs at 7pm ET/5pm MT on the NFL Network and is simulcast on Sirius NFL Radio.

I can’t wait to hear this interview. We know McD will discuss the current situation with Cutler, but maybe McDaniels will even shed some light on how the Matt Cassel trade talks went down and where the Broncos go from here. I know already I agree on one point — Cutler, your boss just asked you to call him in front of millions of people. The ball’s in your court. Pick up the phone.

It was another wild win for the Broncos, giving the NFL Network another opportunity to feature the team on its weekly re-air program.

The Broncos’ 34-32 win over the Saints will air tonight on NFL at 9:30 ET / 7:30 MT. Be sure to set your TiVos and watch them break the Orange Curse!

The Broncos match up against the Cleveland Browns on Thursday November 6th was originally scheduled to be an NFL Network exclusive.  KWGN (channel 2) in Denver will simulcast the game for Denver area viewers.  The showing is slated to be broadcast in high definition.  Typically local affiliates have to pay for special rights to an NFL broadcast, KWGN did not disclose terms of their deal with the NFL.  In recent games that NFL Network has had exclusive rights to, it has typically negotiated a simulcast in the local markets of the participating teams.

Last season while the Patriots were on their *historic 18-1 run, the NFL Network had exclusive rights to the final regular season game between the Pats and the Giants.  Due to overwhelming pressure of fans and a national audience, the league folded and agreed to simulcast on multiple public networks for the first time in decades.  This continues a long going feud between the NFL Network and Comcast on carrying the channel in it’s normal package lineup akin to ESPN for viewers.  Directv offers the channel within it’s standard package to all customers.  After folding on their biggest exclusive game, the NFL Network is looking at merging channels with ESPN Classic.

press release [Denver Business Journal]

Two Broncos videos we haven’t covered over the past few weeks on the site.  The first is an interview with Selvin Young which I can assume was recorded during mini camp.  Selvin talks about entering 2008 as the starting half back for the Broncos.  The second video is Ryan Clady at the rookie symposium being interviewed by Adam Schefter.  Seeing Clady in that Broncos polo shirt just seems right.  This is the first interview we’ve seen with Ryan since this video right before the draft.