Williams Stripped of Captain Status

NFL.com said that they will bench him for only the first quarter. Outside that they'll play him sparingly.

Wesley Woodyard is listed as Williams backup, but Woodyard has been limited at practice this week. Joe Mays looks to be the more likely replacement for Williams in the first quarter.

Is this a logical choice to bench him for show?

It could also be the Broncos trying to beat the NFL to the punch a little bit so they don't suspend him as long. It's a smart move all around.

DJ punished the team him self by doing what he did.

Of course one option would be to play 4-3 especially with the Chiefs running game. Or play “Nickel” with Jones and Hill deep and let Dawkins just do his thing.

Someone here said that if you lose the linebackers, you lose the team. Admittedly, McD “lost” Ayers and the Elvis “coverage-sack” Dumervil to injury.

But the other linebackers would probably like to attack once in a while. Maybe, then, we'd get turnovers and sacks and highlight-reel-type plays (that are a lot more fun to attempt than simply playing damage-control football with 7-yard CB buffer-zones to “keep everything in front of you”).

But Bowlen's memory problems, low football I.Q. and his 1oo% authority over this once-proud franchise are a perfect sh*t-storm for us fans who understand that NFL-level quarterbacks don't throw interceptions or many incompletions without feeling pressure.

Yet Bowlen mystifyingly brings in a head-coach who makes the same stubborn errors as Shanahan did defensively (especially after the 1999 season… when Greg Robinson still had the green-light to blitz at times).

And its probably because they simply feel that their play-calling “genius” warrants the games being decided on the offensive side.

Obviously, it just results in longer-developing TD drives that sap a defenses strength and maximizes the opponents time-of-possession.

But who will tell Bowlen this (or stick a post-it note to his mirror)?

Heck, most fans can only identify with the uniform and logo in this era of free-agency and here-today-gone-tomorrow roster turnover. And even that has been taken from us by Bowlen (who ignores the majority of fans who want the orange back).

I just wish that Bowlen trimmed the payroll even more by selling players outright instead of trading them (so the Commissioner could force him to sell the team, like Bowie Kuhn did to ex-Oakland A's manager Charlie Finley).

If I could take a pill and become a fan of the Eagles, Ravens, Giants, Steelers, Jets– or even the friggin Browns or Chiefs– I would without hesitation. And, like someone here said yesterday, the Chiefs proved that smart personnel moves can make rebuilding a 2-3 year project.

Its just too bad that things keep getting more-and-more depressing as tin-eared head-coaches saddle us with going-through-the-motions play-calling and the front-office is actually far worse.

The Jets provide free transportation for players who chose to go out drinking (and its only a brief call away). And maybe Denver does too?

I think there may even be something to Williams' wanting to get out of dodge (while he's still in his prime).

He knows what kind of robotic choir-boys/98-pound weaklings that Denver is building around (and he'll easily sacrifice missing four games– in which he could injure himself for nothing– to grease the rails out of Denver).

Looks like they listened to your blitzing paean, Ian. The first was even a double A-gap special where the Chiefs FB picked up B-Dawk but no one was there for Haggan.

Three sacks in first-half for Haggan (with the last causing fumble returned for TD by Hunter).

Imagine how much better we'd have played if the no-more-than-2-or-3-blitzes-a-game-rule had been violated before week #10?

Haggan has strength, so playing him on the outside allows the addition of London Fletcher-sized ILB plugger Joe Mays on the inside (well, that and D.J.'s Friday Night Sights).

Also, for the first time since the Jets first-half, Denver goes to the deep middle on the first-series and, according to Solomon Wilcots, “puts the defense on its heels” (which presumably includes the now-retreating Safeties).

Like the first-half vs the Jets, the long-dormant and historically-feeble 2.7 yds-per-carry rushing game comes alive.

Cause-and-effect?

Partly.

But, to be fair, the health of Moreno and the line itself– plus the tinkering done during the bye week, particularly with Graham's blocking– also helped.

Now, lets hope we don't have to wait another 20 games before the Broncos join the rest of the NFL by doing these things regularly.

Like, uh, playing in orange at home for more than one token appearance each year. Unforeseen but unforgettable (from now on, that is).

Nice decision, Pat. My bad in expecting that it was done for 2010.