Good news out of Dove Valley today — both running back Willis McGahee (knee) and left tackle Ryan Clady (unknown) have returned to practice.

The Denver Post‘s Patrick Saunders reports:

The Broncos’ veteran running back was back on the practice field Tuesday for the first time since he suffered a torn right MCL and compression fracture to his right tibia on Nov. 18.  McGahee, however, won’t be eligible to play Saturday when the Broncos host the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC divisional round of the playoffs. McGahee would be eligible to play in the AFC championship game on Jan. 20 should the Broncos get that far. …

Also back on the practice field Tuesday was Pro Bowl left tackle Ryan Clady. He was limited in practice last week with an undisclosed injury.

We won’t know what Clady’s injury is until the league requires the Broncos to release an injury report on Wednesday (not Tuesday, as was previously expected).  On a different note, the Broncos signed offensive guard Justin Boren and wide receiver Gerell Robinson to future contracts on Monday.

Broncos coaches John Fox (left) and Mike McCoy (right) talk with quarterback Peyton Manning (center). (Image courtesy of The Globe and Mail)

If there’s one scary statistic to consider coming into the Denver Broncos‘ divisional playoff game against the Baltimore Ravens this Saturday, it’s this: quarterback Peyton Manning and head coach John Fox have not fared well after a playoff bye.

Peyton Manning is 1-3 for his career in divisional playoff games following a bye. John Fox is 0-1, reports Mile High Sports’ Andrew Mason.

Manning’s three losses spread from the 1999 to 2007 seasons. His second-seed Indianapolis Colts lost at home to the Tennessee Titans in the 1999-00 playoffs. Again as the second seed, in the 2007-08 playoffs, the San Diego Chargers traveled to Indy and took care of Manning and company.

Perhaps most memorably, Manning and the first seed, 15-1 Indianapolis Colts hosted the sixth seed Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2005-06 playoffs, losing a game that allowed our own Denver Broncos to enjoy a home game against the Steelers in the AFC Championship round. Home field advantage didn’t help either host though, and the Steelers went on to win Super Bowl XL.

The good news is two-fold. The team Manning beat in his one divisional round win following a first round bye was the Baltimore Ravens, 20-3. That win occurred in the 2009-10 playoffs, meaning perhaps Manning has finally “beaten” his bye-week blues.

John Fox lost his only such game much more recently — to Arizona in 2008-09.

Do these Broncos’ bye week blues give you pause, Broncos fans? They do for me. Hopefully a familiar foe and a history of success against Baltimore will help the Broncos overcome this statistic.

Peyton Manning and the Broncos cruised to a 34-17 victory over the Ravens last time around. Can they do it again? (AP Photo)

The Denver Broncos will host the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round of the 2012 playoffs on Saturday, January 12, 2013, and we’re breaking down all angles. Today: five impact players from the two teams.

5. Ravens G Marshal Yanda

Everyone remembers that Ray Lewis was unable to go the last time these two teams faced each other, but Baltimore’s 315-lbs. Pro Bowl offensive lineman was also absent, and the results may have been more quantitative. Consider the running attack: in Baltimore’s last three games with Yanda (one postseason, two regular season), running back Ray Rice has averaged 137 yards from scrimmage. Without Yanda, against the Broncos, he was held to 41. Consider the passing game: in the last three games with Yanda, quarterback Joe Flacco has passer ratings of 125.6, 114.2, and 121.4. Without Yanda against the Broncos? Flacco had a passer rating of 76.5.

How much of that difference was determined by a top-ranked Broncos defensive unit and Yanda’s absence will be decided in Denver on Saturday.

4. Broncos CB Chris Harris Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Baltimore Ravens inside linebacker Ray Lewis (52) celebrates after a play during the first half of an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Indianapolis Colts Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Both teams came into this game riding emotional highs; The Colts for their coach as well as assistant coach who has some medical condition as of last night, and the Ravens who are using Ray Lewis’ pending retirement as extra motivation. The result was a horrendously fantastic game to watch. Horrendous because both teams were terrible; Fantastic because the Broncos get to play the chump who won. Step right up Baltimore, for you are about to be thrown into the meat grinder known as the Denver Broncos.

My instant reaction to this game is “wow, both these teams are horrible!” The Ravens had a few nice long runs and a few nice long passes, but c’mon, Chris Harris isn’t gonna allow those garbage completions. Additionally, Woodyard and Miller won’t allow those 30, 40, and 50 yard runs.

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Now, the opponent is known.

The Denver Broncos will face the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round of the 2012 playoffs following the Ravens’ 24-9 victory over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday afternoon. The Ravens (11-6) will travel to Denver to face the Broncos (13-3) at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 12, 2013.

The Broncos reportedly open as 9-point favorites.

The Broncos previously defeated the Ravens 34-17 in Week 15 on December 16th. Ray Lewis was recovering from a triceps injury and didn’t play then. He’ll play this time around.

And as we all know, it’ll be his last career game.

Denver won’t play in the Wild Card games this weekend, the Broncos, as the AFC’s No. 1 seed, have a first round playoff bye.  Next Saturday, the Broncos will play the lowest AFC seed to advance this weekend.

Today, the Bengals (the 6th seed) will take on the Texans (3rd) in Houston at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC. If Cincinnati defeats Houston today, they will travel to Denver next week as the 6th seed in the AFC playoff race.

Otherwise, if Houston wins today, the winner of the Ravens (4th) vs. Colts (5th) game will be Denver’s opponent in the Divisional Round next weekend. Baltimore will host Indianapolis at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday on CBS.

We have First Look reports available on the Bengals, Colts, and Ravens.  Be sure to familiarize yourself with those teams.

Enjoy the games this weekend, Broncos fans.  Playoff football has arrived!

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

On this Friday afternoon, the Kansas City Chiefs landed a new head coach—Andy Reid.  Considering the mess he left in Philadelphia, there is no reason for alarm just yet, Reid has a lot of work to do before KC is an AFCW contender again.

Also on Friday, Pro Bowl left tackle Ryan Clady missed practice again with an undisclosed injury.  We’ll know more details on Thursday when the Broncos will be required to release an injury report.

Meanwhile, our congratulations go out to rising star outside linebacker Wesley Woodyard, who was won the Darrent Williams Good Guy Award on Thursday.  The annual honor is given to the Bronco who best exemplifies the late Williams’ enthusiasm, cooperation and honesty while dealing with members of the press.  R.I.P., Darrent.

Enjoy the weekend, folks.  Remember while watching the Wild Card games this weekend that the lowest AFC seed to advance will take on the Broncos next Saturday, January 12.

The humorous image below explains why quarterback Peyton Manning is expected to win his fifth MVP award of his career:

(Click to enlarge.  Graphic courtesy of @KeyTBoi on Twitter.)

Tom Brady and Peyton Manning... this rivalry is old-school.

There is no question that as the NFL evolves from smash mouth football towards a finesse based delicate league, the play of the quarterback is at a premium. In years past, a team could win the Super Bowl by having a dominant defense and bad to mediocre offense. A team could win the Super Bowl by having a dominant rushing attack yet lackluster QB play. However, as the rules change, so too has the recipe for a championship. No longer is having nothing but a defense enough. No longer is having nothing but a great running back enough (sorry Minnesota). No, today, you need a great QB playing great to have a legitimate chance at winning a ring. Yes, having those other pieces greatly increase your chances at hosting the Lombardi Trophy, but, more than any other piece of the puzzle, the play of the QB will be the deciding factor in the playoff race.

With all of that being said, it’s time to rank the playoff quarterbacks, bottom to top, so we can start developing an idea of how these playoffs might pan out.

#12: Christian Ponder, Minnesota Vikings – Amazingly enough, out of all the quarterbacks on this list, Christian Ponder doesn’t have the lowest QBR (ESPN’s QB Ratings). He doesn’t even have the 2nd lowest QBR. Most of this however, is because of his last 4 regular season games when Adrian Peterson was running for football immortality. Teams were forced to focus more on Peterson than anything else which opened more lanes for Ponder to operate. This isn’t a knock on Ponder as he still needed to complete the passes, but unlike these other QBs, much less was needed from him, and thus, much less was given.

#11: Andy Dalton, Cincinnati Bengals – Andy Dalton, to me, is the modern day Trent Dilfer. He isn’t bad, but he certainly isn’t great. He is incredibly average and very forgettable. He benefits by having one of the best WRs in the entire league. While there is certainly a common theme of great quarterbacks having great wide receivers, Andy Dalton is simply an average QB with a great wide receiver. While some might say that he has nobody outside of A.J. Green, I will counter that by saying “who was Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie before Peyton Manning?” Look, great wide receivers will be great no matter what, but the great quarterbacks can turn average and forgettable wide receivers into household names. Andy Dalton isn’t capable of doing that, and at least to my eyes, he lacks the skill-set to ever be that type of QB. Some quarterbacks have it, and some don’t. Unfortunately for the Bengals and their fans, Andy Dalton doesn’t have it. He’s good enough to occasionally make the playoffs with the right team around him, but he isn’t good enough to take the team on his back and do anything with it when he does make the playoffs (and yes, I know he’s 2 for 2 in making the playoffs).

#10: Colin Kaepernick, S.F. 49ers – Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Record: 10-6
Streak: Lost 1
All-time vs. Denver: 6-3 (1-0 playoffs)
Last time: Broncos, 34-17, Dec. 2012
The Line: N/A. Wild Card: Baltimore (home) is favored by 6.5 over Indianapolis

This week we’re taking a first look at the three teams that could come to Denver to face the Broncos in the Divisional Round of the playoffs on January 12th — the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, and Baltimore Ravens. Finally: Baltimore.

If last season’s Denver Broncos were accused of back peddling into the playoffs; Baltimore did a ill advised back-flip off a jagged rock cliff, over shot and smacked their face all the way down. The Ravens won one game out of the five they played in December, many analysts and armchairs alike had the Week 15 Denver vs. Baltimore game as a true test of both teams level of play. The Broncos came to Baltimore and smoked the Ravens, though the box score was effected by a garbage time touchdown to Baltimore tight end Dennis Pitta, much to the disappointment of Champ Bailey. It should be noted that amongst common opponents the Ravens went 2-1 (including a win against the New England Patriots), while the Colts went 3-2 (including a win against the Houston Texans).

Who’s hot: Ravens offense. Click here to read the rest of this entry »