Broncos Inactives:
9 Brady Quinn 3QB

20 Brian Dawkins S

21 André Goodman CB

26 Laurence Maroney RB

31 Darcel McBath S

64 Stanley Daniels OL

69 Eric Olsen OL

88 Demaryius Thomas WR

Fans hold a sign to fire Josh McDaniels during the second half of the St. Louis Rams game. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)

In reference to the person on his staff that leaked what went on during the private meetings being held in regards to Spygate II; Josh McDaniels yesterday said “I’m not going to go chasing ghosts about [who] that [was].”

So, take a long look in the mirror Denver fans.

It’s been five years since the 13-3 season and the AFC Championship loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, four years since the Broncos tossed out Jake Plummer and a winning season to make way for Jay Cutler and mediocrity.

For every controversy McDaniels has brought to the Broncos, history has proven to make him look smart (though Cutler gave a good effort at making McDaniels look dumb Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles). Brandon Marshall‘s looking pathetic, Tony Scheffler‘s basically ineffective, Alphonso Smith admits that he single-handedly lost the Thanksgiving Day game against the New England Patriots.

The one dark horse in all of this is Peyton Hillis and he has been downright incredible as a Cleveland Brown… Yet, this isn’t the time nor place to discuss that. Four out of five ain’t bad.

Four out of five ain’t bad… Yet (and still) Broncos fans demand perfection. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels yells during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Jets on Sunday, Oct. 17, 2010, in Denver. (AP Photo/Barry Gutierrez)

There won’t be a coaching change for the Denver Broncos before the 2010 season concludes, and it’s possible Josh McDaniels will remain in command through next year, Broncos owner Pat Bowlen told reporters Monday.

“I am not interested in making a change,” Bowlen told Thomas George of AOL FanHouse in a shocking statement Monday night.

“I’m very happy with Josh. Josh is doing a good job. I wish he had a few more wins, but we’ve got five games to go. I’ve got 27 years in this business. The ball bounces funny and it doesn’t always bounce your way. We’ve had bad breaks, injuries. I’ve been around football long enough to know this happens and it’s a part of the game. We’ve still got a chance to make the playoffs. People have been in a position like ours and it’s been done before.” Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Corner back Bradley Fletcher #32 of the St. Louis Rams breaks up a pass intended for wide receiver Brandon Lloyd #84 of the Denver Broncos in the second quarter at INVESCO Field at Mile High on November 28, 2010 in Denver, Colorado. (Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)

The Denver Broncos‘ Week 12 performance against the St. Louis Rams can be described as a core of terrible football bookended by two quarters of splendor.

Wildly inconsistent, at any given time, Josh McDaniels‘ Broncos were either world-beaters or doormats.

They started the game much as they did the week before — on a 10-0 hot streak, and looking like an offensive juggernaut. Boosted by an offensive script and Knowshon Moreno‘s impressive runs, it appeared Denver would have no problem exploiting the Rams’ defense at will.

It wouldn’t last. That pace tempered significantly as the Broncos only tallied three points in over 30 minutes of football to follow. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

St. Louis Rams at Denver Broncos — Game day chat. Keep it clean and join us for the best commentary on the web!

Does this look like a man hellbent on video taping other teams? October 29th, 2010. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Amongst what may have been foresight of my own Josh McDaniels has come under siege this week.

And by under siege I mean there may be a full on mutiny going on in Denver.

Fox Sport’s Jay Glazer went live with a report this morning indicating that McDaniels had in fact discussed the importance of keeping the video taping secret, reportedly stating that, “Jobs were on the line.”

This is apparently prior to Pat Bowlen and Joe Ellis being tipped off by one of the men in the room.

Glazer went on to speculate that the reason someone in the room may have gone to Bowlen with the video taping news is because McDaniels had taken the staff to Bowlen following the horrific loss to the Oakland Raiders and “lambasted them.”

That’s not all though, McDaniels also threw Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots under the bus along the way.

There is a leak within the Dove Valley walls and the leak doesn’t look like they’re shutting up any time soon.

This whole situation reminds me often of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, more specifically what Brutus said in regards to his assassination of Caesar,

“As he was valiant, I honor him. But as he was ambitious, I slew him.”

Tick-tock McDaniels, let’s see what you’re made of.

No one misses Elvis more than the Denver Broncos.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning (18) looks for a receiver as he is pressured by Denver Broncos' Marcus Thomas (79) and others during the third quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 26, 2010, in Denver. Manning completed 27 of 43 passes in leading the Colts to a 27-13 win. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Last season, the Broncos defense recorded 39 sacks, coming from ten different players and 17 coming from Outside Linebacker Elvis Dumervil.  The 2009 NFL Sack King, Dumervil went down with an injury in training camp after taring his pectoral muscle.  The Broncos placed him on injured reserve for the 2010 season, consequently, placing their pass rush on IR as well.

This season, Denver has sorely missed Dumervil.  Through the first ten games, the Broncos defense has recorded 14 sacks, (for sake of comparison, consider that their opponents have totaled 26 in those same ten games).  With a lack of a pass rush, the secondary has also struggled.  In 2009, opposing quarterbacks were harassed and pressured — forcing them into mistakes.  As a result, Denver’s defense snatched 17 interceptions, 15 coming from the secondary.  This season: 6 interceptions, 5 coming from the secondary.

Particularly ugly is the (lack of) surge from the down linemen.  Defensive ends Kevin Vickerson, Justin Bannan and Marcus Thomas combined with Nose tackle Jamal Williams, have gotten to the quarterback a grand total of 2 times.  It’s no wonder why the Broncos have one of the worst ranked defenses in the NFL — they can’t get to the quarterback.

Albeit, while there are many reasons Denver’s defense has struggled, the non-existent pass rush stands out.  Believe it or not, getting to the quarterback does effect your run defense, too.  When you don’t get pressure on Quarterbacks, he’ll exploit your secondary.  When your seconday is being exploited, defensive coordinators are forced to make adjustments.  Then the offense is able to run down your throat while you worry about the pass, before coming back to play action and beating you deep.

If the Broncos defense is to get back on track, they’ll need to get to the quarterback more often.  Facing St. Louis’ rookie Sam Bradford on Sunday, the Broncos pass rush will have opportunities to reek havoc, whether they’ll execute or not is the question.

This is a shout out to you, Ronald Fields, Jamal Williams, Justin Banan, Kevin Vickerson and Marcus Thomas — get some pressure this week, don’t let Sam off the ground.

Steve Scarnecchia, then of the New York Jets. (photo courtesy of Myspace.com)

Someone needs to point out that not only are the Denver Broncos going the wrong directing as an organization, they’re about to lap themselves. Even when the Broncos are losing they figure out a way to lose more.

By now most if not all fans are aware of the fact that an employee of the Broncos (apparently Steve Scarnecchia [pictured left]) had taped a portion of the San Francisco 49ers pregame walk through at Wembley Stadium on October 30th (the day before the 49ers faced the Broncos in London).

There have been statements released by Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, head coach Josh McDaniels, and Chief Operating Officer Joe Ellis (with NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Pash).

Amongst fans the chatter is basically about the continued employment of McDaniels. Some would say that Scarnecchia likely didn’t act on his own, there are even allegations that someone within the Broncos’ organization themselves blew the whistle on this entire thing.

The NFL, decided that Scarnecchia did in fact act alone, following their investigation. However, the NFL did fine McDaniels $50,000 as well as hitting the Broncos organization with the same fine. McDaniels received the fine due to the fact that he dragged his feet in reporting the incident to Bowlen.

There in lies the ticking time bomb, if in fact someone within the organization did tip off Bowlen and Ellis and that someone wasn’t McDaniels then friends, we have a problem. We actually have a few, one in that McDaniels has (at least) someone within the staff that wants him out and this situation will only make things worse and another problem being that McDaniels and his ego likely won’t be able to let this one slide.

Dangerous grounds here and a public relations nightmare for Denver, these aren’t the Broncos we grew up on and loved… Where did it go wrong?

A Chargers fan reacts during the game against the Broncos. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Giving up?

Not on my life…

This time I want you to save me.

A brief recap of the Denver Broncos season:

I have seen orchestrated perfection, I have seen absolute self implosion– an empire that never was… crumbling. David holding the sling to Goliath’s temple and shouting, “Just kidding!” The team has done absolutely everything that fans could think of, good and bad and just falling on their own faces moments before the finish line.

It brings me to my knees really, see there’s a pressure on me. I want to call it honestly; I want to call it like I see it, but the Broncos are a disappointing, under achieving child… They’re capable of greatness, but they just can’t stop drinking and chasing tail. I just wish the collective consciousness of Denver fandom could will the win.

But you can’t as fans and most especially you won’t. Somewhere in Denver it became more important for fans to be right, for a fan to say Josh McDaniels is too young, too immature, too greedy, too ambitious– to succeed.

I flew for miles to Denver this week and I flew for miles to get out in time to get back to New York City for the game against the St. Louis Rams. I’d rather be amongst my own insanity than to be amongst the collective insanity of the local (Denver) Broncos fans. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Denver Broncos' running back Knowshon Moreno (R) celebrates his touchdown against the San Diego Chargers during the first quarter of their NFL football game in San Diego, California, November 22, 2010. (REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson)

Ask and ye shall receive.

At the end of October, I noted that the Broncos were still waiting for Knowshon Moreno to break out, and play a big role in the offense.  Knowshon has honored my request.

In the past two games, Moreno has rushed 35 times for 164 yards (almost 5 yards a pop) and caught 10 Kyle Orton passes for 112 yards — while scoring twice.  It should also be pointed out that if Moreno had gotten as many carries against San Diego as he did against Kansas City (he had 12 against the Chargers and 22 against the Chiefs), he would have probably rushed for 100+ yards in back-to-back weeks.

Proving to be a double threat in the Broncos offense, Moreno ranks third among running backsin yards from scrimmage over the past two weeks.  The second year back ran with authority and effort Monday night, showing flashy moves, at one time pushing off the ground with his hands to keep his balance (in a way very -esque to the running style of Barry Sanders), before running over a defender.

Finally fully recovered from a hamstring injury that hampered him at the beginning of the season, Head Coach Josh McDanielssaid last week that Moreno is “as healthy as he’s been all year,” including before he was injured in Training Camp — and that was last week. This week, McDaniels expounded:

“He’s been able to maintain a consistent workload in practice and get those full-speed reps.  He’s running extremely hard during the week, which has allowed him to play the way that he has played the last few weeks.

“He is starting to really take on the role that we envisioned for him to take on in the spring.”

Click here to read the rest of this entry »