Center J.D. Walton (#50) of the Denver Broncos prepares to snap the ball against the Pittsburgh Steelers during a preseason game in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

The Broncos haven’t earned an AFC West Championship since 2005, coming in 2nd place in all but one season since then. Nevertheless, with new weapons and a weak division, the ‘West may finally be back in the Broncos’ reach.

Last off-season nearly every NFL season preview had the Broncos ranking near the bottom of the AFC West, even ESPN agreed with that assumption. NFL Analyst John Clayton predicted the Broncos to finish 3-13, a harsh prediction many other NFL crystal gazers agreed with. The Broncos wound up finishing 8-8 for the second straight year.

The experts are now at it again, predicting the Broncos to finish 6-10 (most predictions I’ve seen have been about six wins or worse). By my calculations, if Denver was supposed to finish 3-13 last season and finished 8-8, and are supposed to finish 6-10 this year, they’ll go 12-4. And with the Chargers seemingly on the decline, it might not even take that many wins to win the division, writes Mark Kiszla.

“Josh McDaniels can get there [to the Playoffs] during his second season as coach in Denver.

It wouldn’t take a miracle … San Diego has lost its mojo, Kansas City isn’t quite ready for prime time and Oakland remains hopelessly lost in an Al Davis time warp,” said Kiszla in his latest Denver Post article.

“Nothing much is expected of the Broncos in 2010, which, in an odd way, passes for progress. A year ago, Denver was believed to be a disaster waiting to happen.” Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Denver Broncos' Vonnie Holliday, right, and Tony Carter celebrate in the third quarter after Carter recovered an Oakland Raiders' fumble during an NFL football game in Denver on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Chris Schneider)

The Denver Broncos announced on Monday that they have released running back Justin Fargas and designated cornerback Tony Carter as waived/injured.

Fargas was with the Broncos for less than one month, having signed as a free agent on Aug. 11. Carter spent the past two offseasons with the club, having joined the Broncos as a college free agent on April 27, 2009.

Fargas had one carry for four yards in very limited action late in the Broncos’ 34-17 preseason victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday. RB LenDale White got the start while Lance Ball received the bulk of the carries in the second half.

Carter spent the first 14 weeks of the 2009 season on the Broncos’ practice squad before making his NFL debut in Oakland in December.

These players come from the two positions, in our opinion, that are least settled when it comes to determining the Broncos’ 53-man roster, so it’s not surprising the Broncos are moving ahead with thinning the numbers to get a better look at those that remain. Assuming Carter clears waivers, he will be placed on Injured Reserve.

Quarterback Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos lines up over center J.D. Walton against the Pittsburgh Steelers. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

In his preseason home opener, Broncos’ rookie QB Tim Tebow went 5-of-10 for 72 yards, a score and an interception in Denver’s 34-17 disposal of the Steelers. Playing as the 2nd quarterback, Tebow showed some rookie flaws and some nice management of the offense.

Running back Lance Ball, who is in a fierce roster spot fight, also had a nice evening, rushing for 75 yards on just 10 carries. Ball can be easily spotted in the two highlights after the jump.

As a whole, the Broncos second team offense shredded up the Steelers secondary defense, marching right down the field for back-to-back scores. Although it was “just” preseason, I loved seeing the Broncos physically out-play Pittsburgh, something the coaches talked about during the whole week prior to the game.

Below is one of the Tebow-led drives that bogged down for a field goal. You may recognize one of the commentators, who by-the-way had some nice things to say about Tebow.

See the second team’s touchdown drive after the jump. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Cornerback Perrish Cox #32 of the Denver Broncos celebrates his interception of a pass by quarterback Dennis Dixon of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the endzone during preseason NFL action at INVESCO Field at Mile High on August 29, 2010 in Denver, Colorado. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

It was a night of sacks and pick-sixes for the Denver Broncos defense, who took full advantage of the Pittsburgh Steelers‘ sketchy quarterback situation to score two defensive touchdowns and defeat the Steelers 34-17 in preseason action.

More impressive was the fact that they accomplished such with the likes of Elvis Dumervil, Champ Bailey, and Brian Dawkins sitting this one out.

Against the Steelers’ starters, who only played QB Ben Roethlisberger for one series, Denver outgunned and outrunned Pittsburgh in the first half to a 17-3 lead. QB Dennis Dixon was intercepted twice — dramatically — once by rookie Perrish Cox in the end zone and once by veteran Andre Goodman who returned it 77 yards for a touchdown.

Dixon’s backups didn’t fare much better. Byron Leftwich went 0 for 4 as the 3rd QB and Charlie Batch had an interception returned for a touchdown by rookie Syd’Quan Thompson. With Roethlisberger set to miss four games with a suspension, the Steelers didn’t answer any quarterback questions tonight, and may have garnered some new ones. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

     

Broncos-Steelers GameBlog! Live Blog chat rules: respect others, respect yo-self, and no F-bombs.

Tim Tebow passes against the Bengals. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke)

A pair of third-stringers suiting up isn’t usually big news for a third preseason game, but in these players’ cases, it’s a game-changer.

Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is suited up after sitting out of practice for nearly two weeks with a rib injury, while running back LenDale White will make his Broncos debut tonight after hurting his hamstring during his second practice with the team.

In fact, White is listed as the Broncos’ starting tailback (full starting lineup changes).

Tebow adds drama to the national stage, while White, from a pure football/Broncos enthusiast’s standpoint, is a much more interesting development. If he hopes to make this team, tonight’s the night to show it.

Denver Broncos rookie defensive lineman Ben Garland stretches at passing camp at the team's training facility in Englewood, Colo. , on Friday, June 4, 2010. Garland graduated from the Air Force Academy this year and was picked up by the Broncos as a free agent. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski.)

• Jason Hunter is vying for playing time on the Broncos defense.

• Ben Garland has a tough choice to make; the Denver Broncos, or the Air Force.

• The Jaguars have found a way to make profit off Tim Tebow.

• The Broncos don’t want to place Dumervil on IR, but he’ll count against the 53-man roster if they don’t.

• Tebow returned to practice this week, as did Demaryius Thomas. That’s the good news, the bad news is Thomas’ status for the season opener is in doubt.

• Like last season, Steelers safety Ryan Clark will have to sit out Sunday’s exhibition game in Denver because of the high altitude.

• Brady Quinn has shown some improvement. After throwing an interception and being sacked in his Bronco debut, Quinn threw no interceptions and was sacked three times last weekend.

• The Broncos Quarterback of the future isn’t Tim Tebow, rather, Kyle Orton.

• Denver is still awaiting the return of backs Knowshon Moreno and Correll Buckhalter.

• Former Bronco running back Maurice Clarett will be working out for the UFL‘s Omaha Nighthawks on August 29.

After bulking up in the offseason and being moved to the slot, Eddie Royal is primed for a career year. (Photo courtesy of Paul Cloud.)

Following a sensational rookie season in which he amassed nearly 2,000  yards (receiving, rushing, and returning), Eddie Royal fell into a sophomore slump during the 2009 NFL season.

The cause for Eddie’s drop in his production on offense–37 receptions for 345 yards and no scores, opposed to his rookie campaign of 91 catches for 980 yards and five scores–last season is debatable. The most commonly accepted view is that Head Coach Josh McDaniels didn’t do a good job of utilizing Royal’s unique talent. Another view is that Royal’s size was his weakness,  instigating defenses to press cover him, “jamming” him at the line of scrimmage, and limiting his productivity. Whether it was the play-calling, McDaniels, or Royal’s fault, or a combination of all, the point is Royal wasn’t much of a weapon for the Broncos last season.

This season however, it looks as if that will change. The Broncos have moved Royal to the slot, where fans anticipate him to flourish in a role similar to that of New England’s Wes Welker. The slot and Royal were practically made for each other, and McDaniels has taken note of that.

“When we evaluated things, we came to the conclusion that we didn’t do near a good enough job of getting (Royal) involved,” McDaniels said. “We think he’s capable of doing a lot of things in our offense.” Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Lance Ball and Tyler Polumbus at the Denver Broncos' stadium practice in 2010 (BroncoTalk.net)

The Broncos continued to stay busy with their roster Tuesday, waiving offensive lineman Tyler Polumbus and being awarded tight end Kory Sperry off waivers from the Miami Dolphins. Earlier Tuesday, the club released linebacker Akin Ayodele.

Polumbus, a former CU Buff, spent two seasons with the Broncos and started in eight games in 2009. He originally filled in for the injured Ryan Clady at left tackle this offseason but was benched in favor of D’Anthony Batiste. With Clady returning and Batiste playing as many as three quarters in the preseason games (at both left and right tackle), Polumbus became expendable.

Sperry (6-4, 238) is a second-year player from Colorado State who participated in eight games (one start) for Miami as a rookie in 2009 and finished with three receptions for 31 yards (10.3 avg.) and one touchdown.

Sperry’s college production boasted 141 receptions for 1,763 yards (12.5 avg.) with 20 touchdowns for the Rams.

It wouldn’t surprise us to see Mike Shanahan‘s Redskins stake a claim in Polumbus, but he just wasn’t as good a fit in Josh McDaniels‘ system, as evidenced by the team’s struggles down the stretch when Ryan Harris went down last year and Polumbus’ movement down the depth chart this offseason. Press release after the jump.  Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Josh McDaniels dropped the best injury news the Broncos have been able to give in a long, long time Tuesday, headlined by the expected return of Denver’s 325-pound Pro Bowl left tackle Ryan Clady.

Clady, who injured his knee during the offseason and has missed the team’s OTA’s and training camp, is expected to return to practice Wednesday.

“He did a great job on everything he could control,” McDaniels said. “We feel like he’s on the right timetable.”

Also expected to return to practice this week are rookie wide receiver Demaryius Thomas (Tuesday), running back Correll Buckhalter (Tuesday), and running back LenDale White (Wednesday), McDaniels said. Cornerback Champ Bailey, guard Chris Kuper, and linebacker D.J. Williams, who have all missed time and been limited the past few weeks, are expected to participate more this week.

The return of Buckhalter, White and Kuper will give the Broncos’ ground game a much-needed boost. Meanwhile, Williams is finding his stride just as the Broncos continue to shuffle their linebacking corps, releasing Akin Adoyele Tuesday and moving Mario Haggan back inside.

With the Broncos finally able to fill the crest of their depth chart with actual healthy bodies, we’re beginning to get our first real look at what this 2010 squad will look like. It appears the third preseason game will be the real skirmish to watch — it’ll be the only glimpse we get at our starters at nearly full strength.

(Thanks MaxBroncos on Twitter)