Cornerback Tracy Porter looks to return this Sunday against the Chiefs.

Tracy Porter, remember him?

Porter was one of the earliest free agent signings this off-season for the Denver Broncos and he came on strong as the season began, starting four of the first five games. Intercepting a pass in the first game of the season against the Pittsburgh Steelers and running it back for a touchdown earned him Week One AFC Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Then mysteriously, he simply was not allowed to travel with the team. He was apparently showing symptoms of a concussion nearly a week after the game against the New England Patriots. That was Week Six (October 15th) and he hasn’t been involved in a game since.

In the meantime, the Broncos have seen incredible games from two Sophomore cornerbacks who weren’t even drafted last season– Chris Harris and Tony Carter.

Now, Porter is cleared and ready to return to play in Week Twelve against the Kansas City Chiefs. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

(Image courtesy of DrewLitton.com)

Happy Thanksgiving, fellow fans of our beloved Broncos franchise!

Stateside Broncoholics have plenty to be thankful for this holiday season.  For a free country, for the brave men and women serving in our military, and for bacon.

Fans across the world can be grateful that our team has players like Peyton Manning and Von Miller.  And you can also be thankful for bacon.

Personally, we want to thank YOU, the readers, for sticking with us.  You guys (and girls) are the best and we wouldn’t be here without you.

Enjoy your holiday—hopefully spent with enjoyable relatives—and be sure to tell your brothers and uncles about that website you visit daily; they’d probably love it, too!

The Broncos are 7-3 with a firm lead in the AFC West and a match-up with the 1-9 Chiefs on deck.  There’s plenty to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.  Have a great one, folks!

(Getty Images)

The Broncos placed starting running back Willis McGahee on injured reserve yesterday, leaving no short-yardage backs remaining on the roster.

Denver will likely have a rotation of Knowshon Moreno, Ronnie Hillman, and Lance Ball on Sunday, but none of those three backs can run between the tackles or pass block as well as McGahee.  For that reason, the Broncos have been looking into other options.

Free agent running back Tatum Bell threw his name into the conversation, but the Broncos probably didn’t even notice.  This week, the team worked out free agents Steve Slaton and Jacob Hester, formerly of Houston and San Diego, respectively.

Per @1023espn, #Broncos may sign free agent Jacob Hester next week, a former Chargers special teams stud and rotational running back.

— Jon Heath (@JHeath_DEN) November 22, 2012

According to Mike Klis of ESPN 102.3, the Broncos worked out Hester on Wednesday and are likely to sign him either this week or the week following.  A former third-round selection out of LSU, Hester was a special teams ace for San Diego from 2008-2011, while also providing depth to the Chargers‘ backfield.

A fifth-year player who weighs in at 235 pounds (the same weight as McGahee), Hester could provide the Broncos with a versatile short-yardage option, while also contributing as a receiver out of the backfield and as a blocker in pass protection.

Would you approve of the Broncos bringing in Hester?  Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

(Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

The decision has been made: Brady Quinn will start at quarterback for the Kansas City when the Chiefs host the Broncos this weekend.

“I like his leadership qualities,” Chiefs Head Coach Romeo Crennel told DenverBroncos.com. “He has experience with a couple different teams and he’s seen a couple different things. I think that will bode well for him.”

Quinn has a unique history with the Broncos.  His first career start came against the Broncos in 2008, when Jay Cutler led the Broncos to a 34-30 win over the Browns in Cleveland.

A year later, Quinn faced the Broncos again, losing 27-6 in Denver.  During the loss, Quinn was sacked four times by Broncos defensive end Elvis Dumervil.

The next offseason, Quinn was traded to the Broncos to compete with Kyle Orton to win the Broncos’ starting gig.  Quinn ultimately lost the job to Orton and eventually backed up Tim Tebow through the 2011 season.  Through two seasons in Denver, Quinn never played a down.

“I haven’t had as many opportunities in six seasons as some guys get in one season.  Any opportunity for me to play is good.  I’m always learning, always trying to get better,” said Quinn.

One year removed from leaving Denver, Quinn is preparing for his third career start against the Broncos.  Denver’s defense, led by pass rushers Von Miller and Dumervil, will be looking to make Quinn 0-3 against his former teammates.

(Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

On Wednesday, the NFL announced that Denver Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller has been named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week.

Against the Chargers on Sunday, Miller notched six tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles in Denver’s 30-23 win over San Diego.  His three sacks and two forced fumbles both represented career highs.

Miller, a second-year stud out of Texas A&M, leads the NFL with 23 tackles for a loss in 2012, owns career 24.5 sacks, trailing only Hall of Fame linebacker Derrick Thomas for the most sacks through a player’s first 25 games (since 1982).

In our book, Miller is one of the top candidates to win Defensive Player of the Year.  Over the past two seasons, Miller has recorded 44 tackles behind the line of scrimmage—the highest total among all players during that time period.

Congrats to Von on his well-deserved award.  We have no doubt that Miller will take home many more awards before he hangs up his cleats someday down the road.

On Wednesday, the Denver Broncos placed running back Willis McGahee on injured reserve, the team announced via Twitter.

Per CBA rules, the Broncos placed McGahee on IR with a designation for return, meaning he may be able to play again this season.  In six weeks from today, McGahee will be allowed to practice with the team again—he will be allowed to play again in eight weeks.

The Broncos have six games left in the regular season, so Denver would have to make it through the second round of the playoffs for McGahee to play again this season.

In McGahee’s place, running backs Knowshon Moreno, Lance Ball, rookie Ronnie Hillman, and practice squad player Jeremiah Johnson will fill the void in Denver’s backfield.  On Tuesday, the team also worked free agent Steve Slaton.

This is a tough break for McGahee and the Broncos offense.  Heal up quickly, Willis.

(Getty Images)

With every free agent running back and his brother wanting to fill the void in Denver’s backfield, the Broncos decided to workout just one free agent, Steve Slaton.

Per Mike Klis of the Denver Post:

The Broncos worked out former Houston Texans running back Steve Slaton on Tuesday morning.  As of Tuesday evening, the Broncos had not yet signed the former West Virginia star.

Slaton had a terrific rookie season for the Texans in 2008, rushing for 1,282 yards and catching 50 passes. But he had fumble and durability issues in his next two seasons, and last year he split time with the Texans and Miami Dolphins, playing in six games combined and gaining 84 yards on 24 attempts.

The Broncos worked out Slaton after starter Willis McGahee suffered a serious knee injury against San Diego.  Klis says the Broncos are “considering” signing Slaton, but Sunday’s line-up will feature Ronnie Hillman, Lance Ball, and Knowshon Moreno either way.

Activating Jeremiah Johnson from the practice squad is another option. Currently, the team appears content to go into this week’s game against Kansas City with their three main running backs sharing the load.

“Right now, we feel really good about the guys we have,” Coach John Fox said on Monday.  ”They’re trained in our system.  It’s pretty extensive.  We feel good about the people we have.”

How do you feel about the Broncos’ backfield?  Should the team bring in another option?  Dish out your thoughts in the comments below!

(AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

As the regular season winds down, three main candidates have emerged in the Defensive Player of the Year race—Houston’s J.J. Watt, San Francisco’s Aldon Smith, and Denver’s Von Miller.

On Monday, Smith recorded 5.5 sacks against Chicago’s garbage offensive line and passed Miller as the league’s current sack leader (15-to-13). After the game, Smith was quick to inform Miller that he had passed him.

With this being the case, and after Smith recorded more sacks than Miller in 2011 (14-to-11.5), a great debate has emerged:  Who is the better player?

I recently touched on this subject in my latest article over at B/R.  Let’s take a quick look at both Miller and Smith after the jump.  Click here to read the rest of this entry »

(Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The Kansas City Chiefs are being hush-hush about who will start at quarterback against the Denver Broncos this week.

“When you look at the numbers, both of them (quarterbacks Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn) are about equal,” Chiefs’ Coach Romeo Crennel told the Kansas City Star.  “[We will] make a decision and go with it.”

Unfortunately for Cassel and Quinn, it makes little difference to Denver’s Elvis Dumervil who starts at QB for Kansas City on Sunday, as he has found success against both players in the past.

“We are doing some good things (on defense), Dumervil said after Denver’s victory over San Diego last week.  “We’ve got to keep working, but there’s a lot of plays that we can predict.  We want to be great, and that’s a good thing.”

In his past four games against Cassel and Quinn, Dumervil has recorded 5.5 sacks.  In ten starts, Kansas City’s quarterback duo has been sacked a combined 23 times this season.  Denver’s defense leads the NFL with 35 sacks heading into Sunday’s showdown at Arrowhead.

Whether it’s Quinn or Cassel, the Chiefs know both Dumervil and outside linebacker Von Miller will be coming.  The dynamic duo has combined to record 21 sacks and 10 forced fumbles—already matching and topping their 2011 totals of 21 combined sacks and 2 forced fumbles.

Sunday’s game is scheduled to kickoff at 11 a.m. MT and will be broadcast on CBS.  Somebody has to the start for the Chiefs on Sunday.  Whoever it may be, it will be fun watching Denver’s defense harass him, looking for a sixth consecutive victory this season.

(Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

The final six games of the 2012 season could be running back Knowshon Moreno‘s final opportunity to start in Denver, and he is not taking that fact for granted.

“It feels good to be back, but you hate to see a teammate go down with an injury,”  Moreno said on Monday.  “That really hurts, but at the same time, we have a lot of capable guys in the backfield that can get the job done for this team also.”

Moreno has been inactive for the Broncos over the past eight games while starter Willis McGahee and rookie Ronnie Hillman have handled the bulk of the carries for Denver.  With McGahee out for possibly the rest of the regular season, Moreno will get the chance to start for the first time since Week 2 of the 2011 season.

“Next week, it’ll be more than likely Knowshon instead of Willis,” Coach John Fox said on Monday.  “He’s looked, actually over the last couple of weeks, very good.”

Click here to read the rest of this entry »