My power rankings are fittingly named the ‘Tentative Ten’ because every week it’s subject to change, and erratically at that. This week the Tentative Ten will only feature the top ten eleven rankings. In another post all of  weekly awards will be featured.

1. Indianapolis Colts (14-0)

Indianapolis won again… woo… Well actually this time it only benefited Denver putting the Jacksonville further from playoff contention.

Glaring Stat: Bill Polian believes in resting his starters for the post season. Polian was the GM of the Bills when they went to the Super Bowl 4 years straight, losing every time. Every time the Colts rested their starters they saw a short post-season. The one time the Colts won the Super Bowl they had to play out the season to guarantee a post season berth.

2. New Orleans Saints (13-1)

Losing at home to the Cowboys isn’t bad when you’ve already won 13 game straight and wrapped up a post-season berth. The Saints did look vulnerable against the boys but every team deserves an off game. How the Saints rebound from their home loss should determine what we see come playoff time.
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• McDaniels and company will take Christmas morning off to celebrate what’s most important.
• An inside look/ear into Brandon Marshall on game day.  [via]
• Brian Dawkins isn’t the only vet facing his former team this week.
• He and Correll Buckhalter will have a “little bit more burn” in their stomachs.
• In first quarters this season, the Eagles have scored 112 points, while the Broncos have only mustered 57.
• Containing Philadelphia’s big-play offense will be paramount.
• The Broncos don’t have experience playing in rowdy Philadelphia.

Head coach Josh McDaniels and quarterback Kyle Orton talk about the Denver Broncos‘ upcoming game, and Brian Dawkins talks about his return to Philly.

Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels, right, talks to quarterback Kyle Orton during a break in the action during the third quarter of of an NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders in Denver on Sunday, Dec. 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Chris Schneider)

HEAD COACH JOSH McDANIELS

Opening comment

“We are full blown into our preparation for the (Philadelphia) Eagles. This team is, I would say, as explosive of a team as we’ve played all year, no question about it. They start fast, they’ve pretty much dominated the first quarter all year long (and) the first half all year long, and that’s the key to their success. They’ve got explosive players on offense. All of their skill players make great plays. (QB Donovan) McNabb is certainly one of the premiere quarterbacks of the league. Their (offensive) line protects him. They’ve got guys who can score from anywhere on the field. Defensively, obviously, it’s a very aggressive unit that pressures you a lot, can create a lot of negative plays more than anybody in football so far this year. (They are) plus-17 in the turnover margin, which is obviously another key to their success. They create a lot of turnovers and they score with it. Then, they’ve got two really good kickers (K David Akers and P Sav Rocca), and then (WR) DeSean Jackson is as explosive as a returner as we’re going to face all year. (We have) a great challenge ahead of us, a very well-coached football team. (They are) extremely sound with all of the things that they do, and they’ve been here before. They’re playing very well.”

On Philadelphia WR DeSean Jackson’s speed Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Record: 10-4
Streak: Won 5
Series vs. Denver: Eagles, 6-4
Last time: Broncos, 49-21, 2005
The Line: Eagles by 7

Who’s hot: WR/Specialist DeSean Jackson. The second-year product out of California is killing it with big plays this season. He has over 1,000 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns on the year, eight of which came on plays of over 50 yards (an NFL record). In fact, Jackson hardly knows how to score any other way: his 19-yard touchdown catch last week against San Francisco was his first score under 35 yards this season. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

D'Anthony Batiste (John Mcdonnell/Washington Post)

With a vacancy following CB Tony Carter‘s promotion (and in-game success) last week, the Denver Broncos added offensive lineman D’Anthony Batiste to the team’s practice squad Wednesday, it was announced.

Batiste (6-foot-4, 314 pounds) is a fourth-year player most recently of the Washington Redskins who has played in 12 career games (four starts) and eight games this year in Washington.  Batiste has seen time predominantly at guard, but the Broncos appear intent to work him at tackle. 

Washington, Batiste’s fourth team in four years, waived Batiste on December 15th. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• There was a buzz created Sunday.  The surprise of the rookie class, cornerback Tony Carter.  [Denver Post]
• No need to crunch numbers.  The Battle Plan: Win out  [KDVR.com]
• The Broncos haven’t posted a winning record in December since 2005.  [Longmont Times-Call]
• Brian Dawkins returning to Philadelphia is like John Elway coming back to Denver.  [CS Gazette]
• The green birds owner is still fond of his former safety.  [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
• The Eagles are all about the big play.  Mike Nolan is going to have to bring his A game.  Philly also gets Brian Westbrook back this week.  [Denver Post]
• When asked about Alphonso Smith, Mike Nolan said there are some things he still needs to learn before developing further.  [CS Gazette]
• Brian Dawkins’ return will be very painful for Eagles fans.  [Predominantly Orange]
• The Broncos need to fix the run defense quickly to survive this season.  [Denver Post]
• This Philly paper digs up some ugly statistics on Knowshon Moreno.  [The Philadelphia Inquirer]
• The opponent previews the Broncos for this weekend’s game.  [Bleeding Green Nation]
• The Broncos Boys and Girls club is teaming up with Subaru for a toy drive this afternoon.  [PR Newswire]
• Rookies Chris Baker, Robert Ayers and Alphonso Smith made three young cancer patients’ Christmas wishlists come true.  [Official Team Blog]
• If there was one good thing from Sunday’s loss, it was leaving the Raiders quarterbacks battered after the game.  [SI.com]
• Apparently you don’t need to be able to speak English to play qb for Oakland.  [Broncos Stable]

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Weekly news and notes from the weekly press release. View the full release here (.pdf).

The Denver Broncos (8-6) will play in Philadelphia this week for the first time since 1995 when they take on the Eagles (10-4) on Sunday in their regular-season road finale. Kickoff at Lincoln Financial Field is set for 4:15 p.m. EST, and the game will be televised on CBS with its top announcing team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms calling the action.

QUICKLY:

• Sunday’s game marks Denver’s final NFC game of the regular season. Facing NFC East teams, the Broncos own a 2-1 record this year having defeated Dallas and the New York Giants while losing to Washington.

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Oakland WR Chaz Schilens runs past D.J. Williams for the game-winner. (AP Photo/Chris Schneider)

A loss like that leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Everyone on the BT Staff is still pretty upset — ok, maybe livid — at Sunday’s affair. So, it’s not surprising that they all picked duds. I went out of my way to try and highlight a few positives, but it wasn’t easy. These Broncos were supposed to be better than this…. Take it away gentlemen.

Dud: Offensive line.
The complete offensive line. We were beat at the point of attack all day and couldn’t gain 5 yards when we needed it the most. I do agree Knowshon Moreno is not a bruising red zone guy, but the o-line has to do a better job of giving him something to work with. When 9 points should’ve been 21, it’s easy to see why we lost this game. I was surprised to hear last night in an interview with Dave Logan that Josh McDaniels said they used all zone blocking against the Raiders. So it’s not like we were playing to our line’s weaknesses, this is what they’re good at. They just didn’t get the job done at all. – Josh Temple Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• The Broncos are ready to break a streak and start a new one against the Eagles.  [Denver Post]
• Josh McDaniels:  The Broncos “Are far from being dead.”  [CS Gazette]
• The head coach says that loss was even uglier on film.  [Denver Post]
• Josh McDaniels on 850 KOA’s The Ride Home last night.  I listened to this live and there’s two very interesting points in here by McD.  Worth a listen.  [850 KOA]
• Denver was beaten by their old blocking schme, Mike McCoy said the Clady gadget play worked in practice and McDaniels second guesses some of his play calling.  [Denver Post]
• Mario Haggan is taking advantage of his opportunities.  [Longmont Times]
• Sputtering down the stretch, the team needs to regroup against Philly.  [KDVR.com]
• Refusal to talk about Peyton Hillis, end of year declines, and the futures of Eddie Royal, Tom Brandstater, and Brandon Marshall are all discussed in Mike Klis’ new mailbag.  [Denver Post]
• Eroding at line depth is taking it’s toll on the Broncos.  [Mile High Report]
• Can’t believe high school coaches would turn down a free Tom Nalen.  Catching up with the center who is now focused on his Rebels team.  [Denver Post]

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Head coach Josh McDaniels addressed the media a day after the Broncos‘ 19-20 to Oakland.

HEAD COACH JOSH McDANIELS

Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels yells at the referees from the sidelines during their NFL football game against the Oakland Raiders in Denver December 20, 2009. (REUTERS/Rick Wilking)

Opening comments

“As I said yesterday after the game, we just missed so many opportunities in critical situations, and at this time of the year against a division opponent, those ultimately always come back to haunt you. Yesterday, that’s really what the case was. We couldn’t score on the goal line for a number of reasons. We couldn’t keep the ball away from (Oakland) when we got the ball back with four minutes to go in the game. We couldn’t stop them. In the two-minute defense, they had a couple penalties that kept the drive alive. We ultimately couldn’t stop them there on the fourth down or the touchdown play. (We had) trouble in the red zone again—three negative plays, a sack, a penalty. Then in the run defense, (Oakland had) seven runs for 161 yards, a 23-yard average, and then the rest of the game, (we allowed a) 2.6-yard average on 26 carries. It wasn’t all bad, but certainly on those plays, it was close to terrible. Again, if you don’t make the plays in those critical situations this time of year, you’re going to be in close games, and ultimately, those are the plays that determine the outcome most of the time.” Click here to read the rest of this entry »