Newsworthy notes from the Broncos’ weekly press release. View the full document here (pdf).

The Denver Broncos (6-4) will host a Thanksgiving game for the first time since 1963 on Thursday against the New York Giants (6-4). Kickoff at INVESCO Field at Mile High is set for 6:20 p.m. MST, and the game will be televised nationally on NFL Network (Bob Papa and Matt Millen).

QUICKLY:

• The Broncos, who are looking to snap a four-game losing streak, will host their first Thanksgiving game since 1963 and are set to play on the holiday for the 11th time in club history. Denver will play on Thanksgiving for the third time in the last five years.
• Denver is set to play on a Thursday for the fifth consecutive year and joins only Dallas and Detroit with that distinction. The Broncos’ five scheduled Thursday games in the last five years tie for the third most in the NFL.

OFFENSE: Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Head coach Josh McDaniels of the Denver Broncos paces the sideline as he leads his team against the San Diego Chargers during NFL action at Invesco Field at Mile High on November 22, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

In his rookie season, Head Coach Josh McDaniels has the Broncos standing precipitously close to an edge over which they haven’t tumbled in nearly two decades.

Denver has four days to regroup after its fourth straight loss to prevent a fifth, a losing streak McDaniels’ most recent predecessor never experienced. In 14 seasons as Broncos coach, Mike Shanahan, never lost five straight games.

The last time the Denver Broncos suffered such a mid-season five-game slide was with Dan Reeves at the helm, way, way back in 1990. Wade Phillips also technically surrendered five straight games as Broncos coach from 1993-1994, although his losing streak took place across those two seasons. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• Josina Anderson is reporting that Brian Dawkins may have more than a pinched nerve in his neck.  MRI exams to continue.  [KDVR.com]
• The Broncos received a light work load Monday to help them recover on a short week.  [DPO]
• The New York Daily news is reporting that Kyle Orton practiced Monday.  [Twitter]
• Fixing the offense is at the top of the to do list these three days.  [DPO]
• It’s time for the team to overcome adversity and put together another win streak.  [In Denver Times]
• Why Brandon Marshall was wrong to call out Knowshon Moreno by Mike Klis.  [DPO]
• These Broncos can draw inspiration from the first part of the season.  [Longmont Times]
• Everyone agrees, time to turn the season around and silence the critics.  [DPO]
• Win or lose, the Broncos are always brash?  [New York Times]
• Hall of Fame questions are a plenty in Mike Klis’ new mailbag.  [DPO]
• Double agent D.J. Johnson is helping his new team prepare for the Broncos.  [NY Dailly News]
• A look back at former Bronco running back Jon Keyworth.  [DPO]
• The Broncos used more zone blocking Sunday than in previous games this season.  [DPO]
• I find this whole web page hilariously hypocritical.  “There’s a Hush in Denver”  [Chicago Now]
• Lindsay Jones spotlights defensive tackle Marcus Thomas.  [DPO]
• Another early Broncos mock draft.  A favorite topic when things get rough mid-season.  [Broncos Zone]
• Jeff Legwold says it’s time to back down from all of the Tom Brandstater talk.  [DPO]

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

San Diego Union Tribune

Clearly, though, (Chargers G Kris) Dielman thought the Broncos were extremely chatty for a team in the process of getting beaten by 29 points. “If their game is to run their mouth, they can, but we finished it off good,” Dielman said. “They kept talking, pretty thoroughly, throughout the entire game. That’s fine. That’s their game, not ours.”

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

The Denver Broncos did not hold practice Monday, and the New York Giants merely underwent a jog-through, but that doesn’t prevent them from reporting what their players’ injury statuses would have been for a full practice. Here is Monday’s report as the teams prepare for their Week 12 NFL game on Thanksgiving night.

DNP – Did Not Participate; LP – Limited Participation; FP – Full Participation; NL – Not Listed

Denver Broncos' Brandon Marshall (15) walks along the sideline during the closing minutes of an NFL football game against the San Diego Chargers, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, in Denver. The Chargers defeated the Broncos 32-3. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Chargers 32, Broncos 3. We all agree that it sure would be nice to give out a Game Ball award again. Let the record show that Sunday was a stinkfest all around. Even the studs stank a little bit. Caveats abound.

Dud: Mike Nolan
As I outlined earlier, the defense’s inability to get after Philip Rivers was largely the difference between 2009’s two Chargers-Broncos romps. In the second half, the decision not to blitz really couldn’t be helped, but at the start of the game, the Broncos’ D played frustratingly conservative football. The Chargers scored on all three drives, and the Broncos couldn’t respond. If Mike Nolan had shown the type of aggressiveness he did in Week 6 from the first quarter forward, the Broncos could very well be 7-3 right now. – Kyle Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Darren Sproles #43 of the San Diego Chargers rushes against the Denver Broncos down during NFL action at Invesco Field at Mile High on November 22, 2009 in Denver, Colorado. The Chargers defeated the Broncos 32-3. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

One of the largest differences between the two Chargers games this season was the amount of pressure the Broncos were able to put on quarterback Philip Rivers.

In October, Mike Nolan‘s defense tallied five sacks against Rivers, a career high for the fourth-year starting quarterback. They were constantly in the quarterback’s face through a well-utilized variety of blitz packages.

In the loss Sunday, the Broncos didn’t register a single sack, and they hardly mounted any pressure or quarterback hits, either. The number of blitzes called, or lack thereof, had a lot to do with it.

“Well, I think in that (October) game, obviously they brought a lot of blitzes,” Philip Rivers said after the game. “It was a combination of a lot of things. In this game, and as we have the whole year, especially these last four weeks, the guys up front have been unbelievable and protective. In this game they did not blitz near as much so they kind of surprised us.” Click here to read the rest of this entry »

• The jawing between Josh McDaniels and the Chargers’ linebacking corp will be all the talk today.  [Broncotalk]
• Starting Chris Simms is questioned when you were going to put in Kyle Orton anyway.  [CS Gazette]
• The team is all kinds of frustrated after Sunday’s game.  [Longmont Times]  [In Denver Times]
• Woody Paige still dislikes Kyle Orton as the starting quarterback.  (Ed. Note: Well, he doesn’t like Chris Simms that much, either. Can’t blame him after yesterday. –Kyle) [DPO]
• What we can learn from our hated AFC Rivals.  [CS Gazette]
• The Broncos are getting a little too good at this fading down the stretch thing.  [DPO]
• Mark Cooper tells us why we really lost this weekend, stupid penalties and very costly turnovers.  [Official Team Blog]
• The good, we stopped the Chargers’ ground game.  The bad, Rivers did whatever he wanted.  [DPO]
• The team lost its crowd yesterday as well.  [KDVR.com]
• Give Phillip time in the pocket and he’ll pick you apart.  [DPO]
• The Bills are ready to make a serious push for a new head coach and they really want Mike Shanahan.  [All Things Broncos – DPO]
• Josh McDaniels needs to hire a motivational speaker apparently.  (This is good for a laugh)  [Broncos Stable]

Josh McDaniels and Ladainian Tomlinson chat postgame. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Back in October, with camera crews mere feet away, San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos players got in a well-publicized verbal and semi-physical exchange as they warmed up for their Monday Night Football outing. Before Sunday’s Broncos-Chargers tilt, many noted that there didn’t appear to be such a fracas.

There was. This one just happened behind the scenes.

According to multiple reports, Chargers linebackers goaded Josh McDaniels and a group of Broncos players as they walked by during pregame warm-ups. McDaniels would later describe the Chargers’ comments as “not for papers” and hoped to avoid the story altogether, but, in the moment, the head coach responded to the Chargers’ smack talk.

He told the linebackers, “We own you.”

After the game, linebacker Shaun Phillips told the story to the San Diego Union Tribune’s Kevin Acee in a snippet that apparently wasn’t appropriate for papers, either: Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Denver Broncos' Elvis Dumervil (92) kneels on the ground after the Broncos lost to the San Diego Chargers in their NFL football game, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, in Denver. The Chargers defeated the Broncos 32-3. (AP Photo/Chris Schneider)

Head Coach Josh McDaniels explains his decision at quarterback and his questionable onside kick in the third quarter in the latest batch of postgame quotes. Quotes from Norv Turner and others included as well following the Broncos‘ 32-3 loss to the Chargers.

DENVER BRONCOS HEAD COACH JOSH MCDANIELS

General

“I’ll start as I have the last few weeks. I give Coach Norv Turner and the Chargers a lot of credit. They played well today and obviously forced us into too many mistakes for us to overcome those. Until we find a solution to be able to play a 60-minute game a lot cleaner than we have the last few weeks here, we are going to continue to struggle so that is going to continue to be our challenge going into the New York Giants.”

On starting QB Chris Simms

“He had practice reps. Kyle was certainly not totally healthy, still not totally healthy and could not practice Friday. I was out there at the workout before today and it was touch-and-go a little bit. Able to do some things, certainly, probably would have been a much better situation if we could play the game with Chris because he was able to practice and he was healthy and with(QB Kyle Orton) situation. If we could do that and kind of rest him, that was the idea behind it. It certainly didn’t play out that way and that is why he was the number two quarterback. We didn’t feel like it was a dire situation that he couldn’t suit up and do anything for us. We just knew that we couldn’t do everything and because of the state of his health if we can play the game and win it with Chris.” Click here to read the rest of this entry »