Hey you, in the red: you get to watch the Broncos game.

Tonight, the Denver Broncos‘ 2012 season pivots.

A win against the San Diego Chargers would mean the Broncos move to 3-3 and take control of the division. The hellish start of the season would be behind them, and while the remaining ten games are still tough, they can look forward to ten games in control.

A loss would put them at 2-4, two games behind the Chargers in divisional standings, and facing ten uphill games of clawing back to AFC relevance.

This is the most important game of the Broncos’ regular season.

First place in the AFC West is on the line. Peyton Manning‘s debut season with the Broncos is on the line. Chat (yes, chat, it’s back!) about the game here!

Denver Broncos cornerback Tracy Porter meets with the media on the eve of 2012 training camp. (BroncoTalk.net photo)

Denver Broncos starting cornerback Tracy Porter has been listed as out for the game Monday night against the San Diego Chargers.

Mike Klis of the Denver Post reports that Porter did not make the trip tonight to San Diego.

Porter is likely to be replaced at corner by Sophomore and last season’s All Undrafted Rookie Team member Chris Harris. Which will basically make Chargers’ tight end Antonio Gates the most feared man on San Diego’s offense for Denver.

If the Broncos opt not to go with Harris opposite Champ Bailey, Tony Carter will replace Porter and Harris will man his normal nickle package position.

Despite being too ill to travel, Porter did have his share of tweets today and yesterday in which he indicated that he’d just woke up from one of the best naps ever.

As Week 5 of the NFL season approaches, the Denver Broncos (2-3) are preparing to face the San Diego Chargers (3-2) on the road.  Here are five notes for your consideration going into the game — 

(1) Is Von Miller a Defensive Player of the Year candidate?

(Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Coming off his Defensive Rookie of the Year campaign, is second-year outside linebacker Von Miller a 2012 Defensive Player of the Year candidate?

Yes, in the eyes of ProFootballFocus.  Through the first five weeks of the season, Miller has led the NFL with twelve tackles for loss and is tied for having recorded the fourth-most sacks (5.0).  On Sunday, Miller’s seven tackle, two sack, and forced fumble performance earned him a phenomenal +12.3 rating from PFF.

Through his first twenty games, Miller has recorded 16.5 sacks, a higher total than Dallas’ DeMarcus Ware (10.0), Minnesota’s Jared Allen (16.0) and Houston’s J.J. Watt (13.0) recorded in their respective first twenty games. Meanwhile, seventh-year defensive end Elvis Dumervil has recorded three sacks and two forced fumbles.  According to Stats Inc., Dumervil is also tied for third in the NFL with 14.5 QB hurries and 9.5 knockdowns. Consequently, San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers will have fun running away from Gloom and Doom on Sunday.

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Denver Broncos News

• The Denver Broncos now have a sense of urgency before they face the San Diego Chargers as they see their season hanging in the balance. [DenverBroncos.com]
• Phillip Rivers owns a 9-3 record against the Broncos in his career.  It’s about time this record begins to even the heck out. [Lindy Sports]
• The silver lining of the Broncos 2-3 record is that they believe they have what it takes to be an elite team. With Peyton Manning, anything is possible. [Denver Post]
• Trindon Holliday may mean Broncos fans won’t have to watch Jim Leonard return punts anymore, which is fine provided Holliday protects the football. [Denver Post]

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for more Broncos updates throughout the day.

For those who live outside of Colorado and do not have DirecTV, we present our weekly handy-dandy broadcast map, with the red areas representing where the Broncos’ game will be aired on your local stations:

The game will be nationally televised on ESPN, so there’s really no need for a broadcast map this week, but we wanted to stay true to our promise of posting a map every week.  Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (MT).

(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

The Denver Broncos on Thursday were awarded wide receiver/returner Trindon Holliday off waivers from Houston, the team announced.  To make room for Holliday, the team waived rookie safety Duke Ihenahco.

Holliday (5-5, 169 lbs.) is the shortest player to ever appear on the team’s active roster, joining the Broncos after being released by the Texans last week.  A second-year receiver who appeared in all five games with Houston this season, Holliday averaged 9.2 yards per punt return and 19.4 yards per kickoff return to start the season.

It was Holliday’s electrifying preseason that turned heads, when he  averaged 21.1 yards on ten punt returns and scored twice while averaging 39.9 yards on ten kickoff returns and adding another score. The Broncos may name Holliday the team’s new returner, as veteran safety Jim Leonhard has been averaging just 6.8 yards per return as the team’s current punt returner.

Holliday entered the NFL as a sixth round draft selection (197th overall) by the Texans.  In six regular season games, Holliday has returned twenty-seven kicks for 341 yards (12.6 yards per return).  Holliday attended Louisiana State University.

Holliday is a solid addition that shouldn’t have any troubling securing a return gig in Denver.  We’ll see if the team activates him as early as this week when the team travels to San Diego to take on the Chargers on Monday Night Football.

Denver Broncos News

• Another week in the books and another week of miscues. The Denver Broncos, frustratingly, are finding ways to lose. The talent is there, make no mistake, but the mental toughness and discipline is not. [DenverBroncos.com & SI.com]
• Willis McGahee feels like a goat today, but there is enough blame to go around that he shouldn’t feel completely responsible. The Broncos must find a way to come out on the plus side in the turnover department. [BroncoTalk & Denver Post]
• Peyton Manning played well enough, but the vaunted Orange Crush defense couldn’t seem to figure out how to jam the New England Patriots wide receivers at the line, so Tom Brady simply played catch with his guys all day long – mostly at the expense of Joe Mays and the linebacker corps. [Denver Post]
• If you really want to bash Manning, just remember that through five games he is on pace to throw for 4800 yards and 35 touchdowns.  As much as some of us liked Tim Tebow, there is no way he combines for that many yards running and throwing. This team just needs to come together…it would seem that 2013 is going to be a good year for us fans. [SI.com]

Be sure to follow me on Twitter for more Broncos updates throughout the day.

Patriots receiver Wes Welker walks into the end zone for his first touchdown in the Patriots win over the Denver Broncos. (Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

The 13th meeting between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady went as expected — two of the NFL’s all-time bests performing outright surgery on opposing defenses.

Surgery on high-speed trains, in this case.

Manning and Brady traded no-huddle, break-neck offensive series through four quarters Sunday, but it was Brady and the Patriots who minimized errors and defeated Manning and the Broncos 31-21 in Week Five action. The Broncos trailed 31-7 at one point and furiously rallied to bring the game within reach; a late Willis McGahee fumble with less than four minutes remaining doomed the Broncos’ comeback effort, however. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

The rain drizzled all morning and into the afternoon before the Denver Broncos received the kickoff from the New England Patriots (Image courtesy of DenverBroncos.com)

2012 Week 5 – Denver Broncos at New England Patriots – The BT GameBlog.

Join us on this rainy day in Foxbourough as we’re sticking with the new format for this week. Continue to follow us on Twitter @BroncoTalk for continuous updates throughout the game, otherwise keep it locked into the comments below.

We’ll be here discussing the game through all four quarters, posting stats, and more!

The Denver Broncos will take on the New England Patriots tomorrow (Week 5 Notes), marking the thirteenth time quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Tom Brady will face off.  Courtesy of EA Sports, here is a Madden NFL 13 video simulation of the game:

A more realistic, NFL Films preview of the game can be viewed after the jump.   Click here to read the rest of this entry »