(Image courtesy of Ron Chenoy/US Presswire)

The Denver Broncos may be without just one player due to injury this week.  In preparation for their Week 3 showdown with the Houston Texans, the team released an injury report on Friday with guard Chris Kuper (forearm) the only player ruled out for Sunday.

Full report seen below:

Guard Chris Kuper (forearm) is listed as out for Sunday’s game against the Texans. Cornerback Chris Harris (ankle), safety Quinton Carter (knee), linebacker Von Miller (hip), tight end Joel Dreessen (ribs), cornerback Tracy Porter (neck) and wide receiver Brandon Stokley (shoulder) are all probable for the contest.

For Houston, inside linebacker Tim Dobbins (hamstring) is questionable to suit up on Sunday. Eleven other players — outside linebacker Bryan Braman (hamstring), outside linebacker Brooks Reed (hip), defensive end Antonio Smith (ankle), outside linebacker Connor Barwin (elbow), guard Brandon Brooks (thumb), guard Antoine Caldwell (ankle), inside linebacker Brian Cushing (ribs), cornerback Jonathan Joseph (groin), cornerback Brice McBain (knee), center Chris Myers (neck), and outside linebacker Jesse Nading (knee) — are listed as probable.

Teams are allowed to have 46 of the roster’s 53 active players dress on Sunday’s; the remaining seven are listed as “inactive.”  Kuper will obviously be one of the inactives this week with backup quarterback Caleb Hanie and offensive lineman Philip Blake likely to be among the six other players that will not suit up for the game.

Sunday’s kickoff is scheduled for 2:25 p.m. in Denver.  The game will be broadcast across most of the country and called by CBS’ top crew of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms.

Stick with us this weekend as we cover the Broncos’ third game of the regular season on Facebook, Twitter and through Sunday’s LiveBlog.  On Twitter, join the conversation by using #BTGameBlog.  See you at kickoff!

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The Denver Broncos will take Houston Texans this week (First Look); here are six notes for your consideration going into Week 3.

(1)  Quarterback Peyton Manning’s go-to-guy seems to be receiver Demaryius Thomas.

Throughout the first two weeks of the season, Thomas has led the team in catches (13), yards (188), and scores (2).  In fact, only one other offensive player—tight end Jacob Tamme—has been on the receiving end of a touchdown pass leading up to Denver’s third game of the season.  Look for that to change as the season progresses and the Broncos look to get fellow receiver Eric Decker more involved in the offense.

Manning seemingly has had a tendency to target Tamme on first down, Thomas on second down and veteran Brandon Stokley on third down.  (I say seemingly because I haven’t had the time to actually study film of Manning’s targets; I’ve merely observed while watching the Broncos’ first two games that Manning’s tendency seems to have been targeting Tamme/Thomas/Stokley — in that order, but that could change at any time.)

Despite not being a focal point on offense, Decker has caught nine passes for one hundred, eighty-seven yards, behind only Thomas in both categories.  It’s only a matter of time before Decker returns to the end zone that he visited eight times last season.  Decker and Stokley have both fared better than Andre Caldwell, who was inactive the past two weeks.  Which brings us to our second note.

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Running back Ben Tate #44 of the Houston Texans rushes upfield against the Jacksonville Jaguars September 16, 2012 at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Houston won 27 - 7. (Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

BT’s Outsiders Perspective makes its triumphant return, now that Football Outsiders has had a chance to tally a few weeks’ worth of data. Recall that FO uses smarter stats to analyze the effectiveness of NFL teams and players — negative percentages are good on defense, bad on offense and specials.

Offense
Offensive VOA: 20.8% (6th)
To no one’s surprise, the Texans boast a very productive offense behind running backs Arian Foster, Ben Tate, and quarterback Matt Schaub. They are slotted third with a 20.8% Offensive VOA. Their zone blocking running scheme, carried over from head coach Gary Kubiak‘s days as Broncos offensive coordinator, is as effective as ever, with the 6th ranked rushing VOA, while their passing game is equally slotted at 6th.

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Record: 2-0
Streak: Won 2
Series vs. Denver: 1-2
Last time: Broncos, 24-23, Dec. 2010
The Line: Houston (-2)

The Denver Broncos return home to face one of the AFC’s best in Week Three, the undefeated Houston Texans. The Texans have started their season 2-0 for the second year in a row, but they’ve never started 3-0 in franchise history. They will look to change that in Denver on Sunday.

Who’s hot: Defensive end J.J. Watt. The second-year player is tied for second in the league with three sacks. Moreover, he’s leading a Texans defense that has been dominant. They’re the top-rated squad in points allowed (8.5), yards allowed (196.0), and passing yards allowed (124.0). Watt is a big reason why.

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Denver Broncos power rankings from around the web. How did Monday’s 27-21 loss to the Atlanta Falcons affect the Broncos’ power rankings? Let’s find out.

ESPN: 10th (9)
It could take a while, but Denver still has an opportunity to be very good despite its turnover-filled debacle against Atlanta.

SI/Don Banks: 9th (8)
Forgive the non sequitur, but the funniest thing I’ve heard in the last week came from Archie Manning, when I asked him the other day what Olivia Manning — Peyton’s mom — thought of that hilarious United Way spoof commercial that Peyton did on “Saturday Night Live” back in 2007? “She thought he was really banging balls off those kids,” Archie said in his ear-pleasing southern drawl. “I had to tell her those were Nerf balls with sound effects. She was pretty concerned about him beating up on those kids.”

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Week Two saw the San Diego Chargers take control of the division, with every other team in the AFC West losing. Let’s break down what went down last Sunday and what to expect this Sunday from the Broncos’ division rivals.

As always, this table is sorted top to bottom by rank, with column headers sorted left to right by the importance of divisional tiebreakers.

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This photo of Denver Broncos coach John Fox shouting at the NFL replacement refs went viral Monday night. (US Presswire photo)

A conglomeration of red and white jerseys wrestled with each other on the Georgia Dome turf, a football somewhere within. Three under-experienced, under-qualified, over-uniformed men sifted through the mass of Atlanta Falcons and Denver Broncos players, trying to determine who had possession of the ball.

One replacement ref indicated the football belonged to Atlanta. Moments later, Broncos tackle Orlando Franklin, and not a Falcons player, emerged from the pile with the football in hand.

Chaos ensued.

Players cleared the benches. Players attacked players. Coaches verbally assaulted the refs. Players actually put their hands on the replacement refs. One personal foul penalty was given out, but otherwise, Monday Night Football was delayed over six minutes as refs tried to settle the madness — and figure out the administration of the football’s placement and game clock setting.

The replacement refs lost control Monday night. They cost the Broncos possession of the football in field goal range, with the Falcons able to kick a field goal in their resultant possession. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Quarterback Peyton Manning #18 of the Denver Broncos throws the ball against the Atlanta Falcons during their game at the Georgia Dome on September 17, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

“Just three bad decisions,” said Peyton Manning.

You’re about as likely to see Peyton Manning make three bad decisions in one quarter as you are to see Elvis Dumervil get utterly shut out at the line of scrimmage, but both occurred and played significant factors in the Denver Broncos‘ Week Two Monday Night game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Manning threw three first quarter interceptions and Knowshon Moreno handed the Falcons a first quarter fumble to give the Falcons a +4 turnover ratio in the first fifteen minutes of play Monday. Then Atlanta, led by the steady and impressive Matt Ryan, gained ten points off those turnovers and never relented, leading the Broncos 20-0 in the second quarter and 27-7 heading into the fourth quarter before Manning and the Broncos came storming back. The Falcons ultimately stemmed the late Broncos comeback attempt, though, defeating the Broncos 27-21 on Monday Night Football.

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Denver Broncos News

• John Fox talks about the Denver Broncos first road trip of the year. The Atlanta Falcons also appear to be the most difficult road opponent the Broncos will face in 2012. [DenverBroncos.com]
• The No Huddle attack is in vogue and why not, it is lighting up defenses all over the league. Peyton Manning is a master of the no huddle. [NFL.com]
• Champ Bailey wants Matt Ryan to throw his way continuously on Monday Night Football. It would be nice to see him get some interceptions again, as I think he only has 11 since 2006. [Washington Post]
• Drafting a quarterback in the first round is almost essential to finding a player worth starting at the position. 23 out of the leagues 32 starting quarterbacks were drafted in the first round. That is a large percentage. [Denver Post]
• The Broncos look to eliminate their late season collapses this year. This makes me happy. [Denver Post]
• The Orange Crush defense is a top 10 defense after the first week of the season. This is promising, considering the Broncos did not face an offensively challenged team in week 1 either. [CBS Sports]

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