Every week, we’ll keep you updated on the latest playoff movement from within the division and around the AFC.

First Round Bye
1. Tennessee Titans (12-2, 8-2)
2. Pittsburgh Steelers (11-3, 9-1)

Other division winners
3. New York Jets (9-5, 7-4)
4. Denver Broncos (8-6, 5-5)

Wild Card
5. Indianapolis Colts (10-4, 8-2)
6. Baltimore Ravens (9-5, 7-4)

On the cusp:
Miami Dolphins (9-5, 6-4)
New England Patriots (9-5, 6-5)
San Diego Chargers (6-8, 6-5)

Notes:
Bills or Bust — Does anyone really want to go into San Diego to face the Chargers with the division on the line? Defeating Buffalo this week will be the key. If the Broncos lose to the Bills and the Chargers beat the Bucs (who are on a two-game losing streak), the winner in Week 17 will win the division.

Third seed almost certainly out of reach — The Broncos would have to win one more game than the Jets, Patriots, and Dolphins to take back the third seed. The Jets would also have to keep their division lead over New England and Miami. Extremely unlikely to say the least.

John Elway

The AFL board of directors announced after phone conference that the league will not play the 2009 season due to financial evaluation and restructure.  This include’s John Elway’s Colorado Crush.  Sounds like the league is not financially feesible in it’s current state and they will probably trim back teams and markets that are not making the grade.  The league did not make the decision lightly as this will end it’s current 22 year run as a league.  The longest tenure of any Arena league to date.   The Saber Cats are the only team against suspension of the league.  Owners John Elway, Jerry Jones, Jon Bon Jovi, and Arthur Blank all made respective statements.  Hopefully the Elway / Bon Jovi rivalry can continue.

I personally had a dis-taste for the AFL when I went to a Crush game 2 years back.  Something about the announcer speaking over the game the entire time.  Had much more a feel of a monster truck rally than a football game.  Maybe they need to dress up their presentation during the hiatus as well.

NFL.com has the announcement up as to who made the Pro Bowl this year.  Of the Broncos, Jay Cutler made it along with Brandon Marshall.  That’s right, no Ryan Clady.  Our standout rookie left tackle didn’t get a nod.  In his place are Joe Thomas (as expected), Jason Peters, and Michael Roos.  The Roos selection seemed to follow the trend of voting in a bunch of Titans with they’re record at this point in the season.  I’m starting to think the fans pick players for this at random.

Cutler was honered to get his first nod:

“With as many talented and deserving quarterbacks as there are in the AFC, I was honored and a little surprised this morning when I found out I was named to the Pro Bowl,” Cutler said in a statement. “It’s a great individual award that definitely should be shared among a lot of my teammates, especially the offensive line for how well they’ve protected me, and our coaching staff for preparing me to play every week. My primary concern right now is winning Sunday against the Bills and getting into the playoffs, but to be recognized by the league and fans with getting voted into the Pro Bowl is special. I’m looking forward to representing the organization in Hawaii.”

Marshall was named one of the two starting AFC receivers along with the much deserving Andre Johnson of the Texans.

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Mike Shanahan looks on during the Broncos loss to the Panthers. (Getty Images)

It seems there’s a call to fire just about everyone in Dove Valley in the week following a loss. It certainly seemed that the Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan had his name mentioned once or twice this season and past off-season as to having to either win or else. All of this while rumors swirled that the coach was leaving to coach for the Michigan Wolverines, amongst other possible scenarios. Broncos owner Pat Bowlen crowned him Pope infoulable coach for life.

The fans in Denver don’t seem to be totally in love with the fact that Shanahan may actually be the coach for life. And just like Denver went into the game thinking that the Kansas City Chiefs had beat the San Diego Chargers (insuring their playoff berth), Coach Shanahan goes into a game thinking that he’ll be coaching the Broncos next season.

When questioned Monday about the loss to the Carolina Panthers, Shanahan said,

“I think I just did a bad job of preparing these guys to play. I think we are better than that, we just didn’t play at the level we are capable of playing at. Hopefully we can get back to that this week and turn things around.”

Shanahan is notorious for scheduling his moments during a day, he couldn’t have done a bad job of preparing the Broncos to play. Why would he spend every possible waking moment in an effort to not prepare the Broncos to play? Who is he covering for? Better yet, what is he covering for?

Throughout the league Denver is viewed as one of the best places to either coach or play, because Shanahan creates an atmosphere that is professional and enjoyable. He even protects his players to a fault (see last-season with Travis Henry), yet with all the Broncos have accomplished this season, they’ve given up just as much.

Denver has yet to lose to a team of Carolina’s caliber. Yep, they’ve beat them all. Sure there have been loses to Kansas City, the Oakland Raiders, and the Jacksonville Jaguars (amongst the worst teams in the league), but there have also been wins against the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New York Jets and Atlanta Falcons.

So, what gives Coach? Was it really a loss to the Panthers or is there something deeper (or even darker) in the mix?

Steve Smith single-handedly destroyed the Denver Broncos. (Photo courtesy Getty Images).

Going into the game not knowing whether or not they had clinched the AFC West did not turn out to matter for the Denver Broncos. It wasn’t Smash and Dash so much as just smash. A Champ Bailey-less Broncos proved that for every two-steps forward, there may be three steps back. With the return of D.J. Williams Denver’s defense still couldn’t promote much of a pass rush on an underwhelming Carolina Panthers passing attack.

Carolina’s wide receiver Steve Smith went on to catch 165-yards on nine receptions for one touchdown. Covered predominantly by Dre Bly, Smith proved that Denver was miles from home. With no pass-rush, Carolina’s Jake Delhomme dictated the game as Denver defense handed yet another mediocre quarterback a career game.

Late, during garbage time the Broncos did seem to develop a running game, trading hand-offs between P.J. Pope (seven runs for 51-yards) and Tatum Bell (seven runs for 43-yards), but it was too little, too late. Jay Cutler finished atrociously, coming off of his Player of the Week performance against Kansas City to finish 21/33 for 172-yards one touchdown and one interception. Brandon Marshall wasn’t much help with five catches for 48-yards despite 14 targets.

During the game the San Diego Chargers went on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs. With the Denver loss to Carolina the Broncos must win against the Buffalo Bills next Sunday to win the division.

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported just a moment ago that while Champ Bailey made the trip to Charlotte, NC- he isn’t likely to play. Mike Shanahan likes his captains to travel with the team, but Bailey’s groin injury will force him to miss a seventh-straight game.

Brandon Marshall comes crashing back to earth after making one of his 18 catches in week 2. Doug Pensinger/Getty Images

Fourteen weeks have passing us by in this 2008 NFL season and now the fifteenth one is staring right at us. This week Tampa Bay faces another NFC South showdown against Atlanta. Miami fights for the playoffs facing San Francisco. San Diego tries to hold on to whatever they can against Kansas City. Detroit will try not to lose again facing Indianapolis. The two best defenses in the NFL collide when Pittsburgh takes on Baltimore. The AFC West title is there for the taking if Denver can contain the dangerous run game Carolina contains. Dallas needs the win against New York if they want to stay in the playoff run. Yes sports fans… another week sure not to dissapoint.

Last week the Bronco Talk team went as follows:

Picks and analysis after the jump.

 

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Injury Report for the Denver Broncos vs. Carlina Panthers NFL game for Sunday, December 14, 2008.

It looks like the Denver Broncos may have their own two-headed monster back with D.J. Williams and Nate Webster looking like they will be able to go. Selvin Young’s return is probable as well, which is great news and couldn’t have come at a better time for Denver’s offense.

There are more than a few glaring spots on the injury report: Spencer Larsen, Brandon Stokley, Champ Bailey and Marlon McCree may all sit this game out. Which is not the best news.

DeAngelo Williams leaves Ronde Barber eating turf on Monday Night Football.

Week 15, the Denver Broncos (the third-best team in the AFC), on the cusp of a playoff berth, face the second-best team in the NFC; the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers, who had a narrow win over the San Diego Chargers in Week One a blow out loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a slaying defeat over the Oakland Raiders and a major defeat at the hands of the Atlanta Falcons played a game against the Buccaneers that got ugly as they turned up the notch late in the fourth quarter Monday night.

A lethal DeAngelo Williams/Jonathan Stewart/Steve Smith combo turned out to be too much for the Bucs as the Panthers claimed the number two spot in the NFC Playoff Picture.

The thing that I’ve learned about the Carolina Panthers, as I’ve scouted them over the last fifteen-weeks is that they aren’t quite the defense that you’d expect. However, where they suffer worst is at rushing defense- the Broncos aren’t expected to have much of a rushing offense to put up against their 19th ranked defense come Sunday.

There are quite a few interesting match-ups this Sunday including:

• Julius Peppers vs. Ryan Clady
  Clady has given up .5 sacks to the best of the best this season and just after the Pro Bowl voting is turned in he will face one of the best pass rushers the NFC has to offer. If Clady can hold Peppers to nil, then Clady can fore-go an All-Pro season and simply be content with the fact that he faced the best that the NFL had to offer and shut them all down.
• Steve Smith vs. Champ Bailey
  It concerns me to see Bailey match against Smith, merely for the fact that I’d like to see Bailey as part of the Broncos plans for the post-season. Bailey has a history of getting injured while shutting down the best-of- the-best as far as NFL receivers go. However, I’d love, love, love to see a Bailey interception before the post-season begins.
• Jay Cutler vs. the Carolina secondary/Defensive rush
  The Carolina secondary isn’t the greatest in the NFL, but the team as a whole is the second greatest team the NFC currently has to offer. With the playoffs coming up very soon, it’ll be nice to receive a reality check and see how Cutler can stay composed against one of the best pass rushes in the NFL.
• DeAngelo Williams/Jonathen Stewart vs. D.J. Williams, Nate Webster and Jamie Winborn (or Wesley Woodyard)
  There are few one-two combos better than the Williams/Stewart in the NFL. Who knows, the Jacksonville Jaguars were able to defeat Denver this season… Williams, Webster and Winborn are Denver’s starting linebacking corps going into the playoffs- they won’t face a better duo than they will here at Carolina.
• Muhsin Muhammad vs. Dre Bly
  Is Bly legit? Is Denver going to go with the one-on-one that I’ve been begging for in their secondary- allowing Bailey and Bly to go man-up on their receivers and following the rest up with the new Tampa-2? Bly holds the key here, he can get in Muhammad’s head early and often.

Here are the keys for Denver (after the jump):

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