• They’ll have to pound the rock eventually, but for now, the Broncos are content to sling it around.  [Denver Post]
• Let’s just hope Michael Pittman‘s Buccaneers franchise record isn’t broken against the Broncos this week… [Rocky Mountain News]
• Jay Cutler is well aware that the Bucs are a turnover machine.  [DPO]
• Taking a look at Brian Griese‘s career with the Broncos.  [RMN]
• Cutler says Griese had a tough go in Denver.  [RMN]
• Rookie CB Jack Williams puts the onus on himself.  [Longmont Times Call]
• Ex-Broncos FB Cecil Sapp has landed with Houston.  [Yahoo!]
• MHR talks to Lee Rasizer from the RMN.  Stay tuned for our own interview with Sam Adams – and remember to join us in our weekly Game Day chat!  [Mile High Report]
• The sad tale of Travis Henry.  [DPO]

Mike Shanahan on former Oakland Raiders Head Coach Lane Kiffin:

“I’ll be honest with you, I was a little disappointed. When you take a look at it, I was there 582 days. Lane Kiffin was there 616 days. So what it really means is that (Raiders owner) Al Davis liked Lane more than he liked me. I really don’t think it’s fair. I won three more games and he got 34 more days of work. It just doesn’t seem right.”

Gotta love Shanny. Shanahan does more dismantling at the Raiders’ expense with this lighthearted, sarcastic, ten-second soundbite than Al Davis did with multiple attacks on the Broncos in his Tuesday presser. The egg is on your face, Mr. Davis.

Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan is a notorious work-a-holic, rumored to research opponents weeks, if not months ahead of time. Instead of covering the entire NFL, what we at The Denver Bronco Talk Blog are doing is covering the NFL that you should care about. Every opponent the Denver Broncos face this season will get full weekly coverage from the first Sunday until the Broncos play them. As fans you will be able to focus on which player/team did what from week-to-week. Heck, you might even look better than Shanahan when the Broncos face off against a team that you’ve been scouting for the last six weeks.

Week 5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa’s defense may be the strongest defense that the Broncos face all season. The team is clicking on all cylinders (defensively) and held a very potent Green Bay Packers offense ineffective. They were even able to take Aaron Rodgers out for a bit and the Packers were forced to play backup quarterback Matt Flynn. Buccaneers kicker Matt Bryant, who tragically lost his six-month old son during the week, accounted for half of the team’s points with three field goals and three extra points.

Defensively, the Buccaneers have one similar flaw to Denver in their pass coverage, running the modified, “Tampa 2,” coverage- there are sure to be at least one or two moments when a Bronco receiver is wide open in-between coverage circles. The strength in Tampa’s defense is their strong linebackers.

Offensively, Tampa was, well pretty bad. Newly anointed starting quarterback and former Mike Shanahan protege Brian Griese threw three interceptions to only one touchdown and only 149 yards. The bottom line is that Griese has won eight of his last nine starts for Tampa and with him at quarterback, they never seem to be out of the game. Running back Earnest Graham and veteran Warrick Dunn have had their good games and their bad games, though neither appears to be a break-out sensation this season Graham can easily put up 125-150 against the Broncos defense. Graham is usually good for one giant spurt in his ground game and the Chief’s Larry Johnson ripped Denver with a simple counter- Tampa will be sure to test this weakness at least once or twice (Boss Bailey, D.J. Williams beware).

Ultimately, the battle of the Bays was won on turnovers, Tampa Bay had three interceptions and one forced fumble, Green Bay had three interceptions. Teams are going to key on Denver, turnover wise, now that Kansas City has exposed a weakness; so it will be important for Denver to pickup those few yards as Tampa tries to force a fumble. Those few yards, holding onto the ball and a stronger special teams will put Denver in a position to own this ball game throughout it’s entirety.

Week 6 Jacksonville Jaguars
Montell Williams looked a little like Devin Hester in his spectacular 41-yard direct snap on fourth down, he must have been touched by every member of the Houston Texans defense. The first time Denver saw this play was against the Oakland Raiders, but the Miami Dolphins made it mainstream in week two.

Gary Kubiak and Kyle Shanahan nearly escaped with the win in this one though, against a still strong Jacksonville defense. Josh Scobee kicked a game winning field goal for the second week in a row and the Jaguars now sit at 2-2 and in second place in the AFC South.

The Jaguars team showed no signs of improvement, quarterback David Garrard however did. With hardly a recognizable name at receiver Garrard threw for one touchdown, 236 yards and led the team in rushing yards with 41 yards on seven attempts. The Jaguars, while not able to hold the Texans’ passing game in check, held Houston’s running game down to just 79 yards (with Schaub picking up 24 of those). The storied Jaguar defense faces a hurting unit in Pittsburgh this week.

Week 7 @ New England Patriots
The Patriots were off in week four, but coming out of week three there were a couple questions surrounding the team: Who will be quarterback by week seven? Has Randy Moss turned it in for the season? How accurate of a gauge was the game against the Dolphins? Do the Patriots still matter in the AFC?  I fully expect New England to turn it around coming out of their bye and defeat an over-achieving team in the San Francisco 49ers. However, it continues to baffle me how a team that employs both Wes Welker and Moss can be ranked 28th in the league in passing. In the meantime, here’s something NSFW, directly related to football and the Patriots that you may find funny.

Week 8 Bye Week

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

We interrupt your LOLRaiders marathon to bring you news of someone possibly even more inept. Former Denver Broncos running back Travis Henry has been arrested on federal cocaine charges, the Denver Post reports.

Henry reportedly told neighbors he and his family were all “dead” if he didn’t come up with $40,000 in drugs stolen from his house. Yikes.

There’s really not much else to say.  Scary, sad, stupid, it all fits. Good luck to you, T-Hen, and good riddance.

Thanks to multiple readers via email for the tip.

Getty Images

Only Al Davis. The Oakland Raiders owner holds a press conference announcing the firing of Head Coach Lane Kiffin. He’s more interested in detailing the dysfunctional and failed relationship between himself and Kiffin than moving forward and discussing the future of his team. As an afterthought, he mentions offensive line coach Tom Cable as the interim coach. The entire Raiders season – and organization – is falling apart at the seams as Davis details how pathetic the Raiders really are.

In the midst of all this, Davis, the cranky ol’ curmudgeon that he is, makes sure to fire a pot shot at his former employee Mike Shanahan. HIS ORGANIZATION IS FALLING APART, coaches are being fired and hired, players are learning more behind-the-scenes details than anyone could care for… and there’s Al Davis, letting loose another senile moment among countless others:

“When Shanahan left me, he went to Denver. He was there for about four or five years as an assistant and they fired him for insubordination,” Davis said. “Dan Reeves and he had a big battle. He went to the 49ers and he learned their style of football and when Dan Reeves failed in Denver… he brought Shanahan back. And Shanahan had success. But Shanahan has an asterisk next to those two Super Bowls, because they were caught cheating.”

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Tom Cable and Al Davis. A new era begins. (Getty Images)

Your wittiest, most cleverest captions in the comments.

Yesterday’s winner – Big Vaughn:

“Hey camera man! Make sure you get a good shot of my ass as i run out of this hell hole! I want Al to see what he can kiss!”

Remember to leave your caption for the top photo. Happy captioning!

WEATHER REPORT – Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Denver Broncos – Sunday, October 5, 2008.

It’s early to tell for a certain, but there is a chance of thunderstorms in Denver on Sunday. Keep it locked here for the latest weather updates throughout the week.

Today’s Daily Blitz brought to you by Nathaniel. His father, Kyle (not me), says, “My 7 month old son Nathaniel just wants to send his encouragement to the Bronco’s after Sundays game. He is a big fan already– Go get’em Broncos– AAAArrrrrrr.”

That kid is awesome. Way to start ’em young, Kyle!

With that, the BroncoTalk Mailbag is now open. Be sure to leave any questions to broncotalk@gmail.com. We’ll post it as a new segment as often as they come. Thanks Kyle and Nathaniel! On to the links…

• Jay Cutler talks about the Chiefs loss on his weekly Denver show.  [CBS4]
• Scouts Inc. breaks down how the Chiefs rattled Cutler.  [ESPN]
• Statistical comparison of Cutler and Philip Rivers.  [ESPN]
• The coaches believe Cutler can deliver the football.  [Denver Post]
• Champ Bailey isn’t afraid to knock around a few helmets.  [Rocky Mountain News]
• The home crowd better get fired up for back-to-back tough games.  [DPO]
• The Broncos worked out five defensive linemen on Tuesday.  [DPO]
• John Gruden is happy with Brian Griese but awe-stricken at Cutler.  [DPO]

“I sent (Lane Kiffin) a letter…. If you’ll bear with me, it’s about three pages.”

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis went off on ex-coach Lane Kiffin late Tuesday, releasing this letter he allegedly sent Kiffin in the week following the Raiders’ 41-14 pounding by the Broncos.

In the letter, Davis accuses Kiffin of lying to the media on several occasions. He claims that the rift between he and Kiffin came to a head this offseason after Kiffin unsuccessfully campaigned for his father, Monte Kiffin, to take over the defense in Rob Ryan‘s place.

In his press conference on Tuesday (announcing offensive line coach Tom Cable as the interim Head Coach… good luck there, Tom), Davis calls Kiffin a “flat-out liar” and a master of “propaganda.” He says a lot more than that in the letter, too, detailing Kiffin’s opinion on Raiders personnel and one JaMarcus Russell. Here’s an excerpt: Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Mike Shanahan’s afternoon press conference centered around two announcements this afternoon. The first, that Denver has placed wide receiver Clifford Russell on injured reserve. The second, that Denver has signed free-agent wide receiver Glenn Martinez to replace him on the roster.

Russell suffered a sprained neck Sunday, in the fourth quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs. Martinez had been cut by Denver, after seeing limited action during preseason. Martinez was notified of the cut during their final roster trimming prior to the season.

Martinez has spent the last three seasons with Denver and is also the last Bronco to have scored a touchdown on a punt return. Expect to see Martinez play immediately, alongside Andre Hall on kickoff returns.