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Via CBS4 Denver —

Peyton Manning’s debut as quarterback of the Broncos was a big winner for NBC – its highest-rated game on a Sunday night. […]

The game drew a 16.5 national household rating and 26 share. That topped the 15.7/25 ratings of last year’s Cowboys-Giants Week 17 finale. The ratings also tied the 2010 NFL opener of Minnesota-New Orleans as NBC’s highest-rated regular-season game.

The Steelers-Broncos game was seen by more than 27.5 million viewers, second only to the Cowboys-Giants regular-season prime-time game.

See also: Peyton Manning Broncos SI cover

So the Broncos/Steelers tilt held the highest percentage of TV viewers of any game in NBC’s Sunday Night Football history, although last year’s NFC West finale enjoyed a slightly larger number of total viewers. Still, the entire NFL landscape was just as eager as Broncos fans to see how Peyton Manning would debut in orange and blue.

He did pretty well.

Broncos-Steelers Was Highest-Rated Sunday Night Game Ever [CBS4 Denver]

Center/guard C.J. Davis, released after the signing of C Dan Koppen, has been signed to the practice squad, the Denver Broncos announced.

Davis (6-2, 308) is a third year undrafted player who spent the 2009-10 seasons with the Carolina Panthers, seeing action in seven games in 2010. Davis was placed on Injured Reserve in 2009 and was waived/injured by the Panthers in 2011. He initially joined the Broncos as a future-contract signee in February of 2012.

Raindrops cling to the Denver Broncos outdoor presser backdrop after training camp practice in 2012. (BroncoTalk.net photo)

Denver Broncos power rankings from around the web. Already in the top half of nearly all rankings, Sunday’s 31-19 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers sees the Broncos jump into most rankings’ Top 10 — or higher. (Previous week’s ranking in parenthesis).

ESPN: 9th (13)
Was Peyton Manning really wearing a Broncos jersey? Looked like he could’ve been rocking the Colts’ horseshoe. Impressive.

SI/Peter King: 5th (N/A)
It’s not a dream. Peyton Manning really was that good, 129.2-rating good, in his first real game in 20 months. Really agree with Tony Dungy: The Broncos waited too long to use the no-huddle. Peyton Manning should live in the no-huddle.

Click here to read the rest of this entry »

(Original image courtesy of Deadspin)

On Sunday, replacement referee Kevin Akin was the head linesman for the Browns–Eagles Week 1 match-up.  Philadelphia defeated Cleveland in the game by a score of 17-16 following a late game go-ahead-touchdown pass from quarter Michael Vick.

That same ref—Kevin Akin—will be working the Broncos–Falcons game on Monday Night Football next week.  On Tuesday, Akin was in Bethany, Oklahoma, according to Deadspin, reffing a middle school game between Bethany Middle School and Casady.

Akin, a Division II college referee, became a replacement ref for NFL games temporarily while the NFL Referee Union and the league workout an ongoing labor dispute.  Despite the fact that he’s working the big games these days, Akin apparently still handles middle school games, if only on occasion.

It’s not comforting that a middle school referee will be responsible for calling a fair game on Sunday, but until the NFL and the real referees can come to a labor agreement, it’s something we may have to get used to.  Is it Monday yet?

Peyton Manning Broncos SI Cover

Hope you don’t believe in the Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx — this latest news is likely to give you a sore neck.

Peyton Manning, fresh off his on-field Denver Broncos debut, will make his in-newsstands Broncos debut this week when he graces the cover of Sports Illustrated, the team confirmed. It will be Manning’s 12th appearance on the cover and the Broncos’ 22nd, according to the Broncos’ Patrick Smyth.

Manning, who underwent four neck surgeries in 2011, played in his first NFL game in 611 days last Sunday night to lead the Broncos 31-19 over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

If Manning can boldly face the likes of Troy Polamalu on game day, sticking his neck out on a magazine cover is cakewalk. I’m no man of superstition, but if you are, uh… feel free to freak out in the comments. Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Safety Mike Adams denies a pass intended for Rahim Moore during a defensive back drill at Broncos training camp practice Thursday, August 2, 2012. (BroncoTalk.net photo)

It’s 8:45 a.m. in Denver, which means Denver Broncos second year safety Rahim Moore has already been at it for three hours.

Moore, who had four tackles and a pass defense against the Pittsburgh Steelers, started at free safety for the Broncos, then never left the field for a defensive substitution during the Broncos’ 31-19 win. Moore credits the extra early morning film study he and the secondary have put in to his success.

Against Pittsburgh, the second-year safety was one of four Broncos to play in every defensive snap of the game – all 81. In breaking down the game film, Moore believes he looked “more comfortable than (he) ever (has).”

“I made more plays on the ball and (did) more in the run game,” Moore said. “It just shows the film study I put in – getting here at 5:45 with Tracy Porter and the rest of the guys, just watching film. That’s what makes you feel more comfortable out there.”

That comfortability is a far cry from Moore’s 2011 rookie season, which saw the second round pick go from starter to the inactive list in a few months’ time.

Preparation Pays Off [DenverBroncos.com]

Eight tackles, five passes defensed, and a 43-yard interception for a game-winning touchdown with 1:58 left in the game. Yeah, we’d say Tracy Porter deserves this AFC Defensive Player of the Week honor. He already earned my game ball.

Congrats TFP!!

Denver Broncos News

• John Elway talks about the Pittsburgh Steelers game, as well as, Peyton Manning. He also takes some Q&A off Twitter. Not a bad 30 minutes listen. [DenverBroncos.com]
• Peyton Manning and the Broncos were profiles for the Drive of the Week on NFL.com. It was a pretty impressive drive that was capped by a successful two-point conversion. [NFL.com]
• Okay, so my freak out over the Broncos having six centers was overblown, as they cut C.J. Davis to make room for Dan Koppen.  The Broncos made several moves yesterday as noted here. [BroncoTalk.net]
• Tracy Porter might be the best cornerback to line up opposite Champ Bailey since the death of Darrent Williams. His aggressive tendencies will hurt the defense at times, but it also helped the defense in more than just the pick 6 situation. [Denver Post]
• Manning’s signing had major ramifications across the league, aside from making the Denver Broncos instant contenders. [NFL.com]
• Oh, and Demaryius Thomas is a stud. [Washington Post]
• Walter had one of the worst week’s picking against the spread that I’ve ever seen and his analysis of the catastrophe was nothing short of hilarious. Well worth the read and also why I only pick straight up. [WalterFootball.com]

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

Denver Broncos quarterbacks Caleb Hanie and Adam Weber at training camp in 2012. (BroncoTalk.net photo/Kyle Montgomery)

The Denver Broncos made the free agent acquisition of center Dan Koppen and re-acquisition of Caleb Hanie official Tuesday, announcing the moves in a press release Tuesday.

To make room on their 53-man roster, center/guard C.J. Davis was waived and Ty Warren was placed on season-ending Injured Reserve.

Other roster moves
The Broncos waived WR Tyler Grisham from Injured Reserve (presumably reaching an injury settlement with the third-year player) and made a pair of practice squad moves: signing DE Jamie Blatnick and releasing guard Wayne Tribue.

Analysis
No surprise that Davis is the guy to go in Koppen’s stead. I don’t see Koppen unseating starter J.D. Walton right away, but he’ll certainly push the third-year starting center. He does have a history with Broncos OL coach Dave Magazu dating back from Magazu’s Boston College days, which helps, but Walton entrenched himself during training camp. I believe it’s his job to lose.

The AFC West Watch will start with a look back at the huge win Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos had over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night. The game was much closer than it appeared, but after being used and abused by Ben Roethlisberger for much of the game, the Orange Crush defense woke up and dominated the final five minutes of the game. In a way, they Tebowed the Steelers again – even though Tim Tebow is a Jet. In case you missed it, Von Miller struck that point home with his second sack in at the end of the game, by Tebowing. All in all, it was a great weekend for Broncos fans. Two of their hated rivals fell in defeat, one embarrassingly so. Next week, the Broncos get another challenge going into the Georgia Dome to face an NFL powerhouse in the Atlanta Falcons.

Note: Broncos win tiebreaker by virtue of being my favorite team.

Oakland Raiders – 0-1

The Oakland Raiders are masters at shooting themselves in the foot. Then they are masters of lackadaisical effort whenever the chips are down. This is what I love about them, all you have to do is frustrate them for a couple of series and you can easily run away with the game. It is wholly apparent that the simplest way to shut down this Raiders team is to make sure Darren McFadden is blanketed on every play. Once the San Diego Chargers did that, game over.

UP NEXT – Miami Dolphins (0-1). Click here to read the rest of this entry »