Finally a, “Yes,” answer to my ever-present question, “Is it Sunday yet?” A lot of stuff I wanted to get out to you guys before it gets onto the talk shows. I’ll do my best.

Denver Broncos:

• Real Scouts says, pressure on Jay Cutler equals San Diego Chargers win, but likes the Denver Broncos chances. [SN]
• The Denver Broncos also have a slight edge over the San Diego Chargers in computer simulations. [SDT]
• RMN has their Five Points to Broncos Victory. [RMN]

AFC West:

• The countdown to a (defensive coordinator) Rob Ryan/Lane Kiffin confrontation is coming. [Fox]
• In fact, according to sources, Al Davis is ready to fire Lane Kiffin before the season’s end. (duh). [MN]
• Also, if they lose badly against the Kansas City Chiefs he could be fired by Monday or Tuesday. [MN]
• “DeAngelo Hall is the flashiest burnt-up corner ever in the history of the game. I mean, he gets burnt more than anybody else, and he all of the sudden is this great Pro Bowl cover corner,” says Warren Sapp. [SFGate]
• Larry Johnson’s mother would like you to know that, “Football players are people too.” [KC.com]

NFL:

• The Tampa Bay Buccaneers offered Jeff Garcia to the San Francisco 49ers recently. ‘9ers said, “No thanks.” (Tampa/Atlanta game preview).[Fox]

The NFL Network’s AFC Playbook program takes a few looks at the upcoming San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos game.  First, the general breakdown, then an interview with Broncos TE Tony Scheffler after jump.

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I may appear an unbiased blogger atop my blue and orange ivory tower, but make no qualms about it, I am in fact an asshole. I’ll call any fan of an NFC team out with the quickness and let them know that the lowliest AFC Wild Card team would run the gamut all the way to the Super Bowl. That is if the AFC Wild Card team happened to be in the NFC. However, week one, fate came out of nowhere with her awful baseball bat and knocked me but good in the back of the knee.

The Chicago Bears beat the Indianapolis Colts convincingly Sunday night, the Dallas Cowboys made the upstart Cleveland Browns look like an expansion team… And Tom Brady is gone for the season. What?! The Kansas City Chiefs, playing with their backup quarterback, nearly took out the New England Patriots! How many suicide/pick ’em poolers made permanent sweat stains towards the end of that game? You know who looked the best out of every team in week one? The Atlanta Falcons… The Atlanta … Falcons. Hmm. Well, that was until Monday night. At that point rookie receiver Eddie Royal smashed that little chip on Michael Turner’s shoulder with a sledge hammer.

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“In the Trenches” – your weekly scouting report on what to expect in the upcoming game, with emphasis on both sides of the line of scrimmage. Because, in the NFL, the game of football is won or lost in the trenches…

The San Diego Chargers have had the Denver Broncos‘ number over the past two seasons. Last year, a combined score of 64-6 humbled the Broncos and was a big part of the team’s 7-9 record. Statistically, the Chargers were only responsible for 2 losses, but the method in which the Broncos were defeated did a lot more damage than the final score. The Chargers dominated – DOMINATED – the Broncos units up front in both games. Quarterback Jay Cutler was running for his life. At the sound of the final whistle, quarterback Philip Rivers had not a grass stain on him.

Even though the Chargers may be reeling from injury (see the Chargers-Broncos Injury Report), they still have a very strong front, especially defensively. Though Pro Bowlers OT Marcus McNeill, C Nick Hardwick, and OLB Shawne Merriman will not play, this still leaves the Chargers with players up front who have made three Pro Bowls in the past two seasons. That’s three more than the Broncos. This will not be easy.

vs.
Broncos (1-0) vs. Chargers (0-1)
INVESCO Field at Mile High
Sun, Sep 14, 2008
2:15 PM MDT CBS

Preview | Scouting Report | Predictions
Injury Report | Weather | Tickets

Broncos Offense vs. Chargers Defense

The Chargers defense got burned last Sunday against the Panthers. If the Broncos were the surprise offense of the AFC in Week One, the Panthers were the surprise offense in the NFC. They’ll need to dominate the line of scrimmage as well as the Panthers did, and after taking a look at the tape, the Panthers did a mighty impressive job. Even then, after burning San Diego for plenty of yards on the ground and in the air, it took a last-second touchdown to TE Rosario Dawson Donte Rosario to seal the victory. This Chargers defense is dominant, deep, and determined, and the Broncos will have to bring their A-Game again to come out on top. Luckily, they have a few things going well for them on this side of the ball.

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Hope that everyone is enjoying their weekend and priming themselves for tomorrow afternoon. In honor of tomorrow afternoon, here are the all Broncos/Chargers dailies: 

Denver Broncos:

• Ted Sundquist is analyzing the Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers game in his new blog. [PFT]
• Count Champ Bailey among the believers. [ESPN]
• Sam Adams blogs on why Denver will beat San Diego. [RMN]
• Denver Post’s Lindsay Jones wants to tell you that Eddie Royal makes the Broncos offense dangerous. [DP]
• SI.com states what Bronco fans have known for two years. Jay Cutler is the best of the 2006 class. [SI]
• Finally we get to see what the Broncos defense looks like with Boss Bailey playing. [DP]
• Working against the Dallas Cowboys in training camp helps the Broncos prepare for San Diego’s 3-4. [RMN] 
• Jon Krause says he can picture Eddie Royal being the 2008 Rookie of the Year. [DBNBJ] 

AFC West:

• Amongst injured Chargers, LaDainian Tomlinson probably will play, Antonio Cromartie isn’t talking about it. [CBC]
• Five to watch (on the San Diego Chargers‘ side) against Denver. [SDBolt]
• “If the Chargers take what Champ Bailey and Dre Bly give them, they should be alright.” Since when is having nothing alright? Here’s Chargers Coverage game preview. [CC]

Stefan Fatsis’s book “A Few Seconds of Panic” has revealed several interesting insights into the Broncos organization as they prepared and played in the 2006 season. The Denver Post has been promoting the book by printing sections of it in the paper. The current installment centers on Jake Plummer and his eventual benching.

The most significant issue that surfaces in the text is Mike Shanahan‘s number one pet peeve – missing off-season workouts. Jake Plummer only made 85% of his off-season workouts that year (the lowest on the team). For a team captain and leader of the offense to miss ANY of the workouts in Denver is nearly as bad for your career as lying to Coach Shanahan’s face. 85% is practically a slap in the face to the team and great players like Rod Smith.

In Plummer’s case, he not only gave up $200k in workout bonuses, he JUST didn’t seem to understand why this was important to Shanahan and the team. In Fatsis’s account of his post-benching conversation with Plummer, Jake says this:

“Yeah, I missed some workouts. And you know what?” Jake lowers his head to the table and talks directly into my tape recorder. “Mike Shanahan, you can kiss my [ass] for being pissed at that. You can quote that. I made 85% of my workouts and he’s still mad about it. He still brought that up. Give me a break. That’s the dumbest [damn] thing on earth…. Well, if that’s the reason (I was benched), then I’m glad I didn’t make those. Because I don’t want to be here every day in the off-season.”

Well, there you go folks…

I loved watching Plummer play. I liked his fit in Denver’s system, but blowing off the off-season workouts and posting the lowest participation on the team is completely unacceptable from your QB. The great players at that position are the first ones to arrive and the last ones to leave. And the fact that Plummer couldn’t understand that (and was even pissed about it) makes me now understand the cold shoulder Shanahan showed him during that season – specifically related to the not telling Plummer of his benching personally.

I’m sure letplummerplay.com will have a different spin on this issue, but I think this puts to rest the real reasons behind Plummer’s benching. I can see now that Shanahan could not allow another off-season of partial participation from his starting QB. From Plummer’s own statements, he simply didn’t want to be there every day, and that attitude can have a devastating effect on the morale of the young team Shanahan was building.

I still like Jake. I still respect his decision to walk away and live his life the way he wanted. But I now also understand Shanahan’s decision making that year.

Chargers coach Norv Turner talks to the ref (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

Your wittiest, most cleverest captions in the comments.

Thursday’s winner – Arden:

Shawne Merriman on finding out there is no such thing as Ligament Growth Hormone (LGH). “D’oh!”

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

WEATHER REPORT – San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos – Sunday, September 14, 2008.

Weather doesn’t look to be a factor….

Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall pleaded guilty to Driving while Ability Impaired on Friday. The lesser charge involves an October 2007 drunken driving arrest. Marshall was placed on one year’s probation and will have to pay over $1,000 in fines and fees.

No word yet as to how, if at all, this affects Marshall’s current status with the league. I think this ship has sailed, an no further action will be taken, but again, that’s just speculation.

Broncos’ Marshall Guilty of DWAI [Denver Post]

vs.
Broncos (1-0) vs. Chargers (0-1)
INVESCO Field at Mile High
Sun, Sep 14, 2008
2:15 PM MDT CBS

Preview | Predictions | Scouting Report
Injury Report | Weather | Tickets

So, I’m back in the States and extremely excited to see our boys crush the Chargers this weekend!

And, yes, I did get to see the DEN vs OAK game while I was away in Canada. I’d have to say it was one of the most satisfying football-watching experiences of my life (behind Elway’s two Super Bowl wins that is).

Like many of you, those of us that blog here at BroncoTalk have been watching and analyzing all of the off-season changes to the team. And, unlike many of the Denver media, we’ve continually made positive predictions about this year’s young team. We have been ridiculed on several occasions by people who don’t believe the team we produced this year is play-off ready. And that makes a game like last Monday night that much sweeter for us ‘believers’.

I’ll say it again… We are going to the playoffs this year and the Super Bowl next season. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as good about our team’s future as I do going into this season. We have a fantastically talented team of young players that could easily define the next football dynasty if we can stay healthy and keep our players as they mature over the next few years.

But before I get ahead of myself, let’s get chat about this week against San Diego.

*****

The REAL Jay Cutler –

So, last December we lost to the Chargers and Philip Rivers openly mocked Jay Cutler. But what Rivers didn’t know at the time was that Cutler had lost 35lbs and was suffering from untreated Type I Diabetes. Cutler completed less than 50% of his throws that night for only 155 yards. He also threw two interceptions and fumbled the ball during a Merriman sack. We completely failed to score a TD on all 11 offensive drives.

To clarify, the Cutler that River’s mocked last Christmas Eve, sure as heck isn’t the same QB that the Chargers will face this Sunday! Charger’s defense… you’ve been warned. :)

Predictions: I obviously think Jay will light it up on Sunday. But I’m going further than that… I think this weekend may, in fact, begin a new era in the league. Yes, I said ‘league’ not team, or division or conference, but a new era in the NFL. I believe Cutler-Marshall-Royal could become the most frightening young force in the NFL. If they do get on a roll, expect some people in the media to begin compare it to Manning-Harrison-Wayne in the weeks to come.

The best part of this would be the fear this combo could cause opponents. With some assistance from our great young O-line we could see things open up the for Andre Hall and Selvin Young all season long.

No reason to stay conservative on these predictions, right? Hehe.
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