• Adversity reveals character, says John Lynch.  We’re about to find out the character of this team.  [DenverBroncos.com]
• Brandon Marshall pleaded not guilty today on DUI charges that he faces from earlier in the season.  [CBS4 Denver]
• What happened to the Orange Crush?  [Thin Air]

Just what the fans need after postseason elimination, right? Drama, drama, drama.

ProFootballTalk reports that wide receiver Brandon Marshall heatedly dared the coaching staff: “cut me” in a recent verbal altercation.

There’s a rumor making the rounds that Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall got into a verbal altercation with one or more members of the coaching staff on Monday, and then stormed out of the facility.

The talk is that Marshall at one point challenged the team to “cut me.”

We’re in the process of confirming (and/or debunking) this rumor.

Marshall is the team’s leading receiver with 86 receptions for 1,136 yards and 6 touchdowns.

I can’t vouch for any of this, but it doesn’t sound too surprising considering Marshall’s history to this point. I don’t think much will come of it, though – just a spat between a very competitive player and his coach. Hopefully it’s not a sign of things to come.

• Why you don’t just give up once the postseason is ruled out. [Mason’s Morsels]
• Tidbits on the lost season and what to expect from here on out. [Denver Post]
• Several questions loom in the coming months. Is another offseason overhaul in the works? [Rocky Mountain News]
• Holy cow! The Dolphins won! The Ravens suck! [Deadspin]
• Tony Romo had his worst game of 2007 with Jessica Simpson in the stands. You do the math (NSFW). [Kissing Suzy Kolber]
• Blockbuster trade alert – the Jets would send QB Chad Pennington and #1 WR Laverneus Coles to our own rival Kansas City Chiefs for their first round draft pick, according to a source. Of course, now that the potential trade has been made public Herm Edwards will back off. [Jet Nation]
• Last chance to ask ESPN Deportes guys a question for the upcoming interview.  Seriously, somebody ask a damn question.  :)  [BroncoTalk]

With a 51-14 trouncing of the Detroit Lions, the San Diego Chargers won the AFC West for the second straight year and for the third time in four years.

The Chargers are 9-5 and tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns in the AFC in the suddenly hot race for the third seed. The Chargers have won 4 straight and 8 of their last 10.

This eliminates the Broncos from playoff contention, who sit at 6-8 with 2 games to play (at San Diego, Minnesota). Here’s to you, 2008.

For those of you still clinging onto that last desperate thread beyond hope: the Broncos were eliminated from wild card playoff contention when the Cleveland Browns defeated the Buffalo Bills 8-0 today in blizzard-like conditions.

A Chargers win today (or next week, or the week after), would clinch the AFC West for San Diego, putting the final nail in the Broncos’ 2007 coffin.  Note: the Chargers lead the Lions 34-7 at halftime.

The Denver Post reports that tight end Daniel Graham and linebacker Ian Gold may have sustained season-ending injuries in Thursday’s 31-13 loss to the Houston Texans.  Graham left in the first quarter of Thursday’s game with a left ankle injury and did not return.  Gold left in the first half with a right knee injury and did not return.  Chad Mustard and Jamie Winborn filled their respective spots in the lineup for the remainder of the game.

Quarterback Jay Cutler was also dinged up and had an MRI on his knee, according to the Post.  He should be able to practice all week and play in Monday Night’s game against the Chargers in 8 days.

Alvaro Martin and Raul Allegre at Invesco

Before the last Monday Night Game against the Tennessee Titans, BroncoTalk was invited to interview the Spanish Emmy nominated play-by-play announcer for ESPN Deportes, Alvaro Martin. I asked him about broadcasting in Spanish as opposed to English, his thoughts on the NFL expanding overseas, and, of course, all the angles for the upcoming game (ORIGINAL INTERVIEW).

Now, it’s your turn. In preparing for the Monday Night Game at San Diego, Mr. Martin and (possibly) his broadcast partner, Raul Allegre, have agreed to answer another set of questions for the upcoming Broncos at Chargers Monday Night tilt.

Do you have something to ask? This is your opportunity to submit a question for that next interview. I’ll select the best questions from those submitted (via the comments below) and ask them to Mr. Martin and Mr. Allegre for next week’s game. The deadline for me to get them these questions is this Tuesday by noon.

Get in your questions in the comments below.

It was really hard to watch a defense that performed well throughout the first half of the game just die in the fourth quarter. And this keeps happening!

All of a sudden any ol’ gramma could run for 8 yards on that line, and that was with Lynch up on the line. Their O-line mauled us, and they don’t even have a good O-line. Now, I know we have a lot of youth on our D, but I don’t get that mauling. Do we need to teach the kids how to pace themselves better? Are they in need of better conditioning? (Didn’t we sing that song last offseason?)

We had absolutely no rush. Dumervil was double-teamed almost every time, and Engelberger has no rush.

There is absolutely no doubt that we need to pick a DT and/or a DE high. I sincerely wish we hadn’t cut Warren, as he would’ve fit great once Bates’ scheme broke down and we switched more to older schemes.

But what really got me was that our offense continually sputtered on their side of the field. Partially it was the lack of running game; partially it was the inability of the O-line to keep the pressure off of Cutler. I thought he did some pretty amazing stuff under pressure, but he had guys in his face all game; and as the game wore on, it was our O-line that got tired, not their D-line, and it just got worse. Walker is not up to full speed, and Stokley was out; and that made a huge difference. It basically meant that the only guys out there to receive, once Graham went down, were Marshall and Scheffler; and Walker could be a distraction but after awhile it became clear they didn’t have to worry too much about Walker. In the second half they must’ve been blanketing Marshall.

What’s really wrong?

1. We are the most inconsistent team in the league.
2. This team makes far more penalties than Bronco teams historically make.
3. This team performs well when ahead, and poorly when behind.

This team does not handle adversity. When they get up early, they do well. When they get behind early, the frustration causes mistakes. This leads me to believe that we have a whole lot of guys that are simply trying too hard. They’re not relaxed out there; and they make mistakes. There’s a lot of pressure to perform; and when they’re winning, they relax and play to their full potential. And when not winning, they’re just a little too tense. You could see it in Cutler. In the beginning of the year, he was the kid that nothing phased, but he is upset that the team isn’t playing to its potential, and he gets mad and frustrated out there.

This is endemic to the entire team, on both sides of the ball. This can only be coming from the coaching staff. Shanahan, in the past, has been exemplary at creating relaxed teams that are disciplined and make few mistakes. How is it not happening this year? Likely it’s some amount of youth not responding as well as experienced veterans do; the experienced veterans we have are largely mediocre players who aren’t as talented as the younger players.

The thing is, I don’t think more change is going to fix things. I think replacing a few players here and there — mostly mediocre veterans — is important, but I think team cohesion is the answer. The team has to be comfortable with each other, and that comes through experience together.

Offhand, I’d say the most important draft targets are DT, OG, LB, S; roughly in that order, depending upon Lynch’s health. If he’s capable of playing next year, take a safety late. If they’re worried that he won’t be effective as a starter, take a safety in the second round or so (depending upon what the top of the draft looks like, of course).

I’m not sure I’m even right about needing anyone on O-line. Theoretically Hamilton will be back; Lepsis should be better next year. Remember he’s playing this year on a repaired knee and that first year is never 100%; it’s the second year that tells you the reality. Nalen might even be back, though I’m not as confident in that as everyone else. He’s getting up there in years, but the kind of injury he has is one of the easier ones to recover from, at least.

But it seems like we’re solid at tight end; if we retain Walker we are solid at receiver; we need another back but I wouldn’t put a top pick into it. Young, Hall and one other guy in their league ought to be good, whether or not Henry comes back. Fullback? Not so sure about that. I should look more at Sapp but it’s hard to watch the fullback the way games are filmed on TV. And obviously, Cutler is fine. Not so keen on Ramsey as his backup, but we could do much, much worse for backup.

But on defense? We’re ok on CB but every other position needs help still. The line should get better next year — Moss, Crowder and Dumervil at End, Thomas at DT. I don’t know that we really want more youth there next year. Ekuban should be back, though I don’t really recall him being what you’d call a stud there. Thomas will, I think, be a stud but he needs someone good standing next to him. It’s taking him a long time to really get up to NFL speed. LB? DJ Williams has come on as MLB, I am more satisfied with him than others. Gold and Webster…maybe they just need more competition. Webster goes out there and flies around, and Gold reads well and covers well but he misses too many tackles. Lynch is very good but he’s slowing down in his old age; it’s made up for by his amazing ability to read plays.

So that rearranges my order slightly, doesn’t it? S goes higher, even with Lynch able to play. At worst a 1st round S pick could start and Abdullah could revert to being a backup, and then the year after Abdullah can start again? I’m fairly impressed with Abdullah except for that awful miss where he didn’t try to wrap his arms.

The Broncos defense could not stop the Texans all night, allowing 31 points. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)

Here’s to you, 2008.

With a 31-13 thwarting of the Denver Broncos (6-8), the Houston Texans are still clinging on to their playoff hopes at 7-7. In a game where Coach Mike Shanahan was out-dueled by both his son and his former colleague, the Broncos struggled to get anything going offensively and could not stop the Texans’ offensive attack.

The San Diego Chargers need only one more win this year to clinch the AFC West division. Wild Card? With Jacksonville, Cleveland, Tennessee, Buffalo, and Houston all ahead of the Broncos, forget it.

The Broncos struggled to block emerging talent Mario Williams, particularly after tight end Daniel Graham went down with an ankle injury.  Williams had 3 sacks on the night. In a game where both Williams and the Broncos’ Elvis Dumervil had a primetime stage to make their case for the Pro Bowl, only Williams was able to justifiably mimic a hula dance after his 3rd sack on quarterback Jay Cutler.

The running game for the Broncos never got going, as they garnered a measly 72 yards on 20 carries (3.6 yards per carry). Those numbers include Cutler’s own 11 yards on 2 carries, along with Selvin Young‘s long 20-yarder. Take those runs away and the Broncos had 17 rushing attempts for 41 yards, or 2.4 yards per carry.

Defensively the Broncos didn’t perform any better. Texans rushers averaged over 5 yards per carry, gaining 158 for the night. Andre Johnson, pictured right, had 86 yards and a touchdown. Sage Ronsefels, Houston quarterback, ran one in for a score in the first quarter. Just a bad, bad performance all around for the Broncos, when they could least afford to have one.

They’ll have a long time to soak this one in, as they don’t play again until December 24th. They’ll head to San Diego to face the almost-certainly division-winning San Diego Chargers.

Sound off against your Broncos here. What could we/should we have done differently to win this game and keep our season alive? I’m interested to hear your thoughts.

Time to throw back a couple of longnecks. Make that a dozen. More stats, AP report, etc. below.

Game Recap/Photo Courtesy [ESPN]

Adam Schefter reported that TE Daniel Graham and LB Ian Gold will not return to the game today after suffering left ankle and right knee injuries, respectively.

Graham is one of our most consistent blockers, and now Jay Cutler has one less level of protection.  Gold’s absence will be noticed as well.