Better late than never, as they say.

• The AFC West is weird. Really weird. The Broncos would probably be the division leader at 4-5 after this Sunday with a win in Kansas City. [Denver Post]
• Don’t count out Javon Walker from next week’s game against Tennessee, and John Lynch is optimistic he’ll play Sunday. [Denver Post]
• Larry Johnson will likely sit this Sunday, according to the Chiefs. Meanwhile, a Colorado sports network says he will be placed on Injured Reserve. [Rocky Mountain News, My Fox Colorado]
• The NFL has filed that the lawsuit Travis Henry filed against the league should be thrown out. [Denver Post]
• Three straight games against AFC West opponents for the Chiefs, and the games are not sold out. [Denver Post]
• Matt Lepsis said Sunday’s game was the worst performance of his career. The offensive line as a whole was awful.
• Jonathan’s arch-nemesis is at it again — this time visiting blind children. [Denver Broncos]

CBS 4 reports that WR Brian Clark, S Curome Cox and DT Amon Gordon were all waived to make room for a few unexpected roster additions:

5th year wide receiver Taylor Jacobs, recently waived by the niners.
How can a receiver who can’t beat out Ashley Lelie who can barely get on the field on the Niners’ squad help us?

Rookie defensive end Larry Birdine — off the Titans practice squad
I wonder if Jeff Fisher told him to do it.

Second year defensive end Paul Carrington — from the Falcons
Waived shortly after training camp, I’m not sure what they see here.

Third year defensive end Josh Mallard — also from Atlanta
Was Jim Bates in Atlanta or something?

Sirius NFL Radio reports that the Week 12 battle between the Denver Broncos and Chicago Bears has been moved to 4:15 EST on CBS. The game was originally scheduled for a 1:00 PM time slot.

Couple of underperforming teams in the Brian Griese Bowl get the feature game tilt. The other 4:15 game was scheduled to be San Diego – Baltimore; no word if this game has been moved, but I’ll update this post when I learn more.

• No, Jay Cutler did not break his leg. And, NO, Mike Shanahan doesn’t know if he’s play this week – so stop asking! [DenverBroncos.com]
• The Detroit players can thank the Denver Broncos for their first day off in 22 months. [Mlive.com]
• The Denver Post has all but declared war on Head Coach Mike Shanahan. And in the case of Mike Klis, he doesn’t even have the cohones to say it… he just picks some Mail Bag letters that bring up the point (repeatedly). Oh, yeah, he defends Shanahan in his answers, but if he really thought that do you think he would have picked THREE letters asking for Mike’s head! If you really want our best hope of a future Super Bowl to leave town, just say it – don’t hide behind some loud mouth fans and a couple of emails. [Denver Post]
• And if our record, our run defense and our injuries aren’t enough to keep you up at night worrying, here’s some info on how bad our rushing attack is looking this year. [Rocky Mountain News]
• So, with all this gloom and doom talk is Mike Shanahan ready to use the ‘R’ word? Don’t even THINK about it! [Rocky Mountain News]

I just watched Mike Shanahan‘s Monday press conference live (thanks Andrew Mason and DenverBroncos.com). The news on Jay Cutler‘s MRI is that it was negative (which is a good thing). There is no stress fracture, so it’s just bruised and sore. Mike was VERY clear that he ‘doesn’t know’ if Jay will play vs KC, until he sees how he feels on Wednesday.

Shanahan firmly refused to use the ‘R’ word and said that dispite the new players and injuries, he and the team are both still playing for this year. He says once you start using that word, you’re pretty much giving an excuse for more losses.

He also said it was “scary” looking over and seeing (long snapper) Mike Leach warming up on the sidelines as the emergency QB.

And lastly, Mike mentioned Andre Hall providing a spark for the team with his returns vs Detroit. I love it when our coach agrees with me! :)

Let me clearly state: Mike Shanahan is an offensive guru.

He has created three separate Playoff and/or Super Bowl caliber offenses during his years in Denver.

First, he took Elway‘s Broncos (who were at the bottom of the AFC West and finished 7-9 in 1994) to the playoffs in only two years and back-to-back Super Bowl victories following that.

Elway left Shanahan with a 6-10 team in 1999. But Shanahan crafted one of the highest power offenses of 2000 with Brian Griese in only his second year as a starting QB.

Following the terrible 2001-02 seasons which were filled with injuries and a QB that could not get out of his funk, Shanahan brought in Jake ‘The Snake’ Plummer from his losing Arizona team. Within two years Shanahan had once again created a power house with yet another QB, as Denver was dominate as ever in 2005.

What? The fact that he has created Playoff caliber offenses with three different QB’s doesn’t impress you?! How about the fact that he has created SIX +1000 yard running backs over those years? You can NOT argue that this man doesn’t knows how to put together an offense.

And now, Mike Shanahan is working on his fourth QB and his seventh RB. I have NO DOUBT that this year (which has been one unending struggle with injuries at EVERY position) will prove to be the stepping stone that vaults the 2008 Broncos back to the Playoffs.

HOWEVER….

Shanahan has an Achilles Heel: Defense.

For all of Mike Shanahan’s fantastic offensive game-planning, coaching, playcalling, QB tutoring, etc he just doesn’t ‘get’ defense.

Along with his four QB’s he’s had four defensive head coaches (or coordinators): Greg Robinson (1995-2000), Ray Rhodes (2001-2002), Larry Coyer (2003-2006), Jim Bates (current).

Robinson did a decent job of not letting the defense lose games during the Super Bowl years, but Rhodes was terrible in the two year slump that was ’01-’02. Coyer was my favorite of our recent DC’s, but the late season flop last year (which was not Coyer’s fault IMHO) was enough to make Shanahan take the defense in a new direction by firing Coyer and bring in Jim Bates.

I just get the feeling that Shanahan thinks there is some sort of voodoo that a defense runs on. It’s like he doesn’t understand it and just wants someone to come in, work some black magic and create a functioning defense.

This seems obvious when you see how he handles that side of the ball. His normal MO is to over-react to areas of concern (like the 2004 payoff loss to Indy that resulted in the drafting of three CB’s or the 2006 late-season failing on the D-line that resulted in the gutting of the defensive coaching staff and the drafting of 3 linemen). Those are severe reactions to a unit that has consistently played well (if not spectacularly) until this year.

This also means that Bates is in a very dangerous spot. Shanahan will NOT sit around while his defense gives up HUGE games like DET & SD. And, while he won’t be fixing anything on that side of the ball himself, I would not be surprised at all to see Bates hang out to dry for his unit’s failings.

Shanahan’s best defense is always going to be his offense, but with the whole team banged up or on IR, it looks like we could be in for a very long football season with even BIGGER off-season changes coming up….

-Jonathan Douglas
–BroncoTalk.net

• Cutler will undergo an MRI on his leg today.  [Rocky Mountain News]
• One month ago wasn’t rock bottom.  This is rock bottom.  [Rocky Mountain News]
• The Lions defense rode one trick to their 44-7 victory — pressure on the quarterback.  [Denver Post]
• Debating the appropriateness of that dreaded “R” word [Rocky Mountain News]
• At least the Broncos weren’t the only AFC West team who sucked yesterday.  Just check out this letter to Norv Turner from a certain league MVP and you’ll get the idea.  [The Hater Nation]

In a season full of injuries, no sight has been as significant as seeing Jay Cutler carted off the field.

After being sacked by Detroit DT Cory Redding in the second quarter, Cutler left the game with an unspecified injury. No word on his expected return, but I get the feeling we won’t see him back on the field today. It looked to me like his left leg got pinned and twisted on the sack by three Lions defenders. This injury could be serious, folks, cross your fingers.

Patrick Ramsey is now playing, the official depth chart does not specify a 3rd quarterback. In years past, Rod Smith would be the third. Long snapper Mike Leach, who reportedly has little to no quarterback experience, is speculated to be the third string.

What a great day for football.  Broncos and Cheerios in the morning, some Pats-Colts to to top me off… yummy (although I must admit, I’m a frosted mini-wheats kinda guy myself).

Daylight Savings Time is throwing me off a bit.  In Arizona we don’t do anything, the world just moves forwards or backwards one hour around us.  It’s a fitting environment for my egotistical center-of-the-universe mentality.

I was all set for game time at 10 AM only to find… CBS News?  WTF?  Then I was reading Deadspin and they mentioned “setting the clock forward” and realized that I had gained an hour in my sleep.  I hate that.  Especially since I actually set my alarm clock on a Sunday morning to post the inactive list.  That’s right, I’m dedicated, and that’s worthy of repeating.  I work Saturday mornings, so this is my one and only day to sleep in.  But I set my alarm clock for you, the readers, because I love you.  You’re welcome.

Drop a note here, talk amongst your friends, and GO BRONCOS!

The good news is that Travis Henry will play and start, as expected. The bad news is that John Lynch will not. Domonique Foxworth will get the start in place of Lynch.

Full Inactives Below —

Broncos

RB Mike Bell
DB Curome Cox
DT Amon Gordon
S John Lynch
DE Jarvis Moss
TE Chad Mustard
G Isaac Snell
WR Javon Walker

Lions

CB Tony Beckham
RB Tatum Bell
DB Dovonte Edwards
DE Kalimba Edwards
QB Dan Orlovsky
G Manny Ramirez
G Blaine Saipaia
DE Ikaika Alama-Francis