• Man, I really hate Jeff Legwold. Not every day, but definitely today. He picked the Colts to win. – Rocky Mountain News
• Javon Walker and even John Lynch should be good to go on Sunday, but Mike Bell has been ruled out. – Mason’s Morsels
• Concussions and head trauma in general have taken center stage in the NFL. An effective sideline scanning tool has begun testing in the league, and hopefully all 32 teams will be using these by next year. – Denver Post
• AFC West matchup this week, Chiefs @ Chargers (let’s go KC!). Get the full breakdown here. – BoltTalk
• The Raiders have 4 QBs on their roster. Will Culpepper start Sunday in lieu of the hurt McCown? – SFGate
• YouTubes and pictures of some of the best end zone celebrations in NFL history. – The Ghosts of Wayne Fontes
• Lions WR Roy Williams is a cheap date. He doesn’t tip the pizza guy either, which kinda makes me mad because I am a pizza guy. – Detroit Free Press

Ok, maybe that’s a bit overstated. :)

Waiting for our game versus Indy is killing me – hasn’t this week seemed longer than most? So, last night I fired up my Madden 08 and cued up the Broncos at Indy. Before I tell you the outcome, I must give you two disclaimers…

DISCLAIMER 1: I am NO gamer. I have no idea how to call an audible or choose hot routes, or even wave for a fair catch. I call the plays and the computer does the rest. I guess I have to pass and kick, but I have no real skill in either of those.

DISCLAIMER 2: Although I played a full 60 minute game, there were a couple of players I couldn’t find to complete the current Denver roster. Sam Adams, for example, isn’t anywhere to be found so I started Gordon and Thomas (dude, Thomas had a HUGE game too!). And no, I didn’t create any missing players as I’m not familiar enough with the stats and levels.

So, now that you know my skill level (below newbie), here was the outcome:

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Jonathon Larosa owns a great Indy blog called Naptown’s Finest, and he agreed to answer some questions regarding his team to help us scout the fans. I’ll be answering some of his questions regarding the Broncos too as well, so be sure to check it out.

1. Vegas, the national media, and my grandpa all believe the Patriots are the best team in the NFL this year. Are the Colts feeling the disrespect, and how do the fans react when their team, the reigning champs, are overlooked?

Vegas chose Tyson against Holyfield and this is the same national media that chose to cover the birth of sextuplets over voting for the war in Iraq in ’03! Your grandpa, he’s probably a great guy but he probably remembers the Colts of the dismal Art Schleister days and the Midnight Mayflower Run in ’84.

Look, anyone in Indianapolis will (through clenched teeth) admit to the Pats dominance in the AFC. Come on, Brady, Moss, Bruschi, Belichick…God, the list goes on! They are a solid – I mean solid – team. And Asante Samuel seems to be Peyton’s biggest nemesis as nearly every meeting they have Peyton throws at least one interception to Samuel.

These two teams are not the same as last year as both have gone through major changes in the off season. But ask anyone on West Street in downtown Indy (RCA Dome) and they’ll break it down like this…”The Colts beat the Pats in their meeting last year, the Colts are reigning Super Bowl champs and they put together the greatest comeback in AFC Championship history to get there! Who’s the better team? COLTS, BABY!”

Love? The Colts didn’t have national love last year and they still got it done. What’s to say the Colts want it this year?

2. Some are saying the AFC South has become the best division in football. Do you agree, and how big is it that you’re 2-0 on the road in the division when you were 0-3 last year?

Huge. The Colts starting off 3-0 is great, but starting off 2-0 versus two very tough and maturing divisional teams (Titans and Texans) is bigger.

I would say this whether the Colts were in this division or not, but the AFC South division is certainly the toughest in the league today. There are other teams that are tough in other divisions like the Pats, for instance, but as you can see the Bills, Fins and Jets aren’t much competition. It’s the same around the league, except, that is, for the AFC South where the Texans and the Titans have really stepped up and the Jags’ running game is still deadly with Taylor and Jones-Drew busting up the line of scrimmage.

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This is about as unconfirmed as it gets, but I thought it was worth mentioning. One of the admins/mods over at BroncosFreak posted a note on the Fox Sports Network Rocky Mountain program he watched last night, called Football Playbook.

The first big note is that Ben Hamilton will be placed on IR, ending his season. This doesn’t surprise me – what was once supposed to be a one to two week ordeal has dragged on for months, and today’s NFL just doesn’t mess around with head trauma. I would applaud the team for the move.

The other huge, gigantic note is that Al Wilson may be healthy enough to play. This is all something I like to call quintuple hearsay… Broncos forum admin says that tv program says that Bill Romanowski spoke to John Mobley who spoke to Al Wilson who said he could play. Did you follow?

The program also noted that another friend of Wilson’s said he would like nothing better than to return to the Broncos, and not another team.

Lord knows our linebackers and defense as a whole could use Al… our offensive line could definitely use Ben too, but I’ve just had a gut feeling that he was done… again, this is as far from confirmed as possible but is something to keep an eye on.

• Hello. My name is Michael Vick. In case killing dogs and setting up illegal gambling rings wasn’t enough to ban me from the NFL for life, I decided I’d toke up. – ESPN
• Looking for previous Colts-Broncos matchup stats? How about Reggie Wayne catching 28 balls for 492 yards and 7 touchdowns in the last four meetings? – Rocky Mountain News
• It looks like just about everyone in the country will get to watch the game – except me. Living in Arizona has its perks, but this is definitely not one of them. – The506.com
• Look back at our first championship, now aged 10 years, with these original AP game recaps, week by week. – The Mile High Report
• The Colorado Rockies might actually be playing baseball in October?! They’re only a game away from San Diego in the NL Wild Card race after winning 9 straight – ESPN – and even Peyton Manning hopes fellow University of Tennessee quarterback Todd Helton will make it happen. – Rocky Mountain News
• The Bears have benched Wrecks for Brian Griese. We know what they’re getting themselves into, but do they? – Signal to Noise

Andrew Mason reports that Javon Walker sat out today’s practice due to inflammation in his knee – the same knee that required surgical repair two years ago while Walker was a Packer. He underwent an MRI that revealed “nothing serious.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement. He *should* be good to go for Sunday’s game, and his benching was more of a precaution than anything else.

Other players who sat out include Hamza Abdullah, who has already been ruled out along with Hamilton. John Lynch and Mike Bell (head) also missed time and may or may not play. Shanahan didn’t sound too pleased with Bell’s sidelining, and you get the real feeling that he’s in the old doghouse again.

Sam Adams got the Wednesday off again, just in case Tuesdays and Mondays off aren’t enough for the 14-year vet tub of lard.

Noticeably absent from the list – Tim Crowder and Ryan Harris. Harris returns for the first time since his back injury, and Crowder better really be good to go this weekend.

More as it comes.

The immediate, knee jerk reaction across all of Broncos fandom after the loss to Jacksonville was pretty consistent – We don’t have a shot in hell to beat the Colts.

Well, I’m here to tell you that we do. Even more, the fan in me is going to tell you that we will.

It all has to do with matchups. The Broncos didn’t match up well against the Jaguars. They’ll have a much easier time against the Colts. And if we can finally stop Peyton from doing his thing in the second half, we’ll come away with a victory.

Year in and year out, the Broncos offensive line measures in as the lightest in the league. I haven’t seen anyone tally up the pounds for each team yet this season, but it wouldn’t surprise me one second if we measured in at 32 again. It allows our linemen to be more athletic in the zone blocking system, making them available to get to the second level and spread the front seven of defenses. All in hopes to open up running lanes.

A team like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are simply huge at the point of attack, always have presented the Broncos with problems. Our smaller linemen can’t get the push they need against these beefy guys, and we all saw our running game struggle because of it.

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Denver Broncos (2-1) @ Indianapolis Colts (3-0)

Sunday, September 30, 2007, 2:15 PM MDT
CBS 4 | Sirius 123

The Denver Broncos (2-1) hope to improve to 3-1 as they travel to the undefeated Super Bowl champs in their nearly yearly bout against the Colts this weekend. The Broncos hope to win their fifth consecutive game when playing the defending Super Bowl champs, and hope to improve upon their 11-5 record against the Colts.

The Broncos have faced the Colts more than any other non-divisional opponent since 2001, facing them 8 times in that span. They are 0-2 against the Colts in the postseason, having lost Wild Card games to the team in consecutive years in 2003 and 2004.

Jay Cutler will play his first game in the RCA Dome since 2000, when he led his high school team to an overtime victory in the Indiana Class 3A state championship game. Heritage High School won the game after Cutler lateraled to his running back, who then threw it back to him.

It will also mark the return of slot receiver Brandon Stokley, who played his entire the best part of his career for the Colts before signing with the Broncos in free agency this offseason. Stokley enjoyed much success with Peyton Manning and company in Indianapolis, but injuries in consecutive years sidelined him.

The Broncos are expected to miss John Lynch against the Colts this weekend, but they should get nickelback/backup safety Domonique Foxworth back, according to reports. Rookie DE Tim Crowder should also be ready to play after missing the first three weeks with an ankle injury.

Of course, we’ll have so much more for you at BroncoTalk as the week goes on. As always, this is just the post to kick start our coverage of the week’s game.

• The Broncos may be headed to Edmonton, Canada for a game against the New England Patriots in 2008. Pats, not Broncos, would lose the home game. – Edmonton Sun
• Due diligence or knee jerk desperation? The Broncos worked out 5 defenders on Tuesday. – Rocky Mountain News
• Jay Cutler looks like he’ll play through the pain, but John Lynch may not be able to. At least Foxy says he’ll be ready for Indy. – Denver Post
• Unless your ears have been removed for crimes in a third world country, definitely check out MHR Radio, pretty much the only Broncos fan podcast out there, tonight. – Mile High Report
• Ashley Lelie has settled with the Broncos front office to the tune of $440,000. Now if only he can find his way off the 49ers bench. – Denver Post
• Did you draft Ladainian Tomlinson first overall in your fantasy draft? Been dreaming of ways to kill Norv Turner? Here’s 10 of them. – Epic Carnival

Of course, it won’t be the Broncos he’s starting for, but rather the Chicago Bears.

According to several sources inside the Bears organization, Rex Grossman’s horrendous play versus Dallas last week has finally forced Lovie Smith to bench his starter and give Brian a legitimate shot at starting.

The team hasn’t made an official announcement yet – that will likely come tomorrow. But it appears this decision has already been made.

Personally, I always thought that Brian was a great QB when he had a supporting cast (see our 2000 season), and that he just never fully recovered from the devastating 2001 season that saw our team crippled with injuries at nearly every offensive position.

Now, I’m very happy that we have Jay Cutler as our current and future QB. But I still hold Brian in high regard and have pulled for him when he was in Tampa (and now in Chicago). So, I’d like to wish Brian good luck this weekend – Here’s to a great game versus the Lions!