I just landed in sunny Toronto (that’s in Canada for you Raider fans). I’m here for the Film Festival, but I have to post just a quick note on live fantasy drafts.

On the last leg of my flight I found myself on a plane filled with the usual film festival ilk (ultra-hip filmmakers and way-too-important-to-talk-to-anyone executive producer types). Anyway, across the aisle from me is a guy in a Florida Gators T-shirt reading, I swear, three fantasy football magazines AND checking his laptop for cross-reference. Now, I’m not participating this year but I have enjoyed playing fantasy football as much as the next sports nut; however, this guy looked SERIOUS.

So, it wasn’t long after the drink cart moved through that I tapped his shoulder and struck up a conversation. We chatted about Travis Henry and Cutler for a bit and then he told me why he was flying to Canada…. That’s where their league’s live fantasy draft was being held this year. Say What?!
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Denver Broncos @ Buffalo Bills    

Do you remember September 3rd, 1995? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

That’s correct, sports fans! September 3rd, 1995 marked Mike Shanahan‘s first regular season game as the Denver Broncos head coach. And that game was against, you guessed it, the Buffalo Bills. Mike won that game (22-7). He has also won all three of the other games versus the Bills since then.

And now, Mike Shanahan will take his team to New York again as we begin the 2007 regular season this Sunday at 1pm (EDT).

So, what I’m I looking forward to most when we finally get this season rolling? Here’s my list…

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J.D. covered earlier this week how the recent depth chart just didn’t make sense, based on what we had heard through the Broncos beat writers and our own general tape study. Well, it seems the coach has gone ahead and fixed that – several changes have taken place since then and now, and you can find the complete 2007 Opening Week Depth Chart below, along with my notes on what has changed (Depth Chart from DenverBroncos.com):

Broncos Offense
WR 15 B. Marshall 14 B. Stokley 86 B. Clark
LT 78 M Lepsis [74 R. Harris]
LG 62 C. Myers [50 B. Hamilton]
C 66 T. Nalen 62 C. Myers
RG 70 M. Holland 73 C. Kuper
RT 64 E. Pears 75 A. Meadows Click here to read the rest of this entry »

Twenty-two Denver athletes take the field every Sunday (but one) from now until January. 22 men will lead the other 31 with hope – the hope for glory that comes every September as the world embarks on another NFL season. For the 2007 Denver Broncos, it has been nearly a decade since the team reached the biggest game of the year. The players, coaches and fans hope that this year will mark the return of the Broncos to that grandest of stages that we call the Super Bowl.

In 1997, the Broncos head into the season after a crushing defeat – one John Elway would later call the worst of his career. They improved their roster through free agency, found breakout stars in all the right places, and ultimately made the run they needed to win it all.

Can this year’s Broncos do the same?

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With the announcement today that the Broncos have released LB Wesly Mallard (to make room for Simeon Rice), the Broncos are officially down to just five linebackers on their roster. Those remaining LB’s are starters D.J. Williams, Ian Gold and Nate Webster and backups D.D. Lewis and Lous Green. Shanahan’s teams normally carry 6-8 linebackers on the roster, although they have maintained just six for the last two years. Five is very low for the Shanahan Era, but not unheard of (like 2002 when John Mobley was running things in the middle for example).

The practice squad has little help. There are no linebackers listed although safety Steve Cargile had practice time during OTA’s at WILL.

Remembering Al Wilson‘s tragic injury and the lose of Warrick Holdman during training camp, fans will have to hope and pray that the five linebackers we have left stay healthy this season.

-Jonathan Douglas
–BroncoTalk.net

Denver released their first ‘official’ depth chart on Monday, which has poised more questions than it answered. Let’s take a look?

OFFENSE:
WR: 14 Brandon Stokley – 15 Brandon Marshall – 12 Domenik Hixon
LT: 78 Matt Lepsis – 74 Ryan Harris (injured)
LG: 50 Ben Hamilton (injured) – 62 Chris Myers
C: 66 Tom Nalen
RG: 77 Chris Kuper – 70 Montrae Holland
RT: 64 Erik Pears – 75 Adam Meadows (injured)
TE: 89 Daniel Graham – 82 Stephen Alexander – 88 Tony Scheffler – 81 Nate Jackson
WR: 84 Javon Walker – 86 Brian Clark
QB: 6 Jay Cutler – 8 Patrick Ramsey
RB: 20 Travis Henry – 37 Cecil Sapp – 30 Mike Bell – 23 Andre Hall – 35 Selvin Young
FB: 26 Paul Smith

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To all the fans of other teams who come across this site and accuse me of not being objective or of being a homer:

Damn straight.

I try to be as objective as possible, but I’m still wearing sunglasses every time I write for this blog. One lens is orange, the other blue, and I offer no apologies.

The Broncos are ready for a special season this year, the first under the helm of new quarterback Jay Cutler, behind the running game of Travis Henry, and defended by one of the best cornerback tandems in NFL history. We are a good team; we’re going to win a lot of games. I’ve been thinking about the upcoming season, and I have a lot of predictions I felt like getting out there.

And as the title says, these are bold predictions. Here we go (really in no particular order for the most part).

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Photo Courtesy

The Arizona Cardinals recently jumped on 3rd round pick Quentin Moses off waivers after the Raiders released the defensive end as the team approached the 53-man roster deadline. Seeing a Day One Draft pick get cut before the season is a rare thing in today’s NFL, but this story could be just too good/funny to be true.

Talk about salt on an open wound.

It is being reported that Moses’ release is due to an administrative error on the part of the Oakland Raiders front office, and the team was unable to fix the mistake until after the release went official and it was too late.

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The future for Denver’s veteran LG is in question. Today, the Broncos announced that Ben Hamilton would be held out of football for two additional weeks while he continues to heal from his training camp concussion.

This is not good news.

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“He’s a teammate who I loved playing with and one of the great pass-rushers of all-time.” –John Lynch 9/3/07

John Lynch isn’t exaggerating – Simeon Rice has 121 career sacks. The only other active player with more would be Michael Strahan. And now, Denver’s struggling D-line will have the experience and skills of a major playmaker. Much like Champ Bailey‘s interceptions that tend to come when we need them the most, Rice seems to step up his game in the most critical moments of the game.

“The thing I always loved about Simeon is his sacks came in big times. Fourth-quarter, third downs, fourth downs. He’s just got a flair for the dramatic. When your team needs a play, he makes it.” — John Lynch 9/3/07

As important as his playmaking ability is his veteran leadership. Like John Lynch stepping in for Al Wilson‘s lose, Rice will be able to bring leadership to a D-line that has lost past locker room leaders like Gerard Warren, Kenard Lang and Ebenezer Ekuban.

“big playmaking ability and leadership will be a huge asset to our defense. I feel our young defensive ends will gain a lot from being around this player.” — Ted Sundquist 9/3/07
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