vs.
  Broncos vs. Cardinals

Thursday, August 30, 7PM MDT
RE-AIR: Sunday, September 2, 4PM EST, NFL Network

The Denver Broncos will host a common pre-season foe in the Arizona Cardinals tonight, as every team in the National Football League gets set to play in the regular season next week. As this is the last pre-season game of the year, the Broncos starters likely will not play at all, giving the backups one last opportunity to show their worth and make the team.

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Are the Chargers destined to win the Super Bowl? Photo Courtesy

I’m a fan of looking at sports trends and using that to make predictions about the upcoming season. You can look at the past few years or more, notice an interesting trend, then project the results of the upcoming season based on this trend (and much more). Whether it’s the Madden Curse or the “Super Bowl Loser Won’t Make the Playoffs” Curse (finally broken last year) or something similar, it’s interesting how this league that we all love has the strange habit of following seemingly random patterns, year after year.

This year, the Chargers hope to become the third team in as many years to win it all after a disappointingly brief playoff run the year before.

The pattern goes something like this:
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I suppose the Todd Sauerbrun vs. Paul Ernster debate is now officially over, although it didn’t end the way I would have preferred. In order to reach the league-mandated 75-man roster today, the Broncos are expected to release Punter Paul Ernster and safety Quentin Harris. 23 more cuts are expected in the coming week as the team is required to reach its 53-man roster by this Saturday, September 1st.

None of the cuts have been officially announced, but as these players did not participate in practice today there is wide speculation that they will be the remaining two players the Broncos must release to reach the 75-man limit.

I have mixed feelings about losing Ernster – I applauded the move of releasing Sauerbrun last year after his 4-game suspension, based on the great work by Ernster. But, as many fans know, his game seemed to fall off last year after the competition wasn’t there nipping him at the butt. When Sauerbrun was brought back, I had said this would be Ernster’s last chance to earn (no pun intended) and keep his job. And he did that – just look at this statistical breakdown courtesy Andrew Mason:
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By 2pm today Denver, and the rest of the league, must have their rosters down to 75 men. Several sources are saying that the Broncos have begun trimming their roster before today’s deadline.

Eight Broncos were not at practice today leading many in the media to speculate that those players would be cut. Among those players were D-linemen Kenard Lang and Demetrin Veal, WR’s David Kircus and David Terrell, RB Cedric Cobbs, FB Troy Fleming, TE Teyo Johnson and Kicker Brandon Pace.

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After watching the post-guilty plea press conference by Michael Vick, I’m left with two thoughts. One, people who refer to themselves in third person are truly narcissistic. And two, if Michael Vick starts wearing a WWJD bracelets I’m going to scream.

“Jonathan Douglas has a problem taking convicted felons seriously when they confess newly realized religious faith during a press conference.” — Jonathan Douglas 8/28/07

At first (right after the game) I felt very disappointed. I guess I would have liked to see our team score 35 points in the first half and hold the defense to negative yardage and zero points — what fan won’t?! However, after my game-watching experience I thought back to several key things I liked about what I saw. I also took a look at some of our player/team stats after the game.

NOTE: Everyone has their own game-watching ritual. For me it involves me watching the game with very little distractions. I’m not much of a conversationalist during games (even the commercials) as I’m completely into every play of the game. And since I have a one-track mind, I really can’t check live stats, chat on forums or participate in live-blogging during a Denver game. I certainly don’t object to those things… I’m just no good at them!

So, after thinking about what I saw and looking at the stats, I feel much better about where Denver is than I did before the game. There were certainly miscues (the Defense couldn’t stop the run again, Hixon fumbled a kick-off return in the endzone, Jay fumbled a snap, and Walker dropped a couple of easy passes). However, both our 1st Team units seemed to work better than it did last week.

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So, I’ve mentioned what I’m looking forward to in tonight’s game vs Cleveland, but what do Cleveland fans expect to see this evening?

For one thing they also see this game as an important one for there starters, especially on offense where their 1st teamer’s are still hunting for their first preseason TD. Here’s a list of what I’ve been hearing Brown’s fans talk about coming into the game vs Denver…

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Denver finally gets to play at home this Saturday at 7pm (MDT) when they will face off against the Cleveland Browns for the most meaningful game this preseason. Unfortunately, as a resident of Knoxville Tennessee, I’ll have to wait 16 hours to see the game — the NFL Network will re-broadcast the game at 2pm (EDT).

This game will be highly scrutinized by fans, as the Broncos have been less than impressive so far this preseason. With the 1st Team scheduled to play nearly a third of the game and having installed a game plan this week for Cleveland, this game should be the best gauge of our team’s regular season readiness so far this year.

Also at the back of everyone’s mind will be the first round of roster cuts due on Tuesday. These aren’t the final cut, and few well-known names will appear on the waiver wire. But for many of the players on the bubble, Saturday night may be the last time they play NFL football.

So, with all of that heading into this weekend here are the things I’m looking forward to seeing on Sunday (Saturday for anyone with local TV coverage)…

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Relax! I’m not talking about the Bronco’s — I’m talking about Cherry Creek High School, whose starting QB is Jack Elway (John Elway’s 17 year-old son).

If you live anywhere near the Mile High City, you will be well aware of the media attention this High School (and its football team) is getting this season. There have been countless articles in the Denver Post and several local TV news stories on the ‘Young Elway.’ This last one, details the Cherry Creek coach’s decision to add Daddy Elway to the staff as Jack’s QB coach.

“As a coach, you’re trying to not to have fathers on your staff — but this is a little different deal.” – Head Coach Greg Critchett, Cherry Creek HS

It’s a little different deal? — No kidding! This High School has not only college scouts but NFL scouts coming to its games!

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HOLDMAN PLACED ON IR

After rumors of his release were permeating throughout Denver, injured linebacker Warrick Holdman was placed on IR Wednesday, Head Coach Mike Shanahan announced. The move ends his 2007 season after his spinal caord concussion would have kept him out at least 3 months. But it does indicate that Holdman will likely remain on the team. Holdman was acquired by Denver on April 26 in free agency.

STOKLEY SET TO MAKE DEBUT

One of the most impressive new players through the first week of training camp, slot WR Brandon Stokley will return to action this weekend against Cleveland. He’s been fighting through a thigh injury (which isn’t the same as the Achilles injury he fought through last year), but Coach Shanahan said he should be good to go.

COACHES TO DEFENSIVE ENDS: EARN THE STARTING JOB

Kenard Lang has second life after the injuries to Ebenezer Ekuban and rookie Tim Crowder. Now he just has to earn his now-open spot from last year.  Tuesday, the Broncos must trim their current roster of 89 players down to 75… all as they approach the cutoff two weeks from now where the final 53-man roster has to be set for kickoff.

Signing off for a while…