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So far this offseason, I’ve chosen division winners in 6 of the 8 divisions across the league. The Cowboys, Patriots, Panthers, Colts, Bears and Ravens have all been the predicted winners, and today I crown the seventh title, according to my predictions. The NFC West in under debate, which hosts the team of my current state of residence, the Arizona Cardinals. I’m drinking a little red Kool Aid, I must say. And no, not 49er red. On to the picks.

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Some noteworthy notes today.

• If Preseason games mean anything, then the Steelers’ 20-7 victory over the Saints last night somewhat vindicates my predictions of Pittsburgh bouncing back and New Orleans coming down to Earth this year. Of course, the Raiders won all 5 of their preseason games last year – so don’t go jumping off cliffs yet, Saints fans.
• The Broncos and newcomer Guard Montrae Holland agreed to a contract extension, according to the Denver Post. Reportedly the move comes in the wake of Holland’s impressive practice work and the possibility for him to challenge slotted starter Chris Kuper. Camp battle in the works, or another typical fire-under-the-ass-lighting by Shanahan?
• If you blinked, you may have missed the overhauled defensive line in Denver. Jarvis Moss is just one of six first-round defensive linemen who currently call Colorado home.
• If you want statistics to back up your water cooler arguments of unCantonized Broncos, then look no further. More info here. (I left comments on these articles under the ESPN handle “K_TempesT”).
• Finally, and I guess this time “it’s for real” – the Chiefs come to terms with first round pick WR Dwayne Bowe.
• Meanwhile, ESPN reports from Raiders Camp, where the defense looks good and the offense looks really bad. Few tidbits on Broncos and Chiefs camps, too.
• With Chargers WR Tony Parker out for 10 weeks, rookie Craig Davis looks to push for the starting job.

Two full team practices today – and by “full team,” I mean the one-third of the team who isn’t reeling from some random thigh tweak or unspecified calf injury.

The 45th Class of the Pro Football Hall of Fame was inducted this weekend, and for the 44th time, the Denver Broncos were not represented in the hallowed hall (and no, I’m not counting Tony Dorsett or Willie Brown). Among the teams that entered the league before 1995, only the Atlanta Falcons, the historically weakest team in the NFL for years, has less busts in Canton than the Broncos. The Arizona Cardinals are the oldest franchise in the National Football League; they’ve won one playoff game in the Super Bowl Era; they inducted their 11th member this weekend.

The Broncos have made 17 playoff appearances. They’ve won 6 AFC Championships. They’ve won two Super Bowls. They’ve won over 300 games. There are many other teams with similar historical regular season winning records (the Chiefs and Vikings, for example). Most of these teams have 7 or more members in the Hall. The Broncos have one.

Why, for years, have the Broncos been overlooked in the Hall of Fame voting process?

The injustice goes beyond the winning record. When you consider the Broncos have one of the most successful postseason success rates in the League – 35.3% of all playoff appearances are converted to Super Bowl berths – the Broncos should in fact have MORE Hall of Famers than many other teams across the NFL.

While I don’t have an answer for the past, I plan on doing everything I can to ensure the mistakes don’t continue into the future. I present to you five names of Denver Broncos, all currently eligible, who ABSOLUTELY belong in the Hall of Fame. Over the next week or so, I will post on the career of each one, giving each the time and focus he deserves. I’ll tell you why he should get in, why he hasn’t yet, then present names of others who are currently enshrined whose careers compare to the player in question.

The Five (in chronological order):
1. Floyd Little
2. Randy Gradishar
3. Gary Zimmerman*
4. Steve Atwater
5. Terrell Davis

*Zimmerman has since been elected into the Hall of Fame, joining the Class of 2008. Full Story.

These aren’t guys who are “on the bubble” – based on their career accomplishments, their influence on the league, their regular season and postseason successes, and in comparison to those already enshrined, these players no doubt belong in Canton. I’ll go into much more depth and detail on each and every one of these players in the days to come. My goal: not another year should come without one of these Broncos being immortalized in Canton, Ohio, until all 5 are in.

NOTES AND NEWS FROM DAY SEVEN OF TRAINING CAMP:

Saturday was all about goal-line work. It was a day for FULL pads (the only way to truly work on goal-line situations). And it was a hard hitting session — as would be expected. There were good plays on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball, but I think I’m most excited by the day that Andre Hall had. He scored twice today on the ground, once on a spin-move after some great open field moves and the the other was an acrobatic jump across the goal-line plane for another six.

Not that either of those plays was as unexpected as the touchdown pass thrown by RB Cecil Sapp to TE Nate Jackson during a rare trick play… Yeah, I think I would have been tricked by that too!

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A few noteworthy… um, notes, today.

• Today’s practice marks a Broncos tradition – every year it is the most attended, mainly because of the physical focus of the event. Full pads and full contact today, with the first teams going at each other. It’s big news in Broncos football to see Champ Bailey on Javon Walker snap after snap in full pads, and I’ll have a report later this afternoon (have to work until 5).
• Warrick Holdman did indeed get released from the hospital yesterday. No word on when he’ll see the field again.
• Tonight is the Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony – in fact, you can even go this web site and catch a live stream of the speeches. Tomorrow I will post an article I’ve been working on in “celebration” – 5 Broncos who have been snubbed by the Hall.
• In news around the AFC West, it looks like the Chargers will be missing everyone’s favorite double-muffer for 10 weeks. WR Eric Parker underwent foot surgery and could miss significant time.
• It appears that Dwayne Bowe didn’t sign after all. He’s still holding out, despite reports Tuesday (including mine) indicating otherwise. Poor, poor Chiefs fans…

Heading for work… I’ll post all the juicy tidbits from the biggest practice of the year when I get back tonight.

NOTES AND NEWS FROM DAY SIX OF TRAINING CAMP:

Well the news today was all about the VERY thin depth we have at WR. In fact, with Brandon Stokley held out with a minor right thigh injury and Javon Walker pulled up short with some muscle cramping, we were left with only five functioning receivers (Quincy Morgan, Domenik Hixon, David Terrell, Brian Clark and David Kircus).

That was so few that at times Shanahan had to use TE’s to fill in the receiver slots so all the plays could be run. Nate Jackson worked well in this capacity as the tightend was a receiver only two seasons ago.

“(Nate’s) been very consistent and he’s gotten better in the blocking game and obviously he’s made some big-time catches — He’s looked very good.” — Mike Shanahan 8/3/07

Jackson wasn’t the only receiver to do well today. There were great catches by all of our remaining wideouts. Here’s a look at a few of them…

Cutler’s 50 yard pass to Walker (before he left with cramping)!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeMDZIU-UWM]

Cutler moves in the pocket to allow enough time for a pass to Nate Jackson.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02OAOvseX4w]

Quincy Morgan grabs this ball pass Bly.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNmqwl6OFvk]

And now some other notes…

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The Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers are the frontrunners for the AFC West. It’s just that simple. As these AFC West Watch stories continue each week, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the Chiefs and Raiders will be clawing at only each other for divisional rankings. Today is the second-to-last week of this segment, and next week I will finish the rankings with the all-important Coaching Staff. In the meantime I hope to rank the Special Teams as a “side” story… but today, it’s the quarterbacks who are under debate. While the Raiders and Chiefs find themselves with new starters for their teams, the Chargers and Broncos return their signal caller from the end of last year.

Is there a more important position on a team than the quarterback? Very few teams have ever won a Super Bowl without a real stud at quarterback – as much as I’ve backed Jake Plummer over the years, I don’t think he was good enough to carry a team to that level of success. The entire offense depends on the quarterback being able to understand and execute every play that comes his way. It’s the reason I saved this segment for near the end – it’s so important to the success of the season, I needed as long as possible to swarm over the facts and make sure an early-offseason injury didn’t disrupt the rankings later.

And I’m done sitting on the fence about Jay Cutler. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I am INSANELY excited about his potential this year. While I’ve posted on the concerns about hyping him too much, I can’t help myself. On to the rankings.

1. Denver Broncos

I struggled for a long time, trying to retain objectivity and resist the homerism in me to just pick the Broncos outright. I thought about how Philip Rivers made it to an AFC Pro Bowl last year. I thought about all the success he enjoyed as the Chargers moved to a 14-2 record. I thought about the accuracy, the passer rating, the touchdowns and the #1 offense in the NFL last year. But when it came down to it, I couldn’t get past this nagging thought in my head:

I believe Jay Cutler will be better than Philip Rivers this year.

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Friday’s practice has come and gone, and the big story so far is all the injuries the Broncos are suffering across the field. It’s hard to find a player who hasn’t missed one practice so far this Training Camp – after only a week, it seems every single receiver on the depth chart has sat out at least a series of snaps due to injuries or cramps or strains; the defensive line and strong side linebacker position have been extremely fluid from both competition and injuries; even special teamers like Paul Smith and veteran guard Ben Hamilton have been sitting out with nicks. More from Andrew Mason’s blog.

I would have to say that the biggest surprise so far this training camp is that John Engelberger has kept his spot as the starting defensive end besides Ekuban. Now that Jim Bates has spread the line out a little further apart than they’re used to, it seems that the speedy Engelberger is making the best adjustments. First round pick Jarvis Moss has had a lot of big plays, and could find himself competing for that starting job.

Other big surprises include the play of undrafted rookie Andre Hall, who comes from big success from a small time school, and the big impact Brandon Stokley is having on the field. DB Kevin House is getting the praise of coaches as well.

THE PRACTICE: Hurry-up offense was the focus, with a drill that focused on scoring from the 50-yard line with only one minute to play. Cutler‘s 14-yard pass to Brian Clark was the big play of the drill, which set up a 46-yard Elam field goal for a successful offensive drill.

PLAY OF THE DAY: Cutler deep to Walker. Surprised? Getting excited for the season yet?

The AFC West Watch is taking a bit longer than expected… hope to have it up within the hour.

News and notes from Training Camp:

• After running some tests last night, I’m getting positive vibes from the news regarding the recent injury of Warrick Holdman. Anything to do with the head or neck or spinal cord is as serious as it comes, and while the news outlets haven’t gone and said, “He’ll be alright,”, a full recovery is expected for the veteran linebacker. He had some tests done, and barring further complications could be released today. We’re pulling for you, Warrick.
• Several of our backup receivers have been looking really good, even with the injuries of Tony Scheffler, Brandon Marshall and Rod Smith. With second year wideout Domenik Hixon fighting through a shoulder injury, it seems that it’s time to be concerned about our receiver depth. Even deep backups Marquay McDaniel and Glenn Martinez are fighting through a sore hamstring and sore thigh respectively. Full Story. But I’m not concerned yet – honestly. I’ve been hearing such good things about Brandon Stokley that I’m confident he can make an impact if needed, and David Kircus is making all sorts of plays at practice. Hixon has been looking solid as well, and he’s fighting through his injury. If Rod ever finds his way back, this may be the deepest wide receiver unit the Broncos have seen in many, many years.

Dre Bly is getting heckled – and for the second time this week, a story I was working on gets written before I have the chance. He even got booed by a Broncos fan, according to the article. While fan reactions on the Net have been quick to take arms beside their newly acquired cornerback, I’m coming from a different point of view – I am repeatedly seeing reports of Dre Bly getting beat at camp. I mean, all the time. And it’s starting to really concern me.

• Orange Mane: “Dre Bly was ok, but he did get beat by Walker deep.”
• Mason’s Morsels: “Quincy Morgan dropped a pair of passes, but also had a pair of outstanding catches — one in seven-on-seven where he laid out for a grab despite tight coverage from Dre’ Bly …”
• Mason’s Morsels (SAME POST): “David Kircus was on the receiving end of a deep pass up the left sideline from Patrick Ramsey in seven-on-seven work; Kircus worked past Bly to get open.“
• Mason’s Morsels: “David Kircus couldn’t quite haul in a pass up the left sideline, but did beat Bly for a reception after using contact to gain separation.”

But for all the bad, I do have to mention the good.

• Mason’s Morsels: “Dré Bly, who finished the day with two picks and a fumble recovery, leads the defense with with four turnovers for camp so far …“
• Orange Mane: “The most impressive thing about Bly is that he is a leader on and off the field. He congratulates and supports his teammates and he plays full speed when he’s on the field. … Even when the completion is made, Bly does everything to make something positive happen on defense.“

While all the big offensive plays going past Bly really worries me, I’m still feeling good about the big defensive plays he’s making in return. With a little more time, Bly could really excel in our system.

Today’s AFC West Watch in an hour or two.

So, you’ve read the first-hand accounts from training camp.  You’ve seen the pictures over at Andrew Mason’s blog and the Denver Post website.  And you’ve seen some of the limited video coverage allowed at camp.  Still hungry for some more access???

Here is some bootleg video of some of those talked about hits, catches and runs we’ve all been hearing about!  Thanks to a sneaky fan, ahuebner, we have some training camp gems like these:

Abdullah makes a big hit.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqw92nzY–8]

D. D. Lewis takes down the RB in the backfield.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiYtfqAdIDw]

Much more on ahuebner’s page at YouTube.com — Enjoy!