SB Nation - Vonnie Holliday

Potent Quotables - Wednesday Ramblings from Dove Valley

John Bena — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:24:57 -0000

5 days ago: FILE - This is a Nov. 1, 2009, file photo showing Denver Broncos offensive tackle Ryan Harris leaving the field after an injury in the second quarter of an NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, in Baltimore. Harris is done for the season. The third-year pro was put on injured reserve Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009, with an injury to his right big toe. (AP Photo/Gail Burton, File)

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HEAD COACH JOSH McDANIELS

Opening statement

"We placed (T) Ryan Harris on injured reserve. We signed (T) Herb Taylor to the roster. Hopefully, everybody will be out there at practice."

On placing Harris on injured reserve

"His toe was too injured for him to be able to play without having a procedure. We're going to take care of that. After that happens, (with) the length of time that he would need to recover from that, it wouldn't make any sense for us to not make this move at this time on our roster."

On Harris' injury

"It was a toe injury."

On if Harris returned to game action too early against Kansas City

"No, he was fine. The previous injury was not the same injury. That has nothing to do with the new injury. It's the same toe, but it's not the same injury to the toe. It's kind of a fluke deal. He was playing well until the time that it happened."

On T Tyler Polumbus' improvement over the past five weeks

"I've seen a guy who's gained confidence because obviously, in this league when you're playing in the games, that experience is more valuable than the experience that you gain in the offseason and all the rest of it. He knows what we're doing. He knows our system. He communicates well with the other players. He's playing beside good players. We think that we have a guy who's getting better each week. He'll have a big challenge ahead of him this week."

On facing Indianapolis' no-huddle offense on Sunday

"We're just going to get lined up and play our call. That's it. We're not going to try to run a bunch of guys in and out of the game. Nobody does against this team. We're not going to try to do it either. You've got to line up and play good football. There's no more simple answer than that. That's what we need to do. That's what we're going to try to do."

On if the Broncos will use sub packages frequently against the Colts on Sunday

"We will not try to do something that is impossible to do, and that's impossible to do when you don't have the right time. If the ball hasn't been thrown down the field 40 yards, if there's not a timeout on the field, you don't try to do that and disrupt the entire flow of your game by allowing them to create situations where you have to call timeouts or you get five-yard penalties that keep the drive going and all the rest of it. We're going to play with the guys who are out there, and when we feel like we can substitute without issue, then we will substitute if we need to. If we don't need to substitute, then we're just going to play."

On Indianapolis Defensive Coordinator Larry Coyer's game plan

"I would say it's mostly the same philosophy, but you can tell that he's added a few different things that they haven't really done a lot of in the past. I'm not saying that that has taken over what they do. It certainly hasn't. The base things that they do, they're fairly simple in terms of the amount of volume of calls that they use, but they play faster than every team in the league. Everybody on this defense is fast. Their front is fast, they play fast, they stunt fast, they blitz fast (and) they cover fast. Everything that they do is about speed. That hasn't changed. He's added a few blitz-zones and some different coverage wrinkles here or there. They're playing as well as anybody in football on defense. They create a lot of turnovers (and) do a great job of stopping people in the red zone and on the goal line. Larry's done a great job with them."

On why opponents can't take advantage of Indianapolis' size on defense by running the football

"There's a quarterback on the other side who usually puts them ahead. I said the other day it's the best complimentary football team in the NFL, and it is. They play to each other. The offense tries to get out front. The defense rushes the passer and creates turnovers to give the ball back to the offense, which scores more points. Then you're behind by 14 or 21 points, and then if you hand the ball off three times in a row, you get booed. First of all, let me say this: they are not a bad run defense. If you could run the ball 40 times against them-that isn't going to be easy because again, the way that they stop the run is not the same way that we would stop the run, necessarily, or some other teams stop the run. They stunt and create disruption by picking people off or making two of your guys block one of their guys so that one of their fast players is free to the football. That's what they do. There are a lot of ways to skin a cat, and they do it a different way than some teams do, but they're really, really good at it and very effective. Everybody knows their job. They're extremely unselfish when they play run defense because there are a lot of people in that front who know, ‘Alright, I know I am not going to make the tackle on this play, but I'm going to go run in there and I'm going to take the guard and the center out, and now, somebody else is going to make the tackle behind me.' They have great trust and faith in their players."

On ranking Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning amongst all-time NFL quarterbacks

"I don't know where he stands in that. I'm not judging him or saying-I know he's one of the greatest of all time. He's unbelievable to prepare for. You can't beat him with a play call. You make the right call against some teams, and sometimes you have a better call than the other quarterback's coordinator made on their sideline, and hooray for you and you won one. With this guy, if he sees something or you show him something too early, it doesn't make any difference what the guy on the sideline called. He's going to make sure that he changes it to something that's going to hurt you. When he makes a decision to do that, usually, it ends up in a big play. There's a difference between him and everybody else because some other teams try to get out of a bad play and into a play that's a decent play. He tries to get out of a bad play and score a touchdown. He's an aggressive quarterback who gets rid of the football before you can get there most of the time. They've only (allowed) 10 sacks this year, and he's a great part of that. Their offensive line does a great job, but he does a great job, too. He attacks you at your very weakest point in every coverage, and that's what makes him so good."

On the Broncos secondary facing Manning

"When you play with a veteran secondary against him, that can help you. Certainly, we have to play well. The bottom line is when (WR) Reggie Wayne is out there, it doesn't make any difference who's on him. They're going to throw it to him. You're not going to put one guy out there on Reggie Wayne and say, ‘Okay, he won't throw it to Reggie today.' He's a great player. The two young kids who they have who are playing a lot, (WR Austin) Collie and (WR Pierre) Garcon, I don't know that I could imagine two young players coming into the league and then adapting to a difficult system and being able to work in pressure situations with a guy like Peyton Manning as well as those two have. It's remarkable what they've been able to do with those two kids. They're only going to get better. (TE Dallas) Clark is incredibly difficult to defend. You can try to take away some things, but ultimately, like I just said, he's going to throw it to the guy who you didn't take away, and you better be on him and you better be on him tight. You better try to get a pass rush on him because if you sit there and give him too much time and let him see what the coverage is, he's going to throw it to the right place."

On how Indianapolis TE Dallas Clark compares to Atlanta TE Tony Gonzalez or San Diego TE Antonio Gates

"(He has) great hands. I would say (he is) as good as a route runner as those guys you mentioned. He's one of those guys who has a knack for getting open. He can do things with his body. He has great body control when he runs routes. He can sell things and then do something different off of it. The thing about all of their receivers, including Clark, is they don't need much space. If he's from-me-to-the-microphone (approximately six inches) open, the ball is going to be ‘here,' and he's going to catch it because he's got great hands and he's got a good quarterback throwing him the ball. They've got so many weapons. You can't double-team everybody. We've got good players on defense, and we've got to play good defense."

On his decision to practice inside today

"It's sunny, it's zero degrees and we're playing indoors (at Indianapolis on Sunday)."

On how to beat Indianapolis

"I think there have been a lot of teams that have played them tough, and there have been a lot of close games. They've won seven games (by less than) a touchdown this year, which tells you that they execute in those pressure situations and have executed in those pressure situations better than their opponents have. It's not out of the question for you or for any other team to be close and to be in the game in the second half or to be ahead in the second half. You can't play 56 minutes. If you've played 56 good minutes, you might have a smile on your face and you're going to lose. If you play 58 good minutes, it might be the same situation. You've got to play 60 minutes or longer if it takes longer, and you've got to continue to come back to the sideline and say, ‘Alright, what are we going to do the next series?' and go out there and play well again. You've got to battle them, and you've got to play really, really good football down in the red zone, on third down and in two-minute (situations) because that's where a lot of their games have been decided in those crucial situations at the end of the game. They've made more plays than their opponents have, and that's why they've won 12 in a row and 21 straight in the regular season. If you can take care of the football and you can play your best football down there when it matters most, you've got a chance to be in the game and then to win the game."

QB KYLE ORTON

On T Ryan Harris being placed on injured reserve

"He's certainly a good player for us and brings toughness and a little nastiness to the line, so it's disappointing to hear about it. (T) Tyler (Polumbus) will step in. He's played before and he's played well for us, and he's going to need to the rest of the year."

On if the offense changed during the four weeks Harris missed

"No, I don't let it affect me. The guys have a job to do, and they're expected to do it. Tyler is expected to do it just like Ryan does. He's done a good job. I don't feel the pressure anymore. We have tough task this week, obviously. Everybody knows that, but we expect to go out and play well."

On if play calls are different when Polumbus is in the game

"No, I don't think so. We've kind of gotten away from doing some empty stuff, but I don't think that has to do with Tyler. I think that's just where we're at as an offense. I don't think we've done a whole lot to specifically help Tyler."

On being aware of each play's timing when facing Indianapolis' pass rush

"All 11 guys on offense have to be aware of it. Receivers have to have urgency getting open, I have to have urgency getting the ball out and the offensive line has to do a great job of running them by and giving me a chance to step up. Not just myself, but all 11 guys have to be aware of that."

On having to play well against Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning

"When you're playing a 12-0 team, I think you've certainly got to bring it, but Peyton is one of the best there is and one of the best who ever played. I'm not going to sit here and try to outdo him, for sure. We'll have to play smart football, and we'll have to play turnover free and mistake free on offense and try to hold the ball as long as we can and let him sit on the sideline and have fun over there."

On the term "franchise quarterback"

"That's all on the franchise. That's all on the organization. That's probably the only way you can decide that is if the organization thinks you're one, then you're one. I guess we'll just wait and see."

On if Manning is a franchise quarterback

"Peyton is a Hall of Fame quarterback. There are big differences between franchise quarterbacks and Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Peyton is a Hall of Famer, and there are not many of those around."

On Manning's star power in Indiana

"Well, he's the Colts. When you think of the Colts, not only in Indiana but across the country, you think of Peyton Manning. He's a premier player, and he has been for a long time. I know how important he is back in the Midwest."

On playing on the road late in the season

"There's a disadvantage going on the road, I would probably say, this time of year. We're playing good teams, and it's tough to win on the road. You go into a dome, and it's going to be extremely loud. They're a dome team. There's no question about it. They're built for the dome. They're fast. This will be the fastest defense that we see all year. We're going to have to handle the operation, have to handle the crowd noise and with all that, have to be able to handle the edge and everything with their (defensive) ends. It'll be a tough task."

On the challenges Indianapolis' defense presents

"They just tell their ends to go the quarterback, and everybody else rallies to the run. The ends really have no responsibilities other than to come back with the quarterback. They get there a bunch and cause a lot of havoc. Everybody else on that defense is extremely fast and they rally to the ball. There are usually five or six of guys there to make the tackle and try to strip the ball out."

On Indianapolis DE Dwight Freeney

"He's great. He's a great player, no question. He's done it for a long time. (DE Robert) Mathis is a great player. (LB Gary) Brackett is a great player. They've got young players-this is a younger team than when I played them last year, but their two secondary players are young and fast and they're not getting beat on the outside. We've got a lot of guys who we've got to account for this week."

On running the ball against Indianapolis' aggressive defensive ends

"A lot of draws are run against this team. A lot of screen passes, obviously, are run against this team, but like I said, they're so fast by the other nine guys who everybody rallies to the ball and they're there to make the plays. They play great team defense."

On scoring points against Indianapolis' defense

"We just know that we've got to go on 10-, 12-play drives. First of all, I think they've given up just a handful of plays over 15 yards, and that's in the run game and the pass game. To sit here and think we are going to have three-, four-play drives and hit big plays on them is kind of well wishing. We'll have to execute and take five yards and take five, six yards and take the backs and just know going into the game to be successful, we're going to have to drive the ball down, and when we get into the red zone, certainly, we're going to have to come away with touchdowns."

On the Broncos' offensive weapons helping him develop as a quarterback

"Everybody on our team has. This is the most talented offense I've played with, and obviously, it starts with the guys up front just giving me a bunch of time to throw and make my reads. I just feel that I'm a smart enough player that if I do have the time to sit back and read the defense, I am going to go the right place with the ball most of the time."

On if he has ever had to prepare for a defense that is playing as well as Indianapolis'

"Yeah, we've had to do it. Every year you've got to play defenses like this that are playing great. We feel like we're well matched with this team, and if we go out and do our job, we'll be just fine and win the game."

S BRIAN DAWKINS

On facing Indianapolis QB Peyton Manning

"A couple of times we've faced him, and they've won, I think, both of the times we played them. (It is a) very challenging preparation, as usual, for a good quarterback. This time is definitely no different with him having the weapons that he is using on the field right now."

On attacking Manning

"You can't let him know what (coverage) you are in. You have to do the best that you can to disguise what you are trying to do. From there, you've got to play football. Once the ball is snapped, you play football, and that is the end result in all the checks and all the things both sides of the ball that we will be doing defensively and offensively. When the ball is snapped, you have to make plays on the ball (and) you have to make tackles. We are in for a 60-minute game."

On if Colts' opponents try to disguise coverages

"You just do what you do. We have a veteran group in the secondary, obviously. We are going to do our best to make sure that we don't make the game easier for him than it already is for him. It is going to be, like I said, a 60-minute game of doing that, not getting tired of disguising."

On playing the undefeated New England Patriots in 2007 with the Philadelphia Eagles

"It seems like a decade ago as far as me playing with the Eagles and going against the Patriots in that situation. I just remember it was a hyped game. We were very jacked up because of the underdogs we were. I remember that, but that is a completely different ball team, completely different situation as far as I'm concerned, as far as where we are with this team and what we are looking to do. I don't think we are focused on that, to tell you the truth."

On if he will practice this week

"That's the plan. That's the plan: to practice and go out and be on the field with my teammates, doing what I can to help this football team this weekend. That is the intention."

On his physical condition

"I feel great. This is football. This is a contact sport. Things happen at different times. (You) may go through a stretch where you feel absolutely great, and then other times, especially late in the season, you are going to have to play through some things. This is nothing new for me."

On Indianapolis' winning streak

"What good is it going to do to be focused on somebody else's winning streak or what they are not doing? That is not what we are about. We are about this one game and what we have to do to see if we can pull out a victory (in) this one game. All those other victories and losses, whatever, even our losses, none of that stuff, means anything as far as this game is concerned. This is the most important game of our season right now at this point. That is what we need to focus on."

On where Manning ranks amongst all-time NFL quarterbacks

"I'm not going to tell you anything different. He is one of the best that I've ever faced as (far as) what he does with the football, his accuracy, his diagnosing defenses (and) him being able to put the ball where it needs to be to his receivers when he does check. I'm not telling you guys anything that you don't already know. He is one of the best to ever play this game."

On DL Vonnie Holliday's contribution to the defense

"Tremendous. Tremendous. He is a vocal guy. He is a guy that understands how to play his position in this defense. I think that has benefited some of the other guys who haven't played in this defense, allowing them to understand how to play their gaps and how to control different gaps and allow the linebackers to run free sometimes. He has been a tremendous, tremendous benefit for this team, and I'm so happy we were able to talk him into coming here."

On RB Correll Buckhalter's performance

"This is what I expect from Buck when he is healthy because this is what he did in Philadelphia when they gave him the chance. They didn't give him a lot of chances, having (Philadelphia RB Brian) Westbrook in front of him, but when he got in the game, he was one of the guys that gave us big plays. I remember last year in our stretch run, he was one of the guys that kept giving us play after play, even receiving the ball out of the backfield, giving us 50- and 60-plus yards after the catch. This is what I expect from him, and I don't think this is anything he doesn't expect from himself. I think he expects the same thing from himself. I'm just happy, and the Lord is blessing him to stay healthy."

On Buckhalter's comment that he may currently be faster than ever

"He is a blessed man of God. He is, and he knows that. He is a humble guy and throughout all that adversity, I was in his ear and I was always praying for him. Coming out the other end of that perseverance, he is a stronger person from it. You see the speed on the football field. Like I said, I'm just excited to be able to enjoy this with him the way it is happening right now."

Broncos Thoughts and Musings 1.0

Emmett Smith — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:07:22 -0000

by Charlie Riedel - AP

8 days ago: Denver Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton (8) passes while offensive tackle Ryan Clady, right, blocks Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Tamba Hali (91) during the first quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 6, 2009 in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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This week brought some colder, wetter autumnal weather to southern California. It put me in the perfect mood to watch a lot of film and to take in all of the facets of a massive, overwhelming Broncos beatdown of the Kansas City Chiefs, right on their own turf. Despite all the press about the past, this is a new team and they took the opportunity to prove that to KC and anyone else who was willing to watch. It was close right up to the end of the first quarter, and quickly turned into a rout during quarter 3. I enjoyed every minute of it. While I wanted to have the Broncos put a headlock on the Chiefs I didn't expect Ryan Clady (photo) to take it quite so literally.

I also continued to look at past film, spending a little extra time on special teams. I'll talk more about them on Thursday, but this was plenty to get us started. Hats on? Goggles in place? Let's do it. In fact, let's start in Indianapolis.

Defense Wins Game

Did anyone catch the way that Indianapolis won over Tennessee? Tennessee was a hot as any team in gootball, but they fell short when they came up against the Indy defense. The Colts had not one but two goal line stands in a game that brought about a 27-17 win over the Titans.

As usual, they had help. Vince Young fumbled at the one on first and goal. A Titans guard, Eugene Amano (another of the great football names, being mano Amano) committed a holding penalty, but Indy held on all tries and a perfect fade route in the corner of the endzone one fourth down was foiled when rookie Jerraud Powers pushed fellow rookie Kenny Britt out of bounds before he could get both feet down. Clint Session had 12 tackles to lead the Colts and he was joined by a crew that just didn't let up.

I bring this up for a simple reason. When Kansas City was sitting at the one yard line on 1st and goal at the end of the 1st quarter, I wasn't even phased. No chemicals were involved in my level of calm - for once, finally, for the first time in years, I awaited not how KC would score but how Denver would beat them back. Despite the ease with which the Chiefs moved the ball to the one, I knew that they were 17 plays into their drive and that the more opportunities you give Mike Nolan up in the booth, the more likely it is that he'll solve what's happening and that one or more of the Broncos will make a play. That went strangely errant during the losing streak, but that feeling was back again on Sunday, as it had been against NY. The Broncos held KC to a FG. My only surprise was that they didn't just take it away entirely.

The Post said:

"Perhaps Elvis Dumervil, Bailey and the Broncos' fifth-ranked pass defense can negate the Colts' strength. Dumervil ran down Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel in the second quarter for his NFL-best 15th sack of the season. Unlike the Broncos' teams that took trips to Indy earlier this decade, Dumervil offers the chance to apply pocket pressure on Manning, and Bailey appears to have considerably improved secondary mates.

Ty Law has provided us with a veteran's skills at the cornerback blitz. He hits like a particle accelerator, giving us the Denver version of the Big Bang. H was a great pickup. I don't know the issues of contracts that well, so I'll assume that he was let go due to excessive dollars for expected performance, but here's his contract with us:

1/6/2009: Signed a one-year, $800,000 contract. The deal included a $200,000 signing bonus. Another $400,000 is available through incentives based on performance and playing time. 2009: $600,000

That's cheap for what he's bringing to us. He'll be a free agent in 2010, if the Broncos don't sign him to another 1 year contract. Based on what I've seen so far, they should.

Goodman and safety Renaldo Hill each picked off Cassel passes in the third quarter to set up scores. Brian Dawkins blew up a Kansas City first-and-goal-from-the-1 chance in the second quarter by tackling Jamaal Charles for a 3-yard loss and then delivering a blindside blitz to disrupt Cassel's third-down pass attempt. The Chiefs didn't have an answer.

"It's not for one guy," Dawkins said. "Champ does not have to be all over the place. Elvis doesn't have to make five sacks. There's always going to be somebody to make the play. To me, that's a telltale sign of a good defense.""

It is, and that's what I loved about watching the KC game. in every quarter, someone else stepped up. Orton had a 'bad' game but ended up with a 90+ QB rating for his efforts by making two nice TD passes, moving above 60% on his passing completions and by the team going 4 of 6 in the Red zone and nailing those other two as FGs. This is a team that can put together a whole game. Indy is as tough as there is in the NFL, but every team can be beaten. It will take a near perfect effort, though. Are the Broncos up to it?

There's another side to our preparation this week: Denver will be going up against Larry Coyer, who was fired as the defensive coordinator in Denver. While most such individuals claim that it's just a game, theey understand the business and that there is nothing personal in their feelings few of us believe taht and for good reason. It's the nature of the competitive individual to compete, to assert oneself and to repay old slights. Coyer had trouble making the adjustments that kept the Broncos competitive during some of the games and over the course of the season. He will be looking to show Denver that he's learned those lessons and put them to good use.

Two side notes -- Bobby Wade was the best Denver player to wear a Chiefs uniform on Sunday, contributing drops and misses to keep drives from scoring. Ti's always appreciated, but don't expect Indianapolis to be as accommodating. And if you didn't enjoy watching Peyton Hillis show folks that he's not done with Denver, you just aren't a fan. I don't know where they keep the 'yards after contact' stats for RBs, but I'd love to see how his stack up. Great power running against an exhausted KC defense.

Special Teams Fun

A most of you know, I've been tearing apart film recently in an attempt to get a better idea of why the losing streak was happening. Today is the start of some discussion of special teams. Much of today's info came from the KC game. I've got some more coming on Thursday. Theser are some qustions that I wrote down before hitting the film:

Who is blocking on the KO and punts, who stands out? Give me some names

I'll go with 4 - on KOs, Spenser Larsen and Peyton Hillis. I can add Robert Ayers - the more film I watch, the more he's in on the blocking. Quinn? You bet. He's been in on the blocking frequently, on the ST. Against the fake punt play in KC, which could have been another TD if complete, he made a veteran read and play. By the way, calling that play at your own 28? Wow. It seemed that Darcel McBath was caught out of position, following where he thought that play was going, which left the receiver, a center who lined up as an eligible receiver, wide open. Quinn made a totally heads-up play. Nice work, rookie. Quinn also blocked well, not letting up on his man, on the drive following Andre' Goodman's perfect INT on Cassel later that quarter.

For what it's worth, that seemed to be a badly thought-out play. It's a huge gamble, your offense is failing to make any yardage but you're still only down 14-6. Aren't you throwing in the towel when you do that? It lead to a FG that made it 17-6 and would later prove to put the game out of reach.

Who is standing out as a gunner?

David Bruton, Darcel McBath and now Spencer Larsen stand out, as does Richard Quinn, but Darrell Reid (who had 3 ST tackles on Sunday at KC) was also a factor in many plays. It's a nice thing when you need to list 5 good players. Josh Barrett also seems to always be around the ball - not yet making the tackle but fillig the right lanes and keeping the runbacks contained. Champ Bailey had a nice play on the kickoff following Prater's FG at 13:30 of the 3rd Q. He was there along with Spencer Larsen, who didn't get credit for that tackle but who was in on it. Wes Woodyard had two ST tackles of his own. There was a lot of praise to go around, and all of it deserved.

Did anyone notice that when Eddie Royal had some space to move in and come blocking that he was repeatedly able to gain significant yardage? The pattern of not stopping the offense until they are in the area of the 40s and then having Royal backed up to the goal line was broken by our defensive play and the difference was obvious.

He may not have caught a lot of passes but they had to account for him all day and his combined yardage was a thing of joy. The man can block, too. You might also want to go back and rewatch the Marshall TD from the 10 yard line - Marshall started on the right side of the formation, went in motion to the left and received the pass on the right. If Eddie Royal doesn't seal off #39, Brandon Carr, on that play, Marshall maybe gains 2. Instead, Royal drove his man out of the play for just long enough to let the Broncos start celebrating.

On the following KO, Alphonso Smith, Robert Ayers, Josh Barrett and Andra Davis were ready to tackle if Wesley Woodyard hasn't made a perfect takedown on the ball carrier. The Broncos were swarming on STs, and that's nice to see. They need to continue that level of play. They didn't, for 4 games, but have stepped up for the late season run.

Royal's runback at 13:00 of the 4th Q was a thing of beauty. I thought that he was going to waste another return by running vertically, but he faked that and turned upfield into a seam, pounding across into Chiefs territory and nearly breaking a final tackle at the end before being brought down by the kicker. Such a great job...getting the kicks with room to run makes it all work.

By the way, on the 44 yard FG kick following the fake punt, I loved hearing Dick Enberg say of Prater, "Oh, he's got a big leg.." Yes, he sure does. Both of our kickers seem to be gaining in strength as the season is moving along. That's always a nice feeling. By the way, just how the heck did Berger manage to get that punt off with Jovan Belcher in his face? Picked up a penalty, but managed to roll the ball along the sideline for long enough to make that punt a keeper. When you're on, you're on...

Team Game

Renaldo Hill made a great catch on a Matt Cassel throw for an INT but the real hero of the play was none other than Elvis Dumervil. Doom hit Cassel just as he released, driving him slightly backward and causing the pass to sail on him, leading to the INT. Great pressure creates great plays.

Buckhalter takes the rock for 12 to start the Denver drive after that play, but the heroes of that play were Ryan Clady and Spencer Larsen. Clady sealed off his man and Larsen free-lanced to the outside, taking the RDE (91, Tamba Hali) out of the play. Buck ran on past them and picked up 12, the last 3 by sheer force of will. On the next play, it was Larsen, Daniel Graham and Clady. Buck put on an amazing show. 113 yards on 10 carries? I don't recall seeing a performance like that recently , off the top of my head.

Talk about team - did you see Kyle Orton, blocking downfield for Marshall on the reverse? Sure, Marshall didn't make it to that second level, but you have to chuckle when your QB is finishing his blocks. I loved it.

If you blinked, you might have missed it so I'll pass it along. On the fumble forced by Mario Haggan and picked up by Andre' Goodman, in the background you could see Vonnie Holliday hammering his man into the turf so that he couldn't have a shot at getting to the ball or to Goodman. In a single heartbeat, Holliday went from fighting with his man to get to the ball carrier to fighting to drive him into the ground. Great job, heads up play. And, on the following KO, the Broncos filled their lanes to perfection, not permitting any chance of a good runback. The STs stepped way up last Sunday.

Rotating players - Darcel McBath and Marcus Thomas seem to make their presence known every time they step into the rotation. Kudos to both of them.

I'm embarrassed to admit that by the time Cassel completed a nice pass to Bobby Wade over the middle at the end of the third quarter, I found myself actually rooting for him to get one. It was that much of a beating - I knew that he couldn't beat us. I just didn't want to see the Broncos keep slaughtering him. In a few moments, the feeling passed, but it gives an idea of the kind of game it was. Vonnie Holliday sacked him on the next play anyway. The final play of that abortive drive was a hot route out of the shotgun, incomplete to Chambers. If Cassel had put it on the money it would have been intercepted by Renaldo Hill. The overage was as compete as the snow on the Divide. By the end of the 3rd Q, it was time for the mercy rule to kick in.

Variety is the Spice...

On the following series for Denver, backed up to their own 6 yard line. The Broncs came out with a nice little formation that should look familiar to those who read last year's Magic 3 article by Steve Nichols or my own followup to it. Denver brought Spencer Larsen up to just behind the LOS, to the right, with Daniel graham on the line to Polumbus' right and Tony Scheffler outside both of them, towards the right sideline. Moreno was in the backfield, Orton under center and Marshall split out wide to the left. It was essentially a Magic 3 formation, and Denver played with several variations of Multiple TE formations over the course of the game. I saw Quinn in for one of the other Magic 3's. They seem to be running out of it so far, which is fine. I await them using it to throw more - it will give the defensive coordinators fits. It's hard enough to step as a power running option.

Back to the Future

Does it seem familiar that Brandon Marshall is doing so well that teams are obligated to try and stop him, leaving the running game more room to maneuver and Royal a Chance to catch more balls? It should. The more that Marshall catches, the more that other players come open and the more big plays we will see. It was true las year and it is this year as well.

Speaking of the future - I loved that the Broncos when for the big play on 4th and inches at the start of the 4th Q. Moreno could have had 80 yards as easily as 18. Both Graham and Larsen handled their men perfectly. They caught KC in the perfect defensive formation for the playcall and the blocking was once again perfect. Complementary football is a beautiful thing, and watching Moreno make TDs is likely to become something of a habit.

On the following KO, Champ Bailey filled the middle, forcing the returner to pause and giving Mario Haggan (who wasn't credited) and Larsen (who was credited with the tackle) a chance to pounce. That's the kind of thing that only a film review really permits you to enjoy. Quite often, the player who makes the play possible isn't the player who makes the play. That's Broncos football in a nutshell.

Reader Mail

I heard back from Joel Griffin after last BT&N. Nice fellow. He had this to say:

I really enjoyed reading your film breakdown of the Denver Broncos. Without even reviewing the film I could have pointed fingers at Hochstein & Polumbus - but you did an excellent job of highlighting their ridiculous errors. Graham was called for 2 more holding calls on Thanksgiving that resulted in 38 rushing yards coming back for Moreno so I wouldn't go letting him off the hook for his inconsistency yet...

Good points, Joel. Daniel Graham is a huge player, a game-changer when he's on. When he takes a play off by committing a foolish penalty I want to growl at him but he always rebounds for us. That's been a pattern with him for a long time, and he's worth the aggravation of a few plays, although I still hope the grows out of it. I loved his TD play at KC and that's typical of his abilities. Scheffler had a big drop, but also got a PI call that moved the chains and he added a 19 yard reception. I loved seeing Peyton Hillis taking people apart in garbage time. I still think that there's a place for that man in the RB rotation, but time will tell. Buck seems to be chewing up the field again - a 9.4 YPC AVERAGE? Ok, he was a prescient pickup by McD and Co. Nice work by Knowshon Moreno, too. A team ypc of 5.1 really does help the game along...

A Final Thought

One of the things that is being lost in all the perspectives of the last couple of weeks is this: Denver is finally getting to the point where they can be more of a 'big strike' team. No, that doesn't mean that they will change from the short yardage offense that they began with, but it does mean that they have other options when they need them. Marshall's 47 yard run is one example, the increase in longer plays is another. This is a team that is still finding out how good it is. The players needed to get used to the schemes and to each other, but that's happening much as I and many others predicted early in the season. It's great to see.

I'll be back for the usual Thursday Broncos Thoughts and Musings, but too much happened this week to summarize quickly. Let's hope that the injuries are minor, that Denver realizes that they can compete with anyone if they play at their best and that a surprise awaits Indianapolis when we travel there next weekend.

Go Broncos!

Shake, Rattle & Roll: Dumervil's Chase, The Importance of Sacks & Keeping The King in The Building

TJ Johnson — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:30:13 -0000

More photos » by Ed Andrieski - AP

3 months ago: Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler (6) scrambles out of the pocket to avoid the rush of Denver Broncos' Elvis Dumervil (92) during the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game in Denver on Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski )

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It's good to be the king--of sacks.

That's because sacks are critical in today's NFL. Sacks have become such an important part of football, that today they are cause for orgasmic euphoria on the part of players and fans. It seems that this single act of taking the opposing quarterback down two-to-ten yards behind the line of scrimmage is almost on par with touchdowns themselves. Gyrating, break-dancing, and in the case of Shawn Merriman, outright seizures disguised as celebrations are in order after just a single sack.

Deacon Jones might have fathered the sack. Lawrence Taylor might have raised it through adolescence. And Michael Strahan might have helped it pay for college. But today, every roster is filled with a least one player trying to make a real man out of the sack.

That's because some sacks are hellaciously important. Not because Ryan Clady makes a lot of money defending against them. Not because Michael Lewis says so. But because a sack has real value.

So much value, in fact, that the Denver Broncos should resign Elvis Dumervil--before the king leaves the building.

The Temple of "Doom"

Let's start by stating the obvious. Elvis Dumervil is taking a run at the record book in 2009. He's going through left tackles like Al Davis goes through 1st-round draft picks. Dumervil is not only flourishing under the Mike Nolan 3-4, he's getting fat on the hog. With 14 sacks, there's an outside chance he could reach Strahan's single season record of 22.5.

With 5 games remaining, Dumervil needs to average 1.7 sacks/game. While this may appear like a lot, it's certainly within the realm of possibility. Dumervil is already averaging 1.2 sacks/game, so he'd need to amp up his current production slightly. But he's not miles behind Strahan's pace. Let's compare Strahan's 2001 season with Dumvervil's 2009 season through 12 weeks. Keep in mind Strahan had a week-12 bye and Dumervil a week-7 bye.

Strahan was at 15.5 with 5 games remaining, and averaged 1.4 sacks during that last stretch of games to set the bar at 22.5. Can Elvis get on a hot streak? The numbers suggest it's plausible. Here are the sacks/game average of his remaining opponents:

Week 13: Kansas City (3.45 sacks/game)
Week 14: Indianapolis (.909 sacks/game)
Week 15: Oakland (2.7 sacks/game)
Week 16: Philadelphia (2.45 sacks/game)
Week 17: Kansas city (3.45 sacks/game)

The Colts don't allow many sacks, but every other team on the schedule could generate a multi-sack game for Dumervil. Given that Dumvervil is collecting 44% of his team's current sack total, we could take a overly-generalized and wildly simple stab at his potential sack number through the next 5 games:

Week 13: 3.45 X 44% = 1.52 sacks
Week 14: .909 X 44% =.04 sacks
Week 15: 2.7 X 44% = 1.2 sacks
Week 16: 2.45 X 44% = 1.08 sacks
Week 17: 3.45 X 44% = 1.52 sacks
Total Sacks = 5.72 + 14 (current) = 19.72 sacks

We might also simply take his average sacks per game and multiply them by 5 games. Using this method, he would end up with 20.36. Both methods are crude guesses, but no matter how you slice the numbers, it's clear that Dumervil is going to have to increase his production even more over the next five weeks and have. And there's no better way that to increase a player's production than taking on the Chiefs (twice) and the Raiders.

The Value of Sacks

Does all of this really matter or is it just a way for Dumervil to pump up his value for free-agency? Are sacks really that important as Denver makes its playoff push? Are sacks overrated? Just how valuable is a sack? And by default, how valuable is Dumervil?

Statistically, a team's sack total has a moderately-strong correlation to winning. Over the last ten seasons 1999-2008, the correlation coefficient (measure of the strength of the relationship of two variables on a scale of -1 to 1) of a team's sack total to team wins has been .4956. To give you an idea of how this type of correlation ranks with respect to other stats, consider the correlations of my weekly Stats That Don't Lie to team wins over the same time period:

Field Position Differential: .489

Time of Possession:.554

3rd - Down Efficiency: .511

Giveaways: -.486

For those that don't want to be bothered by what this means, simply know that there is a moderate to moderately strong relationship between sacks and wins (say three times fast: correlation is not causation). For those that like this stuff, we know we can square this number and postulate that sacks can explain/account for about 25% of a team's wins over a season. Either way, one would say that sacks have a moderate correlation to winning.

Brian Burke (the best football-stats man going) over at Advanced NFL Stats actually did me one better (this is not exceedingly difficult). Instead of calculating the correlation of stats to wins, he calculated the value of a sack itself. His findings? A sack has a expected point potential of 2 points:

If we average the expected points of all situations in which there wasn't a sack, and compare it with the average expected points following plays that did result in a sack, we get a difference of 2.0 points. In effect, a sack swings the balance of the game by an average of 2 points in favor of the defense, either by forcing a punt or a longer FG try, or even just putting a team in a predictable passing situation. That's a big swing for a single play. A turnover is generally worth 4 points, so a sack could be thought of as half as good as a fumble or interception.

Burke is right. This is a huge swing for one play. Two sacks in one game and you've got the equivalent of an interception or fumble. Three-and-a-half sacks, and your team is getting the equivalent of a touchdown, which was the case when Dumervil had four sacks in one game against Cleveland earlier in the year. It's little wonder then that there's a moderately-strong correlation between winning and sacks.

This allows us to put an approximate point value on Dumervil's sack numbers thus far this year. 28 points. That's quite a contribution from the 4th round draft pick and pint-sized Defensive End. In a season in which the Broncos have scored 196 points, that's a potential whopping 14% of the team's total.

Let's be careful, however. I'm not saying that Dumvervil has actually contributed 28 of Denver's 196 points. We are dealing with averages over time and point potentials. And many variables go into a single pass rush, specifically, coverage and other actions of all of the defensive linemen as a unit. Just last week against the Giants, for example, Vonnie Holliday stunted and took what amounted to three blockers out of the play so that Dumervil could attack up the middle for the sack of Eli Manning. However, the point is sound. Sacks--and Elvis Dumervil--have high value.

Burke's calculation is based the average for all sacks. But we also know intuitively, and without bull-rushing the point with more stats, that not all sacks are created equal. A few points of consideration:

A sack on 3rd or 4th down is more valuable than a sack on 1st or 2nd down. This makes sense if you think about each down as a missed opportunity. On 1st down, if my quarterback is sacked and loses some yards, I've still got options--two to three more downs--to make up for the error. On 3rd (and occasionally 4th) down, a quarterback sack essentially ends the drive right there. There are no more options. I'm punting, or if I'm close enough to my opponent's goal line, I'm going for a field goal. Thus, the sack on 3rd down puts and end to more chances.
A sack is more valuable than a stop because of the loss of yards and the inherent potential for a turnover. Consider the turnover risk to an offense, if on 3rd-and-3, I run right up the middle for 1 yard. I punt the ball and the other team gets a shot. There is more risk involved in dropping back on 3rd-and-3 and having a guy like Elvis Dumervil strip the ball from behind. And if that doesn't happen, at a minimum, my field position will have declined to a greater magnitude that a simple no-gainer.
Like turnovers, a sack later in the game is mover valuable than a sack early in the game. A sack on the 1st play of the game is going to be less valuable to my team than a sack on the last play of the game when the other team has a chance for a game winning pass. This is because in the first example, I've got dozens of drives and almost 4 full quarters to overcome the effect of the sack. On the second, I've no opportunity.
A sack when the game is in question is more valuable than a sack win winning easily. When my team is up by 30 points, a sack is going to be less meaningful than a sack when the game's outcome is still in question. While compiling a couple of extra sacks in scrub time might pad my stats and kick in some incentives in my contract, they are not nearly as valuable to my team.
A sack in my (the defense's) territory is more valuable than a sack in my opponent's (the offense's) territory. This has to do with the potential for points. As my opponent gets closer to my goal line, the chances of my opponent scoring increase. So a sack at my 40-yard line that takes my opponent out of field goal range is going to be more valuable than a sack when my opponent is at his own 30-yard line. The notable exception to this is when my opponent is backed up against his own goal line. In these situations, the possibility of a safety exists, and the point potential (for the defense) increases.

All five of these points may or may not seem logical to you and I, but the NFL doesn't see it this way. A sack is a sack--all of them, created equal.

Dumervil's Body of Work

If we accept our intuition as fact--and in this case it's wise to do so--we can begin to get our hands around the situational value of each of Dumervil's sacks.

Sack # 1 - Cleveland Browns, Week 2

Dumervil's first sack of the season was interesting to say the least. It came on the first play of the 3rd quarter. I would classify it as a coverage sack. However, Dumervil did make a nice power move to the inside after coming off the edge. The sack came out of the a base 5-2 look and it occurred on 1st-and-10 at Cleveland's 23-yard line. At the time, Denver was up only by 4 points, so the game was in question.

Sack # 2 - Cleveland Browns, Week 2

This sack came out of Denver's nickel package and Dumveril simply flew past John Saint Clair for the punishing sack of Brady Quinn. This was all Dumervil. The sack came with 11:19 remaining in the 4th quarter on a 2nd-and-17 at the Cleveland 13-yard line. Denver was up by 14 points

Sack # 3 - Cleveland Browns, Week 2

On the next play (3rd-and-22), Dumervil did the exact same thing to Saint Clair, going around him on the edge. The coverage was also excellent. Denver was again in its nickel package and the sack occurred at the 1-yard line and probably could have been called a safety.

Sack # 4 - Cleveland Browns, Week 2

This came with 7:29 remaining in the 4th quarter on a 3rd-and-1 at the Cleveland 29-yard line. Dumervil again abused Saint Clair with the outside speed rush in the nickel package. Denver was up by 21, however, so there was little doubt as to the outcome of the game.

Sack # 5 - Oakland, Week 3

This sack came with 7:16 in the 3rd quarter on a 3rd-and 10 at the Denver 45-yard line. Dumvervil bull rushed and then spun to the inside to get the sack, but this also had to do a lot with Denver's excellent coverage. Also, Denver was up by 17 points at the time. The came was still in question, but barely.

Sack # 6 - Oakland, Week 3

The sack came with 9:50 remaining in the 4th quarter on a 3rd-and-7 at the Oakland 14-yard line. Dumvervil starts on the outside and then stunts towards the middle and it untouched for the sack. This play essentially pins Oakland against it's goal line and they are forced to punt. With Denver up by 20, however, the game was not in question.

Sack # 7 - Dallas Cowboys, Week 4

The sack came with11:20 remaining in the 1st quarter on a 3rd-and-9 at the Dallas 40-yard line. Dumervil does his classic edge-rush-stop-on-a-dime-then-spin-to-the-inside move against Flozell Adams. Admittedly, the coverage helped him out. The game was very much in question, however, since the score was 0-0 and the Cowboys were force to punt as they were about to enter Denver's territory.

Sack # 8 - Dallas Cowboys, Week 4

The sack came with 7:37 remaining in the 3rd quarter on a 1st-and-10 at the Dallas 31-yard line. This is a coverage sack (out of a base 5-2 formation), but Dumvervil essentially gets under the pads of Adams and just pushes him back into the quarterback. Dallas was ahead by 3 at the time.

Sack # 9 - San Diego Chargers, Week 6

The sack came with 1:52 remaining in the 3rd quarter on a 3rd-and-3 at midfield. This was a speed rush (out of a "big" nickel package) that resulted in a fumble as well by Dumervil. With the Chargers behind only 1 point and driving into Denver territory, this was an exceedingly valuable sack.

Sack #10 - San Diego Chargers, Week 6

The sack came with 12:12 remaining in the 4th quarter on a 3rd-and-14 at the San Diego 23-yard line. Another great edge/speed rush from Dumervil gets Rivers before he can find an open man. The Chargers are forced to punt with Denver only ahead by 4 points at the time.

Sack # 10.5 - Pittsburgh Steelers, Week 8

This sack came with 8:03 remaining in the 1st quarter on a 3rd-and-4 at Pittsburgh's 37-yard line. Dumervil was credited with a half-sack on what really is a coverage sack. Denver was down by 3 a the time.

Sack # 11 - Washington Redskins, Week 10

This sack came with 13:24 remaining in the 3rd quarter on a 3rd-and-7 at Washington's 33-yard line. Dumvervil got credit for half of the sack, but it's the coverage that did it. Give much of the credit to the secondary on this one. Denver was up by 4 when this happened.

Sack # 12 - Washington Redskins, Week 10

The sack came with 8:57 remaining in the 4th quarter on a 1st-and-10 at the Washington 40-yard line. Dumervil came with his classic outside-to-inside move off the right edge out of a base 5-2 formation. The score was tied. This was a very valuable sack.

Sack # 13 - New York Giants, Week 12

This sack came with 2 minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter on a 3rd-and-4 at the Giant's 33-yard line. This was the stunt play (out of nickel coverage) referenced earlier. Thanks to Vonnie Holiday for taking out 3 blockers and allowing the stunt to work. Denver was up 16-0 at this point in the game.

Sack #14, New York Giants, Week 12

Dumervil's latest sack came with 9:08 remaining in the 4th quarter on a 1st-and-10 at the Giant's 32-yard line. Dumervil beats him man with another great outside-speed-inside-stop move and gets the strip-sack fumble. The Broncos recover. The score was 23-6, so the game was probably not in question at this point.

The Verdict

So what can we tell situationally about Dumervil's sacks this year? Quite a few things actually:

1) Dumervil gets a lot of his sacks on 3rd down. 9.5 of his sacks have come on 3rd down.

2) Dumervil gets a lot of his sacks in the 2nd half. 12.5 of his sacks have come in the 2nd half.

3) It's debatable, but I would estimate about 5 of his sacks were purely the result of coverage. I wouldn't consider this a high total.

4) Only 3 of his sacks where when the game was not in question.

5) If you didn't know already, the guy has amazing speed off the edge and an even more amazing ability to stop and get back to the inside.

To me, it's without question that Dumervil demonstrates an extremely high situational value. Some of his sacks have been against weaker opponents (Cleveland, Oakland), but he plays who is on the schedule, and a guy like Jared Allen has 7.5 sacks against the offensive line of the Packers, and people don't seem to mind. Moreover, Dumervil gets his sacks in critical situations with the game on the line and with so many of his sacks coming on 3rd down, he's a one-man-drive killer.

So how much is Dumervil worth in monetary terms?

The Value of "The King"

It's hard to say what will happen next year with the salary cap, but we can already get an idea of Dumervil's value as a free agent by looking at the recent deal struck by DeMarcus Ware of the Dallas Cowboys. The deal was a six-year $78 million deal with $40 million of guaranteed money. In 2008, Jared Allen singed a six-year $73.26 million deal with $31 million of guaranteed money. I believe these two deals (along with Dwight Freeney's $72 million deal) could serve as a benchmark for what Dumervil could be expecting. That is a hell of a lot of money for one guy.

Will Pat Bowlen, Brian Xanders, and Josh McDaniels pay this kind of change for Dumervil? That is the question. My gut tells me they won't, and that's why you saw Mario Haggan sign a modest extension this year along with the draft of Robert Ayers.

But that doesn't mean they shouldn't try to resign him. Sacks have insane value. And so does Dumervil. Every time he puts the quarterback to the turf, he's opening up the door for point potential for Denver. In this light, he's as much of a contributor as an offensive player would be. This team would not have a 7-4 record without him.

Denver should try to keep the king in the building. Right Now.

Injuries and the NFL

Emmett Smith — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:34:36 -0000

More photos » by Jack Dempsey - AP

18 days ago: Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall (15) makes a catch while being defended by New York Giants cornerback Corey Webster (23) during the third quarter of an NFL football game in Denver, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2009. Denver won 26-6. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

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Hidden Injuries and Concussions: The Direction of Healthcare for Players

"A man's own observation, what he finds good of and what he finds hurt of, is the best physic to preserve health." Sir Francis Bacon

It isn't news that football is a rough, hard-hitting sport. Our modern combination of the stratagems of chess and the violence of unarmed territorial warfare has a bare-knuckle history, in which simply being willing to use the forward pass was once considered a sign of weakness; in which playing hurt was and is a mark of excellence rather than a failing and which sometimes pits the health of the players against the financial and strategic considerations of the teams and the league itself. Football is still constantly finding and reinventing itself, just as it has over the past 100 years. One thing that has changed over those scores of years is the perspective of players and fans alike: We are discovering that while we will cheer on anything that brings victory a step closer, fans and the league increasingly also want the best for the health of the players. It's leading to a sea-change in the way that we observe and handle the issues of injury in the NFL.

The owners and players alike are also embroiled in a burgeoning snare on the subject of healthcare practices by the teams. The NFL has been guilty of fighting a rear-guard action against the rights of the players to obtain a fair and unbiased diagnosis when problems don't respond to the normal or entrenched processes of diagnosis and treatment. This has long been a serious concern within the league, but both the owners and the players' sides have generally avoided any actions that could threaten their own situations. While I'd prefer to see an even higher level of leadership on the issues of player healthcare, certain steps are being taken, and I don't minimize that fact. It's a welcome change, and it is getting more central to the situation each day.

In the past year, the AFC has brought forth a couple of prime examples of the difficulties and the contradictions that are created by this problem. Denver fans were treated to this up close as Brandon Marshall, last summer, chose to vent in the media about his issues regarding his hip injury. In San Diego, Antonio Cromartie also dealt with the subject of a hip injury that tainted his last season. The two cases, while similar on the surface, seem somewhat different as we dig deeper.

Marshall's case tells us something that is often hard for fans to understand. In medicine, even if everything is done properly there is no assurance that the league's doctors (or any others) will ever be able to spot and treat every problem, every time. Marshall complained of pain in his hip during the 2008 season, but despite two series of MRIs (magnetic resonance imaging, one of the most advanced diagnostic tests currently available) nothing appeared on the films. Marshall felt betrayed by this turn of events. While Brandon's disquietude about last year's injury is understandable, he was also ignoring something that people may misunderstand: Our current levels of diagnostic testing simply don't show all injuries. The magnetic resonance imaging process is a remarkable and valuable tool most of the time, but there are many kinds of joint injuries that simply don't show up on that scan. He received two such scans, and both came back 'clean', making it impossible for the team doctors to make a further diagnosis at that time. Marshall is expecting all tests to show accurately and fully the problems that he experienced, and that just isn't reasonable. But there is a precedent here that entitles him to wonder and to need reassurance on this subject: The NFL has been complicit in the past regarding poor diagnosis and care of injuries.

As is sometimes the case, Marshall should also reflect on the fact that he has a history of being less than fully concerned with his practicing and playing time. Ironically, this time he was actually injured. In 2007, Mike Shanahan had to threaten him to get him back to practice during training camp. It seems likely that his previous incident influenced the coaches inappropriately but understandably. Moving forward, it's worth noting that neither side was at fault when he had physical issues last summer, and that's exactly what both sides want.

It was a very different case regarding Cromartie's hip-injury situation. As Michael Silver noted in his June 2, 2009 column, Cromartie suffered a broken hip in the second quarter of SD's Week 2, 2008 game against Carolina, yet he played out the season on that fracture. Cromartie's performance suffered greatly that season, and he's been on record as feeling that the hip injury was at the heart of that drop-off. The team, in degree, countered that it was up to him to make it clear how bad his situation was becoming. While it's fair to say that he needed to step up and be more proactive regarding his health, there are at least four reasons why that wasn't done:

Because the owners and management don't want to hear it. Right now, the team's physicians are paid for by the individual teams. As long as that's true, the diagnosis can always be suspect if it later appears that everything necessary wasn't done. Since every team has to have a medical staff, those same dollars could be provided by an independent medical house operating within, but not as a part of the league. That would go a long way to creating at least an appearance of propriety. There isn't going to be a perfect solution to this one, but we can at least make an effort.
Because the fans don't want to hear it. Spend a little extra time this season paying attention to the waves of accusations on the internet that this player or that one is 'soft'. People are people, and the willingness to believe that others should live up to a standard that none of us would want to is just an aberrant part of human tendencies.
Because the coaches don't want to hear it. Coaches famously believe that letting another team know what your weaknesses are will mean more losses, and in a league where the coaches keep their jobs by winning, anything that smacks of a lost edge is going to be ignored whenever possible.
Because the players themselves don't want to hear it. Players don't get points or paychecks for sitting on the bench or in the whirlpool. They lose their jobs. Just as difficult, the players who feel themselves to macho to admit how much pain they're in will often later argue that their pains should have received greater credence. They also are in a Catch-22 - if they don't say something, later that can come back on them. If they do, they run the risk of incurring the team and/or the coaches discomfort, as well as it influencing their own professional self-image. There is no perfect solution for human nature, but improvement should be possible with a better dialogue among the parties involved here.

Concussions and the Players

The most most important coverage that the players have been receiving of late has centered on the issue of head injuries. Long misunderstood, traumatic brain injuries have been a thorn in the side of healthcare because we have tended to take a particular position regarding them. In medicine, we have often been guilty of trying to apply 'scientific' standards that are contrary to common sense and personal respect. We have often claimed that if our testing doesn't clearly show a particular symptom or disease state, the problem doesn't exist. Because our testing abilities have lagged behind the severity of the problem in the past, we lacked a definitive test for head injuries. Doctors have too often used this as a crutch to claim that we can't observe the symptoms and believe the patient regarding them. Problems with pain have presented us the opportunity to avoid the problem, rather than a chance to improve our diagnostic abilities. That has led to problems, since we like to claim that the players are 'faking' their problems. It's been a neat way to avoid accepting responsibility to the damage that the game has done to thousands of retired players. Finally, testing and research have improved, and the problem is being approached more directly. We are beginning to see that change.

Dr. Ira Casson has become a lightning rod for anger on the part of the players and the public. He was formerly the co-chair of the concussion committee. Casson has consistently taken the perspective that we can't diagnose mild-to-moderate traumatic brain injuries, that the major concussions are not the problem that many now feel that they present and that the NFL has done everything possible and reasonable under the circumstances. The only problem with his position is that he reached it before sufficient research was done and he has maintained that position despite mounting evidence that he's wrong. He's the problem in miniature, a perfect example of why not enough has been done, but things are happening that show people like him for the paid shills that some of them are. As a result of public opinion and even congressional distaste for their position, the owners are accepting of the fact that the status quo won't stand. On Tuesday, Casson and another doctor, Dr. David Viano, both offered their resignations. Goodell has promised to replace them with individuals whose agendas are based in medicine, rather than politics.

Even with the improvement offered by the replacement of these two men, it's important to note just how it was that they came to be heading this committee. They were brought in to replace Dr. Elliot Pellman, who resigned in 2007 after strong criticism of his work and indications that he had exaggerated several aspects of his medical education and professional status in official biographical sketches and a résumé prepared for Congress. Since the NFL let him go to bring in two more doctors whose professional ethics seem less than optimal, you can understand if the players don't embrace the new hires with open arms..

The Concussion Dilemma

When treating a problem, the first thing that you have to do is to be able to diagnose it. One of the problems in doing so is the crying lack of understanding of the concussion problem on the part of the coaches and players. Consider these quotes from AP, posted on nfl.com:

"You know how a bell vibrates? That's how my brain was going at that time," Cartwright said. "I think five minutes later, I came back to myself. I went back out there and played football."

"You get back up, and things are spinning," Giants backup quarterback David Carr said, "but you don't tell anyone."

Now the NFL wants players to keep tabs on each other and tell their teams if they believe someone else has a head injury.

"Part of the game," Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Deshea Townsend said.

"We're obviously concerned by the data and by the information," NFLPA assistant executive director George Atallah said. "We believe that there's more relevant data and information that the league has on these issues that we'd like for them to share with us in confidence."

During the AP interviews, some players quickly replied that they never had a concussion, then realized they weren't sure, such as Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive tackle Chris Hovan a 10-year veteran, who said: "I probably was just too young and too dumb to realize it."

Not that it's necessarily easy to miss -- or mask -- the symptoms.

"Everyone can clearly see that you have a concussion: You are walking around like you are drunk," Seattle Seahawks' defensive back Roy Lewis said.

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Bobby Wade told the AP he has never tried to hide a concussion but is sure it happens frequently in the NFL.

"You see guys with their eyes rolling in the back of their heads," he said. "You see guys shaking their head trying to get it together. If there was a doctor evaluating them, I'm sure they would say, 'Your brain has taken trauma.'"

In addition to these quotes, Vonnie Holliday, defensive end for the Denver Broncos stated, "(It's like) being in a car crash 20, 30 times a game. I do often think about the damage I'm doing to my brain and my nervous system. When does it catch up with you?"

What these quotes show concerns me deeply: There is still a great deal of misinformation out there. Contrary to what Roy Lewis and others believe, everyone cannot see that you have a concussion. Quite the contrary - one of the great problems with concussion is that many of them have hidden perils. People who know you may not understand why you've begun to become less focused or more irritable, but the symptoms may be hard to separate out from day to day life. Players believe that if they had a concussion they'd know it, but the reality is that most concussed individuals really can't tell at all. As the number of concussions - and this includes the so-called 'minor' concussions, which can easily become cumulative - the player himself may not have a clear way to tell if he's not improving or is getting worse.

One part of the solution has been identifying cutting-edge clinical environments like the University of Pittsburgh, where first Michael Westbrook and then Clinton Portis went to have their concussions checked and their future play considered. There is no lack of good facilities that can help the NFL with this problem. The problem has been getting the NFL to make use of the independent programs that are already in existence. By adding their expertise to the formula, the players can be assured of getting high-quality, independent healthcare advice. That provides a precedent that should be widely applied.

A Word from The Dude: Gambling, Fantasy Football, and Injury Reports

The NFL is no stranger to gambling. Even its founders had links to legal gambling with the likes of bookmaker Tim Mara (grandfather of Giants owner John Mara) and Art Rooney, who, in part used his winnings from gambling to buy the Pittsburgh Steelers (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124511421029417367.html). The recent NFL, however, has tried to distance itself from the gambling industry, while at the same time benefiting outrageously from the NFL's popularity with gamblers. In any given year, there can be in upwards of $100 million wagered on the Super Bowl alone. And there are hundreds of millions more being wagered during the season.

The somewhat recent popularity of fantasy football has also provided a boon to the NFL. It's estimated that almost 20 million people play fantasy football and it's annual revenues are somewhere in the range of $3 billion (http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201804513). Fantasy football encourages fans to watch more games until the final whistle, and follow more teams and players--all in turn benefit the NFL's lucrative TV deals.

Which brings us to the weekly injury reports each team puts out during the season. Have you ever asked yourself why they exist at all? Sure, on one level, they exists to make sure each team has a "level playing field" as they prepare for each other. But that's hardly the real reason. The real reason injury reports exist is for fantasy football and for gambling, not for player safety.

Before we assume nefarious behavior on the part of the NFL, there's a legitimate reason for this. As Mike Sliver points out in his excellent column from Yahoo Sports from June 2nd, 2009, "...the NFL's [injury] policy isn't a principled stand for truth and transparency. Rather, the league is looking out for the interests of gamblers - not altruistically, but in an effort to keep them at bay. If injuries are reported in a uniform and reasonably accurate manner by all teams, there is a far lesser chance that high-stakes gambling interests might be empowered to purchase inside information from, say, an assistant equipment manager in the know."

In other words, the NFL is the ultimate want-your-cake-and-eat-it-too league. On one hand, they are happy to gorge themselves on the TV deals, advertising revenues, and merchandise sales that are driven by a gambling and fantasy football crazed populace, but at the same time, they don't want to be influenced directly by these powerful concerns. Unfortunately, player safety hasn't been included with the cake. That is slowly starting to change. - TJ

NFL Spine Centers

There are good steps being taken that I want to support and publicize. In one, the NFL has opened a series of what are being called Spine Centers. Spinal impacts also can have extended neurological effects. Given the nature of the sport, that is going to happen in some cases, but such problems have to be expertly diagnosed and extensively monitored. I wanted to take this opportunity to extend my thanks and appreciation to the new NFL Spine Centers. These centers may end up providing a partial template for addressing concerns like the one's listed here.

The NFL Spine Centers are a response to the adage that an ounce of prevention will save a ton of greenbacks, not to mention a life of pain. Early diagnosis and treatment is the cornerstone to an effective approach to minimizing the difficulties of living with long-term spinal damage by the retired NFL players. Each medical center provides an orthopedic spine surgeon who serves as a program director and coordinates the services of a team of healthcare professionals in the evaluation and treatment of the former players. The team includes a neurosurgeon and a physiatrist as well as a wide spectrum of other professionals. While the next step can and should be the formation of similar centers for current players, I want to applaud all sides for putting together and funding this project.

It's a good first step and it may provide a template for a way to improve the situation. Each team currently maintains its own staff of paid doctors who are responsible for decisions regarding the players' health. Since those physicians are paid by the teams, questions of conflict of interest are inevitable. Anytime you see a situation like Marshall's or Cromartie's, you have to question whether or not the doctors involved let their loyalty to their source of income overcome their oath to the profession. Since you cannot fully discern where such a line gets drawn, it becomes necessary to consider the possibility of having a neutral party in on the decisions. In this case, the Spine Centers provide that party. Congratulations, folks. Well done!

Solutions

There has been considerable movement on this group of subjects, those that involve the health and healthcare of the players. Rodger Goodell has been making an attempt to be fair in his handling of this circumstance. A committee of current and former coaches, led by legendary former coach John Madden, a master of malapropisms, speaks by phone with Goodell every three weeks about safety issues and reports to the league's competition committee. Madden's group will make formal recommendations in February.

Tony Dungy has also stepped in -- The league selected the former player and coach to coordinate the Player Advisory Forum. Dungy, who brings an instant air of respectability, will select players to attend meetings in various cities around the league to receive input, comments and criticism about various league matters, including the NFL's player conduct policy and player safety issues. Among those whose knowledge he is drawing on are Broncos safety Brian Dawkins, linebacker Ray Lewis and quarterback Kurt Warner.

USA Today's Jarrett Bell has reported that the NFLPA has formed its first committee on head injuries just in the past few weeks. While long overdue, I applaud the steps that are being taken. Their committee is being headed by Arizona Cardinals special teams ace Sean Morey. The NFLPA has identified head injuries as a priority that they will continue to address during the new CBA negotiations. The recent congressional hearings also have shown a public spotlight on the problem and that makes it less likely that the owners and management group will be able to sweep this under the mat any longer.

The plight of retired NFL players has drawn increased scrutiny as well. Former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka has been instrumental in getting this problem into the public spotlight. Punch-drunk ex-players, many (most) of whom are also suffering rheumatic and degenerative physical conditions are a substantial and growing problem and that has now been accepted as fact by all but the most recalcitrant doctors and authorities. Funding the solutions will be a constant fight, but the simple agreement that a problem exists is a step in the right direction.

All parties will now agree, at least in principle, something needs to be done to address this. The NFL has drawn a lot of well-deserved flack for the fact that they battled against admitting this problem to exist, but they have been exposed recently. House committee hearings served to remind the owners that they have an anti-trust exemption at the whim of Congress and that violations of the public trust can lead to changes in that exemption.

Where Do We Go from Here?

As the Collective Bargaining Agreement lapses, this is a good time for the NFLPA to bring the subjects to the bargaining table. Otherwise, fully funding insurance, health care costs and retirement for players whose bodies have been decimated by the game of football could eventually bankrupt the sport. Look at the situation with General Motors for a down-the-pike, real-world example of the issues that the NFL may end up facing. It is essential to the long-term health of the sport as well as its players that the situation be looked at objectively and that steps must be taken to solve this growing problem.

Making sure that players have access to outside, neutral second opinions is a minor step in this process. Establishing protections for players who admit to the severity of their injuries will at times be difficult, but initial steps in that direction should be considered. The game is tainted when players are forced to play when dangerously injured. Giving them a chance to deal appropriately with their injuries when they occur (rather than after the site of injury has been increasingly damaged by playing through them) would save big dollars down the road. It would also permit those athletes the recognition of a measure of decency and humanity.

Since the dollars are going to be spent on doctors and equipment which have the responsibility for giving unbiased diagnosis and rational treatment to players when the players are injured, it behooves the sport to lock into the next agreement a provision that will establish a system that is independent of the owners purse strings. We know from history that such system are flawed from their inception: healthcare has to be independent of financial rewarding of the doctors by one side or the other if it is to be accurate and fair. Whose pockets this comes from is an important question: the players will benefit the most from such a change and they should look at their own responsibility in funding part of the costs. The owners now cover such costs and they should not be permitted to foot-drag in donating a similar percentage to the solution. Again, the Spine Centers have provided a basis to discuss this further. We also have the growing influence of Sean Morey's group, Dungy's group and John Madden's committee. Ditka and other have brought the problems of retired players into the public eye. There is a growing sense of optimism regarding the direction the circumstances are going it.

Whatever the final solution or solutions may be, it should live up to the following standards: It must be financially independent of either side. It should take advantage of facilities, clinics and programs that already exist and which are considered at or near the top in their fields. There must be a high level of transparency, with the results available to all appropriate parties. Last, all new research must be openly explored and embraced in an attempt to continue to improve the quality of care for the players, past, present and future.

You can see the change beginning. The NY Times had this to say:

"George Atallah, the players union's assistant executive director for external affairs, said in an e-mail message that his organization had been speaking with N.F.L. officials for two weeks about implementing some sort of independent scrutiny for players who receive concussions - perhaps including an outside doctor present at every game. He said that the union's medical director, Dr. Thom Mayer, "has personally approved and reviewed doctors for roughly one-third of the teams," suggesting that the union would cooperate on the program."

In addition, Commissioner Roger Goodell has agreed that bringing in more outside specialists is in everyone's best interest. These are decisions that are going in the right direction for the players and for the sport.

On Monday, November 23, 2009 Thom Mayer announced that 1/2 the NFL teams, plus the players union have agreed upon independent specialists (up from 1/3) to evaluate head injuries. While the other half of the teams need to get on with their obligations, this is a wonderful step in an important direction. Using this same approach to redesigning the medical system in the NFL is an ongoing challenge, but moving in the direction of independent examination and treatment is a huge step.

Whatever decisions are made will influence the lives, health and happiness of generations of NFL players. For their sakes, the sake of their families and for our own moral responsibilities, we have an obligation to get this one right. The enjoyment that we receive from watching this dynamic and remarkable sport should not be diminished by a realization that we are skimping on the quality of care that the players receive.

Finally, we have to see this as an opportunity as well as an imperative. Individual opinions will vary in different situations, but the overall road map to the future should not be drawn, as it often has been, in the blood of the players themselves. Our willingness to demand, as fans, a quality system for caring for the players will influence Congress, balance the preferences of the ownership and management groups and provide an impetus for the improvement of the current system to improve and to emphasize an openness to future changes as well. The field of healthcare is moving rapidly and many changes are being made that will provide a higher level of care for everyone in the future. We must demand that such advances be implemented whenever they are discovered.

Finally, the players themselves must see that they are a great resource for further research into the problems created by trauma and impact. They should make themselves available for such testing as may provide clues to better methods of diagnosis and treatment as time unfolds. This hasn't been employed sufficiently to date, but the demise of the Collective Bargaining agreement will inevitably create an opportunity for improving the lives and care of the players and for the rest of society, which may benefit from what we learn by studying the problems that players experience.

Fans, doctors, owners, management and players all bear a responsibility in this circumstance. Each group needs to step up and to provide the best effort they can, so that the game can be enjoyed for generations yet to come. I salute their efforts.

Many thanks to The Dude for his contributions to this article

Poll

Is the NFL doing enough to protect its players' health?

Yes

42 votes

It's hard to achieve, but they're trying

176 votes

They're dragging their feet, but they're starting to move forward

140 votes

No, they're not doing enough

76 votes

434 votes | Poll has closed

It's time -- already -- to think about the Broncos

Ed Valentine — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 11:00:14 -0000

Since we need to turn our attention to the Denver Broncos, thought I'd break out a little something special for you today. If you have never seen this before, this is Romi Bean, the "official" Big Blue View Giants cheerleader. Romi is actually a Broncos cheerleader.

This is, of course, a short week for our New York Giants. No more time to celebrate Sunday's victory over the Atlanta Falcons.

The Giants play the Broncos Thursday in Denver. So, time to forget the Falcons and think about the Broncos.

(By the way, I figured the "bonus" cheerleader shot would be a good way to get your attention.)

The short week and having to travel all the way to the Mile High City are hardly ideal circumstances. John Mara has made his feelings known to the league about the schedule, but the truth is that really doesn't matter.

If they are going to make the playoffs, this is a game the Giants need to win. Crappy scheduling or not.

And, in reality, it is a game they SHOULD win.

Yes, the Broncos are at home, making the short week easier on them. Yes, their 6-4 record is identical to the Giants.

Truthfully, though, they are a team on the verge of imploding from within. They have lost four straight games. They are fighting with each other. Their inexperienced rookie head coach is showing immaturity instead of leadership.

In short, the Broncos -- who did the Giants one better by starting the season 6-0 -- are a mess.

Here is Yahoo! Sports columnist Michael Silver writing about the bumbling Broncos.

When a football team’s identity disintegrates more abruptly than a Rocky Mountain landslide, the fallout is seldom pretty, and the scenes that played out Sunday afternoon at Invesco Field were predictably tumultuous.

From Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels’ pregame trash-talking to theSan Diego Chargers’ linebackers, to a conspicuous sideline spat between wideout Brandon Marshall and rookie halfback Knowshon Moreno the home team displayed all the symptoms of collapse.

Things got so bad early in the fourth quarter of a 32-3 defeat to the Chargers that in the Broncos’ defensive huddle, veteran defensive end Vonnie Holliday felt compelled to call out the quitters in his midst.

"Listen," Holliday said, "we’re gonna watch this film [Monday], and we’re gonna see who lay down and who stepped up. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie. And then we’ll know who we can go to war with to fight our way out of this."

Three weeks into a calamitous month that has seen them go from the NFL’s most stunning Super Bowl contender to a train wreck in the making, the Broncos have lost that loving feeling, perhaps on a permanent basis.

On Oct. 19, when Denver rolled to a 34-23 Monday night victory over the Chargers in San Diego to improve to 6-0, McDaniels’ team was heralded as the epitome of selflessness, a collection of role players who didn’t care who got the credit.

Now, as Holliday’s warning demonstrated, the Broncos are preoccupied with whom to blame for their dramatic freefall.

Denver quarterback Kyle Orton had this to say about his fading team.

"It's past the point of talking about execution or running the ball or passing the ball," Orton said. "I'm done feeling the loss. I'm sick of it ? It's been a long time since we've won, so let's get back on the field and win a game. That's all we are talking about from here on out is just winning ? It's just gotta stop."

For his part, McDaniels gave a bunch of coach-speak when asked about dealing with his struggling team.

"It’s a tough season; it’s a tough season every year. I think you don’t go into it expecting to deal with four-game losing streaks, but I don’t know if you go into it expecting to have six-game winning streaks, either. We play a good team every week, that’s how this league is. It’s a harsh league if you don’t play and coach as well as you can or as well as the other team on the other side of the ball coaches and plays. You learn a harsh lesson that weekend. We have had a few here in a row that certainly hasn’t sat well with our team, myself and our staff. I am eager to get back out there and coach again.

"The only way to get past these things is to work hard, try to put together a great plan, a great week of preparation and try and go out there and coach and play your best against another good football team."

So, yes, the Giants are no longer on the hot seat as the team that got off to the fastest start and took the biggest dive. That honor now belongs to the Broncos. Now, the Giants just need to keep Denver down.

Horse Tracks 11/23/09 - Chargers dominate Broncos, take over first place; Raiders & Chiefs pull off big upsets

Douglas A. Lee — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:00:15 -0000

Good Morning, MHR Friends. Try to keep your chins up; obviously things are not very good right now, but the Broncos still control their own destiny. While they wouldn't be in the playoffs if the season were to end today, they're still 6-4 and a victory Thursday would be a huge lift. I was unable to see yesterday's game, so I obviously can't say anything about how they played or the coaching decisions. Personally, I am surprised by how far and quickly the Broncos have fallen; while we knew they weren't loaded with deep talent, they didn't make a lot of mistakes through six games. I knew they would lose some games, but I never foresaw those defeats arriving in an avalanche of turnovers, penalties and poor discipline. Obviously, my prediction that Denver would hold a 3-game lead today in the AFC West couldn't have been farther from the truth. Let's just hope Kyle's ankle continues to heal and we show up on Thursday night.

NFL - San Diego Chargers 32 at Denver Broncos 3 - Box Score

NFL - Chargers 32, Broncos 3 - Video highlights with radio calls

DB - Chargers Postgame: Report - Broncos TV

DB - Chargers Postgame: McDaniels - Broncos TV

DPP - Broncos lose hold on lead in AFC West - Mike Klis

CSG - Broncos should learn from Chargers' ability to rebound - David Ramsey
"There were guys on the sideline who weren’t angry, who didn’t have a lot of emotion," Marshall said. "They need to look themselves in the mirror."

NYT - N.F.L. to Shift in Its Handling of Concussions - Alan Schwarz

DB - Chargers Postgame: Orton - Broncos TV

DB - Mistakes Prove Costly - Gray Caldwell

DB - Courage Under Center - Zach Eisendrath

NFL GameDay - Chargers vs. Broncos highlights - Video

DPP - Analysis: Rivers-led Chargers run through Denver defense - Jeff Legwold
"In four career starts at Invesco Field at Mile High, Rivers is now 3-1 and has been sacked a grand total of two times in those four games."

DPP - Rivers in protective custody as line holds Denver in check - Mike Chambers

DPP - Tempers flare on Broncos' sideline - Lindsay Jones

DPP - Broncos perfecting the fade route - Jim Armstrong
"The Broncos have become the NFL's premier flash-and-crash franchise."

DPP - They've come undone - Mark Kiszla
"We lost composure, and that's probably what's so disheartening about this loss," said veteran Broncos defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday. "The mental and psychological part of it, the letdown, the breakdown."

DPP - Cheers to jeers to howls - Woody Paige
"Chris Simms is a bust as a quarterback. Everybody found out he, and I, were wrong."

DPP - No. 7: Broncos need to roll with the tide - John Elway

CSG - Simms start questioned as Chargers pound Broncos - Frank Schwab

CSG - Moreno, Marshall have words - Frank Schwab

CSG - Broncos breakdown vs. Chargers - Frank Schwab

SI - San Chargers leaving Denver Broncos behind in AFC West - Don Banks

Y! - Broncos go from NFL darlings to disaster - Mike Silver
"Things got so bad early in the fourth quarter of a 32-3 defeat to the Chargers that in the Broncos’ defensive huddle, veteran defensive end Vonnie Holliday(notes) felt compelled to call out the quitters in his midst. "Listen," Holliday said, "we’re gonna watch this film [Monday], and we’re gonna see who lay down and who stepped up. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie. And then we’ll know who we can go to war with to fight our way out of this.""

NFL - Chargers hoping latest surge powers them into February - Vic Carucci

FH - Chargers Nearly Drive Broncos to Blows - Nancy Gay

ESPN - History regurgitated: Denver's done - Gene Wojciechowski

FOX - Chargers still going up, Broncos still heading down - Alex Marvez

ESPN - Broncos' bravado doesn't work this time - Bill Williamson

FH - Orton's Return Opens NFL's Stretch Run - Dave Goldberg

AP - Denver Broncos Lose 4th Straight, Division Lead - Arnie Stapleton

Chargers News

SDUT - Chargers win fifth in a row, alone in first place - Kevin Acee

SDUT - McDaniels' trash talk laid to waste - Kevin Acee

SDUT - Turnovers truly tasty for defense - Chris Jenkins

SDUT - Complete-game victory achieved - Kevin Acee

SDUT - Blindsided, kick and talk both backfire - Chris Jenkins

SDUT - This time, Rivers not faced with mad rush - Tim Sullivan

SDUT - Grading the Chargers - Tim Sullivan

NCT - Bolts beat Broncos, take command of AFC West - Scott Bair

NCT - Win puts Bolts in charge of division - Jay Paris

NCT - Defense steps up in red zone - Scott Bair

NCT - Report card - Jay Paris

NCT - O-line gets job done against Broncos - Scott Bair

Giants News

NYT - Giants Win in Overtime to End Losing Streak at Four - Joe LaPointe

NYT - Giants Open Thread: A Win, but What About the Defense? - Ernie Palladino

FH - Despite Win, Giants Are Still in Trouble - Dan Graziano

NYDN - Eli Manning keeps New York Giants' season alive with OT win over Atlanta Falcons - Tim Smith

NYDN - New York Giants almost give away another before beating Atlanta Falcons in overtime, 34-31 - Ralph Vacchiano

NYDN - Hurt Antonio Pierce says he can play with New York Giants despite doctors orders to sit out - Matt Gagne

NYDN - After bye week, TE Kevin Boss catches two score for New York Giants - Kristie Ackert

NYDN - Lawrence Tynes keep cool, boots OT field goal for New York Giants - Ralph Vacchiano

NFL Results

NFL - Pittsburgh Steelers 24 at Kansas City Chiefs 27

NFL - Cincinnati Bengals 17 at Oakland Raiders 20

NFL - Indianapolis Colts 17 at Baltimore Ravens 15

NFL - Washington Redskins 6 at Dallas Cowboys 7

NFL - Cleveland Browns 37 at Detroit Lions 38

NFL - San Francisco 49ers 24 at Green Bay Packers 30

NFL - Buffalo Bills 15 at Jacksonville Jaguars 18

NFL - Seattle Seahawks 9 at Minnesota Vikings 35

NFL - Atlanta Falcons 31 at New York Giants 34

NFL - New Orleans Saints 38 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7

NFL - Arizona Cardinals 21 at St. Louis Rams 13

NFL - New York Jets 14 at New England Patriots 31

NFL - Philadelphia Eagles 24 at Chicago Bears 20

AFC West News

SFC - A quarterback change they can believe in - David White

SFC - Gradkowski has energy Raiders need - Scott Ostler

OT - Bruce Gradkowski gives boost to Raiders' QB situation - Monte Poole

OT - Raiders defense finally gets some help from the offense - Jerry McDonald

OT - Raiders dedicated win to lost teammate Marquis Cooper - Steve Corkran

KCS - Chiefs get much-needed 27-24 overtime victory against Steelers - Kent Babb

KCS - Chiefs coach Haley shows how far he’s come - Jason Whitlock

KCS - Charles delivers big plays for Chiefs - Adam Teicher

KCS - Cassel comes through under pressure again for Chiefs - Kent Babb

KCS - Studebaker makes the most of his first start for Chiefs - Adam Teicher

KCS - Chiefs notebook | Roethlisberger knocked out - Adam Teicher

NFL News

NFL - Packers waiting for information on injuries to Kampman, Harris

NFL - Redskins' Betts, Rinehart severely injured; Portis already ruled out

NFL - Bills RB Lynch injures shoulder, C Wood breaks leg vs. Jaguars

NFL Opinion

SI - Steelers, Ravens stumble to set up must-win game - Don Banks

NFL - AFC North leaders suffer humiliating losses to AFC West doormats - Bucky Brooks

SI - Matthew Stafford, Matt Cassel lead way in NFL Week 11 - Peter King

SN - Week 11 Checkdown: Saints, Colts no longer the NFL's best teams - Vinnie Iyer

NFL - Playoff picture muddied further with loss by Ravens, other hopefuls - Steve Wyche

Y! - Stafford, Quinn provide shine for tarnished clubs - Charles Robinson

CBS - Week 11 Judgements: Time to stow AFC North's anointing oil - Clark Judge

ESPN - Last Call: Wrapping up Week 11 - John Clayton

NYT - Week 11 in Quotations: The Good, the Bad and the Hard to Believe - Andrew Das

CBS - What Welker lacks in size, he makes up for in toughness - Pete Prisco

SN - Colts underrated despite unblemished record - Clifton Brown

PFW - Lowly Bills thinking big for 2010

SN - Bears' Cutler proving inadequate in prime time - Vinnie Iyer

Poll

How many wins do you expect the Broncos to finish with in 2009?

8 or fewer

210 votes

9

316 votes

10

242 votes

11 or 12

41 votes

809 votes | Poll has closed

Horse Tracks 11/22/09 - Vonnie Holliday says Broncos have lacked "fire and attention to detail"

Douglas A. Lee — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:25:48 -0000

DB - Matchup: Broncos vs. Chargers - Broncos TV
You think BDawk will become a motivational speaker when he hangs em up? Holy smokes...

DPP - Look for Simms to be starting QB - Mike Klis & Lindsay Jones

DPP - Broncos QB Simms welcomes start if Orton can't play vs. Chargers - Jim Armstrong

DPP - World of hurt just a QB's life - Mike Klis

DPP - Late start doesn't hinder Goodman - Lindsay Jones

FOX - Broncos could be headed for another big slide - Alex Marvez
"We didn't come back with that same fire and attention to detail," Holliday said. "You hate to say it, but you know the old saying, 'You drink the Kool-Aid?' We got full of it. When you look at our roster, we don't have all the Pro Bowl players. We're not the Dallas Cowboys, where they say they have all the talent. We're just a group of hard-working, blue-collar guys who work together to get it done. When we win games, that's the way it's going to be. For the past three weeks, we have not done that."

DPP - Look who's talking Hall - Mike Klis
"It's doubtful an outpouring of fan support for Shannon Sharpe today will influence Hall voters Kent Somers and John Clayton into squeezing the former Broncos tight end on their final five-man — and only five — modern-era ballot in a year when Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith are locks, Tim Brown, Cris Carter, John Randle and Aeneas Williams are deserving, and Charles Haley, Richard Dent and Russ Grimm have been waiting."

DB - A Closer Look: San Diego Chargers - Gray Caldwell

DP - Perhaps a break for Peyton Hillis - Mike Klis

DPP - Huge rematch way too early - Woody Paige

CSG - Sunday looms as de facto title game for Broncos - Frank Schwab

DP - Taking a stand on Orton ankle injury: hurt vs. hero - Mark Kiszla
"OK, riddle me this: If there's a severe ankle injury to be treated, why did Orton stand on it in his uniform and watch Denver lose to the Redskins? Was the Broncos' training staff saving the bags of ice for soft drinks on the plane ride home? It made zero sense. I'm not questioning this quarterback's courage or integrity, but Orton's judgment was iffy."

KDVR - All Charged Up? - Zubin Mehenti

GJS - Broncos won't be able to slow San Diego - Rick Jussel

Chargers News

SDUT - Chargers, Rivers ready for blitzing Broncos - Kevin Acee

SDUT - Chargers at Broncos: Five things to watch - Jay Posner

SDUT - Predictions: Chargers vs. Broncos

NCT - Bolts, Broncos face a must win - Scott Bair

AFC West News

KCS - Chiefs' Haley coaches by the book - Kent Babb

KCS - Chiefs-Steelers scouting report - Adam Teicher

KCS - Bowe a victim of the win-at-all-costs pressure - Jason Whitlock

SFC - With Russell benched, critics focus on receiver - David White

SFC - Chargers are masters of the strong finish - David White

SFC - Raiders could wind up in Santa Clara with 49ers - Phillip Matier & Andrew Ross

NFL News

NFL - Saturday Injury Reports

NFL - Retired coach Holmgren 'absolutely would love' to chat with Browns

NFL Opinion

PFW - Chiefs' Smith will see role grow soon - AFC Whispers
"Broncos RB Correll Buckhalter, a ninth-year veteran, told PFW he's been impressed with rookie Knowshon Moreno, and the two have already formed quite a bond. "I feel like I'm his big brother," Buckhalter said. "I like him because I feel like he listens and he doesn't act like he knows everything, like some rookies do coming into the league. He wants to be good.""

PFW - Will Jackson push Eagles for more money? - NFC Whispers

CST - Bears' history with QBs indicates systemic problem - Carol Slezak

NYT - Under Mangini, Cleveland Browns Are a Team in Turmoil - Judy Battista

NYT - Why Are Interim Coaches More Successful in Baseball Than In Football? - George Bretherton

Picks/Previews

NFL - Points made: Potent offenses help mask defensive deficiencies - Pat Kirwan

NFP - Weekend Notes: Key NFC battles - Matt Bowen

DPP - Road warriors keep chalking up wins - Jeff Legwold

FOX - Countdown: Previewing the Week 11 games - John Czarnecki

FH - The Once-Over: Week 11 - Knox Bardeen

Broncos Thoughts & Musings, Part 3: Ravens Week

Emmett Smith — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:30:20 -0000

More photos » by Jack Dempsey - AP

2 months ago: Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels reacts to the game winning touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the fourth quarter of an NFL football game Sunday, Oct. 4, 2009, in Denver. (AP Photo/ Jack Dempsey )

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I found myself looking around the 'Net at stats and articles, as I often do. The outcome was an increased emphasis on examining our defense (since the offense was already a big part of Part II) and a longer look at the Baltimore Ravens. Their situation brought out a chance to talk about the history of the passing game in the NFL as well as the inevitable upcoming game prediction, so settle in and let's take a walk through the last of the October BT&M.

Name that Gloom

It's been a lot of fun watching folks locally and nationally scrambling to name the Broncos defense this season. From my perspective, the search for a name for the Denver D isn't a big concern. Do you want a description? While it's not poetic, the best way to describe them may be 'sulfuric acid' - when you pour them onto an offense, that opponent's abilities quickly dissolve and it begins to stink. They are a gloomsday defense, one that shreds the confidence of the cockiest (yep, looking at you, Crimea Rivers), destroys their morale, and along with Orton's skills in the 4th quarter, ensures an outcome that is only happy to those in predominantly orange. Two third-down conversions in the 2nd halves of games, and both of those within the first two games makes it nearly impossible for an opposing team to win a close game. If you can't score, you can't win. Just ask the Pats, Cowboys or Chargers.

And Baltimore, as talented as they are, has to play the Broncos who are coming off a bye and who have had 2 weeks to prepare. I like the Ravens, but not in this matchup. I expect another great, rugged, physical game. When the Broncos are in the playoffs after this season, no one will be able to suggest that they got there any way but the toughest. There's no better way to prepare for the playoffs than going up against the best during the regular season.

The Essence of Defense

I was re-watching for the 15th time the play that ended in Darrell Reid's sack during the late stages of the SD game. Some things happened during it that defined for me a big reason that the Broncos are winning so effectively. Chargers were on a third-and-long situation, an obvious passing down. The defense lined up in its base 5-2 - apparently. But once the ball was snapped, all heck broke loose.

Vonnie Holliday, who's been a stellar pickup, was manning the RDE. At the snap, he drove into the left guard's (Pro Bowler Kris Dielman) right shoulder and bulldozed him back and then into the left tackle, Marcus McNeill, whose attention had been fixed on Robert Ayers (lined up outside on the weakside). Ayers left off and tried a stunt up the middle, but he didn't get there. While Holliday was taking out two linemen and Ayers was trying to stunt, Davis came up the middle through the exposed gap and forced Philip Rivers to the back where Darrell Reid was pushing through from the strongside - sack! Reid received a sack on the play, but Holliday, Ayers and Davis, combined, didn't scratch the scorecard. Their effort just made the play work. Not only did he tie up two defenders, Holliday opened a hole that would have created a run-to-daylight TD had it been on the offensive side. The linebackers made the play on Rivers, who is one of the best in the league at handling the blitz and who still didn't have a chance. That explained the lack of the Chargers' scoring after halftime. Another gold star to Mike Nolan, another win for Denver. And Vonnie?

"We'd love all of our players to have the same leadership qualities Vonnie Holliday does, but we knew Vonnie Holliday could still be an active, productive football player in our scheme," Josh McDaniels said.

Two more quick thoughts on this: First, check out this article on the development of Robert Ayers. The reason that I'm adding it now is that Ayers has consistently done much the same that Holliday did -- driving to the QB, tying up 1-2 defenders, plugging his gaps and letting Doom rack up the sacks. We are stat-obsessed at times and much of the distaste I've heard regarding Ayers is a classic example of that. He's doing a great job for a young OLB/DE. We're lucky to have him - but it wasn't luck at all. McDaniels/Xanders knew exactly what they wanted when they chose him.

Next, we need to keep something in mind -- the 49ers didn't do at all well with Mike Nolan's defenses. Why? They complained frequently that his shifts, adjustments and schemes were 'too confusing, too complex'. The Broncos went out and got intelligent players for whom this isn't a problem. Consider the article from the Denver Post by Dave Krieger -- in his defense, the latest columnist to chomp on blackbird and enjoy the taste -- which talks about how effectively the Broncos change things at halftime (throughout the game, really) and how their players execute the changes without a walkthrough. It's a good example of this same principle.

When I broke down the film from the Chargers game, I quickly found that they had tremendous difficulties figuring out how to block the Broncos defensive rush. That wasn't exactly a shock, but a lot of it was that they could not, as Josh McDaniels pointed out last Thursday, use the running back, for example, to block a certain player because they never really knew if that player was coming or not. LaDainian Tomlinson, in fact, often chose the wrong lane to try and stop a rusher, only to find out that someone else had blown by him and gotten to Rivers. Eventually, Rivers didn't make many throws without a Bronco in his face or on his back. Small wonder that he couldn't score late.

By the way, it was nice to see Le Kevin Smith in on a few of those tackles. He's another perfect pickup who brings the skill, experience and talent that the Broncos needed to win right away. What depth this team has!

Safety in Numbers

Josh Barrett's ability to shut down the TE was evidenced again against Antonio Gates, who is still one of the best TEs in the game. Darcel McBath's overall skill has worked in the secondary and on special teams, while David Bruton's appearance on ST blocks and tackles helped spring Eddie Royal on both returns for TDs. These are all reasons to love the Broncos' young safety squad. We have three talented, hard-working young men who are learning from some of the best players in the league,as well as some of the best coaches. All three have been among the best stories on special team. Darcel McBath appears able to do anything we ask of him and Barrett now has shown that he can handle Gates as well as Tony Gonzales. When Wesley Woodyard struggles on the TE, expect to see Barrett out on the field more often. Barrett is being developed slowly, as befits a player who came into the league so raw, and he has the physical gifts to excel as he matures. Bruton may be the slowest of the three to develop, in the end, but that doesn't mean that he's in any way a disappointment. I've already heard folks wondering what we'll do when Dawkins retires (at about age 52). We've got three solid young options to develop against that day. I know that folks are talking about Eric Berry or Taylor Mays, but we've got exactly what we need - young, smart, skillful, hardworking players that can do their jobs.

That's something that we've been conditioned, as fans, to overlook. We are drawn to glitz, to fame and personality. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but that's not how the Patriots became a perennial power and it isn't how the Broncos will stay one. Getting marquee players is fine, so don't misunderstand me. I love Mays and Berry.and they'll be solid-to-great players in the NFL. But by establishing the three young players that we have, just as we are doing with Jack Williams and Alphonso Smith at CB and Ryan McBean, Robert Ayers and several others, we're creating a team that won't have huge cap issues, that fields a squad of tough, smart players who are focused on winning and execution, and who may have less stars, but will have more winners. In the end - that's what it's all about.

Taking Your Best Shot

I had to laugh at the blurb TedB did on shots this week, with the resultant recipes and member preferences. Great stuff, folks. At this point, my choice of shots tends to be morphine or Dilaudid. Wusses... ;-)

Final Thought - The Ravens

I don't really believe that anything the Broncos did in seasons past bears much on this year. For that reason, although the Broncos have a history of winning coming off the bye week, I don't see that as relevant. On the other hand, most teams play well with an extra week of rest and the Broncos will follow suit. They will have an extra week to gameplan, too, and that's never going to be a bad thing with our coaching staff. I don't discount the Ravens staff, either.

So, let's look at Baltimore. I see a very good team on both sides of the ball and one that may have its back to the wall. They're at home, and they're coming off a bye (but so are we). They are showing some weaknesses in their defensive secondary, and that's to the advantage of Denver. Orton's arm has proven more than strong enough to pick apart a team that leaves holes, especially if the rush doesn't reach Orton. Our offensive line will have its work cut out for it in the running game, but as the last two games showed, the Ravens can be beaten on the ground. This is a great opportunity for Knowshon Moreno to shine, and Correll Buckhalter is going to get a lot of chances as well. It's close, but I believe that our offense can overcome the Ravens defense in a close, hard-fought game.

But while this is a change in Baltimore, stopping their offense will be very tough, even for a defense as gifted as the Broncos. One big reason is the running game - Ray Rice is a heck of a back and their line is blocking well for him. The other is the way that the Ravens have delved into history to establish a passing offense that takes advantage of the skills of Joe Flacco, who was underestimated by many coming out of college. The abilities of Baltimore offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who is at the top of his game, are nothing to take lightly. As far as Cameron goes, here's some thoughts:

Everyone knows how much I enjoy the history, skills and writings of Bill Walsh. While he has a special place in my heart, I like to go out of my way to credit Sid Gillman and Paul Brown for much of what Walsh developed into his own approach. On the other side of the passing game, the vertical passing game side that also traces to Sid Gillman, you have the 'Air Coryell' style approach - the vertical game. Many coaches have used and improved upon it, but Coryell was in many ways the key to its development. There is even a legitimate argument that these are the two most important forks in the passing game road, although by no means the only important ones. Both came down from the works of Sid Gillman. Most NFL teams will tend to use more of one or the other of these two iconic approaches.

The Ravens tend to bend more to the Coryell approach. Coryell took the old 'passing tree' concept and improved on it in his own ways. Every offensive coordinator, even those that fans (including, I'm ashamed to admit, myself) tend to see as 'conservative', such as Ron Turner, takes those routes and concepts and turns them into a bewildering confabulation of lines, twists, routes, concepts and options. The Walsh-based systems tend to emphasize timing routes and the shorter game (although not ignoring the mid- and deep-passing game, as some have claimed) and prefers to name the routes, while the Coryell-ancestry systems will blend a passing game that is delineated with numbers and is more heavily based off of the '9' (go) route. But every modern system is complex, weaving incredible variations of routes that look more like a pile of malaria germs than trees.

Within all modern systems, you also have a great emphasis on having the receiver see, dissect and recognize the various coverages and to adjust his routes accordingly to find the weaknesses in the coverage. The quarterback has to instantly see, understand and adapt to those changes, which is one reason that a smart QB can be more dangerous than a stronger one. The routes are not necessarily etched in stone. Sometimes they are fluid and adaptive, making the connection between receivers and quarterback essential to success. That's something that many seem to have ignored when Orton didn't fly out of the gate like Brady in 2007. It will always take a while for the receivers and quarterbacks to learn each other's patterns, tendencies and skillsets. The skill of the receivers at coming out of their breaks instantly and smoothly is often the difference between a completion and a failure.

Here's a Broncos example: Late during the Chargers game, with the Broncos driving, Brandon Stokley made an adjustment to the Chargers coverage that Orton had never seen (and which Stokley claims that he'd never used before) on the fly. Orton saw, understood and used it, throwing the pass where only Stokes could get it and the result was adding 6 to the Broncos' total. The ability of the seasoned receiver to use the basics of the system, analyze the defense and to adapt the route to the personnel and coverage to produce a completion is an essential aspect of modern success with the offensive game.

In the same way, Brandon Marshall communicated a weakness in the Dallas defense to Orton and told him to look for a certain variation on the hitch route if Terrence Newman acted a certain way, indicating a certain coverage. That pass was good for 6 points and the victory over the Cowboys. The reason that some fans argued that it wasn't 'really' a hitch route is that it was, but Orton and Marshall had also agreed on the way that they would vary it to defeat the coverage.

This may seem a bit long-winded, but here's the point: The Ravens have gotten very, very good at this. They like the vertically-based system, whose weakness is that it takes just a moment or two longer to set up. Flacco has the intellect and the arm - the intellect scares me more. His receivers have been doing a solid job of breaking down the defenses, and the offensive coordinator has been very good this year, despite the recent three loses. Flacco has learned a lot about his receivers and they are getting very good at creating options for him to employ. If you add the power running approach that they are playing and playing well, this is a team with a lot of strengths and not that many weaknesses.

But as we've seen, they can be beaten. I think that this may be the toughest game so far, and because of that, it's the one I'm looking forward to the most. We have a very challenging schedule, but this game, like all of them, is still winnable. We have to get to Flacco, our secondary has to continue to be titanium and our offense has to put points on the board. Nothing deep there - just hard-nosed football. But the Ravens pass rush hasn't been stout and the Broncos O-line has.

I saw cornerback Frank Walker get utterly hosed by the Vikings on more than one play and he had been brought in to replace Fabian Washington, who was even worse. Our receivers need to play well, but what's new? The Ravens have also given up two 100-yard rusher games in the past two tries. They gave up 77 total points in losses to New England, Cincinnati and Minnesota and we've beaten two of those teams. I wouldn't read too much into that, though - the losses were by a combined 11 points. The Ravens are in it each week.

They miss Bart Scott and Jim Leonhard, although Ed Reed is as dangerous as ever. Tavares Gooden isn't the same caliber as Scott, not that that's an insult to him. Our visiting friend Bruce Raffel from the Ravens SB Nation site says that Gooden will probably be tasked with covering Tony Scheffler, and if so, there's a huge mismatch there. Cornerback is a tough issue for Baltimore: In addition to the problems with Washington and Walker, Chris Carr looks sloppy at times and I expect to see more of Lardarius Webb. The Ravens have given up 25 plays of 20 yards or more, though, and that's not how you win championships. At this point, a championship is what the Broncos are obviously playing for, although I don't see them getting ahead of themselves. Big plays may decide this game.

I believe that McDaniels will pull out more of his seemingly infinite bag of tricks and give the Ravens the toughest challenge that they have faced this year. Due to the factors on the Ravens side -- home field, bye and having their backs to the wall -- I'm calling it a one point victory, and I think that it will come down to the 4th quarter. The Broncos are, right now, the meanest 4th quarter team in the NFL, and that should be the difference in the game. Broncos 24-23 in a nail-biter.

I'll see you in a couple of weeks, my friends. Go Broncos!

Doc

Broncos Thoughts and Musings - A look back at Chargers Week

Emmett Smith — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:00:30 -0000

More photos » by Denis Poroy - AP

about 1 month ago: Denver Broncos running back Knowshon Moreno, center, goes over the top of San Diego Chargers linebackers Tim Dobbins (51) and Stephen Cooper (54) while gaining two yards for a first down in the third quarter of the NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

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Having taken a 'bye' week of my own, I thought that I'd put together a few musings for the general group. Before getting into the meat of this week's offering, though, I'd like to take a minute to mention a phenomena that has been showing its ugly face around Broncos Country. I'm talking about the problems of our fans having a 'Shanahangover': the sinking belief that the issues of the past years, in which the Broncos look good enough to fool us and lull us into a state of complacency before succumbing to a massive blowout (often to an inferior team) and shattering our dreams, could resurface in 2009. It's a dangerous disease, but fatal only to those who believe that this year's team has something in common with the teams of the past - notably, the past three seasons. Time will tell, but I don't see this happening any longer.

I've read this from a few of the members and in other blogs and sites: "The Broncos have fooled us before." It's true, too, but that was before a new sheriff, deputy, posse, marksman and scouts came into the picture. No matter what you've seen in the past, this team has little or nothing to do with the Ghosts of Seasons Past. The improvement in the coaching, performance of players, attitude and execution is light years beyond what we as fans are used to. Whether it's our team or another, living in the past is an exercise in misunderstanding the present. This is not last year's Broncos. It's a whole new experience.

As an example, Arrowhead Stadium is likely to be a tough place to win; but it's not because the Broncos haven't played well there in the past. They often didn't, but that's not a matter for this year's team. It's a windswept, loud, raucous place to play. It's hard to hear signals if the place is full and I don't take any game lightly, particularly a division rival. While I do think that the Chiefs are in early stages of an upswing, I'm not at all concerned that they're better than Denver or that they will beat us, even in their own house. Our veterans aren't going to take games off and they're not going to let the younger players take anyone lightly. If the Broncos play anywhere near their skill level, they're just too good for most teams. We've got a lot of great contests coming up, but one thing that doesn't concern me at all is the possibility that we will revert to the habits of seasons past. It's not going to happen, so put it out of your mind.

Charging into the Future

Before the Monday Night Football game that extended the Broncos' record to 6-0, Chargers TE Antonio Gates said, "One thing that gives us a chance is that we're still in the hunt in the AFC West. We never said it had to be pretty, and it wasn't pretty last year." After the game, it was a lot uglier. If Gates believes that the Chargers are still in the hunt, he needs to define his terms pretty quickly.

"It's tough to always be in this situation," Gates said afterward. "We didn't plan on being here. We didn't plan on being 8-8 last year either. But here we are. We have to keep working, or it could snowball and turn into a losing streak."

"We didn't plan on getting here." If there are words perfectly suited for failure, I think those should be high on the list. "We didn't plan on being here." Yes, that about covers it.

Bear in mind that they also didn't plan well enough to avoid it. They didn't run the extra sprints that the Broncos endured to get in better shape than their opponents. They didn't make the personnel moves that the Broncos did, realizing that no matter how good you were supposed to be, an 8-8 record will rarely get you into the postseason. They didn't identify the weaknesses that they had, nor the ones that could arise with age, injury and contract status. They didn't do enough to prepare themselves for the fact that Shawne Merriman was very unlikely to have a great year this year. Few will, after the kind of surgery that he had. In short - they didn't plan to succeed, either.

I'm sympathetic to their injury issues among linemen. That's tough and often unpredictable. But even there - is it a shock that Jamal Williams (who's had more surgeries than an aging Hollywood ingenue) would start to break down? Nick Hardwick has had a lot of injuries, plenty of surgeries (and I thought that Scott Mruczkowski did a very good job until Mike Nolan outfoxed him). Igor Olshansky was going to be gone. I wrote last spring about the issues that the Chargers were going to be experiencing, and I'm no expert. So, what happened?

Three things, I'd argue, and all are common: arrogance, lassitude and reversion to the mean. Arrogance in this case includes believing that you can start out poorly season after season and still make up the ground - the continuing decline of their schedule argues against that. But the arrogance also includes the behavior of individuals, including fighting within the team that is seen in public. Then there's lassitude, as in admitting, as A.J. Smith did last February, that the Chargers' woes were in great part on him but not doing more about it. And reversion to the mean: this is a team that has been heading for mediocrity (and how obvious can that be, after going 8-8?) for some time. It needed major help, and it got a few band-aids.

I loved the Kevin Burnett pickup, and it's just bad fortune that he's hurt. I liked the Larry English draft pick, and he's getting there. I also liked the Louis Vasquez draft pick, and he's developing quickly. I can't even fathom the Kynan Forney (who's since been released) or Travis Johnson pickups, though. The Bolts tended to stand pat with a suspect secondary, didn't develop their depth and accepted on faith that bad performances were anomalies instead of facts. It bought them a game in which a stellar performance by Philip Rivers wasn't enough, in which Nolan and McDaniels out-coached Ron Rivera and Norv Turner and in which the best the Chargers could bring wasn't close to enough.

There will, as Merriman pointed out, be a rematch. I look forward to it, and I'm sure the Broncos do. Stating before the game that 'the Broncos can't stop me' wasn't Rivers' smartest move. Claiming that they will get revenge after the game wasn't Merriman's, but I do appreciate the help those things gave Denver. If the Broncos needed any aid in getting up for the home half of this series, which I greatly doubt, they won't after that night's statements.

Arrogance...some things don't change.

Losing the Locker Room

That same arrogance has infected the locker room and the very attitude of the Chargers. You could see in a single moment why the Chargers have problems with their team very clearly during the first quarter of the Monday night game. The Chargers bogged down at the goal line - LaDainian Tomlinson was stopped short of the goal line twice. They took him out on the third play and put in Darren Sproles, trying to take advantage of a seam that Turner had seen. Tomlinson paced the sidelines, obviously complaining bitterly about not being in. The Broncos stopped Sproles and the Bolts short again, and they settled for kicking the FG.

It got me to thinking. Last year at this time, the Chargers were starting slow, appeared unmotivated and perhaps even ill-prepared. Tomlinson was also complaining - about the play calling, the offensive line, and not getting enough carries. Now, imagine that he was in orange and blue. How likely is it that a Bronco would do that - two years running? If you consider that Turner's team has gone from 14-2 before he arrived, to slow starts three years running, you start to see why that might be true. Players fight with management in the media. The GM insults his team, as A.J. Smith did by calling their play 'soft'. Nowhere is there a sign that adults are in charge. Merriman has a public feud with Smith, dating back a couple of seasons. Smith doesn't like his side jobs, feeling that it takes away from the team. LDT fights with Turner, expresses his feelings and tussles with Smith this past offseason, very publicly. Smith gets quickly pulled into it. No one wins.

This past week, it was wide receiver Chris Chambers. A non-factor for quite a while now, he was complaining to the press that his snaps are being taken by Malcolm Floyd. I don't know what he expected - he's not gaining separation, he's not getting open and he hasn't shown a ton of skill at fighting for the ball. But he's still touting himself as if it were three seasons ago and he was doing good things. It's the kind of thing that you're not seeing from the Broncos, the kind of thing that tells you when a franchise is in disarray.

I can't even express my gratitude for the fact that Josh McDaniels has very good management skills. He won't carry arguments into the media, rarely gets flustered and keeps things behind closed doors. I've fired people for the kinds of destructive behavior that I've seen from the Chargers over the past two years. Those who claim that this is football and that it's really okay to have things this way should consider how the Broncos do handle things -- and how their team acts and plays. As in, as a unit. As a real team, one that's going good places. It matters. Once in a while, a dysfunctional team has a good year. Most of the time, though, they flame out, and the talent levels don't matter enough to get them where they want to go. That's happening in San Diego, and while it's good for the Broncos, it's an obvious sign of the Bolts organization needing a makeover.

Asked before the MNF debacle, LDT was asked what he saw in the Charger's locker room. "It's a quiet confidence. You look in each man's eyes in that locker room, you can tell there is something extra."

Did they also see that you'd be pacing the sidelines, yelling and pouting, LDT? Perhaps not. That's one reason that the Chargers are 3 games back. Even worse for the Bolts and better for the Broncos, LDT hasn't been alone.

Beating Kansas City has given the Bolts a brief respite, but that's hardly a road back into the land of the competitive. While I do think that the Denver game as been a wakeup call of Shakespearean proportions for San Diego, their problems run too deep to permit them to make the late season run this year profitable. The game in Denver will be a grudge match. Given the state of the raiders and Chiefs, that's a good thing. It may keep thing much more interesting.

Some Other Stats that Matter (With apologies to Lebowski)

What did the Broncos do right so far this year? It's a long list, but try these perspectives on the rushing game:

Stuffs per carry - Correll Buckhalter, 4th, at 0.043 Knowshon Moreno at 9th, with 0.061
Stuffed: Best in league - It only happened on 8 plays. Despite the issues that can improve in short yardage, the problem isn't with negative plays.
YPC: Buck, 1st, 6.7 Broncos 11th, 4.3
Yards: Broncos 7th, 798
Big play rushes: tied for 9th, 20
100-yard rushers against: 0
100 yards rushing by opposing teams: 0
Passes dropped, over 6 games: 5. Four of those came in the first two weeks. It's all about doing your job and doing it right.

Let's also look at the percentage of rushing versus passing plays. Going back to the offseason, Doug (nycbroncosfan) and I published the "Divining Josh McDaniels" series. We said at the time that McD had been viewed at being more of a passing kind of guy than he really deserved. It was true when McD was in NE and it is true in Denver. We're in 8th, with 47.7% rushing and therefore 52.3% passing - a very even, balanced attack. Over the last 4 years, McDaniels had averaged 43.1% rushing plays. That seems low, but it's not if you look at how the team was structured. In 2008 that number was 46.8% rushing and that was similar to 2006 as well. On the other years, the passing game was working too well to minimize it. Josh McD believes in maximizing all of your skill sets and using the ones that the defense lets you win with, whether it's the pass or the run. As you would expect, he's attempting to make sure hat both are viable options. It's that simple. By getting Moreno, Buckhalter, Orton, the O-line and the receiving corps, he can go either way with complete confidence. That makes it very hard to stop the Broncos' offense.

You might also look at how the aging, decrepit defensive secondary is doing. Teams have been challenging Champ Bailey and Brian Dawkins and getting their hats handed to them. Take a look at these stats: Bailey is tied for 2nd in the league with 8 passes defensed; Dawkins is tied for 11th with 6.

The Broncos have two players in the top 11 in the NFL in passes defensed -- and both players are over 30. That's a stat that not a lot of casual fans follow, but it tells you a lot about a team. It tells you that the Broncos have age, wisdom and maturity in the defensive secondary. Experienced players know how to communicate and that skill is constantly undervalued. It also tells you that those who believe that Champ Bailey, Andre' Goodman, Brian Dawkins and Renaldo Hill are 'losing a step' need to find their argument. Dawkins and Bailey are among the league leaders and are getting some payback on the 'lost a step' crowd. Andre' Goodman and Renaldo Hill are playing the best ball of their careers. The young guys, Alphonso Smith and Jack Williams, are also paying well and Darcel McBath has already shown why we drafted him on defense as well as by leading the team on special-teams tackles.

I'll be back later today with more Thoughts and Musings...

Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations

Ted Bartlett — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:30:29 -0000

More photos » by Denis Poroy - AP

about 1 month ago: Denver Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall tries to pull away from San Diego Chargers cornerback Quentin Jammer after a pass reception for nine yards during the third quarter of the NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

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Happy Tuesday friends, and welcome to another (shortened) edition of Shallow Thoughts & Nearsighted Observations. This is MileHighReport.com, the premier source of Broncos new and analysis in the entire world. I have been feeling like we're still kind of peripheral, in the eyes of the rest of the worldwide media, but we beat the bejesus out of them every day, when it comes to covering the Broncos.

As they say, game recognizes game, and correspondingly, it also recognizes groupthink and suckiness. By your being here, reading this today, and hopefully, every week, you mark yourself as having good sense, and at least a partial desire to be part of what is a collaborative learning and growth experience for us all. I'm a front-page staff guy, obviously, but I learn interesting things from FanPosters all the time. Those people are the lifeblood of the MHR community, and they should be commended for their outstanding contributions.

If you're a lurker, you obviously have the good sense to consume our front page content. I wanted to take a minute to ask you to consider joining as an MHR community member, and participating in the discussion. We always welcome people just like you, and chances are, you know something that will be of value to the rest of us, or you have a question which will spark a discussion, which has value to the rest of us. Either way, we all win.

Okay, Ted's Own Personal Membership Drive is over. My local NPR affiliate, 90.3 WCPN in Cleveland, has been doing a drive lately (seemingly, every time I am in my car), so I decided to do a quick one in Donny Deutschland this week. I don't want your money, just your participation. (For one thing, I think this is a great week for my lurking brother Chris to join.) Do a smart thing, and get down with MHR. As we say in the US Navy, welcome aboard.

OK, on to football, and whatever else pops into my head. Out of the echo chamber, and into the fire, y'all. Ready....?

Y'all weren't ready. Okay, get ready, and let's try this again. Ready.... BEGIN!!!

1. I have some early thoughts on the Ravens game, which i consider to be a pretty favorable matchup for the Broncos. First, the Ravens are extremely physical, so it's good to be playing them, healthy and coming off a bye week. The Broncos will have to match their physicality on both sides of the ball, and I have every reason to expect that they will.

Offensively, the Broncos need to attack the Ravens outside the numbers, with Brandon Marshall, Eddie Royal, and Tony Scheffler. The Ravens are bad at CB, and really their only good DB is Ed Reed, so throwing it where he isn't is a solid plan. They also need to run the ball, and I believe that they'll have good success in doing so. The Ravens went about 3 years without giving up a 100-yard rusher, and then got hit back to back by Cedric Benson and Adrian Peterson in their last two games. This is a good defense, but it's not the vintage great defense we're used to.

Defensively, the Broncos absolutely must tackle Ray Rice, who has arguably been the second-best RB in the AFC this season, just behind Benson. Rice is averaging 6 yards per carry (73-441-3) and 9.8 yards per catch (33-325-1). Rice is very short, and very stocky, which makes him hard to tackle. Joe Flacco can make all the throws, but I love the Broncos secondary against Derrick Mason, Mark Clayton, and Todd Heap. I'm not worried about any of those guys consistently beating anybody in the Broncos secondary. Rice is the key player.

2. Information From My Eyes:

a. I like the vision and decisiveness with which Ryan Grant ran on Sunday. There have been some rumors that the Packers want to replace him, but he hasn't been the problem with the running game in Green Bay. He could use a good tandem back to work with, and better play from the offensive line, but Grant is definitely a starting-caliber back.

b. The Browns are just unwatchable, so I haven't been talking about them much lately. If I were Eric Mangini, this is the all-inclusive list of guys I'd want to keep on the roster after this season: Joshua Cribbs, Joe Thomas, Shaun Rogers, Eric Steinbach, Alex Mack, Mohamed Massaquoi, David Veikune, Eric Wright, Brandon McDonald, and D'Qwell Jackson. (I like Brady Quinn better than he does, but since he clearly doesn't like him, I excluded him). That's the only 10 players who I think are good players (or potentially good players) on winning football teams. Maybe you keep 10 more for next year, which is still going to be transitional. For the rest of the roster, you take a page from your friend Josh McDaniels, and go out and find some professionals to fill your holes, and try to have a very good draft. It is a talent problem in Cleveland, and all the other stuff is red herrings, until they fix the talent.

c. At a total team level, I am very impressed with the Cincinnati Bengals, and I think that they are a serious threat in the playoffs. I know I have smart readers, and I exchanged emails with a guy in the UK named Jake last week. He thought that the Bengals were a lock against the Bears, and I agreed. The Bengals controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and they hit and frustrated Jay Cutler all day.

d. I don't want to be too inflammatory with any of our Cutler lovers (if any are left), but has anybody noticed that he took his personal tendency for being on the losing end of blowouts with him to Chicago? I am sure the Broncos will eventually lose a game, but I find it impossible to imagine this team losing any game 45-10. It takes a certain kind of team to have the wheels just totally fall off in all phases of the game. I looked at the Bears Sunday and saw a complete lack of gameness and mental toughness. We all remember the games the 2006-2008 Broncos had like that, and I don't mean to attribute it personally to Cutler, or take a cheap shot. You simply can't deny, though, that this bad team-wide trait followed him out of town, and joined him in Chicago.

e. Cutler still seems to have the Favre-ian effect on the media and his fan base, where he manages to completely avoid personal blame, even when he plays very poorly, as he did Sunday. I visited the Bears' SBNation side, Windy City Gridiron, and there was virtually no criticism of Cutler, and you can see that he has again escaped much MSM accountability, too. I know I used to rationalize his bad play, and I think everybody here pretty much did too, at least to some degree. It's really a pretty amazing phenomenon, in a bad way. (By the way, I was proud to see that none of our members were over there trolling. Big up, MHR.)

f. Nobody gets picked in the top 5 of a draft because they look like they can't play in the NFL. Cedric Benson's talent just jumps off the screen. He's so fast for his size, and he has changed everything for Cincinnati. He's the main reason that the Bengals are so good on offense, because defenses are having to play eight in the box against him. That allows their good WRs to run wild, and Carson Palmer to hit his choice of open players. Benson is 10 times the player that Matt Forte is. The magnitude of the difference is akin to comparing Brian Dawkins to (Safety) Roy Williams.

g. The Bears' 7-man fronts were getting blown off the ball consistently. Just wait until Andre Smith gets started playing at RT. He is going to flat-out dominate in the running game, if he can keep his head on straight. He was clearly the best lineman in the 2009 Draft, and only his erratic pre-Draft behavior made him last to the sixth-overall pick.

h. Tank Johnson has been excellent all season for the Bengals, and was particularly terrific Sunday. Frostee Rucker and Robert Geathers had big games too, and the Bengals didn't seem to miss Antwan Odom too terribly (for one game, anyway).

i. Remember that business about top-5 guys going in the top 5 for a reason? ST&NO favorite Alex Smith had that on display Sunday. If he is ever put in a position to succeed, and can stay healthy, he will be the second coming of Rich Gannon. He's had 5 offensive coordinators in 5 years, and had the really bad shoulder injury, which he foolishly tried to play through for awhile. Remember, he is still only 25 years old. He's smart, athletic, and throws a pretty nice ball, and he's a humble, team-first player. I think Smith has an opportunity to get his career back on track, because Shaun Hill has played poorly for most of this season. There is no question that Smith is more talented than Hill.

j. It took him awhile, and some tough love from Mike Singletary to get there, but Vernon Davis is the best two-way TE in the NFL. I'd say the next best guy is probably Jason Witten, but there's a big drop-off between the two. Davis is such a fantastic blocker, and he's improved greatly as a receiver.

k. On the topic of pride and mental toughness, you have to be impressed with the job the Saints did Sunday, in coming back from a 24-3 first-half deficit against Miami. They just kept plugging away, and started executing, and eventually overtook the Dolphins. It was a great team effort, on a day where they didn't have their best stuff.

l. One serious concern I have for the Saints is how susceptible they looked to backside pressure on Drew Brees, with Jermon Bushrod filling in for Jammal Brown at LT (Brown is out for the year). Brees was shaky when he was getting pressured Sunday, like most QBs. You especially want to pressure the "A" gaps against him, because he has a strong predisposition for aggressively stepping straight up into the pocket. The Dolphins were especially successful when they generated interior pressure.

m. The Dolphins are probably going to miss the playoffs this year, and they'll look back with regret on letting the Colts and Saints get off the mat, when they had both teams pretty well beaten. Miami is a good team, which has just whiffed on opportunities to beat other good teams.

n. I don't think there is anything particularly noteworthy about Miles Austin, from a skills perspective. I watched the Dallas/Atlanta game when I got back from Dallas on Monday afternoon, and my first thought was that a good portion of the torching Austin put on the Falcons was from the slot in 3-WR packages, against base defensive personnel. I got all set to rip the Falcons for not subbing to match the offensive personnel grouping, but then I thought about it, and found myself wondering if I wouldn't be sticking to base too, if I were their Defensive Coordinator Brian Van Gorder. The Falcons lost their best CB, Brian Williams, to injury last week, and, remember, he was a Jaguars training camp casualty. Behind him are Chris Houston (who is talented but inconsistent), and Brent Grimes (who is not really talented, but tries hard). Nickel offense is the way to beat the Falcons, because they severely lack the quality players in the secondary to match up with it. I think Sunday was the first step to them having that deficiency cost them a playoff spot this year.

o. Isn't it great to have 4 CBs we can trust, as well as two safeties, in Darcel McBath and Josh Barrett, who are very good in man-to-man coverage?

p. One thing that jumped out in the Dallas-Atlanta game was that the Falcons receivers (including Tony Gonzalez) had a great deal of trouble separating from the man-to-man coverage they were getting from the Cowboys (whose secondary is average, at best). Matt Ryan had a lot of really tight spots to throw to, and largely since he got hit a great deal Sunday, he missed a lot of those throws.

q. So, I promised I'd interject some fraternity-man wedding hijinks, whether anybody wants it or not, so here goes. Have you ever had a snakebite? It's a shot my contemporaries and I favor, and it consists of Yukon Jack and lime juice. It strikes a good balance between being masculine and manageable, and it's kind of that one shot that everybody agrees is doable. Anyway - apparently, Yukon Jack hasn't penetrated the Dallas-Fort Worth market very effectively, because these local bartenders there have never heard of it, or a snakebite. Well, Scott (the groom) came to play, and he made sure that there was Yukon Jack at the reception, and that the caterers knew how to make the shot.

So, at some point, when the music shifted from craptastic country dinner music, and moved on to Run DMC, the 5 Tekes who were there did a snakebite. Good times. Then we did another, and we were joined by the cool girls in the wedding party, and a couple of Scott's cousins. The Tekes put it down like it was water, the rest of them struggled, and made faces while choking it down. Scott looked at me, with this extreme solemnity, and he nodded and said, "This is how we do."

Five eloquent words, and truth was achieved. This is, in fact, how we do. He was absolutely right. There's an easily discernible identity about us, as a group of men, and part of that identity is that we dominate some snakebites. I thought of this, as I watched the Short Cut of the Colts-Rams game. The Colts have an easily discernible identity. They play a lot of Cover-2 on defense, and try to limit their exposure to big plays. On offense, they take the whole play clock, try to shorten the game, and Peyton Manning works to always take what the defense gives him. They want to get a 10-14 point lead, and then send Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis after your QB, once you have to throw the ball. There's no secret or mystery to it, and they don't even particularly game-plan much for specific teams, beyond adjusting some protection schemes, maybe. There is a great deal of comfort to knowing exactly what you're going to do, and exactly who you are.

r. Why in the world would the new Twilight movie be advertised during Monday Night Football? I am sure a few people like (or would like) both Twilight and pro football, but can it possibly be more than 10% of the viewers? Seems like little value for the advertising dollar, there, pinning your hopes to a mostly male audience being interested in the visual depiction of chick lit.

s. So, I have a half-sister, Abby, who is going to be 8 in November. She's a smart kid, but when I was over last week, her mother was telling her that she needed to learn how to think outside the box a little more. Abby didn't know what that meant, so I drew her the classic MBA school exercise that our father shared with me when I was about 13 (and he was in MBA school, and this was a brand new idea). This exercise is actually where the now-tired phrase came from.

The objective is to connect all 9 dots, using 4 or less straight lines. As the term "outside the box" indicates, this is how you complete the objective.

I dislike the term "outside the box," because people who have no idea what it means use it all the time. (It's one of those concepts that would have been better off being compartmentalized to smart people only, like any number of concepts I can think of, actually). Anyway, I am taking a long route to applauding the Eagles for making an "outside the box" huge trade last week, just ahead of the deadline.

Will Witherspoon is not particularly famous, because he has toiled on irrelevant teams for his whole career (first, some mostly bad Carolina teams, and then some awful St. Louis teams). He's very good, though, and he has experience both in the middle, and on the weakside. He's a run-and-hit player, like the kind of guy you'd probably see in a Jim Bates- or Larry Coyer-kind of design. It seems to me that Steve Spagnuolo didn't think that Witherspoon particularly fit his system, which is, of course, basically the same system used in Philadelphia and with the New York Giants. It's a big, blitz-happy 40-front, which is designed around getting A-gap pressure consistently. It's stylistically similar to a Phillips 3-4, and it favors interior front-seven players who are basically 3-4 profile guys.

The Jim Johnson tree has always favored big, downhill thumpers in the middle. Power trumps speed at that position. The quintessential guy is Jeremiah Trotter, who was the size of a DE in his prime, and is now closer to a DT. (Trotter, you'll remember, once struggled mightily when he signed a big contract with Washington, and they tried to make him fit their scheme.) The Eagles brought him back this season, and he was a huge liability in the passing game (to wit, see the Raiders game last week). By bringing in Witherspoon, the Eagles went outside of type, but the impact single-handedly returned them to real-contender status. He had a huge game Monday night, with an interception for a TD, and a strip-sack, and I expect that it's only the beginning.

t. I hope Jon Gruden doesn't get and/or take a coaching job next season. He is fantastic on Monday Night Football, and y'all know I am not too prone to wantonly complimenting much of anything about ESPN. He had a great piece of information on the Redskins, which was really shocking to me, actually. Clinton Portis told him that the last time he heard an audible, he was a Bronco. Gruden's point was that if Jason Campbell could at least change the protection scheme to account for overload blitzes, it could put him in better position not to get crushed, while knowing the crushing is coming.

Umm, you think? That's just scratching the surface of the benefits of audible-ing. The Redskins are a total Mickey Mouse operation, and I am just shocked that they didn't have anything in place, even when Joe Gibbs was there. That strikes me as having to be an organizational policy, and if it is, it's the stupidest thing that I have ever heard of, in 22 years of being a serious football observer. I know high school teams that audible, for God's sake.

u. Jason Peters, who I have been wanting to take a close look at, looked pretty cockamamie to me on Monday night, which agreed with my long-held perception of him. He gave up a sack, and generally looked like a low-effort, I-already-got-paid kind of guy. There were several plays where I saw him watching the play, and not looking to hit anybody. I see and hear all these glowing reports on the guy, but where's the beef? I am starting to understand why Buffalo thought paying Peters was a bad idea.

v. I don't like gambling, but I had to take the bet my friend Paul offered me. I had Philadelphia, straight-up against Washington, with dinner as the stakes, the next time Paul is in Cleveland around Thanksgiving. That was such a lock, it's almost unbelievable that he offered me the bet. And, no, he's actually a Dallas fan, in case you were wondering if he was just a silly Washington homer.

3. I have been something of a Brett Kern apologist, but he wasn't getting it done. I like the message that replacing him sends to the rest of the team. Even a 6-0 team has room for improvement, and everybody needs to handle the job they're hired to do.

4. I was thinking about roles over the weekend, how we all have certain roles to fill in life, and how that's true of football too, which was the context I was thinking in. All good teams are full of role players who understand their roles. As a member of the MHR creative team, I have a role, and so do the rest of the guys. (I don't know if what my role became is what John had in mind when he asked me to join last year, but it is what it is now.) Snark, discussion about offense, courage, media criticism, pop culture, snark, meandering, community building, snark, detailed football analysis, play diagrams, obscure references, lots of (now correctly punctuated) parentheses, righteous indignation, commentary on other teams and games, optimism, prescience in 2009, and snark. That's my role, and that's ST&NO.

I like that the Broncos were constructed and operate with a lot of thought devoted to roles. As a coach, when you sign a veteran like Vonnie Holliday on the eve of the season, and you tell him that he'll be a rotation player, primarily on the field in pass-rush situations, there's a clarity of understanding between you and the player. That clarity is good for business, and it comes through when you see all 53 players knowing their roles, and playing them well.

5. I think MSM NFL reporters are mostly dorks; that's pretty well-established here. (I don't mean the stringers and the local AP guys, per se, I mean the scoop-seeking talking heads.) The most dork-tastic one, in my opinion, is Jay Glazer from Fox, and he's several laps ahead of the field. Here are some recent Glazer tweets:

i'm reporting dallas and d ware have agreed on new 6 yr deal worth up to 13 per yr and nearly 40mil guaranteed. well worth it!

about 9 hours ago from txt

I reported Dan Snyder was urged to give Zorn vote of conf but opted not to. Also didnt wanna speak to press, fearing he wouldn't bite tongue

11:24 AM Oct 25th from web

i'm so tired from spending the whole dang day workin the phones for scoopage i really don't wanna go out. wait, wait... my arm is a twistin

8:28 PM Oct 23rd from txt

Cindy Crawford was here at this party, gotta admit she is one of the my physically beautiful and elegant women I have ever seen! stunning!!!

12:37 AM Oct 23rd from web

dumbest line of our night! Strahan: "There's TWO things i can do: spell, add and subtract." yes, he really said that! my friend is a moron

6:42 PM Oct 19th from txt

Have you ever known a person who is always name-dropping, and was at this party, and saw that celebrity, and is always claiming credit for themselves, because they're so much better than everybody else? That's Jay Glazer. Really, how hard is it to be an MSM NFL reporter? You offer yourself up as a convenient mouthpiece for anybody who wants to use you, and then they use you. You try to make them let you use them once in a while, too.

The Cowboys signed DeMarcus Ware; okay, that's admittedly news. Does it matter if Glazer heard about it 10 minutes before Adam Schefter did? With these guys, it's always about who had information first that everybody was going to have soon anyway. None of these guys is ever finding out anything significant which wasn't meant to come out. The Snyder thing is meaningless. Who cares? Everybody knows he's going to fire Jim Zorn after the season, so how he felt last week, when he didn't make any news, is worthless. It's just something Glazer can claim that he knew, that nobody else did. There's no Woodward or Bernstein covering the NFL, you know?

Since we're all friends here, I just wanted to vent, because Glazer makes me crazy, with his "scoopage," and his name-dropping, and his day-drinking in Beverly Hills. Thanks for listening/reading.

6. From Stuart Scott, trying to sound smart by saying that Donovan McNabb is an H-back when he's lined up outside in the Eagles "Wildcat" look:

H-back means good speed, some heft to him, runs good routes, and can catch the ball.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I don't care for Stuart Scott, and all of his contrived, Berman-esque, shucking and jiving, but I would like him a little better if he'd not talk about things he has no clue about. Just stick to worshipping Michael Jordan, mmmmkay, Stu? And while we're at it, how is Matt Winer the analytical counter-balance to Trent Dilfer, on the ESPN Monday Night 3-man set? Those two with noted other shucker/jiver Scott Van Pelt is a weird trio.

7. Retired for John Elway

8. I had occasion to drive by the new Dallas Cowboys stadium over the weekend, and TV doesn't do justice to how enormous it is. It's a really impressive-looking building from the outside. One thing, though, which I found interesting about my DFW experience, was how few people and cars I saw rocking Cowboys gear. I saw more on Monday morning, which is probably no surprise.

I hope everybody has a good Ravens week. All you get is about 4,200 words this week, because I am out of interesting things to say, and we're on some all-killer, no-filler here, like always. Really, that would be about an 18-20 page term paper in college, so it's still not too shabby. Look for Lighting Up The Scoreboard Saturday afternoon, and follow me on Twitter @TedBartlett905. And join MHR, if you haven't yet. There's no time like now.