SB Nation - Matt Lepsis

Horse Tracks 10/11/09 - Broncos host Patriots and celebrate AFL's 50th Anniversary

Douglas A. Lee — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:45:09 -0000

Fun fact of the day: The 2009 Broncos have allowed 26 points through 4 games. The 2008 Broncos gave up 28 points in the second half of their season finale in San Diego.

DB - Matchup: Broncos vs. Patriots - Broncos TV
Video footage from Friday's drumline is a CANNOT MISS.

LTC - Broncos celebrating their past - Brian Howell

DPP - A pivotal player in Wiegmann's life - Lindsay Jones

DPP - Kiszla: Time to embrace Orton as one of us
"After managing to win the four games he has started for Denver, Orton owns a higher passer rating than Philip Rivers or Tony Romo, yet Orton still gets bashed on fan websites dedicated to the team, such as milehighreport.com, where a review fresh off Denver's win against Dallas griped: "Right now, I feel like I'm watching a time bomb. No picks yet, but a five-interception game is right around the corner. . . . Bottom line is I don't trust him."

CSG - Some words from your 50th anniversary Broncos - Frank Schwab

DPP - Patriots-Broncos game will provide a fascinating study - Mike Klis
"But I was always into what Bill was doing, what he had to take care of, as much as I could see. There was plenty I couldn't see. But the things I could watch him do — how he handled the staff meeting, how he planned practice, how he ran training camp, how he handled the players, what he did at halftime, what he did on a Monday after a loss, how he handled a win, all of those things, if you pay attention and note them in your head and take notes, they can teach you an extraordinary amount of what it's about to be a head coach."

FOX - Broncos' McDaniels is more than a Belichick disciple - Alex Marvez

DP - Busy day ahead for the fans of Denver teams - John Ingold

DP - RTD adds services for games - Jeffrey Leib

DB - A Closer Look: New England Patriots - Gray Caldwell

DPP - Klis: Great record beats great offense any day - Mike Klis

CSG - Patriot at Broncos: 3 things to watch; anniversary Top 10 - Frank Schwab

DPP - Ex-Bronco transforming the game plan - Terry Frei
Former Broncos LT Matt Lepsis is working toward a master's in theology down in the Dallas area.

SN - McDaniels undefeated but now gets mentor Belichick - Clifton Brown

SN - Can McDaniels, Broncos, make Pats next victims?

NFLTA - Patriots-Broncos matchup - Video

Patriots News

BG - Air of confidence - Theresa Smith

BG - Thrill of the chase recalled by Patriots tight end Watson - Michael Vega

BG - Bronco bustin' - Jim McBride

BG - On defense, things stacking up much better for Denver - Michael Vega

BH - In high-stakes game, Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels loathe to reveal hands - Karen Guregian

BH - Jerod Mayo back in mix - Ian Rapoport

BH - The five biggest determining factors today - Ian Rapoport

BH - The sack exchange - Nate Dow

AFC West News

Y! - Hanson: My life was threatened by Cable - Mike Silver

NYT - Raiders - Committed to Excellence, Doomed to Losing - Joe LaPointe

SFC - Offensive line has new problem - David White

SFC - Denver's McDaniels might be a better version of Belichick - David White

OT - Oakland Raiders assistant Hanson says Cable could have killed him

KCS - Chiefs’ losing ways rival the ’70s Buccaneers - Kent Babb

KCS - Scouting report | Dallas at Kansas City - Adam Teicher

SDUT - A disappearing defensive act - Kevin Acee

SDUT - Attorney leads pursuit in Escondido - Matthew Hall

NFL News

NFL - Cowboys won't have injured WR Williams, RB Jones vs. Chiefs

NFL - Jets called 49ers about possibly trading for Crabtree

NFL Opinion

NFP - Sunday at the Post - Mike Lombardi
"Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall is a one-man wrecking crew. Who covers him is important, but they better be able to tackle him as well."

ESPN - 10 Spot: Manning better than ever - Adam Schefter
"I tell you what, just being under Josh McDaniels for a few months now, I mean he's a guy that is going to have you as prepared as you can be for a game, and that's something that throughout my 11 years I haven't had a lot of," Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey said. "I've had some great coaches, including [Mike] Shanahan, but [McDaniels] is definitely one-of-a-kind in the way that he approaches the game."

SI - Week 5 Viewer's Guide: What to watch in Falcons-Niners, more - Ross Tucker

SN - Week 5: Ten Bold Predictions - RealScouts
"Look for Tom Brady to beat the blitz package with plenty of quick reads to Welker and tight end Benjamin Watson."

NFP - Weekend Notes: Bailey vs. Moss - Matt Bowen

Denver Broncos 50th Anniversary Team Released

John Bena — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 23:25:36 -0000

via www.sportslogos.net

View full size photo »

The 2009 NFL season marks the 50th anniversary of the Denver Broncos. To commemorate the past while embracing the future, the franchise has allowed its community of fans, an integral part of Broncos Country during the first 50 seasons, the chance to vote for their 50th Anniversary Denver Broncos Team.

From June 6 - Sept. 4, fans had the chance to make their voices heard by casting their votes online at www.DenverBroncos.com. The results are in, and here are the choices:

First-team Offense

QB John Elway

RB Terrell Davis

RB Floyd Little

WR Ed McCaffrey

WR Rod Smith

TE Shannon Sharpe

OT Matt Lepsis

OT Gary Zimmerman

G Keith Bishop

G Mark Schlereth

C Tom Nalen

First-team Defense

DE Simon Fletcher

DE Rich Jackson

DT Trevor Pryce

DT Rubin Carter

LB Karl Mecklenburg

LB Randy Gradishar

LB Tom Jackson

CB Champ Bailey

CB Louis Wright

S Steve Atwater

S Dennis Smith

First-team Specialists

K Jason Elam

P Tom Rouen

Ret Rick Upchurch

The first team will be honored in person during halftime of the team's Legacy Game on Oct. 11 when the New England Patriots visit INVESCO Field at Mile High. In addition, one lucky voter will have the opportunity to join the 50th Anniversary Team during this ceremony. That winner will be announced at a later date.

The voting process was made possible by the Broncos' online marketing partner, Akavit - the principle digital agency behind DenverBroncos.com and BroncosCountry.com. The interactive voting tool featured the Broncos' history and highlights spanning the past 50 seasons through the use of video and additional multimedia. Each player was represented by their respective biography, statistics and photographs.

Along with the first team, the Broncos are also announcing a 50th Anniversary second team.

The second team-offense has Craig Morton lining up at quarterback, with Otis Armstrong and Sammy Winder at running back, Haven Moses and Lionel Taylor at wide receiver, and Riley Odoms at tight end. Rounding out the unit is the offensive line of Ken Lanier and Dave Studdard at offensive tackle, Ben Hamilton and Paul Howard at guard and Billy Bryan at center.

The second-team defense has a line of Rulon Jones and Alfred Williams at defensive end, and Greg Kragen and Paul Smith at defensive tackle. Al Wilson, Bill Romanowski and D.J. Williams are at linebacker. Ray Crockett and Willie Brown are the second-team cornerbacks, while Steve Foley and Goose Gonsoulin round out the defense at safety.

The second-team specialists are Jim Turner at kicker, Mike Horan at punter, and Billy Thompson at returner.

Horse Tracks 6/29/09 - No news is definitely good news.

Douglas A. Lee — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:29:52 -0000

Happy Monday, MHR Friends! Nothing Broncos-centric today, as we've officially entered the dead of summer. It's actually kind of a relief, isn't it? Hopefully the BMarsh situation will just cool down over the next month, he'll be at camp in a month and everything will be hunky-dory. We can dream, right? I'll use today to catch up on a bunch of PFW stories and ESPN's recap of the decade. There's some interesting stuff there, but I can't help but think - why all this wrap-up-the-decade stuff when it's not even over yet?

NFP - Sunday at the Post
Mike Lombardi says he looks to Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling for writing inspiration. He doubts MIke Brown has much left to offer the Chefs, and he points out that JaMarcus The Hutt disappeared after calling for his teammates to practice after OTAs. Wow, where was that story?!

SI - Trent Green on Michael Vick, Brett Favre, concussions, more NFL
Freshly into retirement, Trent Green steps in for PKing and does a nice job with his Monday column.

NFL - Rookie symposium offers chance to pass knowledge on to NFL youth - Steve Wyche
Eddie Royal was one of the speakers at the rookie symposium; if only the rest of the league displayed his maturity and humility..

NFL - Bills owner not eager to add extra regular-season games in Toronto

NFL - Campbell confident he can prove himself to be right man for the job - Thomas George

Power rankings: Best, worst teams of decade - NFC West - ESPN
Denver ranks 11th on ESPN's power rankings for the decade, although that is clearly on the strength of their regular-season record alone.

ESPN - Best of the best: Top 25 players this decade
Champ ranks #6 here.

ESPN - All-decade offense: Brady leads packed roster

ESPN - All-decade defense: Strahan, Taylor stand out
Champ Bailey is the Broncos' lone representative on ESPN's all-decade team.

ESPN - All-decade special teams: Overlooked stars

ESPN - All-decade moments: Manning-to-Tyree tops list

ESPN - Patriots sweep all-decade team, coach, MVP

ESPN Insider - Derrick Mason and Aaron Smith are among the most underrated NFL players of the decade
Football Outsiders breaks down the 25 most underrated players of the past decade, including Matt Lepsis and Al Wilson.

ESPN Insider - Michael Vick and DeShaun Foster are among the most overrated NFL players of the decade
Football Outsiders ranks the 25 most overrated players of the past decade, which includes the Broncos' punters, Travis Henry and Simeon Rice.

PFW - What can Brown do for Indianapolis?
Dan Waters profiles Colts rookie RB Donald Brown, drafted in the first round out of UConn.

PFW - Holmes working hard to capitalize on heroics
Seth Gruen on the MVP of last year's Super Bowl.

PFW - Bengals' Rivers looking to make bigger impact - Mike Wilkening

PFW - Saints' McCray says he'll win starting job - Dan Parr

MHR Chalk Talk - Game Prep for Denver Broncos at Arizona Cardinals

Steve Nichols — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:00:10 -0000

For thoughts on the game from a Cardinals perspective, visit Revenge of the Birds!!

The final game of the preseason is upon us, and it's the toughest game to prep for MHR's defensive coordinator in residence. Why?

Chalk Talk likes to analyze teams systems, not so much player match-ups. This is because player match-ups appear all over sports media (both on and off line). Arizona has performed so badly over the years, that information about their offensive and defensive systems are very difficult to find.
Being a preseason game, teams play very vanilla. For this reason, preseason Chalk Talks are abbreviated, and treat the game as if starters where playing and systems are in effect. But game four in a preseason is the toughest of all. Starters may be rested entirely, and no hint of offensive or defensive styles will be showcased.

What's a game prep writer to do? Serve his fellow Broncos fans. After all, the preseason is a "preseason" for Chalk Talk too. Chalk Talk (like the fans and the players) is gearing up, practicing, and shaking off the cob webs too. The '08 season is days away, as is the hated raiders (sic). Which reminds me,

A very special WELL DONE to our Cardinal friends in Arizona. All of us at MHR send you a Mile High Salute for your blow out of the raiders (sic). When it comes to beating the raiders (sic), we're ALL Americans.

First off, the Cardinals are a team with a lot of problems. Mike Florio (over at The Sporting News) writes the following:

The Cardinals snuck into the playoffs 10 years ago and won their only postseason game since the Truman administration. Since then, nothing. They've been competitive at times, and they've been a trendy pick the past two years to turn things around. But they haven't.

Part of the problem is the Cardinals are too quick to blame the team's fate on the head coach, creating a regular state of turmoil that makes it hard for the successor to be successful. At a deeper level, the Cardinals have yet to use the current system as a way to maximize their talent while properly managing the spending limits.

The Anquan Boldin situation is a prime example of the flaws that prevent this team from succeeding. With two high-end receivers on the roster, they've paid one of them (Larry Fitzgerald) a contract worth $10 million per year. But the other (Boldin) is making a fraction of that, and the two players are comparable in terms of skill and production.

Now they have to choose between keeping an angry Boldin, trading him or paying him. The Cardinals seemingly want to squat on Boldin, even though a T.O.-style situation could soon unfold.

Of course, none of this would have happened if Fitzgerald's rookie deal hadn't included escalators that backed the team into a cap crunch, forcing it to give him that $40 million deal.

Then there's Matt Leinart, the franchise quarterback the team drafted in 2006. He'll open the season riding the pine while the next player drafted behind him, Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler, seems poised to become a star.

First, I'm going to confess that I'm not familiar with the Cardinals defensive system. I know very little about defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast. He runs a base 4-3 formation on defense, and has some players of note, but nothing that generates any write-ups. Researching the defensive system of the Cardinals might be like getting a look at North Korea's or Iran's nuclear program, except that no one seems to be interested. (At press time, the Arizona Cardinals deny any intentions of develping a nuclear program).

The Denver offense (on the other hand) runs a West Coast Offense paired with a one cut running Zone Block system. The team features an up and coming QB, depth at WR, depth at TE, and a stable of runners that always seem to crack 1000 yards a season (no matter who starts). With Ryan Torain on the PUP list, and Pittman a question mark, Denver may be in danger of having speed without power though. Denver had serious problems in the redzone last year, so if they hope to overcome that problem (and also be a threat on third and short downs), they may need to keep Pittman and pray for a speedy recovery for Torain.

The only other concern for Denver is a major changing of the guard on the vaunted offensive line. Lepsis retired last year, and Nalen / Hamilton are wrapping up careers. Denver has brougt in some new players including first round pick Clady), and moved forward players waiting in the wings. In the preseason thus far, the OL looks like it will be fine.

The real test for the teams though isn't Denver's offense versus Arizona's defense.

Denver's defense is expected to run (former defensive coordinator) Coyer's version of the Man / Show Blitz. While not set in stone, many factors point to this system. The most recent factor is the reluctance of the Broncos to blitz, and the lack of hard core pass rushing by the DL. I believe that Denver is holding back the scheme until the start of the season, but that everything (down to one gap DTs and statements about returning to roots) indicates the Show.

However, Denver's biggest question marks are on the defense. The DTs were the weak link of the team last year in the Run Contain system, and Denver has little to show for improvement. Denver's lone draft pick for addressing the position is on IR for the season, and the other pick-up is FA DeWayne Robertson. Robertson is likely a major key to Denver's season.

Robertson is a very powerful one gap DT who was (wrongly) used in the NY Jets Fairbanks - Bullough system. He may do well paired with upcoming Marcus Thomas (DT), but he has three strikes that may or may not come into play.

According to doctors, his knees look like Hell. On the other hand, he's hardly missed any games in his career.
We haven't seen anything yet (regular season) from a guy who was used incorrectly in another team's system.
The more he plays for Denver, the higher the draft pick compensation goes. (This bothers me very little though. If he plays great and often, he's worth it).

The question marks deepen at LB. DJ Williams at WLB is considered solid, and should have a great season. But the MLB position has (so far) looked like a battle between mediocre talents. This may change radicaly in the regular season, but for now Denver fans may have some concerns. Over at SLB, Boss Bailey is (once again) injured, so the jury has to be out on his performance. However, some LBs waiting in the wings (Woodyard chief among them) have shown some surprising flashes, and may jump in.

Denver is at once both elite and deep at CB. The safeties this year seem to be an improvement over last year. Denver has a pro bowl, pass rush talent at DE (Dumervil), and several good run stopping and balanced players too. So the area of unknowns falls squarly on the front seven.

Which brings us to Arizona. Arizona's offense is built to exploit the front seven. During an MHR staff meeting, I brought up the difficulties of researching the Cardinals. Guru (The Wise) advised me to consider how much Arizona looks like Pittsburgh on offense. Once again, Guru was right.

Head Coach Whisenhut and Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley (who share a birthday) share ties to the Steelers.

While Arizona has two outstanding WRs, they have a decent running game with both Edge James and Tim Hightower. While not a true zone block team, they are experimenting with it. (Note: While Edge is a one cut runner, I wouldn't consider Indy's OL to be a true ZB system as referenced in the link. My opinion is that the author takes the Coach's comments to mean play by the Indy OL, instead of the running style used by James).

If this were the regular season I would expect Arizona to run a Pittsburgh-like smash mouth offense (Erhardt - Perkins) that would force Denver to face the run. While Arizona will use several ZB plays, I don't see them running the system the plays are predicated on. At any rate, If Denver can't stop the run, they may get much the same shock that the raiders (sic) just suffered.

In the passing game, Arizona has a struggling QB but solid receivers. Now that the promotion of Warner has proven to be a false rumor, the only danger to the Cardinals' passing game is the public dispute taking place between Anquan Boldin and his team. That, and the elite Denver secondary.

Where does this put the game (if it were regular season)?

KEYS TO THE GAME -

Denver

Play mistake free on STs
Stop the run / force the pass
Because the Cards have a better Off than Def, win the time of possession battle

Arizona

Establish the run
Establish the run (yes, it's that important)
Limit turnovers (this should be a tough game for Ariz, and TOs would only make matters worse).

The Cardinals have been popular dark horse picks the last couple of years. Folks keep waiting for the team to take off. (Did you know the Cardinals are the oldest professional football club, dating back to the 1800s in their days in Chicago?) Somehow, they just never get over the top. If this were a regular season game, the pick would be easy. But in a vanilla mix of systems, and playing with 3rd and 4th stringers, there's just no way to predict this game.

You know what's next folks. MNF against Oakland. We can be forgiven if we overlook preseason game four just a little.

Poll

Which of the following is MOST likely in this fourth pre-season game?

A potential contributer to the team gets a major injury

15 votes

A new star (or a player on the bubble) arises

58 votes

A player will be cut in a move that surprises most fans

53 votes

126 votes | Poll has closed