I know the roster is set, but I find it pretty interesting that Pitt's starting center last year Justin Hartwig was just chopped. I wonder if he would fit at guard and whether it would be worth picking him up for better OL depth than we currently have. He definitely has a mean streak and is a big bruiser inside. I would like him as depth much better than Daniels or Batiste. What does everyone else think?

We are sure hurting without Clady on the field. Our O line looked pretty bad against Detroit, at least in the first quarter against their 1s. We were getting munched up in the middle and when we went to double-team Suh, Vanden Bosch came around the end and into the backfield consistantly. Obviously Polumbus isn't going to make it, at least I hope not. That said, I picked this up off an AP piece on the net which gives me some hope for the near future: 

Notes: Broncos LT Ryan Clady , recovering from offseason knee surgery, did footwork drills with strength coach Rich Tuten on the field a few hours before kickoff. ..

Whew. Let's hope we get him back before Sept. 12. 

Seattle which last month traded for LenDale White whacked him on Friday. He wasn't out of shape, he was taking football seriously, but apparently he got on the wrong side of someone and was cut. Rumors abound of substance abuse, which may or may not be true. If they are, he'll get a suspension from Godell for sure. But what's of more interest to me is Alex Gibbs is the OL line coach in Seattle. Zone Blocking all the way and there's no way White is cut out for that. He's a power back, big, strong and brutal. He's also from Denver and we are moving into the power running scheme, so I wonder, if he's clean, if he's worth a look. Thoughts?

Buried deep down in Mike Klis's story on the Marshall trade was this little nugget:

"A third prominent Denver offensive weapon from that 2006 draft class, Tony Scheffler, could be traded soon. Scheffler, who leads NFL tight ends with a 13.7-yard per catch average over the past four seasons, faxed his signed tender of $1.176 million to Broncos headquarters Wednesday, a transaction that likely facilitates the next Denver deal." 

Hadn't seen that before but I guess that means we'll be moving Tony today. Wonder where and wonder what we get. Go Josh, go Brian, get us something good so we can build a team for the teens. 

Walp, the Pats tagged Wilfork. So I guess that means he isn't headed our direction unless we are prepared to pay heavily for him. I don't think that's how it's going to work. Maybe we'll get lucky and have a chance to land Seymour who proved he can still play. But I'm still pretty stoked on the guys we have on the bench or on the PS who didn't have a real chance to strut their stuff last year. This week we should see all the tags come out so we'll have a better idea of who's actually an available FA. 

Ok, I gotta throw this out there... If we move Scheffler to another team for draft picks, we lose our receiving TE. What about moving Hillis, who has GREAT hands and is a big big body out to TE? He has the skills to block as evidenced by being a FB in college and the pro level, he can catch (remember when he got hurt last year, that was an amazing catch even though he was extended backwards and over the Dback) and he can run and hit like a truck in the open field. I wouldn't like to see him go to Washington or elsewhere, but it's obvious he's not getting on the field as a running back, so.. What's the take here folks?

The "pundits" (I use this phrase with trepidation) were busy spouting off about the Bronc's extra-tough schedule at the beginning of the season. They continued with this talk after our first win against Don Bank's "surprise" team of the season. We took care of business against Cleveland and Oakland and entered the "tough" part of our schedule. And against this, after yesterday's nail-biter, we are 5-0 and 2-0 against our extra-tough opponents. My point is, and it's been made before a lot here at MHR, is it's not about the teams from last year, it's not about the the scheduling being a joke (see Easterbrook's TMQ from a couple of weeks back), it's about THIS YEAR'S  team and THIS YEAR'S opponents, not = teams from last year with last year's players. In my opinion, any team that has the Denver Broncos on its schedule THIS YEAR had better be very VERY afraid! 

Yep I want to gloat. Even if it's just for this week, I want to feel really good about us winning and Chicago getting beaten. I especially want to feel good about Cutler getting picked off FOUR times with more of his laser-vision lock on receivers. So we were lucky this week, but you know what, we haven't been lucky in YEARS. I think Jake was the last guy we got lucky with once in a while. And we were UNLUCKY not to score on that botched Cincy fieldgoal and the DJ almost pickoff in front of the zone. 

Sorry, I digress, what I really wanted to point out to everyone what some selects from GB Packer's beat writer Bob McGinn:

They were beaten primarily because Jay Cutler was careless with the football and suffered four interceptions, leading to Green Bay's plus-4 in turnover differential. His passer rating was 43.2.

"He was very reckless with the ball," Angelo said. "It's one thing to try to make plays, but you've got to be smart about it.

"Without seeing the tape, I don't know what he was looking at. Watching the game, it didn't look good, obviously. When you throw across your body, bad things happen. Interceptions just killed us. Two were in the red zone.

"It comes down to not beating yourself. We beat ourselves. You don't do that on Sundays and win many games in this league."

The first half was a nightmare for Cutler. He fired three interceptions, had two others dropped by Tramon Williams and left with a passer rating of 16.9.

On the Bears' second possession, Cutler attempted to throw an out route to Earl Bennett at the Green Bay 14, but the ball went to Williams, who couldn't hang on with an open field in front of him.

Then, on the next play, Cutler threw a short pass to Bennett. The receiver stayed inside, the ball went outside and Williams let another interception slip off his fingers.

One play later, Cutler flung up another ill-advised pass that was intercepted by Nick Collins.

"It did surprise me," Harris said. "This is his fourth year; you'd think he'd be better than that. I don't know what he was thinking, what was going through his mind. The pressure got to him. He's still a good quarterback. It was his first game. He'll make some corrections and probably improve."

Right, that sounds like all of us last year after ANOTHER game where Culter killed us with an interception in the Red Zone. I just have two words for this week. HA HA. But seriously, GO BRONCS!!!

I don't post a lot, but I read just about everything because I'm as obsessed with the Broncos as every other person is on this site. However one thing which kind of bugs me lately has been the hostility shown to some people who don't have the exact same point of view as the majority of folks on this site. To mind specifically McGeorge takes a lot of grief as does GeoMak from Chicago. I think both McGeorge and GeoMak back their arguments with facts and yet there is some name-calling when it's not really called for (specifically they are called trolls). Anyway, I would think we could have a discussion and forget about calling each other trolls etc which really belongs on the DP message boards (who can even read those any longer?). That's it, just thought I could lay a little civility out there (and by in large everyone here is exceedingly civil).  Thanks. 

My friend who is a huge Pats fan pointed out this mailbag from the Globe's beat writer, which pretty much puts the Broncos-Pats non-deal into perspective: 

http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extras/askreiss/03_03_09/

It's the first item just read down through his intro. 

I miss the Rocky and Legwold, he would have had some interesting insight into this mess. Anyone know where Jeff went?? Hopefully he will replace Fat Bill at ESPN or even better go to the NFL page to join Schefter. 

 

Found this on Yahoo and thought it would interest the community. I've been lurking for a year but thought it is time to contribute. Enjoy the article. 

 

Cutler tackles diabetes, Elway's legacy head-on

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By ARNIE STAPLETON, AP Sports Writer – Sat Nov 22, 12:01 am ET AP – Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler (6) looks for an open receiver as teammate Peyton Hillis (22) …

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Jay Cutler is refusing to be sacked bydiabetes or John Elway's legacy.

The Broncos' third-year pro is taking both challenges head-on. He's on pace to set a franchise record with more than 4,500 yards passing and also end Denver's two-year playoff drought even though the team is tormented by injuries that have sent 11 players to IR and five more starters to the sideline.

Eight months after his diagnosis, Cutler is adroitly juggling the demands of diabetes with the pressures of being "The Man" in quarterback-crazy Colorado, where he raised eyebrows last month by saying he had a stronger arm than Elway, "hands down."

That arm strength had started to soften last year when Cutler's pancreas quit producing insulin in adequate amounts, sending him into a six-month spiral of depression, exhaustion and confusion before he finally learned what was wrong and began to regain his health.

The former Vanderbilt star was exceptionally candid in an interview with this Associated Press reporter, who regularly covers the Broncos and also is a Type 1, insulin-dependent diabetic.

"It's difficult. Whenever I first learned what it was and started to deal with it, obviously it's a little overwhelming. But you get used to it," Cutler said. "Life as a quarterback, the pressures of having to deal with that on a day-to-day basis, it makes dealing with diabetes a little bit easier.

"People have a lot of problems out there. It's as hard as you make it. If you have a positive attitude and you go about it the right way, it's not that bad."

Now that his diabetes is under control and his strength and stamina have returned, Cutler isn't shying away from the incessant comparisons to Elway, who retired in 1999 after winning his second straight Super Bowl ring. Elway's Hall of Fame career has cast a long shadow over all his successors.

Cutler's comment last month that he had a stronger arm than Elway in his prime reverberated across the city. Particularly when Cutler followed his braggadocio with some turnover-filled performances that were decidedly un-Elway-like before bouncing back to keep the Broncos (6-4) atop their division.

"You know, it's not like I took anything away from John Elway," Cutler said. "He's still a great player, still a Hall of Fame player, one of the greatest quarterbacks ever. All I said was I had a stronger arm than his. That obviously caused some attention. But, you know what? I'm confident in my game. I'm confident in what I can do on a football field, and what I can't do.

"And I know I've got a long way to go to even get mentioned in the same breath as John Elway. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try or I'm not going to be confident in what I can do out there."

Coach Mike Shanahan likes that moxie and said it's another example of the intangibles — along with his ability to shrug off mistakes and a fearlessness of going downfield rather than dumping the ball off to safe check-downs — that will one day make Cutler a great quarterback like Elway.

"No, I'm not going to shy away from John Elway and act like he wasn't here," Cutler said. "Because he still is here. There's still pictures of him in this building. There's still statues of him at the stadium. So, it's not like if I don't mention his name or utter his name he's not going to be around. Because he is.

"It's just something either you can deal with or you can't deal with. I'm going to choose to deal with it and hit it head-on. And that's a standard. That's a goal you kind of want to get to. He set a level of play and the expectations around here are high. That's something that I would love to live up to one day."

And he loves his chances now that he's got his diabetes under control.

About 21 million Americans have diabetes, meaning their bodies cannot properly turn blood sugar into energy. Either they don't produce enough insulin or don't use it correctly. With the Type 1 form that Cutler has, thebody's immune system attacks insulin-producing pancreatic cells, so that patients require insulin injections to survive. It usually, but not always, strikes in childhood.

Cutler, the 11th pick in the 2006 draft, threw for nearly 3,500 yards and 20 touchdowns last season, but the Broncos missed the playoffs for a second straight year. It was obvious as the season wore on that his arm strength wasn't equal to what it was his rookie year, when he started the final five weeks of the season.

He couldn't explain his 35-pound weight loss, which everyone around him chalked up to the stress of the job. In the weight room, he couldn't lift as much, and when he and teammates Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler gathered in Atlanta over the winter to work out together, Cutler was so exhausted it was all he could do to just hit the snooze button.

Neither he nor the Broncos heeded warning signs until team medical personnel noticed a high blood sugarreading in routine tests in March and sent him to a diabetes specialist.

The day he learned he was diabetic was both shocking and liberating, Cutler said.

"I went six months just wearing my body down, losing weight, getting no nutrition whatsoever," he said. "I remember the first time they gave me the fast-acting insulin, not just my body, but my mood and my energy, it was like I hadn't felt like that in years."

Cutler said his most recent glycosylated hemoglobin test, or AIC, which reflects average blood glucose levelsover the past two to three months and is a truer gauge than daily finger pricks, was 6.9 percent. It's not ideal but very close to target range and about half as high as when he was first diagnosed.

A reading under 7 percent shows Cutler has his diabetes in pretty good control, particularly given the stress he's under as an NFL quarterback.

Like many newly diagnosed diabetics who find there was a reason for their stumping symptoms and that the disease can be controlled, if not cured, by the proper balance of diet, medication and exercise, Cutler is starting to see his condition as more a blessing than a curse.

He said he's in better tune with his mind and body and more mindful of nutrition because of diabetes and the necessity to maintain proper blood sugar levels. Get too low and he'll feel shaky and find it difficult to concentrate and react quickly. Get too high and he'll have headaches, feel tired, moody, depressed.

None of those are conducive to leading his team downfield.

"You have to be aware of what you put in your body and how it affects you, especially on game days," Cutler said. "I've got to know exactly what's going on. I've got a timetable of when I can do things, when I don't want to do things. I know exactly when I'm going to get high and when I'm going to get low and you've got to plan ahead. You've got to be organized. It's just a whole different lifestyle that you've got to get used to. It takes time."

During joint workouts last summer, Dallas Cowboys quarterbacks coach and 19-year NFL veteran signal-caller Wade Wilson huddled with Cutler to give his fellow Type 1 diabetic advice.

"I told him it's not a big deal if you take care of yourself," Wilson, who played 14 seasons after being diagnosed as insulin dependent in 1986, said last summer. "You have to go about your business of diabetes just like you do your football job. If he can go out and handle that, it should be no problem for him."

Thanks to synthetic insulin and a drastic change in diet, Cutler's blood sugars are down, his weight and spirits are up and his frozen rope throws are back.

Cutler won't wear his $5,000-plus insulin pump during games for fear he would get hit in his abdomen, crushing the contraption and maybe sending an overdose of the hormone into his belly. He often wears a glucometer on his left arm that provides constant blood sugar readings. Occasionally, he comes to the sideline for finger pricks to test his blood sugars. High-fructose energy drinks are on hand if he needs them.

"We're extremely careful. We're extremely aware of it during games, during warmups," Cutler said. "That first quarter, we check it a lot and just make sure I'm at a healthy number, I'm not too high, I'm not too low. I think there was one instance in the preseason in pregame when I got down (too low) and we got it up pretty quick. But once that first quarter is over, I kind of plateau there and I know I'm good the rest of the game."

Cutler said he looks back in amazement at what was happening to him last year, when he was losing even his desire to compete.

"This time last year I was losing two, three pounds a week," Cutler said. "I kind of just wanted the season to be over. I couldn't stay awake, I had to go to the bathroom all the time. I was waking up six, seven times a night and just kind of I wanted the season to be over and see what was wrong with me.

"I was ready to get back to the person and the player I was before all this happened."