Okay...so it's clear at this point that nobody at MHR wants to talk about it!  I understand, all of the hope and optimism of the offseason could come crashing down and reality will be forced upon us in a three hour period.  It may be only preseason, but this weekends game against Dallas is extremely important.

At this time last year, there was a major buzz surrounding the Broncos.  We had made some huge (pun only partially intended) offseason acquisitions; and, at the time, it was popular opinion that those additions very well could be the final pieces of the championship puzzle.  

Then came the preseason game against Dallas.  I don't need to relate what happened in that game...I know we all remember it.  In short, we were dominated!  Physically, mentally, athletically, strategically...we were dominated on every level.  "This isn't indicative of the quality of our team", we told ourselves.  The coaches and players argued that Dallas had unfairly game planned that game.  Jim Bates said that the defense looked nothing like the defense we would see in the regular season.  The Broncos were demoralized and panicking (and complaining incessantly)!!! 

As we all now know, that game turned out to be extremely indicative of the season that followed it.  Our defense was horrendous.  We were out played on every level and it followed us into the season.  The Broncos know the impact that game had on the team last year...and they will be looking to ensure a different result.  This will be an early test of just how good this team really is.  Yes, I know several of our starters won't be playing.  However, this game will tell us if we have the attitude and the will necessary to be a legitimate contender.  It doesn't matter if we win or lose...but it does matter how we play the game. 

We need to look good this weekend...No more excuses!!!

After taking some time to reflect on Saturday night’s game against the Texans, I have developed a guarded optimism concerning the Broncos 2008 season. There were clearly areas of “opportunity“; however, at Mike Clark’s suggestion, I have decided to focus on the positive aspects of the game (Mike says I’ll live longer). Therefore, I’ve put together a top ten list of reasons to be optimistic regarding the upcoming season based on Saturday’s game.

1. Jay Cutler: Is Cutler’s 3rd season going to be his breakout year? So far so good!!!

2. Run Defense: Saturday night was an early indication that our renewed commitment to stopping the run has paid off. We saw numerous 8 and 9 in the box formations and, as a result, Houston’s running game was consistently shut down within a yard or two of the line of scrimmage (excluding a long jaunt by Houston‘s punter and a couple of bootlegs by their 3rd string QB). Unfortunately, the defense looked poor on passing plays. Saturday’s game against Dallas will give us a better indication of how improved we really are on defense.

3. Eddie Royal: Is Royal’s 1st season going to be his breakout year? So far so good!!!

4. Running Game: Denver showed why they are a strong running team year in and year out. This year should be no exception, assuming the line gets up to snuff.

5. Tight Ends: Both Nate Jackson and Tony Scheffler demonstrated why they create such match up headaches for the opposing defense. Both are big men that can run and catch like wide receivers yet line up at TE. Several times during the game, Houston showed why you can’t expect to cover these guys with a LB. Hopefully Nate and Tony can help fill the Brandon Marshall void in weeks one and two. Oh yeah, Daniel Graham looked pretty good too!

6. Blitz Packages: While we were admittedly unable to pressure the QB with just our front four, all of the blitz packages we brought looked very effective. Several corner and safety blitzes hurried Houston’s Quarterbacks enough to make them get rid of the ball prematurely for incompletions and even caused a good looking sack off of a corner blitz. Look for Slowik to bring the heat this season!!!

7. Marlon McCree: M&M made two TD saving plays for us. While it would have been nice to see him get an INT on one of his stops, he effectively diminished any concerns about his ability to replace Lynch as a starting Safety.

8. Darrell Jackson: While Jackson did nothing spectacular, he showed he has consistent hands and the ability to get a catch in traffic for tough yards. That is all we need him to do this season…be consistent!

9. Ryan Clady: Even though Mario Williams made Clady his little (fill in the blank) early in game, Clady recovered nicely from an inauspicious begining and even looked pretty good towards the end of the first half. He looked solid on passing plays…his run blocking clearly needs improvement.

10. No Sacks!!!: this is a significant achievement for a line that is very inexperienced working together and extremely young at several key positions. While there was ample cause for concern, not allowing a sack in their first game playing together is certainly something to grow off of.

I know many of you would have liked to see Wesley Woodyard included in this list. However, while his performance against Houston was very encouraging, he played against Houston’s 3rd team offense. I will need to see Woodyard perform against 1st and 2nd team offense to get a real feel for his ability. Alridge is in the same boat. I’d like to see if he can have that same type of performance against the 1st and 2nd team defense. He also needs to show that he can be trusted with the football and can at least be semi-effective in the blocking game (an area in which there is considerable room for improvement).  Prater's debut with the Broncos was a wash.  While he went 3 for 4, the one he missed was a thirty yard chip shot.  We'll have to wait and see.

Another positive is that some of the biggest concerns, mental errors and penalties., are fixable in the short term and may have simply resulted from nerves and rust. Also, even though our secondary looked porous, neither Champ nor Hamza played and Dre Bly saw very limited action.  All in all, the game was somewhat encouraging and at least left open the possibility for a pretty solid 2008 season.

and yes, I know it's just preseason!!!  ;-)

GO BRONCOS!!!!

The Denver Post has reported that the NFL has officially announced a three game suspension for Brandon Marshall.  As anticipated, the suspension could possibly be reduced to two games, at Goodell's discresion, for complying with certain "conditions of the suspension", including counseling.

Marshall's attorney confirmed that they will appeal the suspension.

As I have already made issue of on another FanPost,  the ruling came 18 days after Marshall met with Goodell.  Also, information on the suspension apparently leaked well before the official announcement.  I believe that both the amount of time and lack of control over "insider information" reflect poorly on the league's handling of this situation. 

So football season is finally upon us and I thought I’d take a little excursion to the home of the Denver South Texans to engage in a little friendly banter regarding this weekend’s game and the upcoming season. Obviously the upcoming game means very little in terms of win or lose; however, we can see a little glimpse of what each team brings to the table in the upcoming season. I also think that there is a very good chance that Denver and Denver’s very own Mini-Me (The Texans) will be competing for a playoff spot come December.

I’ve noticed that several of the all-knowing pundits in the national media are picking Houston as a sleeper to sneak into a Wild Card spot; however, from an outsider’s perspective the division is just too competitive at this point for Houston to have a legitimate chance. Obviously the Texans need to show that they can win in their own division before they can legitimately worry about anything else.

Denver, on the other hand, benefits from a relatively weak division and a soft schedule. Phyliss and his Merriman (Chula Vista Chargers) still present a hurdle, but the rest of the division is very weak and we think we’ve made the adjustments/improvements to at least compete for a playoff spot.

Houston is obviously on the upswing with a very good coach and a young nucleus of talent; however, until Indianapolis or Jacksonville start to decline I think it’s just too much of an uphill battle. But regarding the game at hand…

I’m taking the Broncos 3rd string over the Texans 3rd string 31-24!!! For the season: Broncos 11-5; Texans 9-7.

Good luck on the season!!! (Broncos fans still love Kubiak and honestly wish him success as long as it’s not to the detriment of the Broncos)

In the past couple months, Shanahan has seemed to have developed an uncanny ability to slow down time and acrobatically dodge bullets. a la the Matrix.  Or at least see into the future, a la that weird gypsy head thing from the movie Big (could that thing see into the future?  anyway...I digress).

The first bullet that Shanahan dodged would be letting Javon Walker walk.  The national media seemed to take this as a sure indication that Shanahan had finally 'lost his marbles'.  However, shortly thereafter Walker had his infamous Vegas incident.  Then he showed up to training camp looking out of shape and nothing like a pro-bowl talent receiver.  Now Walker apparently no longer wants to play football.

Bullet number two is Travis Henry.  Once again, the pundits in the media thought Shanahan had cracked when he released his presumed starting running back during OTAs.  However, shortly thereafter, Henry failed yet another drug test which would have effectively ended his season. 

Bullet three?  NFL sources are reporting that Todd Sauerbraun will be suspended four games for his altercation with a taxi driver in December.  As we all know, Shanahan let Saurbraun go at the end of last season for, in my opinion, kicking the ball to Devon Hester not just once...but twice. 

In light of Shanahan's recently discovered super powers, how can we interpret his recent playoff prediction and handling of the John Lynch and Jason Elam situations?  Maybe he knows something we don't!

This FanPast is for the sole purpose of boasting.  I'll leave the practice insights to Guru (I think he caught this morning's practice). 

However, today is the reason you go to training camp.  This is the first day that numerous players were readily accesible and talking with the fans.  I met Doom, Sapp, Hackney, Marshall and several others were hanging out with the fans. 

All the players were really cool.  I asked Marshall if he still thought he'd have a 100 reception season and he responded, "130"!  I also had him sign my hat like a geek!

The only part of practice that I'll relate is that Prater has a leg!  He kept drilling field goals and they kept backing him up.  He drilled it and they'd back him up again.  Without ever missing a kick, they took him off the field after drilling a 67 yarder.

Incredible!!!

I caught practice this morning and thought I'd post a brief overview. 

First, it was not a particularly good day for the offense.  Several dropped passes and missed throws from all three QBs.  They just didn't look in sync.  That said, BMarsh made some huge plays and I am now convinced the arm is just fine (now it's his brain we need to work on).  Scheff also made several nice plays.  He has a talent for getting lost in the coverage...and Cutler has a talent for finding him.  Aldridge looked good...as did Torain.  I overheard some guys that go to most of the practices say that Pittman has been extremely impressive.  Unfortunately, Hillis was out with a hamstring (severity unknown).   

The defense looked decent.  Although the offense was stopping themselvers more than the D was stopping them.  Crowder blew up several plays and looked impressive.  Foxworth also made some great plays...including an INT for a touchdown.  Several people also mentioned that Nate Webster has looked significantly better that Koutavides at MLB so far. 

Prater looked okay on field goals.  He was hitting pretty consistently from 45 out.  However, he did not look good on kickoffs...most of which barely made it into the endzone if at all. 

Overall, the team looks as if they are still a bit rusty.  I guess that's to be expected not even a week into camp. 

With the impending release of Madden '09, I wanted to get an idea of how many of the MHR faithful are Madden players.

Madden 09 has the ability to play league and group play and I thought it'd be fun to set up an MHR tournament or room if there are enough folks that are interested. 

We could also invite some friends from Silver and Black and Arrowhead Pride for a little friendly rivalry tournament.

This is the twentieth version of Madden and claims to be the biggest improvent in a single year yet...I'm looking forward to it.