Broncos Continue to Baffle Fantasy Experts

If you were like me last year, you were sitting pretty nice through week 4 of your Fantasy Football league with Travis Henry leading the league in rushing yards. Then you picked up Selvin Young off of waivers, keeping Henry, then you got nervous... And picked up Andre Hall, then you got lucky. Then you started Henry (whoops) coming back from his injury and sat Young and Hall. Now you had three Denver running backs and you were glued to ESPN on Sunday mornings begging for some lead on who you should start.

Anyway, draft any of Denver's backfield this year and you might be in for more of the same again, according to ESPN's Scott Engel.

"So how should you approach the Denver running backs on draft day? Avoid Henry until you have at least three other running backs on your roster, because the best you can hope for is that he stays healthy and scores a decent amount of touchdowns. Young is a good pick late in the fourth round, as he is very likely to emerge as the starter and one certainly cannot count on Henry to avoid injuries and off-field issues. Pittman should be strictly drafted as a late-round backup, because it would be difficult to envision him becoming a featured back, even in an emergency role. Grab Torain in the final rounds and stash him away, because as we have seen many times before, any Denver running back can get an opportunity for quality playing time at any time."

Inevitably some dumbass in your league will take Henry before you get a chance, in barring some further injury that prevents him to get time in preseason. So if you want Henry you're more than likely going to have to take him in the fourth at the latest. Young is pointing at Centerfield and calling his shot right now. Stating his goal for 2008 is 2000 yards.

"I'd like for him to prove that to me," Shanahan told the Denver Post. "And he could very well do it. There's a big difference from your first year to your second year."

Young did have more yards on less carries than Henry last season, I was most impressed with Hall though. Teams weren't able to game plan for him, which if he sits at third on the depth chart again this season would be the same case. He's got a lot of competition for number three though, we're thick at a position that we usually don't even have to worry about with Michael Pittman, Ryan Torain and Anthony Aldridge. As well as the possibility that Mike Bell may emerge from the shadow of Shanahan's dog house.

I've predicted the depth chart before, P.P. (pre-Pittman), stating that Aldridge will sit on the practice squad. Henry will start until he's hurt, Young will play until he's hurt, Hall and Pittman will split time. Henry and Young will return and somewhere in there we will see Torain break through and have a hundred yard game or two. Should we make the post season who are our running backs? Young and Torain, though I highly doubt that Torain will have an opportunity to win an Offensive Rookie of the Year Award. We do seem to be sitting nicely for years to come.

That's Anthony Aldrige (left) by the way, wearing the retired #18 of Frank Tri- pucka, during the season he will wear #38.

M.B.N. (Must Be Nice...)

Someone with the curious Internet moniker "IndyFan032589" posted Mike Shanahan's infamous new 6.5 million dollar Cherry Creek home on the Internet (check out that link for a better look). In case you are wondering, I stay at the guest house on the right when I am in town. Well, that's what Krystal's promised me anyway, when I come up to visit this August with Jenna (Bush) and Henry Hager.

I guess the good news is that someone has to pay for that, then continue to pay for that, which means I don't see Coach leaving any time soon (for Michigan or any other coaching job).

Rod Smith will be around next season (one way or the other)

Former Denver Poster turned ESPNer Bill Williamson reported yesterday afternoon that Rod Smith would be around this year. If you remember in February Rod Smith turned down the Broncos offer to be the team's receivers coach. He is expected to stick around as a "consultant", do consultants make more money than coaches?

Another thing that you may recall is that there were reports last season that Smith would return prior to the game against Green Bay. Though unfortunately the (now) 38 year-old receiver will most likely never return, as a player, his good standing with Shanahan will most likely never diminish.

Smith's tutelage, I believe is the main reason we saw such a spike in Brandon Marshall's stats last season. Though I don't have any proof other than the fact that he was nearly voted to the Pro Bowl. After a rookie season in which he gave no indication that he would be a Pro Bowl receiver the next season.

Pittman says that he's, "Ready to start."

The Broncos signed Michael Pittman and the fans collectively went, "Huh?" While debate was starting to slow over whether the Broncos should make a run for Shaun Alexander or Kevin Jones, the front office surprised everyone and picked up Michael Pittman.

Pittman's been called a career backup, while that's not entirely fair to say. Career backups hardly ever make it ten seasons in the NFL, then again that could be the exact reason that he has made it so long in the "Not For Long," league.

NFL.com posted an article yesterday (28th), interviewing Pittman after his first practice with the Broncos. Overall he seems excited for the opportunity to play in Denver. The Broncos have a similar system to Tampa (where Pittman spent the last six seasons). This may or may not have been what led to Pittman's fumble, which came on his first touch in a Denver Bronco uniform.

"I came out here and I'm trying to impress the coaches. On my first carry, I dropped the ball. It was a fumble because our zone play at Tampa was a little wider than Denver's zone play. It is an adjustment for me. I will adjust and I won't put the ball on the ground again," Pittman promised.

On where he's willing to play:

"I will do whatever I am asked to do. I'll play receiver, I'll play running back, I'll play fullback. I did all that at Tampa," he said. "It's all about helping the team win. If the coach wants me to return punts, I'll return punts. If he wants me to be a receiver or a fullback or whatever. I'm here to make plays."

As a bonus, head on over to Michael Pittman's Official Website. Where I jacked this image of his wife (Michelle Pittman 2007 Winner of Tampa Bay's Fittest Female Pageant).

DeSean Jackson, Eddie Royal and decisions

I'll admit it, I was fighting mad, hoping that the Broncos drafted DeSean Jackson. When he was available still in the 2nd Round I thought we were retarded for not taking him. Anyway, shortly after the draft Shanahan commented directly on why we didn't draft DeSean, but did not give details.

I guess this is why...

Only time will tell if we made the right decision with Eddie Royal. As of right now, Royal's looking like he's one of Jay Cutler's favorite targets. I'm going to go ahead and predict that Royal will become the number 3 (receiver) in Denver if Brandon Stokley goes down for whatever reason.

Speaking of predictions, I'm sorry that I've been slow on the updates. I am moving and promise to be better. We've got a lot planned for the upcoming weeks, so stay tuned and I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Pittman to Broncos?

According to Michael David Smith at PFT

MICHAEL PITTMAN TO SIGN WITH BRONCOS

Posted by Michael David Smith on May 27, 2008, 3:27 p.m.

A league source tells PFT that free agent running back Michael Pittman will sign a one-year contract with the Denver Broncos.

Pittman, who has 10 years of NFL experience, will join a crowded backfield in Denver that includes veteran Travis Henry and youngsters Selvin Young and Andre Hall. Rookie fifth-round pick Ryan Torain is also in the mix.

Pittman spent the first four years of his career with the Cardinals and the last six with the Buccaneers. He’ll turn 33 in August, but he’s still productive in limited action, having averaged better than four yards a carry each of the last five seasons.

When he signed with Tampa Bay in 2002, Bucs coach Jon Gruden thought Pittman was the perfect fit as a combined run-catch threat in Gruden’s offense. But since the Bucs selected Cadillac Williams in the first round of the 2005 draft, Pittman has mostly served as a role player rather than an every-down back, which is what he’ll continue to be in Denver.

Denver Has Competition to Replace Walker...

I was replying to a message board post at one of my favorite Football forums on the Internet, someone had brought up (intelligently) that he'd rather have the depth we (Denver) have at Wide Receiver (12) and not cut a Receiver in order to sign another Tight End (4). Of course, subtract one from both of those parentheticals, because Brandon Marshall and Tony Scheffler are both hurt. Leaving us currently with 11 Wide Receivers (gasp) and three Tight Ends (could be a problem, no?).

Although, I do have an inside source in Dove Valley who is telling me that the Broncos do not plan on running goal line offenses at all this season. Mike Shanahan, genius that he is, had a Happy Gilmore type revelation earlier this summer, while studying tape of Jay Cutler's rookie season. He focused specifically on a play where Cutler connected on a 77 yard bomb to (then Broncos Receiver) Javon Walker. Eureka! Shanahan jumped from his $80,000 Trevor O'Neil Cork Sofa (look it up) and shouted, "Why don't we just do that, every time!?!".

After a quick morning meeting, present were Shanahan, Cutler and the Broncos new Offensive Coordinator (Shanahan, again), it was decided. Cutler emerged from the room a follower, in love with Shanahan's plan and is now planning on throwing no less than 80 yard touchdowns throughout the '08 Preseason, Regular Season and Post Season. I was able to catch up with him shortly after his original press conference where he addressed the Brandon Marshall situation and he told me that in fact, "Yeah, that's the plan, basically 80 yards, no more no less. That's what Coach wants..." I immediately asked what would happen if Defenses just started running Dime packages with as many as eight men in coverage. "Look, we've got the two best Corner Backs in the league (Dre Bly and Champ Bailey), so very worst case scenario, I'm going up against what like the third and fourth best Corners in the league? They're not even in the same league..." And who am I to argue, it's worked very well for NFL teams in the past (throwing 80 yard TDs). Further digging reveals that this would in fact take away the need for Running Backs and we could most likely keep that second Tight End in to further help with pass protection. It would also open up a ton of cap room.

Anyway, my favorite Denver News Station, KCNC (aka CBS 4) posted this article. Below are the important parts.

Wide Receiver Darrell Jackson, on why he chose Denver-

"I want to go out and have fun and a have chance to win," said Jackson, who had 46 catches for 497 yards and three touchdowns for the 49ers last year. "This is a great football city with winning tradition, especially the last 13, 15 years under (head coach Mike) Shanahan. That's all I was really looking for."

He went on to say-

"I could have gone somewhere and been a starter off the bat but go through the growing pains," Jackson said. "You have a great offensive line here, you have a good quarterback and you have a great running back."

Keary Colbert, on why T.O. called him blasphemous-

"We went through a lot of injuries at the quarterback position, so we had to kind of scale back a little bit at times," Colbert said. "It was one of those seasons last year. You can't predict what kind of season you're going to have, you hope for the best and see how it plays out." [edit note: Terrell Owens could be heard screaming, "That's my Quarterback!" while pouting, from Dallas.]

But Keary, do you think this is the year Denver goes Four-Wide again at Receiver?

"That's every wide receiver's dream, to go four-wide," he said. "With the group we have, that would be a good thing. We have a lot of playmakers and I think we can spread some things out and make some plays."

Rookie Ryan Torain

A Rookie Running Back is always exciting to Bronco fans, especially when it's someone we actually use a draft pick on. Ryan Torain

A couple of articles/analysis have been posted in the last two days about Torain, the first is an Impact Analysis by at KFFL and the second was by the Denver Post in regards to the extra reps Andre Hall, Selvin Young and Ryan Torain will be receiving. Although Hall was noticeably absent from the Post's radar with their report.

My Early Prediction: Torain will do extremely well in preseason, maybe edging Hall out. However the Depth Chart at the beginning season will be the exact same as it is now.. Travis Henry, Selvin Young, Andre Hall and then Ryan Torain.

BREAKING NEWS: Scheffler Injured

According to the Denver Post, Denver Broncos Tight End Tony Scheffler is injured.

Injuries 2, Broncos 0... Three days after Running Back Travis Henry wasn't able to participate in the Broncos Quarterback Camp fans receive word that Tony Scheffler is injured as well. Mike Klis at DP reports:

"Two NFL sources said Scheffler is wearing a boot on his foot and will be out four weeks after experiencing recurring soreness in the foot he broke during last year's passing camp."

Scheffler did participate in the first day, but has not been on the field since. Early reports say that he will be out at least four weeks.

Scheffler's injury exposes a couple of things, the most glaring is that the Broncos do not have depth behind Scheffler, even with Scheffler being the number two in Denver. Nate Jackson was able to score last season and was resigned, but is he better than other Tight Ends that are/were available? Is money spent better somewhere else? Or is it imperative to have 12 Wide Receivers, 5 Running Backs and 4 Full Backs going into Training Camp- to match up with the 3 Tight Ends?

A Look at the New Broncos

It's day three of Denver's Quarterback Camp and we've got pictures from the last two days courtesy of The Denver Post and Yahoo Sports. Along with a couple quotes, let's start off with big Dewayne Robertson, our new Defensive Tackle. If he can stay healthy, he may be the best Defensive Tackle we've had in some time.

(Robertson) On ending up in Denver:

"My mind was already made up," he said. "I wanted Denver. It was because of the scheme and the things they do defensively, I'll fit right in. It wouldn't be a big learning curve. The things they're teaching now are things I've already been taught."

Robertson could have demanded a trade to any of the teams that were interested in him, but he chose Denver. Robertson's favorite color happens to be orange, no word on whether that had anything to do with his final decision.

For the Super Fans: here's a link to Dewayne Robertson appearing on a "Pimp My Ride," type of show in New York.

And a very encouraging piece done while he still played for the Jets. (both clips courtesy of Youtube).

Boss Bailey Confuses Himself for an Offensive Left Tackle (just kidding, sort of):

"It's crazy because it can be one of the toughest, but one of the most under appreciated positions," Boss said. "I think it's on me to turn that around and get some people to really value the Sam linebacker."

Champ Bailey stated that the 'overhaul' at Linebacker (adding Boss and Niko Koutouvides) made the Broncos Defense better.

"It’s funny because I’m asking Champ who certain people are, and he says, 'I don’t know.'," Boss Bailey said. "Everybody is learning everybody. There are a lot of new faces around here, so I blend in pretty good."

Keary Colbert Competing for a Starting Position: (Happy Birthday Keary, btw)

"Coming out and competing every day and just making plays," Colbert said. "That doesn't change whether you are a top guy, a rookie or a free agent. Everybody wants to come out and make plays, compete and earn a job. Nothing is going to be given to anybody here."
And on his #13:
"(13) isn't the luckiest number in the world, but it has my '3' in it," Colbert said. "Maybe it can be bad luck for some DBs. I wanted 83 but I couldn't swing it off Mike Leach"

Sammie Parker (#12) on being one of 12 Receivers on the Depth Chart:

"I’m just glad to be here; to start over from scratch," Parker said. "We have a new receiver coach (Jedd Fisch). Things are looking good right now."

"It's a good experience we can all push each other and make each other better. We can show the coaches and the quarterbacks we are able to come out here and make plays."

Some More Pictures of New Denver Wideouts:


Rookie Eddie Royal (#3), who looks to start at Kick Returner and Punt Returner right away and eventually take over for standout veteran slot Receiver Brandon Stokley.

A breath of fresh air, though we won't know whether Denver made the right or wrong decision drafting Royal when college standout DeSean Jackson (now with the Philadelphia Eagles) still on the board, for awhile.

In my opinion Broncos went with Royal, because he can both return kicks and punts and as Shanahan possibly hinted, Royal had less character issues.


Darrell Jackson (one of about seven D-Jack's in the league) looks to be the early front runner to be a starter at the beginning of the season.

Obviously, one of the things the Broncos don't lack this season is veteran depth at Wide Receiver. Which was most definitely felt last season when Javon Walker and Brandon Stokley both went down with injuries at points in the season. Leaving Denver with very few options (and none with previous starting experience).


side note: Darrell Jackson is the reason my fantasy team won in my league two seasons ago. I couldn't be happier to have him on the Broncos.

Quotes in this article, can be found in The Denver Post and DenverBroncos.com

17th Regular-Season Game a Possibility?

John Clayton at ESPN reports that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, "raised the possibility of having a 17th regular-season game as an option to help settle some of the league's future labor problems."

What this would do is eliminate one of the four preseason games.

"It's on the table," Goodell went on to say. Meaning the players will get to vote on it as well. "We are not satisfied with the quality of the preseason right now. We'd like to improve on that," he went on to say.The rest of the article is below:

"It would create new revenue," Goodell said. "Our thought process was we might reduce preseason by a game in return for that. Actually, the players would still play the same number of games. It could give us an opportunity to play a higher quality of football."

Goodell noted that the NFL used to have six preseason games.

"Now, it's become more of a year-round business," Goodell said. "Athletes come in better prepared for the season both physically and mentally. Is it necessary to play four preseason games to get the players prepared to play in the regular season?"

For competitive purposes, the ninth home game would alternate between the conferences every other year, should the NFL use the 17th game option.

NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw didn't seem thrilled with the possibility of playing 17 regular-season games.

"No, it's great to have more revenue," Upshaw said. "Any discussion we've had with them about playing another game, they've always said, they would like to do it, but they don't want to pay for it. They say, 'Why should you be concerned, you get 60 percent?' But we also get paid on games played.

"We're not going to agree to play an extra game and not get paid for it. That's what they want us to do," he said. "That discussion is going to be very short."

I don't know, of course as a fan, I think it's a great idea. Cutting the already too long preseason down to just three games and creating another game that matters, another game that can get a team into/out of the playoffs.

Of course it's another opportunity to get the starters hurt, but in reality those starters generally play half of the last preseason game. Plus if they're playing that well in the first place, most likely they'll be sitting the whole 17th game as they now sit out the 16th game. So in reality, this 17th game could actually result in more rest for starters at a much more crucial time in the season.

Though opinions vary, a team with 12 wins going into week 16, 17 or (the proposed) 18 could most likely rest their starters the entire time. While bubble teams would get even one more opportunity to battle it out and make it into the playoffs.

Speaking of sitting your starters, I guess one more reason to hate the Patriots, if they hadn't been greedy last year in week 17 and played their starters the entire game, do you think the Giants really would have been as prepared as they were come the Super Bowl?

Eye On- Denver Linebackers

I was writing a recent report grading the entire Broncos Defense, where I was also predicting who would be the starters at which position. Short of some training camp mishaps or a player coming out of nowhere it's fairly safe to say that Champ Bailey and Dre Bly will return as the starting corners in Denver, Marcus Thomas and newcomer Dewayne Robertson will most likely handle the Defensive Interior. Then at Linebacker we can look forward to Free Agents Boss Bailey and Niko Koustividas at the SAM (Strong) and MIKE (Middle) positions, respectively, and as Coach Shanahan stated DJ Williams would return to his natural position at the WILL (Weak) position... Or can we?

All the excitement the Broncos generated by bringing in Champ's brother Boss, spilled over to Koutouvides and fans seemed to forgot about Nate Webster and Jamie Winborn. Webster is coming off a stellar season, in which he accounted for nearly 1/10th of the team's tackles, finishing with 100 Tackles, 77 being solo. He is entering into his 9th season and is capable of playing any of the Linebacking positions. Last year he played well at SAM, he even had a better season than Boss who played SAM in Detroit. Bailey's statistics have steadily decreased since his rookie season in 2003, this is not because of injury, he's only missed six games in four seasons.

Winborn also had a decent season last year, playing as a backup, he managed 34 tackles, 27 solo. Which is more than Koutouvides, but they don't play the same position. Then we drafted Spencer Larsen out of Arizona and quietly picked up Brandon Archer off of waivers from Indianapolis. Though Archer does not threaten anyone’s starting position at this point, he is quite capable of filling a gap quickly and two years ago led the Kansas State Wildcats in tackles for three straight seasons.

Back to Larsen, besides just being a rookie whom Bronco fans would love to emerge as an immediate impact at Linebacker, what is he capable of? He’s a mad man, head hunter or as one NFL Scout referred to him as a “thumper,” I might be audacious enough to compare him to Tedy Bruschi. It looks as if he’ll have an immediate impact on Special Teams, most fans by now know that he is the same age as Brandon Marshall, old enough to be going into his second or third season professionally and already having a family. In college he was known to be able to realize a play quickly and immediately adjust to stop it. The NFL is the NFL though and diagnosing plays instantaneously is not a likely crutch Spencer can fall back on.

Here’s the kicker though, Shanahan has already asked Larsen if he’s willing to try Fullback. However this conversation may or may not have taken place before the Broncos drafted Peyton Hillis in the 7th round. The common factor between Larsen and Koutouvides is the number of games they have started at Middle Linebacker in the NFL-
zero.

One more candidate to add to the corps is undrafted free agent Wesley Woodyard, who some of projected to be a Cato June or Derrick Brooks type of Linebacker. Perfect for a Cover-2 or Tampa-2 Defense… Some say he’s undersized, may be better as an “in the box,” Strong Safety, some say he’s just not good enough, big enough, strong enough to even make it in the NFL at all. Scout projections like those applied to Woodyard are eerily similar to the way that Elvis Dumervil was graded coming out of Louisville as well. There didn’t seem to be a scout outside of Denver who wasn’t saying that Dumervil would need to switch to Linebacker to succeed in the NFL.

So who will do what? What will be the most interesting battles come training camp? I say Koutouvides first of all, keep an eye on Middle Linebacker, not only is Larsen capable of pulling ahead and winning the position battle, but Webster is also probably not looking to return to Special Teams and middle looks like the weak link on the chain which ultimately will get him back into the starting lineup. Boss Bailey also may have his hands full sealing off the strong side with Webster and Winborn breathing down his neck.

Owners Opt out of Current Collective Bargaining Agreement

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell held a Press Conference in Atlanta following the Owners exercising their option to not continue with the CBA beyond 2010.

"It's not working, it's not failure of the ownership, it's failure of the deal."

Goodell stated, you can watch the press conference here. I guess what those at ESPN and Talk Radio would have us do is to freak out. However, do you really think it's realistic that there won't be an NFL season in 2012?

I do not think that it is possible for the NFL to field teams with replacement players at this day and age. The potential onslaught on the Owners of the NFL from Fantasy Football Players alone will be enough for everyone to straighten this out long before it becomes a headache.

Indianapolis will host Super Bowl XLVI

The Owners voted today that Indianapolis will host the Super Bowl in 2012, beating out both Arizona and Houston.

With Owners voting to not extend the CBA today past 2010, there's a slim chance that there won't be a Super Bowl in 2012. (As if they'd let that much money go away...)

Today's Owners Meeting, CBA and what it means to Broncos fans…

The sports writers in the city of Denver are behaving as if the Rockies aren’t 11 games away from .500, the Nuggets are still in the Playoffs and the Avalanche will be drinking out of the Stanley Cup soon. To me, the only thing sports fans have left in Denver is to look forward to the Broncos season... Really, slow time in the NFL? Not much to write about? We’ve got the Patriots, the NFL mini-camps which started over the last two weeks, Marvin Harrison and oh yeah, a Eddie Royal showing up at the NFL Rookies Premiere this weekend wearing jersey number 3 (is that even possible?), oh yeah, and the fact that there might not even be a season in 2011.

You’ve seen it, read it or heard about it by now the Owners of the NFL’s teams could rightfully opt to terminate a contract they had agreed upon in 2006 that would lead to amongst other things a salary cap-less year in 2010. This could also lead to as Chris Mortensen at ESPN reports:

“… unrestricted free agency for players would be increased from four years to six years and the orderly selection of college players in the annual draft would not exist after 2011.”

Good news is, no matter what happens Broncos fans will not feel the repercussions of any decision over the next two seasons.

The last season the NFL played without a salary cap was the 1992 season, that year the Bills beat the Broncos in the AFC Championship game on a last second field goal by Scott Norwood, 10-7. The Bills went on to lose to backup Quarterback (and future Los Angeles Raiders QB) Jeff Hostetler, on a Norwood Field Goal, which went wide right in the final seconds of the game.

In the five years prior to that AFC Championship Game loss, the Broncos had been to the Super Bowl three times. Not to return again until 1998.

Why bring up painful ancient history? Because of the teams the Broncos lost to in the Super Bowl over those seasons. The San Francisco 49ers (1990), Washington Redskins (1988) and the New York Giants (1987) were all from extraordinary wealthy clubs, while the entire NFL was “uncapped,” combined they would account for 10 Super Bowl wins dating back to 1982. There is no denying that certain teams had much more money than others. Denver, while the 18th largest market amongst NFL teams also supported one of the most loyal and revenue generating clubs in the league.

It was right of the Player’s Union to agree to a Salary Cap and for the Owners to agree to Unrestricted Free Agency in 1993. However, was it right to agree to revenue sharing in 2006, to stop the possibility of an uncapped year in 2007? Is it a coincidence that both the last time there was an uncapped year and the last time there was a possibility of an uncapped year the Broncos went to the AFC Championship? No, stop being crazy, it’s the offseason, but it’s not that off of a season.

The deal, which we’re all aware, allowed for the players to receive 60% of the revenue generated by the NFL. This 60% is the reason why the Salary Cap goes up after every season, the NFL and its teams continue to make more and more money. However, that 60% comes from the overall league revenue. Not the individual team revenue, in places like Arizona or Cincinnati, where an overall revenue gain simply means that the Cardinals or the Bengals will be even further behind on their already trailing yearly income. This is why the Owners struck the Collective Bargaining Agreement in the first place, this was the agreement in 1997, that the top 15 earners in the NFL would share revenue and teams like Cincinnati and Arizona could continue to operate in the league.

New England Corner Back Randall Gay had this to say last season following the Patriots whooping the Washington Redskins 52-7.

“You hear people saying 'the Patriots are running up the score, they don't have any sportsmanship, they're the team everybody loves to hate because they don't have any mercy.' When you hear that kind of talk from people, what is your reaction and what would you like to say to those people?”

"Basically, you have to ignore those people because this is a job. We're out there, and what are we supposed to do? Like we scored on defense, when Ellis [Hobbs] caught the fumble, should he have taken a knee because we were up by so much? We're out there to do our job, just like they're out there to do their job. It kind of makes me mad when you hear somebody from the other team's defense going 'they shouldn't have done that; that's disrespect.' Do we think it's disrespect when they went and picked up their checks for letting a team score 50 points on them? That should be disrespect that you went to your owner and said 'All right, pay me for that game I just played.' You can't look at it like that. You have to go out there and do your best. If somebody is blowing you out, you have to play harder. You have to stop them."

An interesting little tidbit to add to that is that New England and Washington have been consistently two of the highest revenue generating clubs in the league consistently since 1994.

Onto what Gay said, he was onto a much bigger point here, I believe that one would be hard pressed to find someone within the NFL willing to say that the players did not deserve 60% of the revenue. I don’t know where I stand quite yet on an Owner saying that 40% of their revenue is not enough. How an Owner can declare a loss after charging $110 for nosebleeds, a shared television and licensing revenue and only dishing out $100 million plus to players, coaches and staff… I think it’s time to start taxing those teams that consistently go 4-12, 5-11, teams that haven’t been top two in their conference in the last five years. Owners who play magical Head Coach, why not penalize them? Is it really the players fault that they’re learning their third Offense in as many years? Or that because the team wanted to sign a twelve year veteran Defensive Tackle, they couldn’t afford a decent Kicker who could have gotten them into the playoffs?

Thanks for taking the time in my first article here at Broncotalk.net Know that in the end, one thing this research has shown me is that, regardless of Salary Cap, Denver makes the Super Bowl every nine years consistently, you can set your watch by it. The last time Denver was in a Super Bowl? 1998...