Denver Broncos will still go 13-3.

2007 was a dark place for Denver. I hope that I never write about it again in this context, at this point it's been brought up again and again, fans now bat it around lacking the tact it deserves. The night after the Denver Broncos lost the opportunity to go to the playoffs against San Francisco, Darrent Williams was murdered, gangland style and died in Javon Walker's arms.

Barely a moment to recuperate from the fact that they wouldn't be making the playoffs and the 23-26 overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers- and now this... A man amongst the 60 plus of them that had survived the OTA's, the month long hell-hole known as Training Camp; The five to six practices a week, a man who had rose above his age, above his perceived talent level and who had played so well as a rookie in Champ Bailey's shadow that Denver had almost made it to the Super Bowl- was gone. Forever.

Echoes of his smile, Texas accent and young raw talent were everywhere. The death of a friend is haunting enough, the death of a team mate, a fellow soldier is down right devastating- shaken to the core. Every single one of them reminded of their own mortality. Then, after not even a moment to catch their breath- Damien Nash, collapses during a basketball game. Two of their sixty, gone.

How must Denver go on? A month from the time they must reconvene and face the questions when they yet to even come to grips to find the answers. Jay Cutler, who will start, who almost got them to the playoffs- a rookie by any standards, untested and unproven. The new Defensive Coordinator, the new system, the new back with a history of trouble making...

Finally July, training camp, then they all started dropping like flies, no Rod Smith, no Ebenezer Ekuban, no Ben Hamilton, Al Wilson's gone and DJ Williams is going to play middle and we've got Dre Bly, but even the best corner in the league can't fill the gap that the loss of Williams left.

More season, more injuries, seriously how the hell were they supposed to do well? Walker's gone, Travis Henry's not clean, we've got Cutler running for his life and now Tom Nalen's gone... Oh and Bailey, our corner's leading the team in tackles...

Really? 2007??? Really? That's how you want to judge us? That's what you want to give Mike Shanahan credit for? So called experts would like to point out that we can't stop the run, nor the pass rush, guess we can't take Brett Favre into overtime or knock Minnesota out of the playoffs, beat Pittsburgh and Jay Cutler can't go head to head with Vince Young and show him who deserved to stay in Tennessee. Let Philip Rivers talk, because seriously, look at his numbers, compared to the second year Cutler, that's all he is good at, talking. The San Diego Chargers may very well be favorites to go to the Super Bowl this season, but that's never stopped Denver from knocking them on their ass...

13-3 folks, follow me.

2008 Game by Game Preview: Week 1 Oakland, Week 2 San Diego

With the NFL Preseason less than a month away we here at Broncos Denver Broncos will be previewing the entire season ahead, two games at a time. This is all in fun, but in reality it will be our best effort at predicting how the 2008 season will actually shape up for the Broncos. It should be fun to look back in January or February and laugh...

So here goes any credibility that we have, hope that you enjoy and feel free to add, subtract or crack my orange tinted glasses in half. Just do it in the comment section:

Week 1 (Mon. September 8th, 2008)
at Oakland.

The trash talk started as soon as Javon Walker put his name on the dotted line of that contract. Further establishing that Al Davis is in fact senile and bent on getting his digs in at Mike Shanahan and Pat Bowlen every opportunity he gets. Even new middle linebacker Niko Koutouvides got in on the action, back in June...

Plenty of rivalry, not to mention that at this point the "Raider Week," has been in full affect for a good month now.

The last time the Broncos saw JaMarcus Russell, they made him look good, not great, but good. He went 4 of 7 for 56 yards. Justin Fargas teed off on Denver though, rushing for 146 yards on a Denver defensive line that was showing improvement (and would weeks later practically shut out Minnesota and Adrian Peterson).

The problem with this game is once again on defense for Denver. The Broncos have gone back to a defensive scheme they are familiar with and a scheme that has been very successful for them. However, who's still around to remember that successful defensive scheme? I count three starters that remember what it was like to shut out a team and stop them from scoring in coach Bob Slowik's familiar system.

Not having enough veterans proves to be detrimental enough as Denver experiences problems keeping Oakland off the field and constantly giving their own defense bad field position on poor punts. Shanahan's famous premeditated 25 plays will give Denver a halftime lead though. However, Jay Cutler and company can only play catch up, trailing almost immediately after halftime.

Denver embarrasses itself in front of everyone on Monday Night Football, making Russell look like he deserved to be a number one pick and creating rookie of the year talk for Darren McFadden. Lane Kiffin gets to keep his job for one more week, as the need for him to win turns out to be more than the Broncos can deal with. Denver goes 0-2 (in the last two games) to Oakland and 0-1 on the season.

Week 2 (Sun. September 14th, 2008)
vs. San Diego

The thing about losing week one, especially to Oakland is that Denver will come on focused. Things normally turn out pretty decent for Denver when they lose to a bad team in the first week. The unfortunate thing, for the Chargers, is that they happen to be who's next up. No love lost at all as ESPN and crew probably interview Philip Rivers at some point in the week, to discuss bad blood between him and Cutler and play it during their morning show.

Coming off the week one loss in Oakland, we see Eddie Royal ignite a fire in Denver off of an opening kickoff return, running deep into San Diego territory. Selvin Young, dents the impenetrable Chargers defense over several carries, before Cutler hits tight end Tony Scheffler in the near corner of the end zone.

Rivers is immediately unable to pass, witnessing Bronco blitzing schemes that never had the opportunity to surface in Oakland. With his biggest target Antonio Gates, being covered by Boss Bailey (who shut down both Gates and Tony Gonzalez last season), completely taken out of the game. San Diego must maintain the rush, however the Broncos are prepared to stop the forced rush and we get to see something that we haven't seen in a while. Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson ineffective against the Denver defense. Champ Bailey makes Rivers' day extra miserable, picking up his first interception of the season and quietly walking back to the sideline.

Meanwhile, on offense, Denver coasts, being able to run the ball (by committee even) at will against San Diego. Cutler beats the San Diego defense over the top constantly by consistent tosses to Scheffler, Brandon Stokley and Darrell Jackson. It'll be the third quarter before Brandon Marshall will be able to shine, as revenge tour 2008 kicks into high gear and Denver handles the Chargers easily at home. Destroying Chargers hopes for grandeur early in the season, yet only adding fueling to an angry giant.

Going into week three Denver's rushing game is once again the talk of the NFL, as their defense is still too risky to publicize. Denver is 1-1.

Links! 07/11/08

Inevitably this will bury a couple of posts from yesterday, but check out Sam's Breakdown of Denver's linebackers and special teams (or just keep scrolling down after this post). There are also two In His Own Words featuring Marlon McCree and Jamie Winborn down there somewhere.

Came across this little ditty, highlights from Superbowl XII (Denver vs. Dallas), fun to watch, it's just under ten minutes. Elway really had a horrible game (kidding youngins, that's Roger Staubach's former backup Craig Morton). Take some time and see the Orange Crush, Staubach, Tony Dorsett, oh and some Dallas defenders too. Look at those three point stances for the receivers (good times)!:

Onto the links:

Mike Shanahan comes to Brandon Marshall's aide:

"I can't go into great detail, for obvious reasons, but Brandon has a good upside and he's a real good kid," said Shanahan. "I feel very good where Brandon's at. I think he'll be fine."

"He's had problems with one person over and over again, and hopefully he's smart enough to stay away from her," Shanahan said.

Jay Cutler calls him out for the second time publicly this off-season:

"Once or twice — you could live with that," Cutler says. "You say people make mistakes, but I mean it's been three, four, five times. I don't know how many times he's at right now, so I don't know what's gonna happen. I don't know if Mike's going to do anything. I don't know if the league's going to do anything. I just hope he gets his act together, cause it'd be a shame for him to waste all that talent."

Then Shanahan comments on Cutler and himself:

"I think every quarterback has that pressure going into his third year. You feel comfortable with the offense, the system, the players," he said. "The pressure on any quarterback or head coach that third year is you have to perform, you have to play well."

• The Denver Post gets back to reporting Broncos news even if they did have to jack the KUSA feed.
  
• Kyle at BroncoTalk reviewed Stefan Fatsis' book "A Few Seconds of Panic." I'm diving deep into this one starting tomorrow.
• BroncoTalk also gave Peyton Hillis the once over.
• Speaking of BroncoTalk, they beat us out for Best Broncos News Blog. Like Susan Lucci says, it's just a pleasure to be nominated.
• The Sporting News' Albert Breer says Nnamdi Asomugha may go the Asante Samuel route this season. He also said that Asomugha may have passed Champ Bailey as the best corner in the league. I almost forgave him, because he goes on to say that Philip Rivers' wobbly knee might give him a similar season to Carson Palmer's in 2007.
• DenverBroncos.com offers information on how you can get tickets to Gary Zimmerman's Hall of Fame enshrinement.
• For those in or around Denver (Colorado Springs, Ft. Collins, Cheyenne), don't stress about not being able to get the NFL Network, because KWGN (Channel 2) will broadcast the November 6th game vs. the Cleveland Browns. That's one that I'm really looking forward to.
• ProFootballWeekly announces that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will be keeping an eye on Brandon Marshall's September 16th DUI trial. Some bloggers are calling for as many as a four-game suspension for Marshall, I think the suspension will be one or two.
• Nick at Thin Air (on MVN) says remember Brandon Browner when considering Josh Barrett.
  

Well, I was going to write about RBs, but

... this thing with Javon Walker came up and it has me thinking about a bunch of other stuff right now.

Some Bronco fans don't like Javon right now because he wanted out of Denver and he's a Raider now. I really hope that hearing about his assault and injury doesn't have too many gloating or telling anyone "I told you so!".

If we truly love this game, we want to see it played, and for that we need opponents. If we respect players and want to see them treated as people and not slaves, we appreciate what their union has accomplished in the area of free agency.

I read some things recently where a Bronco fan was expressing some kind of perverse pleasure about Philip Rivers' painful recovery from his knee injury. Phil isn't the most popular guy in Denver these days (see game #2 at Mile High '08). However, as a fellow human (kind of) who has had some injuries and surgeries, let me encourage all my brothers and sisters out there to feel sympathy for our fellows in pain.

Javon has a serious and painful injury. Let's hope he plays in the season opener against our beloved Broncos. If he doesn't, that won't be fun.

Javon likes to party as many of us do. If I had his money and body, I don't know if I'd even own a shirt ... well ... anyway. One thing that has crossed my mind is exactly why he was so determined to leave Denver? You don't suppose ...? It IS an unsolved murder case. And now this. I sincerely hope there is no connection.

Ever see that show on ESPN about funny sports stuff? You know like the fly ball that hit a bird which drops on the outfielder's head ... stuff like that? Remember the one at a hockey game where the visitor's penalty box is plexiglass and is surrounded by home fans? One of the fans is talking major trash to the guy in the penalty box and he leans on the side of the box a little too hard and ... be careful what you wish for ... let's wish each other well more often than not.

Division Rivalry with the Chargers

The Broncos, Chargers, Raiders and Chiefs have played each other home and away every year since 1960. It's a well-developed relationship and seems to go in cycles. During the sixties when I first became a Bronco fan, the Broncos usually couldn't get out of the cellar of the division. That didn't keep us from loving the Broncos and following each little rumor and move concerning the team. Long live Floyd Little! Eventually, after a long process, Chargers, Chiefs and Raiders all learned what it was like to be trampled by the Broncos.


If you listen to the fans ... , if you are able to through all of the ranting, screaming, salivating, manic depressive berserker behavior ... usually what they indicate, if we can get an augur in here to take the auspices, is that the most hated division rival is the Raiders. However, since the Chargers have been division champs lately, and have been beating up on the Broncos in the process, they have earned the most recent wrath of the fanatics and some of the Broncos, too.

Apparently, Bly was at Chapel Hill for an event and just happened to bump into Chris Chambers. The exchange was detected by the media (oops), and now we have lockerroom bulletin board material, as if this issue didn't already exist. Thanks, Dre.

That game at San Diego in '07 quickly got out of hand on the scoreboard in spite of many Broncos giving giving maximum effort right to the last tick. My own memory of that game is marred by Travis Henry's pitiful performance. Yes, I know, Travis who? Philip Rivers is a competitor with much physical courage (see playoffs at New England). After having seen him on the NFL Channel, I can see how some find him annoying and you can multiply that geometrically (is that possible?) during the heat of battle.

It has been said that you can judge yourself by the quality of your enemies. The Chargers are an extremely talented group of football players. Good! That's the way you want it. We should all want the AFC West to get back to being the toughest division in the NFL. You don't get better by playing weak opponents and that's six out of sixteen games each season.

At any level of football it's very important to focus on and respect each opponent one at a time. Sometimes fans look at the schedule and ask, "To which game are you most looking forward?" My answer is always the same ... the next one. The second game of the '08 season is the Chargers at Mile High. Isn't the first one at Oakland?

Shots Fired: Bly vs. Rivers

The writing's on the wall my friends or alea iacta est (the dice is thrown), as my friend Sam might point out. In an article posted yesterday by Yahoo, Dre Bly is quoted and like Champ Bailey, he's definitely not on the Rivers' bandwagon. What's in the cards? What will it be after week three in 2008? We'll see, but it won't be soon that Denver forgets this little incident:

Big mouth has become Rivers' trademark
By Michael Silver, Yahoo! Sports
June 13, 2008

SAN DIEGO – Chris Chambers was at fellow wideout and St. Louis Ram Torry Holt's charity banquet in North Carolina earlier this spring when the San Diego Chargers' key 2007 midseason acquisition suddenly found himself in press coverage. Confronting Chambers was Dré Bly, the veteran cornerback who plays for the Denver Broncos and does not have fond memories of his most recent encounter with the AFC West rival Chargers.

"Why is your quarterback always talking so much mess?" Bly asked Chambers. "Nobody in the league likes that guy."

Chambers smiled and replied, "That's y'all's prerogative. But we love him."

For all of the reasons to celebrate Philip Rivers – his emergence as a Pro Bowl passer in his first year as a starter, his impeccable off-the-field behavior, his exceptionally gutsy effort in last year's AFC Championship game after having torn his anterior cruciate ligament the week before – the fifth-year quarterback heads into the 2008 season as a 6-foot-5, 228-pound target. His well-documented fits of yapping at opposing players and fans has incurred the ire of countless others besides Bly. One veteran defensive back calls Rivers "the most obnoxious dude in the NFL."

Simply put, Rivers' mouth gets more attention than his arm. And thanks to the magic of 24-hour NFL television coverage and readily accessible Internet video, some of his more conspicuous displays of verbal instigation are there for public consumption in a way that, say, infamous Chargers washout Ryan Leaf never experienced.

"When you see it on TV, I'll be the first one to agree, it doesn't look that good," Rivers said Wednesday from the Chargers' training facility. "But there's nothing I say out there that I couldn't tell my six-year-old daughter. I don't curse, and I'm not saying anything out of line at all."

Rivers shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and waited for the inevitable follow-up question. An accessible and engaging interview subject, he typically becomes frustrated when asked to explain his penchant for talking smack, especially when the subject starts to dwarf the elements of his game he holds dearest. There he was on Wednesday, having fully participated in the Chargers' second-to-last offseason coaching session before training camp less than five months after having undergone major reconstructive knee surgery, a recovery that so far has been stunningly smooth and rapid.

"If I had to play a game this Sunday," he insisted, "I could."

That, of course, was the real story. But do a word-association game with the typical NFL fan – or player – outside of San Diego County, and Rivers is likely to provoke a far less complimentary response than courageous or heroic.

Both words applied last January in frigid Foxborough, Mass., where Rivers summoned what seemed to be a medical miracle. Having torn the ACL in his right knee in the Chargers' divisional playoff upset of the defending champion Colts in Indy, Rivers had an arthroscopic procedure to clean out the area the following day and set his sights on playing in the AFC Championship game six days later. With the knee heavily taped underneath a stabilizing brace, Rivers braved the 23-degree temperature (and a wind chill of nine degrees) at Gillette Stadium and hung tough against the undefeated Patriots, completing 19 of 37 passes for 211 yards in a 21-12 defeat.

That effort elevated Rivers in the eyes of his teammates, who already appreciated him for his intelligence and cool under fire. "That he played at all was amazing," Chambers says. "He really proved a lot."

It was a defining moment for Rivers, the No. 4 overall pick in the '04 draft who sat for two seasons as Drew Brees' understudy before taking over as the starter. He played well enough in '06 to make the Pro Bowl but wilted down the stretch as the top-seeded Chargers flopped in their playoff opener against the Pats. Last season, conversely, Rivers was shaky early on as he tried to adjust to new coach Norv Turner's offensive system. But in leading the Chargers to victories in their final six regular season games and first two playoff contests, Rivers completed 133 of 214 passes (62.1 percent) for 1,656 yards, throwing 14 touchdowns and only five interceptions for a cumulative passer rating of 98.2.

Clearly, he had the hot hand. But, as his critics are quick to point out, Rivers tends to come off like a hothead. Some examples:

• After the home playoff defeat to the Pats in January of '07, Rivers, angered by what he felt were taunting celebrations by New England players, approached cornerback Ellis Hobbs and called him "the sorriest corner in the league."

• When the Chargers were booed at home in Week 12 against the Baltimore Ravens, cameras caught Rivers gesturing to San Diego fans and saying "Shut up!" In the regular season finale, he got into it with Raiders fans in Oakland. He also jawed at Colts fans in the playoff game at the RCA Dome, telling them "I'll be back" while heading to the locker room after hurting his knee.

• He had several shouting matches with All-Pro halfback LaDainian Tomlinson on the sidelines, including an oft-replayed tiff during the Chargers' pivotal victory over the Titans in Nashville last December.

• Most notoriously, Rivers walked onto the field to taunt Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler after a Chargers defensive stand late in San Diego's 23-3 victory, an incident that undoubtedly helped shape Bly's unfavorable opinion.

All of which has Rivers, a married father of four who teammates describe as a clean-living homebody, wondering how so many outsiders can be so mistaken about him. Citing Brett Favre's celebrated on-field woofing with Warren Sapp – "Though obviously those guys have earned the right to say whatever they want," Rivers qualifies – he insists that everything he says is in the spirit of good, clean fun.

"You want to make a good impression with the public, and I agree that it's a fine line between playing with emotion and taking things too far," Rivers says. "But I'm not doing it to get attention or for any reason other than to have a good time. If we can't have fun playing the game, then I don't want to play. I really don't. If we have to tone down the emotions to the point where it's no fun, that's just silly."

To his credit, Rivers resists all efforts to play up his improbable effort in the AFC Championship game. This is yet another indication that Rivers, the son of an Alabama high school football coach, doesn't possess the prima donna tendencies expected of him by many of his critics.

"There were a couple of times when the knee buckled (against the Patriots) and I had to catch myself, but I didn't feel like there was any throw I made the whole game that was affected by the knee," he says. "I liked all the compliments I got from my teammates, and I know things like that help you gain respect. But we didn't win, which was the purpose of my playing in the first place.

"The bottom line is: It ain't gonna last forever. Two years from now, people aren't gonna say, 'Oh, he played with a torn ACL, let's give him a free pass.' "

Rivers had reconstructive surgery three days after the New England game, then watched as Eli Manning – the quarterback for whom he was traded on draft day – reinvented himself by leading the Giants to a shocking Super Bowl XLII upset of the Pats. Though it might sound like sacrilege in San Diego, where Manning is reviled for having told the Chargers he wouldn't play for them before the '04 draft, Rivers openly rooted for Peyton's oft-criticized kid brother to beat New England.

"I really was pulling for Eli," Rivers says. "We will always be linked, and I think (the trade) worked out for both of us. I was glad he won a championship, and that's something we can do, too. We're proud of what we accomplished last year, but now anything short of winning it all will be disappointing."

Though Rivers insists he won't curb his enthusiasm, he does plan to make one behavioral modification. "Looking back at the way some of the stuff went down, I may cut out talking to the fans," he says. "I agree that it doesn't look good, and I can probably better direct my energies elsewhere."

Whether Rivers can stick to that plan remains to be seen. Says Chambers: "He'll probably calm down from a little bit of that stuff, but when he gets emotional, I don't see him backing down anytime soon. Guys from all over the league are always telling me, 'I don't like your quarterback,' but personally I like a gutsy, fiery guy – he gets me going.

"He holds no punches, whether he's talking to our guys or guys on (the opposing) defense. It rubs a lot of people the wrong way. But we know him. We know what he's about inside. And that's the guy we want leading our team."