It's time to give Blake Watson a chance!

    When you follow an NFL team, and have been a fan since you were born, the weekends in the fall hold special meaning. When the team you follow hasn't had a winning season since 2016 when they finally get over the top guaranteeing their first winning season in 9 years it feels pretty good. Then injuries bring you back down to earth. Injuries are a fact of life in the NFL, and teams getting injuries towards the end of the season is also a harsh fact in the NFL. Running back Jaleel McGlaughlin hurt his quad during the Colts game game, and didn't practice on Monday. Usually this wouldn't be that big of a deal, but the Broncos play the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday night in LA. The Broncos and Chargers are currently battling for playoff position so Denver needs all of it playmakers available to play. 

    The Denver Broncos offense has been a bit on an enigma this season. Going into the year anyone who was paid to analyze the game would tell you that the Broncos were severely lacking playmakers on the offensive side of the ball. To be clear, any offensive player in the NFL is a playmaker, but there are players in the NFL who have the ability to potentially score every time they get the ball. Those guys are not exactly rare, but they are common either. Going into the year it was clear that the two playmakers on the Broncos offense were Jaleel McGlaughlin, and Marvin Mims. Each of those two players have the ability to make people miss, and then once they make you miss can out run everyone on the field to the endzone. It also seemed like Sean Payton was starting to give McGlaughlin the majority of the carries on offense essentially making him our #1 back over Williams, and Audric Estime. With the playoffs coming up the Broncos will absolutely need McGlaughlin to be at full speed. This is the perfect time of the year to give Blake Watson his first real chance in the NFL regular season. 

    Who is Blake Watson? Blake Watson is a running back from the University of Memphis that the Broncos paid the most out of any undrafted free agent they picked up. Prior to the draft Watson was being talked about a 3rd-6th round guy. He isn't the biggest guy at 5'9 and 195lbs, but he is a guy presents a low center of gravity, and is hard to bring down. He is another very explosive player running a 4.3 40 yard dash in the combine, and the other thing that I think could really make him stand out in this offense is his ability to catch the ball. I would say Watson is a back who is just as explosive as McGlaughlin, but might run harder between the tackles. I have been hoping Watson got his chance all year because I think he could be a hidden gem. I never want see a player get hurt, but that is the nature of football. If for some reason Jaleel can't play I really hope Blake Watson gets his chance. 

This Season Feels Different Than Previous Years

   In this post we are just going to be honest when it comes to the recent history of the Denver Broncos. The standard that Pat Bowlen set the day he purchased the Broncos is gone, and it left when Payton Manning retired. Being born in Denver basically makes you a Bronco fan at birth. I am an 80s baby, so I got to watch the Elway era, and some of the best memories of my life are walking into the original Mile High Stadium with my dad who would take me to games there. There was a standard of excellence here, and up until we had some losing seasons after Super Bowl 50 the Broncos had been to more Super Bowls than they had losing seasons. 

    A large part of the problem for a few years was the Bowlen family was fighting about keeping the team, or selling the team. They ended up selling it to the Walton-Penner group, and immediately there was a change in culture in the front office, but they didn't have a coach that could change the culture here on the field. To put it as honestly as possible, we were flat out a soft team. Nathaniel Hackett, who was supposed to be an offensive genius, is only a genius when he had Aaron Rodgers running the offense. The team was just as soft under Vic Fangio, and Vance Joseph. Enter Sean Payton, who is from the Bill Parcells coaching tree, and is exactly what the Broncos need. A guy who is about discipline, teaching, and demanding the best out of his players everyday, at every practice. When you listen to the reports of camp this year you hear about the heated competition for every rep. Players trash talking with each other, little pushing and shoving matches, and stuff like that where you can tell the intensity is really turned up, but they respect each other, so it never goes too far. Thanks to Sean Payton for changing the culture back to what we as Bronco are used to. Coach Payton has to have the right players for his system on offense which is essentially based on timing. What this means is that Payton's offense gets people open, but your QB has to know when, and where to throw the ball for each route. He has to deliver the ball to the receiver accurately, and on time (meaning during the window of time when the receiver comes open). That is not how Russel Wilson has ever played the game, so the writing was pretty much on the wall when Sean Payton was hired. 

    "With the 12th pick of the 2024 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos select: Bo Nix, QB, from Oregon". It was pretty clear after the draft Sean Payton got "his guy" with Bo Nix. There might have been even a little gamesmanship from the Broncos to help build up JJ McCarthy so that the Vikings would take McCarthy leaving Nix for the Broncos to draft. So what were some of the things the Broncos liked about Bo Nix going into the draft that led them to taking him at 12? Personally I think they actually like that he is an older QB at 24 than other QBs being taken. Nix has played in a LOT of college football games, so he has more experience than other QBs who were taken. Nix played in the SEC, and then transferred to the University of Oregon in the Pac-12 where he was going to have to throw the ball a lot more. What really stands out with Bo is his accuracy, and decision making. During his first year at Oregon Nix threw for 3600 yards, had a 71% completion percentage, and threw 29 TDs to 7 INTs. Bo Nix 2023 season was absolutely incredible. Bo threw for 4508 yards, had 77.4% completion percentage, threw 45 TDs, and only threw 3 interceptions! Going back to how Sean Payton runs his offense he needs a QB who is accurate, can read a defense, and that doesn't throw interceptions. Bo Nix looks more comfortable with this offense than Russel Wilson was at any point last year! 

    This season feels like a corner has finally been turned. The ownership is in place, the GM and head coach seem to have a good relationship, and I think we finally have a QB that is going to turn out to be the real deal. The team is taking camp far more serious than pervious years, and players are competing for the few open positions on the team. It feels like there are far less questions going into this season than there has been in a long time. There are still questions regarding this team, but to have the big questions of team ownership, who the GM is, who the HC is, and who is QB answered things just feel different going into this season.   

The Position The Broncos Have Neglected for years.

    What does the Orange Crush defense, and '05 AFC Championship runner up defense, and the Super Bowl 50 defense all have in common? The answer is dominant inside linebackers! The Orange Crush had Randy Gradishar and Tom Jackson, the '05 AFC Championship team had Al Wilson, and the Super Bowl 50 team had Danny Trevathan, and Brandon Marshall. No offense to Josey Jewell or Alex Singleton, but they are not anywhere near the linebackers any of the above mentioned players. 

    Josey Jewell and Alex Singleton are the definition of special teams players. They aren't quite the athletes that we need to be starters, but they are good football players, and have the mentality to be special teams players. The cash strapped Broncos aren't in a spot where they can go out and spend on the top guys like Patrick Queen who signed with the Steelers, or even Devin Bush, but they need to have a plan to bring in guys who have the mentality Jewell and Singleton have, but more athletic ability. 

    This draft is full of inside linebackers that fit the bill for the Broncos. Athletic guys, who can cover, and tackle. The guy I would draft is Trevin Wallace from Kentucky. Wallace is 6'1, 231lbs, ran a 4.51 in the combine, and had a 1.62 ten yard sprint. Denver needs a leader on the defense like we had with Al Wilson, and when you look at the film, It is my belief that Trevin Wallace would be a guy who could come in, start, and make an immediate impact. With guys like Travis Kelce, and other TE's in the AFC West it's important we have inside linebackers that can cover, The guys we have at the position now are great at a very few specific things, but don't have everything needed to be starting LBs in the NFL today. 

 

Avalanche add variety of players for the playoff run

     "What are the Avs going to do about the 2C?" "What are the Avs gonna do about all the defensive problems?" "Who will be the defenseman to get traded Girard or Byram?" These, and MANY other questions were circulating about the Avalanche leading up to the trade deadline. The trade deadline came and left, and the Avs added a group of players that all provide various skills to the lineup. 

    One thing that all of the players we added have in common is the they are a little bigger players than we are use to having on the roster. This team looks FAR more like the Cup winning team than last years team, or even this years team leading into the trade deadline. I know prior to the trade deadline there were people in the media, and a growing number of fans saying that the team as constructed prior to the trade deadline would either be eliminated in the first round, or win one series, and be done in the 2nd round.

    All, or at least most of those opinions went away as the Avs began to make moves going into the trade deadline. The first trade was one that didn't go over well with the fan base, and that was trading Kurtis MacDermid to the New Jersey Devils. The team saved just under a million dollars, but lost the heavyweight champ of the league as far as enforcers go. This trade made sense however because MacDermid didn't get more than 5-7 minutes of ice time per game. It was after this trade that the chaos began. 

    The next trade was the one that would end up being the most notable trade for the day. The Avalanche reached into their pool of talented young defensemen, and sent the 22 year old Bowen Byram to the Buffalo Sabres for 25 year center Casey Mittlestadt. Ever since the Avalanche lost Nazem Kadri to the Calgary Flames they have been in need of a second line center to play behind Nathan Mackinnon. They tried with JT Compher before they looked outside the organization, so when Compher didn't work out the Avs traded for veteran Ryan Johansen, and when he didn't work out the Avalanche front office decided to make a move. Getting a young player like Mittelstadt not only solves the 2C problem, it makes what was once a weakness a strength. 

    Losing Byram created a hole in the defensive core. To solve this problem the Avalanche made another rather large trade in trading Ryan Johansen, and a first round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for the defenseman Sean Walker. Walker is 29 years old, brings experience, and is an offensive defenseman like Bo Byram is. Walker is grittier than Byram, and will throw his body around more than Byram would. Being 22 years old Byram has a much higher upside than Walkers, but for what we are asking out defensemen to do Walker is more than sufficient. 

    The next two trades are trades that are just as important as the trades for Mittlestad, and Walker. They players we got in these trades are exactly the type of players teams need to win in the playoffs. They are players who will be fan favorites. The first player we traded for was wing Brandon Duhaime from the Minnesota Wild. Duhaime is known as a player who can get under other teams skin, and he is a talented fighter when it comes time to drop the gloves. While he isn't on the level of MacDermid, he is a better hockey player than Macdermid, and will be on our 4th line in the playoffs. Duhaime is known to be a player who gets other teams to take bad penalties, and will always stand up for his teammates, which will be a nice change here for the Avalanche. Duhaime is 6'2, and 200lbs, and while he is not known for his scoring ability, he is known for his skating ability, so he should fit in just fine with the Avs. 

    Yakov Trenin was the last player we were able to get prior to the trade deadline. We traded a 2025 3rd round pick, and a Jeremy Hanzel to Nashville for Trenin, and a minor league player named Graham Sward. The central piece of this trade was Trenin. While he played wing in Nashville, the Avs are going to turn him into their 4th line center. Trenin is known as being one of the best forecheckers in the league, and is also a very physical player as far as throwing his body around, and dropping the gloves when need be. Having a 4th line with guys like Trenin, Duhaime, and Cogs brings speed, and toughness to the bottom six we haven't seen in a long time. 

    Other than the obvious reason to trade for Mittlestadt, why would the Avs bring in a Brandon Duhaime, and Yakov Trenin? I can hear the Avs fans now saying "don't we already have Miles Wood, Ross Colton, Logan O'Connor, etc for that?" The answer is yes, that is why they were brought in, but playoff hockey is a different animal all together. In a 7 game series having a 4th line with Duhaime (he is an amazing skater), Trenin (known as one of the best forecheckers in the game), and Cogs (known for his speed and forechecking) where not only will they forecheck, they will wear down the defense by hitting them over, and over again how playoff series are won! Imagine the roaring 20s line as the 3rd line, and Duhaime, Trenin, and Cogs as your 4th line? They will wear down other teams with their skating ability, and physical play. This will make the top two lines jobs much easier. This team is now built for a playoff run.