Who Makes The Broncos In 2014

I am going to pick a different position group and go over who I think will remain on the team, who will be cut, and why. I will start off with the offense, and focus specifically on the running backs. Everyone at Dove Valley has said that Denver will make more of an effort to establish the running game this year, but lets be realistic, Manning will still put up big numbers, and his arm and ability to breakdown a defense are what makes this offense go. With that being said whoever is in the game at running back had better be able to pass block. My prediction is that Denver will keep 3-4 running backs for the 2014-2015 season. Obviously Montee Ball is the starter, and I believe he has the capability to be a very special back in the NFL. Then there is the battle at the number 2 spot with CJ Anderson, Ronnie Hillman, and now Juwan Thompson. Behind them are Kapri Bibbs, Brennan Clay, and Jerodis Williams, and they are competing of course to make the team, but also to be kept on the practice squad. Montee Ball was the best running back in college when he was at Wisconsin, and he has shown the skills in the NFL that warranted making him the starter and letter Knowshon Moreno leave. Hillman is a change of pace guy, and has the speed to hit the home run. CJ Anderson is last years Juwan Thompson. CJ showed up from basically nowhere, but runs with a chip on his shoulder, and he seems to be able to break through the defensive line into the second level of the defense as good, or better than anyone on the team. Anderson works hard and should make this team. Finally this brings us to Juwan Thompson who is the surprise of camp this year. This guy is the complete package. He is big at 225lbs, but also possesses decent speed running in the low 4.5s in the 40 yard dash. As I mentioned above I see Denver keeping 3-4 running backs, and I see the 3-4 backs making the team being Montee Ball, CJ Anderson, Ronnie Hillman, and Juwan Thompson. Kapri Bibbs will be placed on the practice squad for the year. Next time I will breakdown the offensive line and tight ends.

What To Take Away From The Broncos Win Against The 49ers

Denver defeats San Francisco 34-0. That headline alone would leave a lot to talk about. It would be easy for a team, or fan base to get excited after defeating Seattle, and San Francisco in consecutive weeks despite it only being the preseason. But the problem is it is only the preseason. The preseason is a very deceptive time of year for a football fan in that they know the games do not count, but also at times fail to see what matters. The classic example for this is the 2008 Detroit Lions who went 4-0 in the preseason only to not win a single game in the regular season. The build up going into the 2008 for the Lions is what made going 0-16 even worse. They showed so much promise in the preseason that the Lion fans were ready to celebrate being relevant in the NFL once again only to have those dreams erased come week one. So what can person watching these games take out of the preseason? I want to make it clear that it is still important to win games in the preseason. Seeing your 2nd and 3rd team players desire to win can sometimes bump those players up to 1st or 2nd string, and in turn if a 1st or 2nd string player is not giving his full effort and trying to win just as hard as he would a regular season game he could find himself demoted to 2nd or 3rd string. Winning also creates momentum and going into the season on a positive note is something that NFL teams strongly desire. What the preseason does the best job of showing is depth. How deep a team is at each position can often make or break a NFL teams season. Going into last season Denver was not nearly as deep as they are going into 2014-2015. What made this team deep is all the injuries the team suffered last year. Players like Chris Harris and Danny Trevathan came into their own, and players like Chris Clark and Kayvon Webster showed that they could be impact players in the NFL. Finally, and what I think the most important part of the preseason shows is what a teams mentality is. Have they come together as a team rather than a bunch of individuals? What players are going to step up into leadership roles? How will your team respond with their backs against the wall? These are all questions that are, or should be answered in the preseason. Thus far the Broncos are passing with flying colors. The offense seems to have picked up where they left off last year. Ryan Clady has been able to test himself against the Seahawk and 49er pass rush, Orlando Franklin has showed a pretty seamless transition to left guard, and Emmanuel Sanders is as good as advertised. Defensively things are quite different than last year. Rather than sitting back and resting in the fact this offense will score points the defense has shown a level of nastiness and grit that it didn't have a year ago. Demarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, and TJ Ward have all made immediate impacts and have been as good as advertised. Demarcus Ware was getting constant pressure against Seattle, TJ Ward has been all over the field, and Aqib Talib has picked up this defense and his natural man to man abilities have been obvious in these first two games. Week 3 of the preseason is the week that teams treat like a regular season game. The starters will play into the 3rd quarter, and they will actually put a game plan together. Granted the team we are playing will be here to practice all week, but if a fan wanted to get a good feel for how his/her team will do. I am excited to see the continue progression of this team as we get closer to the season opener against the Colts.

Why Are There Fights In NFL Training Camps?

In light of Hard Knocks last week on HBO that showed a couple fights, and a couple of big ones breaking out today during the Denver Broncos practice causal fans of the game have begun to ask why these fights happen, and why there are not harsh penalties imposed by each team for players that do fight? It should be known that these fights are usually contained to training camp and obviously do not spill over into the games or continue into practices during the regular season. I understand how the public would have questions about these fights because we live in a world today where everyone is a winner, everyone gets a medal, and "violence" like this is often looked down upon. My goal in this post is to explain why these fights break out. The first reason there are fights in camp is pretty obvious, football is a violent sport. When you have guys who are extremely large, athletic, and aggressive all on one field together eventually a disagreement is going to happen. Football being a violent sport is the obvious answer, but there are quite a few other reasons these "disagreements" take place. Number one is a lot of these guys are playing for jobs. There are only a handful of guys who have a guaranteed spot on a NFL team, and the rest have to compete for their jobs. In most cases there are hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, and these guys have to show that they have what it takes earn a spot on the team. There are 90+ guys at any given NFL training camp, and they are competing for 53 roster spots. Out of those 53 roster spots there are not many that are "open". If you look at the Denver roster, as hard as it is to believe there are maybe only 10 jobs that are up for grabs. An example would be the offensive line where the starters are pretty much entrenched at their positions, but the question is who will be the back ups? How will the guys competing for a back up spots stand out enough to be kept on the team? The answer is they have to make plays to stand out, and playing physical is one of the best ways to do that. On the defensive side of the ball there are guys doing the same thing. So basically you have two groups of guys, competing for for a limited number of roster spots, in a violent sport, where they will be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, or end up working regular jobs like the rest of us. Then you have the scenario where you have a guy trying to make the team going against the established veteran, and maybe the guy trying to make the team plays through the whistle, or is just playing with a little more intensity than what a normal practice would dictate and in turn that starts a fight. With football being a team sport as well as a violent sport it is important for your teammates to know that you always have their back. This means that if you are a defensive player and someone from the offense starts a fight with one of your teammates you are obligated to jump in. These fights can actually build team chemistry, and can be way for the entire team to come together if they know that every player on the team has each others back. Before the show Hard Knocks debuted on HBO fights in training camp were largely something that only players, coaches, the media, and people who have played the game at a high level understood. When the New York Jets were the team featured on Hard Knocks you actually saw Rex Ryan, the head coach of the Jets, ask a player to start a fight to raise the intensity level of the camp. Fights are usually broken up quickly, and with all the padding,face masks, and helmets there is little probability of a player being injured. So the next time you read about, or see that a fight has broken out in a training camp practice understand that there are usually a hand full of circumstances that have lead up to the event, most likely nobody was hurt, and the only people making a big deal out of it are the members of the media looking to drum up a story.

This Season It's About Attitude......

Last year the Denver Broncos had the most successful year an offense has ever seen in the NFL. Most games were essentially "over" once Denver got up by 10-14 points as it would force teams to have to throw the ball against us, and that played right into the strengths of the team. Once Denver got to the Super Bowl they were faced with playing a team that is more "in your face" than any other team we had played all year. What is interesting is Denver was down about 50% of its starters for most of the last part of the season, playoffs, and Super Bowl. I am sure that had more to do with the score than most NFL "experts", or Seahawk fans will admit, but it would take someone with a high level of stupidity to think that missing players like Von Miller, Ryan Clady, Chris Harris, and others didn't come into play during the last game of the year. What Seattle also did was point out that Denver simply wasn't playing with the same chip on its shoulder it did during the season, and Denver all but folded right after the 1st play of the game. Going into the 2014-2015 season there is no new offensive, or defensive scheme to learn. There hasn't been a lot of turnover on the team, and the guys here now do not have much to learn as far as installation goes going into the season. Quite simply this season comes down to one thing and that is ATTITUDE. Recognizing that Denver was not exactly the most physical team last year John Elway went out and signed some big name players who play with that attitude to Denver's defense this season. Demarcus Ware is a very intense player, along with amazing pass rushing abilities, he has a high motor, and plays with a chip on his shoulder that Denver needs in their front 7. TJ Ward could be the most physical safety in the game. He will no doubt cause a lot of excitement this year with his intensity, but also will break some hearts when he chooses to level a opposing player rather than get an interception or simply break up a pass. Aqib Talib is one of the most physical corners in the game, and isn't limited to playing specifically on the left side (see Richard Sherman). This season Denver will put up points, and win games, but what is going to take this team over the top is their attitude. Simply put the Broncos need to be bullies this year. I am not saying they should play dirty, but they need to play through the whistle, not just impose their will on offense this year. IF the Broncos defense can play with the same intensity on defense as they do offense there is not another team in the NFL that will be able to compete with us.