The Season That Brought Me Back To Blogging

I guess going 3-9 in what has been one of the most unusual, and frustrating seasons is enough to bring me back to the blogosphere. A glaring weakness of the Broncos over the last few years has been their ability to draft talented players. The first thing John Elway must do is bring in some more help for the draft. They simply are not getting it done with what they have now in the front office, and we are suffering on the field because of it.

Second, the Paxton Lynch experiment is over. Move on and cut your losses. Denver needs to build an offensive line, bring back the running game, and ride this defense. Paxton isn't the guy.

Third, identify who your QB will be either in free agency, or in the draft, but they need to make a decision. The way 2017 was handled will only be a loss if we do not learn from it going into 2018. Pick a QB and roll with him.

Fourth, Elway needs a sure thing with a high pick this year. Draft the best offensive linemen available. They tend to have the highest rate of living up to the high expectations of a high draft pick. Whether it be Mike McGlicnhey or  Orlado Brown at tackle, or Quentin Nelson at guard, an offensive line needs to be built this offseason.

Finally, the 5th thing I believe they need to do to turn this around quick is get more speed on offense. A lot more! CJ Anderson is a decent short yardage back, but he doesn't make teams fear him scoring every time he touches the ball. A guy like Ronald Jones who has dynamic speed, or Nick Chubb who has speed and size should be targeted in the draft, and they shouldn't stop there. Denver needs more speed at every skill position . With that, I am going to bed!

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.

Camp Has Officially Started!

The start of camp is something that the Broncos players, and fans have been looking forward to since the debacle that was the super bowl. As camp continues to ramp up we are hearing many things coming out of Dove Valley about how the team has progressed. Offensively it appears Manning's arm strength is continuing to get better each year, Emmanuel Sanders has shown that he has the potential to have a break out year for his career, and the offensive line with Orlando Franklin moving to left guard is far more physical than it was last year. In my opinion the big story of camp thus far is the approach the defense is taking into this season. Last year there just wasn't enough "nasty" on the defense. To rememdy this issue John Elway brought in guys like TJ Ward (who will be a fan favorite by week 4), Demarcus Ware, and Aqib Talib. Add them in to the return of Von Miller, Kevin Vickerson, Derek Wolfe, Rahim Moore, Chris Harris, and Quentin Carter. From all reports we are hearing that the defense is sticking to the identity it is attempting to create and that is playing physical, in your face football much like the 49ers, Seahawks, and old Baltimore Ravens. Last year Denver would beat teams by going up by 10-14 points and force opposing teams to have to pass the ball. Missing Von Miller hurt because we couldn't seem to sustain a consistent pass rush. This year however Miller will have help in the form of Demarcus Ware, and that isn't a good thing for any team the Broncos face. I think it is a safe bet that Denver is going to score a LOT of points again, and thus making the teams we face have to throw the ball more in order to keep up with our pace. Teams are going to have to come to the reality that when it is 3rd and 8 or more Ware and Miller will be able to pin their ears back and just come after the QB. If you add that in with the fact that with the addition of Aqib Talib playing opposite of Chris Harris Denver should create a LOT of turnovers. Everything coming out of Dove Valley is positive at the moment, and a healthy Denver Broncos team with their new additions should have no problem winning the super bowl this year.

How The Broncos Offense Got Better......

The Denver Broncos only signed two free agents to the offense that are expected to make a real difference, but the Broncos are looking at some very tough decisions on the offensive side of the ball. The offensive line, and quarterback are the only two position groups on the offense where things are basically set for next year. John Elway, John Fox, and the rest of the player personnel department are going to have some very tough decisions to make everywhere else on the in regards to who stays on the team, and who starts. The wide receiver position has two guaranteed starters in Demaryius Thomas and Wes Welker, but as far as who takes Eric Decker's spot and who makes the team is anyones guess. Denver signed Emmanuel Sanders this offseason not as a potential replacement for Decker, and though he has the inside track for the position he will have some serious competition. Along with Sanders the Broncos have Andre 'Bubba' Caldwell, and Cody Latimer who was the Broncos 2nd round pick in the draft. Last year Bubba Caldwell showed signs that he is ready to move into a starters roll this season. He made some big catches last season, is sure handed, and is probably the fastest player at the position, and may be the fastest player on the Broncos entire roster. Cody Latimer is a player whose upside is limitless. He has the size that Demaryius Thomas has, is known for his ability to catch the ball, and put up an amazing time in the 40 going into the draft. The Broncos have said they do not expect Latmier to start this season, but I watched the kid play through college, and I wouldn't count him out of the conversation. My guess is that Sanders will probably win the starting roll going into the season, but I think Latimer is simply too talented to keep off the field and by mid season I think we could see him starting playing opposite of DT. Tight end is another position that even though the Broncos have one of the best in the game in Julius Thomas they also have Joel Dressen, Jacob Tamme, Virgil Green, and a name Bronco fans are not familiar with Gerell Robinson. The first four names on the list everyone in Denver probably knows. Joel Dressen is coming off an injury, but is solid, Jacob Tamme came here along with Manning and is one of the most consistent players on offense Denver has. He can also move out and play the slot receiver position. Virgil Green is more of a blocking tight end that Denver uses in goal line and short yardage situations. The wild card is Mr. Robinson. Gerell Robinson originally came to Denver as a wide receiver, but the offensive coaches have switched to him to tight end, and though he doesn't have the size that the others have he is probably the best athlete in the bunch. Should Robinson make the 53 man roster he will give opposing defenses a ton of problems. Linebackers will not be able to cover him due to his speed and route running ability that transfers over from his years at wide receiver. He and Julius Thomas would create nightmares for opposing defensive coordinators to deal with, and with teams being forced to treat both of them like wide receivers it should open up a lot of running lanes for Montee Ball. If I had to guess I think out of the group of tight ends Denver has Joel Dressen will end up being the odd man out. Obviously Julius Thomas isn't going anywhere, and Jacob Tamme's ability to play the slot as well as tight end makes him valuable. Neither Tamme or Thomas are the best blocking tight ends, and Denver has said they want to utilize the run more this year which would lead you to believe that Virgil Green will also make the team. I see Robinson making the team because he can also play wide receiver, and anytime you have a player that can play multiple position it makes his value go up. Finally that brings us to the running back position. Denver has named Montee Ball as the starter, and though he had problems holding on to the ball early in the year last season he showed he has the ability to be a very good back in the NFL. He has the vision to see the hole, explosiveness to hit the hole with authority, and while he isn't necessarily a home run threat he does possess decent speed, and the ability to make people miss in the open field. Behind Ball Denver has guys like CJ Anderson, Ronnie Hillman, Kapri Bibbs, Brennan Clay, Juwan Thompson, and Jerodis Williams. CJ Anderson showed flashes last season during the preseason, but an injury kept him from the field for most of the year. Ronnie Hillman would be the only home run/change of pace back Denver has, but has had problems holding onto the ball since he came into the league. With Ball as the starter, and CJ Anderson looking like his back up Denver will have to make the decision as to what to do with the rest of the players looking to make the team. I am not sure Denver is ready to give up on Hillman yet, so that leave basically one roster spot for four guys to fight over. The player that is intriguing is Kapri Bibbs. He has the ability to get the tough yards, as well as break a big run here and there. My guess is that if he plays well during training camp Denver could try and hide him on the the practice squad for the year, but he is another player I would not be surprised to see on the 53 man roster. THe moral of the story for the Broncos: So many weapons, so few roster spots. It will be exciting to see how things shake out.