and I am quite impressed at how they have performed this year. They have done a great job of protecting Jay and hopefully it will continue. Cutler still has things to work on as he has stated so at least he is getting plenty of protection in order to improve.

b/c of him being an o-lineman and what not

1(2) in 6 games .16/game(.33/game)
on pace for: 2.5(5) in 16 games

That’s an amazing stat, but I’d do the math a little bit differently. First, since we’re very unlikely to have another faux sack, I’d simply take the projected figure for real sacks and then add one to it, for a projected end-of-season official total of 3.5. Of course, sacks come in whole number increments, even if defensive players sometimes get half credits, so a conservative projection would be 4. That would be an amazing record, and it needn’t detract from the o-line’s accomplishment to note that Cutler has much better pocket awareness and moves better in the pocket than he did last year. To me that’s one of the most notable aspects of his maturation. And of course what makes the accomplishment even more remarkable, on the part of Cutler and the line is, as you point out, that the Broncos have been throwing a lot of passes per game.

Needless to say, for reasons me all understand, Clady will not win rookie of the year no matter how much he deserves it. That always goes to a “skill” position. I did read an article the other day, which I should have fan-posted (don’t think I did, anyway), in which it was remarked that Clady has exceeded the Broncos’ expectations. Given how high those expectations were, that’s pretty remarkable itself. And he’s just a rookie! He’s going to get better, people, lots better. Maybe next year he’ll block two rushers at a time, thus freeing up somebody to pick up all-out blitzes.

Speaking of special teams, Royal’s average is up there but I think he’s been even better than people realize. Although our special team coverage and blocking has improved, it seems to me the Broncos’ punt and kick return units don’t open seams as well as elite units do. That’s why Hall keeps running into a wall. Royal has simply made unblocked players miss. But there may also be subtleties I’ve overlooked. Martinez looks like a lumering elephant out there compared to Royal, yet he surprisingly often breaks off big returns. Either he’s good at deciding where and when to cut upfield, or is good at setting up the defenders so as to make the blockers’ jobs easier (or both). (No doubt the coaches see things that I totally miss.)

We really need someone with a paper like the Denver Post or the Rocky Mountain News to write an article covering these numbers. I know that is unlikely to happen, but that is probably the only way for the column to get picked up nationally…

I would like to see Cutler, Champ, Marshall, Royal, Clady, and Prater all make it.

Trust me on this, as I have seen them all play extensively. Second-best has been Joe Thomas, but even he has struggled some. Chris Samuels, Michael Roos (Tennessee,) and Jake Long have been the second tier guys, with Roos and Long being particularly good in the run game. The disappointments at the position have been Walter Jones, Orlando Pace, and Jason Peters, and the award for being absurdly overrated goes to Chad Clifton, who is simply horrible. Matt Light is very overrated too, as we may see tonight (hopefully.) The worst LT is Kwame Harris of the Raiders, but his reputation says he is bad.

I still plan on keeping track of this stuff. The updated numbers up there Barely changed through the first six games, they probably won’t change drastically over the next six…. It is that seventh game we need to watch out for. ;)

Or maybe poetic justice is the right phrase.

I am sure the O-Line, Cutler, the coaches, etc would gladly trade that record for more wins, though they would argue that the two go hand in hand.