Cause that’s where I’m guessing most people fit.

I just listened to MHRR from last night and the thing that stuck with me most is the need for a dominate RB. Maybe Hillis is that guy, we’ll see. I want to see him break a long one and outrun a couple DBs before I’m completely comfortable. I know the IR guys are not the answer.

Until we get that dominate back that we can rely on, and who can run against any defense at any time, ala TD, this offense will be disproportionately balanced toward the pass. A dominate, pure RB is the only missing piece to a flat-out unstoppable attack. I’d like to see us draft a non-injury prone guy early or else bring in a solid FA (I’m not even sure who’s out there). Spend the rest of the picks on the D.

I personally think we could creat some funny havoc in the playoffs this year.

not for the jets. 0-3 against the afc west. we still need to split the last 4 if s.d. wins out(raiders, chiefs, bucs, and us), so we’re not out of the woods yet, especially with this team. we really need some defensive players back. any injury updates on the 6 or so broncos that went down in this one? were they all really even hurt? looked a little ridiculous to me, anyway. thoughts?

we should be getting some reinforcements back in the next week or 2. champ and d.j. would be huge down the stretch, but do you put nate back in if larsen can’t go, and what to do with woodyard? the lb’s have been defending the run(tackling) pretty well. i’m worried about the overpursuit/arm-tackle thing, again. and hats off to wiegmann, who had one of the longest days in memory trying to handle jenkins, often one-on-one. valiant effort and job by the o-line as a whole, and can you see the run-blocking opening up some holes, now? a great sign for the playoff run, whoever is running it.

be playing Indy at home in the wild card weekend game

As I have been doing (wet blanketing) all season, and will continue to do now, the Broncos are not yet great. They are far, far too inconsistent. Good teams beat the Browns, Falcons, and Jets on the road, check… BUT the Browns are awful this year, and the Falcons and the Jets were awful last year. Nonetheless, the latter two are tough teams this year so that’s what counts. Check. Good teams do not, however, lose to the raiders and Chefs, no matter where said games occur, or sleepwalk through games they are supposed to win. There is a noticeable unevenness of intensity, and the players themselves were saying things to the effect that the us-vs.them mentality is more obvious on the road and they don’t get as fired up at home. Well, they damn well SHOULD! Make them sleep outside all night if they’re getting too comfortable. You lads have 60,000 screaming blue and orange fanatics at your back that did NOT come and pay good money to see you lay an egg against the raiders. FYI.

What we are is a young team with a lot of talent, but still some pretty noticeable holes, that has the chance to be great with a major revision of defensive schemes and players, along with some growing maturity on the part of the young offensive playmakers. With 4 games to go against the Chefs, Panthers, Bills, and Whinyass Phyllisites, I’ll say we win 2 (KC, Bills) and lose 2 (Panthers and SD). That’s my conservative estimate, but hey, what with SD’s total awfulness and our sudden knack for road games, it could easily be bumped up to 3-1, as we’re just too damn streaky for me to pick us to win out. That leaves us at 9-7 or 10-6 and with a playoff spot, which is of course far preferable to 7-9 and watching from home. And once you get into the playoffs, anything can happen: my personal thought being we’ll either get steamrolled like Kris Jenkins going after a plate of creampuffs, or we’ll pull something out of the you-know-where.

And yes, I am procrastinating really, really hard on finishing this psych essay. What made you guess?

I’m very excited about where we are heading long-term. In the short-term I’m feeling optimistic. We’ll see what happens the next 4 weeks, but this team has the opportunity to do something THIS YEAR. “Can they capitalize?” is the question.

If nothing else, this team is going to get some very very valuable experience out of this season. They get to see the playoffs. I know it isn’t in stone yet, but I really don’t think they are going to lay an egg in their remaining games and let Phylis and the merry-men into the playoffs.

I’m probably most excited about Hillis as I’ve said in another post. If he stays healthy he makes our offense Twice as potent as any game without him. He is bruising and demands respect. (Again if there is anyone seeing bad stuff from Hillis please share…he looks too good to be true) This type of running game changes everything: how the defenses play, how much rest our defense gets, etc etc. If we win out and go deep in the playoffs I predict it will be because of Hillis’s consistency.

That being said I think Denver is a very very dangerous team and I don’t even think Indy wants to play Denver in the playoffs. We’ve shown that we CAN have a solid game plan and if we don’t shoot ourselves in the foot we can beat anyone by keeping our foot on their throats.

I’m looking forward to what Shanny does with the defense this off-season too. Shore that D up and we will be among the cream of the crop in the AFC.

….died and went to heaven. He was a running back in HS and his first year at Arkansas. Then McFadden and Jones arrived and he had to play anywhere but RB. Now he’s in RB heaven, and will be great here. And it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

My excitement with this team is not so much how they played yesterday but the way they played. I think we can all agree that this is not the most talented team Denver has ever fielded. As Silverblood points out above, we have several gaps to fill before we become a Superbowl type team. But this team played with intensity and a will to win that made me proud to be a Bronco fan again. We played hard-nosed football and with a very few exceptions we had none of the posing or posturing after plays. The "look at me" attitude seems to have been buried in an avalanche of team-first mentality.

I think that our team, playing at its best, is probably in the top three or four teams in the League. The inconsistency we have (ie, losing to terrible teams) is what keeps us from being ranked that high. We are one of the best in the League, but don’t play like it every week.

I think we will make the playoffs with the fourth or third seed. I think we have a 50/50 shot of clearing the wildcard round at that point. Beyond that, we will have a tough struggle. Next year, I think we will improve much, but not all, of the defense, and add some depth to the offense. Next year, I think we are a borderline SB team, and in two years I will be surprised if we don’t start dominating.

I LOVE Hillis. He is the powerback I’ve been clamoring for. He doesn’t need to get long runs (he can get pulled down from behind as he was in the Jets game). He just needs to plow forward for those five yard, bruising gains. I know fans love the flashy speed game, but take it from a defensive coordinator, elite power runners scare defenses more than speed guys.

His runs were one cut, and he runs downhill. Only a solid tackle will bring him down, and nothing less. Pair him with any other RB (speed or power) in our system, and the defense is going to be hurting by the fourth quarter, and we will be able to protect leads better.

Great stuff Nick!

I am excited to get to go to the game this weekend against the Chiefs. It will be nice to clinch the division this weekend.

Two positions jump out at me on the offense thanks to your breakdown.

1. Stokely-he may have 2 to 3 prime years left. Who will be his replacement. Chad Jackson? He sure looked faster than anyone else on the one play he touched the ball yesterday. Is he consistent enough to be the slot receiver? Personally, I think Eddie Royal would make a perfect slot receiver (quick in and out of routes, great hands), but if you move him to the slot, who do you put out wide to replace him?

2. Casey Wiegman/Tom Nalen-center defiantely needs attention quickly. Is Lichtensteiger ready to play next year? Will he be the starting center or will Hamilton shift into the position. Regardless, I think some offensive line depth is needed.

With this being said, I still believe defense should be top priority. As it stands today, and things will change, I would draft with the following philosophy:

1. DT
2. RB or Safety
3. RB or Safety
4. MLB
4. SLB
5. OL
6. CB

It’s certainly time for the Broncos to get back to performing the Kesselschlacht.

I never understood why people love break away runners any ways. I love a guy who keeps banging it up the middle. He does so much more for your team. Hillis just wore that D out yesterday. I love watching a guy carrying three guys on his back to get a 4yd gain.

and TD was WAY quick enough.
Check out some of the Hillis footage on you tube. He takes one to the house from 70 yards out with no one gaining on him….he s plenty fast ebough at 250 lbs!!!!

I’d rather have a Hillis than a Portis. I hope he doesn’t get switched back to a FB next year.

I am and have been optimistic about Denver all year, even after the blowouts.

Denver has lots of potential and most of the raw pieces are in place on offense. They have (I believe) nine draft picks stocked up so far for next year and I suspect they will continue addressing the defensive side of the ball. One (possibly two) more quality drafts and this will be a truly dominant team.

But right now, our offense needs to play together a bit more and the adversity they’ve faced (and largely overcome) this year will serve them well in that regard.

As for the defense, there appear to really be some rising stars on that unit. I don’t know how many of them are going to be breakout players (and a fair number of them aren’t going to be here next year) but I like the way they’ve all stepped up, played hard and refused to quit on each other.

The seeds are being planted and I think that within a year or two this team will be ready to seriously compete. As for this year, I am hoping at least for a return to the playoffs – got to take a step forward.

Will they win a playoff game? Or two? Eh….let’s just get there first. LOL

You have to love a guy who hitches himself to his pickup to train. Maybe that’s why his hips are so danged strong.

For this reason, I will have a wait and see about RB. it would be nice to feel comfortable with a back like Torain. If his injury bug passes he and Hillis could be the 1-2 punch that we have dreamt of. On the other hand, Aldrige may get healthy, etc. We will probably pick up an RB in the later rounds of the draft – we usually do. As solid as we are at TE, I think we could look at 1 more. Never hurts to look down the road – and that slot receiver type migh be helpful since Stokely will get older. The rest of the draft we all know – DT, Saf, Saf, LB, CB…

After last year I look at the draft like christmas – ech round we get to sit back and see what Santa Goodman is bringing us…

With Royal’s performance Sunday:

Single season receiving TDs: 5
Receiving yards: 797
Receptions: 63

And with 4 games to go these will all change. Nice job Eddie “Casino” Royal.

test test test test