Horse Tracks - 12/9/08

DENVER POST

Throughout the second half of Sunday's 24-17 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, Tatum Bell kept looking to the sideline, waiting for coaches to call him out of the game.  That signal never came.

Nobody mentions Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler in the same breath as Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.   All Denver asks from Cutler is to do more for his team than the top quarterbacks of this NFL generation.

Wade Wilson, the Minnesota Vikings' quarterback, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 1984. He was 25 years old and on the verge of his third season in the NFL. Publicly acknowledging that he had the disease, he said he would need to be zealous about monitoring it for the rest of his career — however long his career lasted.

Tonight, the Broncos' starting offensive linemen will confront a considerably different challenge of trying to save Denver's homeless children. Or at least trying to raise enough money to help feed and shelter their families by hosting a Christmas party from 6-8 p.m. at the Catholic Charities Samaritan House in downtown Denver.

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ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS

In his duties as supervisor of a cell-phone kiosk several weeks back, Tatum Bell would penalize fellow employees who were late for their shift by making them bring in Krispy Kremes for the rest of the crew.

The Broncos? Not so much. They've been better the past month or so, but they still surrender far too many big plays - 50 of 10 yards or longer this season, nine of 30 yards or longer - and currently are the only division leader in the AFC that is not in the league's top 10 in run defense.

Dumervil fractured the little finger on his right hand in a preseason game against Green Bay and underwent surgery days later. He played early this season with a cast on the hand and, the plentiful pain aside, said he often didn't feel comfortable as he battled opposing tackles.

CBS4

This game was a maturity test for the Denver Broncos. Throughout the season, the criticism against them has been that they're too inconsistent -- they play well against good teams and poorly against bad teams. That's the hallmark of youth and immaturity.

MISCELLANEOUS

Hillis, a converted fullback, was doing a nice job for Denver. Don't get me wrong, Hillis wasn't to be confused for Adrian Peterson and he wasn't reminding the Broncos of the Clinton Portis days. But Hillis was efficient and he was working very well as part of Denver's offense. He fit the running scheme.