Horse Tracks 11/5/09 - McBean, J. Williams, Bruton miss practice; Clark unlikely to play for Steelers

It’s interesting the article by Bowen on Shaper for MVP. A couple of weeks back, I was wondering the same thing about Dawkins. Pull him out of the lineup and what have you got? Would the Denver D still be the Denver D?

I know MVP is a QB award but unplug one guy from the Broncos and who would it be that makes the most impact in terms of W’s? My money is on Dawkins or Clady. Two guys who for some reason will never be considered for MVP which is a shame.

He has made a very good contribution, in my evaluation. I know McGeorge has tended to disagree, but I’ve liked the steady improvement, physicality, and effort I have seen from Ayers.

Judge is a guy who doesn’t know what’s happening away from the ball, whatsoever.

AKA, “The Train Wreck Starts Here.”

Waves Hand. There’s nothing wrong in San Diego(NORV)

Did the DP fire Jim Armstrong?

I sure hope all the Bronco fans going to the game where the blue and orange. I hate seeing the steelers colors evey where

but pat kirwan is an idiot. He has both NE and CIN ahead of the broncos. I know we dont care about the MSM but how do you justify putting a team with a better record behind two teams of a lesser record who have already lost to the team behind them?!?!??! where in a pea-sized brain does this make sense?
http://fanrankings.nfl.com/picks/expert_picks

that last Sunday was the fluke, not the other 6 games before it, if some of the predictions and the point spread are any indication. Seems kind of insulting to be a home underdog (no offense to me) and that 28 to 13 score predicted by Fox (granted it’s Fox Sports) is just as insulting. But whatever, they have to prove it on the field. Again. And if they do, they’ll probably be an underdog yet again the following week.

BMarsh got a vote on dirties player huh? guess they polled Terrance Newman then!

great stuff doug!

makes me a little concerned the Broncos home field advantage won’t be as strong as it could be. If you’re in Denver, there’s still tix available… come represent! If you’re selling your ticket, try to sell to Broncos fans. ;-)

Reading Legwold, and his concern about Denver finding a way to go downfield with the ball, I wonder if Denver simply doesn’t have the personnel at WO to stretch the field vertically. Think about it: even with JC’s cannon arm— save one play against Cleveland— Eddie Royal got fat on YAC. Every time JC and BM connected on a fly or go, it got called back because BM manhandled a defender in press-coverage. McD has gone out of his way a couple of times to point out that Royal is very quick, but always stops short of labeling him as fast. Eddie is good at defeating off-man underneath, not so good at press— and history is starting to indicate that rarely gets over-the-top on anybody. He either gets jammed at the line or lacks the long speed to blow by NFL DB’s. BM is good at defeating press and gaining seperation— but usually has to straddle the rules to do it. How many times have we seen BM looking behind himself for a flag after a successful longish ball?

It’s something to ponder, I guess— and it plays to the theory that McD is intent on finding ways to maximize the personnel he has rather than trying to force issues that odds and reality say he can’t.

I’d like to see us draft a pure speed deep threat type earlyish in the upcoming draft.

There’s something that a lot of folks seem to have missed – several good article came out at the end of training camp on the trend, around the league, to move to an attack that’s similar to what the Broncos are doing. Despite the constant (and often misguided) belief that teams are going to stack the box against the short pass, that’s not the facts. They stack against an ineffective running attack and to blitz. The short pass has become much more common for a good reason

And that reason is faster safeties with good coverage skills. We have Darcel McBath as a great example. Renaldo hill is a safety who used to be a pretty good cornerback – he’s that fast and can cover well. It greatly limits the vertical game, and teams have gone to the shorter game in response. So does McD. We’re going to see more over time, but right now, they’re playing what the defense gives them.