I understand that this is a blog-site and we are a community that wants to keep each other notified of any and all news (regardless of source) that is written or released that has anything to do with the Denver Broncos, but I would like to ask the readers of MHR to think critically first and foremost.

First, a vocabulary lesson:

conjecture (countable and uncountable; plural conjectures)

1. A statement or an idea which is unproven, but is thought to be true; a guess. I explained it, but it is pure conjecture whether he understood, or not.
2. A supposition based upon incomplete evidence; a hypothesis. The physicist used his conjecture about subatomic particles to design an experiment.

I thought that defining conjecture was appropriate because there is much of it coming from the MSM right now.  However, it's also coming from the fans and bloggers too.

I know that there's nothing wrong with supposing things and discussing them on a blog-site like MHR, but the amount of knee-jerk panic and vitrol I've seen on this site in the past 3 days is shocking.  What makes MHR the best site on the web in my opinion is that the readers and writers are thoughtful and respectful, while also critical and knowledgable about the subject matter.  I have always maintained that MHR was a better forum that denverpost.com or ESPN or anywhere else because the readers of MHR were above in-fighting and bickering and trolling and above all, MHR readers do a great job digesting new information and logically disecting it.

There were more than a few threads yesterday and Saturday that were not a reflection of why this site is great, and I was disappointed.

When I was preparing for the LSAT, I spent most of my time learning how to look at a single phrase and find its flaws and assumptions and considering what audience the phrase was meant for.  This is a small lesson in critical thinking.

Critical thinking is purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguments. Critical thinking might involve determining the meaning and significance of what is observed or expressed, or, concerning a given inference or argument, determining whether there is adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true. Hence, Fisher & Scriven define critical thinking as "Skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of observations, communications, information, and argumentation."[1]

Critical thinking gives due consideration to the evidence, the context of judgment, the relevant criteria for making the judgment well, the applicable methods or techniques for forming the judgment, and the applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the nature of the problem and the question at hand. Critical thinking employs not only logic but broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance and fairness.

I know that's a bit long winded, but what I'm after here is the idea that as fans, we need to consider the source of any story, the outlet that was used to break the story, the amount of evidence within the content and judge for ourselves how credible it is and why it's even considered news.

But the truth is, that we don't know what the truth is.  Only Xanders, McDaniels, and Bowlen know what the truth is.  That's it.  What we're all up in arms about is a discussion that happened in a closed room or over a private phone line and unless Bus Cook had a wire-tap, I don't think he'll ever know the whole truth about what was said or offered and neither will the fans.  And you know what, that's fine by me.  These guys are allowed to discuss this in private.  There are far bigger names that have been in trade talks than Jay Cutler.

Cutler and his agent should consider this as well because they are likely running on emotion (Cutler) and looking to somehow capitalize (Cook) on this mess. 

All parties involved will spin this in the way that produces the best results for themselves. 

This situarion will be resolved.  The chance that Cutler is lining up under center for the next 5 years is probably very good.  The chance that McDaniels had interest in Matt Cassel is good as well.  But also consider that McDaniels and Xanders may have been "out on their tips" (skiing reference) a bit with this Cutler situation and mis-handled it.  It think that is one thing we can be sure about.  Maybe they learned their lesson.

I thought TSG made a great move when he basically stopped guessing and asked to be contacted before he put anything else out there from anyone.  That, my friends, is how you take control of a situation when it's in a tailspin.

All things considered, I think the Broncos are a better team right now that they were at any point in the past three seasons (talent-wise) and so long as there can be a resolution between players and coach, things will be just fine.

There are many correlations between what happened between Cutler and the front office this weekend and The Lord of the Flies, but the same goes for some of the posters/readers here as well.  No need for divided camps when we don't know fact from fiction. 

Go Broncos