Horse Tracks 8/26/09 - Dreaming of an Orange August in Canton

some of us are Dodger fans here!

Okay, maybe just me. ;-)

Oh shut up.

My dad’s a yankee fan, and a NY giants fan, maybe he’d be happy if we traded them Haggan. Hah hah!

Sigh…

How about a Bronco hat? That would be much better.

MillsLane25 in Colorado Springs, Colo.: I feel like Josh McDaniels, given his, um, entertaining start to his tenure in Denver, is setting himself up to not be allowed to struggle. Say the Broncos are 4-12 this year (could happen, sadly) and improve to 8-8 next year. You bring in a new coach, a roster overhaul takes place, it happens again. Is there any reason to hire a guy anymore if you won’t commit to, really, about 4 years? (Especially when they could be drafting a quarterback next April.)

MillsLane25: The one thing we’ve seen in this league is that, outside of Bill Belichick, Mike Tomlin and Tom Coughlin, there’s no coach who is automatically safe from one year to the next. Saying that, I think McDaniels will survive this year, next year and well beyond. He’s getting a lot of heat now, but someone who knows coaches well predicted to me that McDaniels is going to be one of the greatest NFL coaches ever. Strong words, I know, and we’ll see. But I think he’s going to be a real good one.

Nick in Gary, Ind.: Aren’t people overstating the Bears’ lack of WRs? Great QBs make great receivers — besides, [Jay] Cutler’s favorite target a lot of last year was Eddie Royal. He seems like he makes enough plays where he doesn’t need Calvin Johnson or T.O. to be successful.

Nick: First and foremost, you’re vastly underrating Royal. He is going to be one of the game’s top receivers — watch. Beyond that, Cutler will need some help from the position. I think Devin Hester and Earl Bennett can provide some, and let’s not forget the two tight ends, Greg Olsen and Desmond Clark. They’re not true wide receivers, but Olsen is capable of being the Bears’ leading receiver this season. They’re not deep at wide receiver, but if Matt Forte is running well, Cutler is not making mistakes and the defense is back, Chicago can win. With the receivers it has.

I’m with you, McG. No matter how much of a deal everyone wants to make of the BMarsh situation, it doesn’t HAVE to be resolved today or tomorrow. He’s got to actually try, at some point. If not, he’ll end up suspended for conduct detrimental – and I’d think he’s not willing to go that far. If he doesn’t play his heart out, then he’ll just squander on the bench…

re: Martin. We’re not going to be carrying 4 QBs. If Simms’ injury isn’t serious, then we’re only looking for a QB to take some scout-team reps until he’s back. So there’s no reason to trade for another QB. Thanks for the kind words, EZ.

Its because he is a cheap bit of camp fodder for the last week to save some wear on the others. There would be no sense trading anything for someone you are going to cut in a week.

Thanks for the Laugh tfrbotta.

But it’s not just sacks, JC better pray he doesn’t throw an INT. He is going to get absolutely destroyed with a “block” if he finds himself on “defense” immediately after throwing a pick.

(on Twitter)

Adam_Schefter Chris Simms high ankle sprain. Looks like 2-4 weeks. Denver has some QB decisions to make regarding final two preseason games and beyond.

Tom B will eventually be decent but doesn’t seem all that ready to me (though to be fair the 3rd string OL was terrible the other night which isn’t his fault). Ingle Martin doesn’t inspire much excitement. But since Simms isn’t out for a long time I guess there’s no point in getting another long term backup.

Stay healthy, Kyle! is all I can say.

Brandstater isn’t ready at all. Maybe a little fire will be good for him, but it will make watching the team play less interesting for sure. He looks pretty lost back there to me.

That should be the one time I’d be in favor of seeing a “Show Blitz” play. Run every one up like we are going to, then drop back into coverage and make Jay through into double or triple coverage. He absolutely will and then we’ll be taking it the other way.