Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks - 4/18/11

Broncos may open at home on Monday night | All Things Broncos — Denver Broncos news, stats, analysis — The Denver Post
Here’s the situation: The Broncos’ 2 p.m. home starts conflict on week 1 Sundays with CBS’ (the AFC’s network) coverage of the U.S. Open tennis tourney. So there was little Howard Katz and company could do but send the Broncos on the road for week 1. The Broncos have gone 3-3 in their last six road/season openers: Losing at Miami and St. Louis, winning at Buffalo (Toro! Toro!), Oakland (DeAngelo Hall meets Eddie Royal) and Cincinnati ("Stokley! Woooow!"), and losing at Jacksonville.

Elway is putting in the hours for the Broncos | ProFootballTalk
Bottom line? Elway got his current job based on what he did as a player and what he means to the Broncos organization. Unlike Marino, however, Elway has embraced the position — and he’s working as hard as he would have been if he’d worked his way into the job via years in lower-level NFL positions. Whether he can pull it all together and make the Broncos competitive again remains to be seen. So far, the signs are encouraging.

Broncos open lines of communication with season-ticket holders - The Denver Post
Call it an unexpected fringe benefit for Broncos fans who signed up for 2011 season tickets despite the uncertainty surrounding the ongoing NFL labor dispute. The Broncos are conducting three conference calls exclusively for their season-ticket holders with the likes of John Elway, John Fox, Brian Xanders and even NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

WR Edmond Gates to visit the Broncos | National Football Post
Abilene Christian wide receiver Edmond Gates visits the Denver Broncos on Wednesday, according to a league source with knowledge of the situation. He has previously visited the Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings

NFL NEWS

NFP Sunday Blitz | National Football Post
Illinois linebacker Martez Wilson is knocked by scouts for his lack of instincts, but Stats proprietary X-info reveals that if he lacks instincts, he’s overcome it pretty well. According to a study of defenders in Big Ten games, Wilson led the conference in "impact tackles," which are defined as tackles made for gains of two yards of less, including sacks. Wilson had 56 impact tackles, or nine more than J.J. Watt, 12 more than Ryan Kerrigan, 13 more than Corey Liuget, 24 more than Greg Jones and 28 more than Adrian Clayborn.

Is there such a thing as owning too many sports franchises? | National Football Post
The question, no doubt, has been on the minds of sports fans around the world. Can Stan Kroenke manage a burgeoning sports empire with the attention and resources necessary to ensure all have an opportunity to compete at the highest level.

Inside the film room: the RB position | National Football Post
Let’s continue our film breakdown series and move on to the running back position. My notes on what to look for when you are grading NFL prospects on tape.

ProFootballWeekly.com - A simple request
Margie Hicks' request seemed simple enough: Could I help her obtain her late brother's jersey from the Philadelphia Eagles? Blenda Gay wore No. 68 during the two seasons he lined up at defensive end for the club. Having that jersey could bring a little peace to Margie's 80-year-old mother, Evelyn. "My brother was my mother's first born and she has not only been through the loss of a child, but a grandchild and so many unanswered questions," Margie explained.

2010 Dolphins: What the Film Revealed - NYTimes.com
Here’s what happened: the rest of the league figured out how to stop the Wildcat (usually it has something to do with crashing your cornerbacks inside). And so the Dolphins’ rushing attack – headlined by Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, two savvy but inexplosive backs – became average. Chad Henne shouldered too much of the blame for the offense’s malaise. True, Henne was not as accurate as he was in ’09. And it didn’t help that his mistakes tended to snowball. But when Henne was unshackled from offensive coordinator Dan Henning’s unimaginative ball control system, he wasn’t bad. Miami had a much livelier receiving arsenal than critics realized. Brandon Marshall was a true No. 1; the surprisingly fluid Brian Hartline was a capable No. 2; Davone Bess was a beacon of fundamentals in the slot; and tight end Anthony Fasano regained his receiving confidence, especially down the seams.

NFL.com news: Hasselbeck knows his Seahawks future depends on CBA, draft
"I would put myself in the same boat as probably 500 other guys," Hasselbeck told The Boston Globe for a story in Sunday's editions. "It's kind of hard to do a deal without knowing what the rules of the game are, and so most of us free agents were just kind of sitting in a holding pattern until this new CBA comes down. And we all knew it was going to be that. "There's maybe a handful of guys that were going to definitely get done before the lockout began, and I truly thought that I would be one of those guys potentially, because of my desire to stay and everything (the Seahawks) had told me. But it didn't happen, and that's OK. I'm not upset about anything. I understand it's kind of a weird year and it's a hard year to forecast."

NFL DRAFT

Draft advice for Jerry Jones, if he'll just listen
With Bill Parcells, assistant coaches were assigned to watch film on players, but they had little say in the ultimate decision. Folks familiar with the process under Phillips said that assistant coaches had too much access to the draft room. There wasn't a clear line of authority between the scouts and coaches, which may have led to highly questionable picks, such as linebacker Jason Williams out of Western Illinois in 2009’s third round.

Source refutes report about Phil Taylor's feet | National Football Post
Baylor defensive tackle Phil Taylor's feet checked out fine at the NFL scouting combine medical recheck, according to a league source with knowledge of the situation. The source refuted a CBS Sports report that Taylor has been red-flagged due to having bones growing together in his feet that could cause significant pain for the big defensive lineman. "No team has an issue with him," the source said.

NFL LOCKOUT

Mediation not expected to hit paydirt | ProFootballTalk
More importantly, Magistrate Judge Boylan and Judge Nelson need to realize that the two sides aren’t truly taking the mediation seriously, and they need to order that all parties attend and participate — each of the 10 named plaintiffs and each of the 32 owners. They may not like it. But the judges shouldn’t care, and neither should the fans. The players and the owners currently are playing Russian roulette with the interests of the game, all in the name of getting more for themselves. The fans who have yet to lose interest should be very pissed about that.