During the course of the season, like many of you, I noticed our team had shifted numerous times both offensively and defensively. Not only did our formations change, but our scheme, our game-plans, our plays, who started, who was injured, etc. Symbolic of the Presidential race, our team seemed to be in flux and a major change was occurring and even more change was destined (allegedly). When I decided to put these statistics together and analyze how there was a shift from week to week on all sides of the ball - the team had direction. We all knew months before the regular season began that this was going to be a rough year defensively but a good year offensively; maybe we didn't know just how bad our defense would be or how good our offense would be - but we had an inkling.

via web1.denverbroncos.com

My point is that there was direction. We knew what Shanahan was doing and what would happen this year in the rebuilding season - defense, defense, defense. However, we didn't know that our team was going through as much change as it did as Shanahan was shortly fired and a new leader was installed. Is our offense set? Will McDaniels call the same type of plays that Bates did? What about the offensive scheme - before we didn't need a stellar running back; just someone to pick up 3 or 4 yards and come up with 100 yard games and keep the defense's honest. With McDaniels, will we suddenly need a stud running back that we have to invest a high draft pick into?

What about defensively; we now have more questions about the defense then we did before. We do know that it can't get much worse than it was in 2008 and while there seems to be a buzz about switching to a 3-4, will that really be what we do? What kind of a 3-4 will we run if we do switch? What about personnel? Studs like D.J. Williams were considered a shoe-in to make the team in 2009, if nothing more than the drama we've put him through; but what about now? Does D.J. really fit into a 3-4? Everyone is clamoring for Elvis Dumervil and Jarvis Moss to be moved to OLB in our 3-4 which would indicate that everyone wants a blitz heavy 3-4 defense; will this happen?

By analyzing this shift that our team went through this year; we have as much information as our new coaches do. What decisions they decide to make are up to them; however we will be just as informed as them. It's easy to be an armchair quarterback and talk about what the Bronco's should have done during the year; now we are no longer armchair quarterbacks. We are the individuals who are just as informed as our new coaches and our opinions and decisions are as informed as theirs.

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This is it!  All the voting comes down today in an effort to get our guy onto the list of starters!  Noon today is the deadline, and time is flying.

Make one last trip to the ballots and give it everything you got!

On the Seventh day of Clady... 

Ryan Clady #78

Clady Bowl 2009!  Let's make it happen!

We are closing in on H-Hour C-Day, so crack those knuckles get all the lint and hair out off your optical mouse's eye and get ready to start clicking!

The appeal that I have saved for last is what I figure to be the most important:  voting Clady to the Pro Bowl will be felt by more people than just Clady.  To wit:

The oline coaching staff, including Rick Dennison.  These guys have done an unbelievable job getting our guys ready to play, and they have turned a likely weakness into the greatest strength of this team.  A unit where more than half of the line represents less than 20% of the total experience, this group had as much right as anyone to make youthful mistakes and be inconsistent, and they haven't indulged.  Thank you coaches.  This ones for you.

Shanahan and the personnell office, especially Jim Goodman.  I don't think Mr. Goodman had to show Shanny much tape to convince him that Clady was the guy, but he still deserves a lot of credit for not overlooking a smallschool prospect with underrrated talent.  And Shanny probably had to bite his knuckles a few times when thinking about some of the early RBs that would be available, and settle on cementing LT for years to com.  Thank you personnell guys.  This one is for you.

The bruised and battered running back corp.  Any one of the 7 backs who have had a chance to tote the rock could have let this line down, and every one of them refused.  They have all stepped up and taken advantage of the hard work that our oline unit has put in to even the playing field despite our setbacks.  They honor the work of our oline when they play the way they have.  Thank you Legion of the Damned.  This one is for you.

Lastly, most importantly, the entire Oline, Ben Hamilton, Casey Weigmann, Chris Kuper, and Ryan Harris.  The oline, especially in Denver, works as a unit, and none of these guys is any less deserving of the honor of their peers than Clady is.  As they have gone, so has he.  He has played well feeding the entire line, but he feeds off of them and relies on them too, so it would be remiss of us not to honor them.  That is what this vote can do.  Clady can represent the entire oline in the person of a talented, respectful, professional, intelligent and hardworking individual.  Thank you Broncos oline.

This one is for you.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR RYAN CLADY -- PRO BOWL

The final countdown to the end of the ProBowl voting is almost over, and that means you only have 3 days left to make your vote count!  Dec 9th at Noon EST is the deadline, and time is flying.

To help rally the votes I will be using this series of posts to give you reasons every day to get out and throw some votes up for one of the most impressive rookie campaigns we have had the pleasure of seeing.  I know a lot of you have been trying to vote everyday, and to you I can only say Awesome! and Keep it up!  I have been voting 10 times per day for a little while now, but I recently timed how long it took to vote twenty times on a DSL connection.  It only took me five minutes, so I have decided to up the ante a bit.  If you are up to the challenge, try the following:  set a timer for ten minutes and vote as many times as you can in that ten minute time span.  Try it again tomorrow, to see if you can beat your previous best, and know that it is all for a great cause!

On the Fifth day of Clady... 

Ryan Clady #78

Competition for Limited number of Pro Bowl roster spots

What really matters will be the top five vote getters, as there won't be much movement beyond those five once the fan voting ends.  Two starters will get named out of, most likely, those five, and one reserve will be named, but there is still the possibility for either the fourth or fifth place finisher to get called up in the event of injury.

Jake Long is in the lead as of the 2nd of December, with 160,931 votes.  Behind him is D'brickashaw Ferguson of the Jets, Matt Light of the Pats, Jason Peters of the Bills and Michael Roos of the Titans.  The magic number from Clady will be somewhere between 70,000 and 100,000 votes, in order for him to be among the top 5 after fan voting concludes.  Everything over that should be gravy.

If these guys are Clady's top competition for ProBowl votes, what do they have that he doesn't?  The answer:  Not much.

Matt Light and Jason Peters

Really?  I mean, really?  This folks, is the epitome of name recognition.  A position like tackle may never be subject to the ballot stuffing that the Redskins fans so feverishly engaged in, as some NFL fans don't even know who their own tackles are.  A lot of voters get to the Tackle section of the ballot, and scan for names they recognize.  And while a player like Champ may not be deserving in a year when he has been injured and missed significant time, we can at least still acknowledge that he is tops in the game when healthy, and that his domination at his position has earned him some name recognition votes.  But Matt Light?  he was an iffy choice last year, during a time when there wasn't a lot of standout play at tackle through the whole league.  This year it sounds like a painful joke. 

Forget for a second that the Patriots have allowed their QB to take a shellacing this year, allowing 40 sacks, an average of one every ten plays (compared to once in every 65 plays for Denver), and put aside that nagging notion that perhaps an oline struggling as badly as the Patriots have been is not the best place to be looking for probowlers, and lets just look at Light himself:  6.5 sacks allowed.  Do we need to linger here?  Even if Clady doesn't make it, there are still other tackles more deserving.

Which brings us to Jason Peters.  Besides both having given up 6.5 sacks, Light and Peters have something else in common:  they were both voted to the Pro Bowl last year (Peters was a definitely a deserving candidate in 2007).  Name recognition rears its ugly head.  Add in Peters 8 penalties for over 100 yards this year, and I think we can be forgiven for not considering the merits of these two for this Pro Bowl.

More competition after the jump...

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The final countdown to the end of the ProBowl votinghas begun, and that means you only have 4 days left to make your vote count!  Dec 9th at Noon EST is the deadline, and time is flying.

To help rally the votes I will be using this series of posts to give you reasons every day to get out and throw some votes up for one of the most impressive rookie campaigns we have had the pleasure of seeing.  I know a lot of you have been trying to vote everyday, and to you I can only say Awesome! and Keep it up!  I have been voting 10 times per day for a little while now, but I recently timed how long it took to vote twenty times on a DSL connection.  It only took me five minutes, so I have decided to up the ante a bit.  If you are up to the challenge, try the following:  set a timer for ten minutes and vote as many times as you can in that ten minute time span.  Try it again tomorrow, to see if you can beat your previous best, and know that it is all for a great cause!

On the Fourth day of Clady... 

Ryan Clady #78

viaflickr.com/photos/ 28446886@N04/2680175260

What do you have to do to get to the Pro Bowl?

In 2007 Matt Light checked in with 5 penalties and 6.5 sacks, while Jason Peters was right behind him with a whopping 8 penalties costing over 60 yard of offense, and 6.5 sacks given up.  Light anchored a line that, though superbowl bound, gave up 21 sacks, approximately 1 sack every 28 plays.  Buffalo on the other hand allowed 26 total sacks, an average of 1 sack every 17 plays.

In the years previous to 2007, perrenial probowlers Willie Anderson and Johnathon Ogden had been stalwarts, with one or both appearing in this decades probowls.  However, in all of those appearances, Anderson averaged 4 penalties and 3.5 sacks, while anchoring lines in Cincinnatti that would allow everywhere from 1 sack per 14 plays to 1 sack per 26 plays.

Ogden on the other hand put up some stellar seasons during his runs, including his final Pro Bowl appearance after the 2006 season, where he allowed the fewest sacks of any lineman in the league (1) and had the fewest penalties (3).

Compare this consistent probowlers best performance with Clady's first performance to date:  half a sack allowed and 3 penalties.  Ogdens line allowed barely one sack per 31 attempts, while Clady has anchored one fo the finest lines in football, allowing one sack per 57 attempts, nearly twice as good as any line in the past decade.  The similarities are striking, and there can be no doubt that Clady is a part of a resurgence of dominant offensive tackle play in the NFL, the likes of which haven't been seen since Willie Anderson and Johnathon Ogden were dominating defensive linemen year in and year out.

We can only hope that this is the begining of just such a run of authority by the supremely talented lad out of Boise State.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR RYAN CLADY -- PRO BOWL

The final countdown to the end of the ProBowl voting has begun, and that means you only have 5 days left to make your vote count!  Dec 9th at Noon EST is the deadline, and time is flying.

To help rally the votes I will be using this series of posts to give you reasons every day to get out and throw some votes up for one of the most impressive rookie campaigns we have had the pleasure of seeing.  I know a lot of you have been trying to vote everyday, and to you I can only say Awesome! and Keep it up!  I have been voting 10 times per day for a little while now, but I recently timed how long it took to vote twenty times on a DSL connection.  It only took me five minutes, so I have decided to up the ante a bit.  If you are up to the challenge, try the following:  set a timer for ten minutes and vote as many times as you can in that ten minute time span.  Try it again tomorrow, to see if you can beat your previous best, and know that it is all for a great cause!

On the Third day of Clady... 

Ryan Clady #78

via flickr.com/photos/ 28446886@N04/2680175260

Check out the following list of credentials:

• Rookie left tackle selected in the first round.
• Starts every game in his rookie year.
• Acted like a seasoned pro in and out of the lockerroom.
• Helped his oline post the third best sacks allowed total in the NFL.
• Allowed only a single sack all season.
• Was one of the least penalized linemen in the NFL.

So are we talking about Ryan Clady?  Nope.  That list of achievements belongs to 2007 Pro Bowl alternate Joe Thomas.

Clady's list looks even BETTER. 

Like Thomas, Clady has been nothing but the consumate professional since his arrival in Denver.  Within minutes of drafting him, Shanahan announced that Clady would be the starting LT.  Clady hasn't let him down, starting in every game of his rookie campaign.  And while the Browns would finish the year tied for third in sacks allowed with a total of 19, Denver is currently tied for 1st with only 8 sacks allowed.

Clady's half sack allowed so far edges him around Thomas, but Clady's game has also been nearly devoid of mental errors as well.  Clady's 3 penalties (illegal formation, holding, false start) are among the fewest for an offensive tackle in the league, and more than twice as good as Thomas' 7 penalties posted in 2007, including a set of back-to-back false starts which ended a Browns drive and cost them a game late during their failed hunt for the 2007 playoffs.

Joe Thomas found his way into the ProBowl in 2007.  Clady deserves as much, if not more, consideration.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR RYAN CLADY -- PRO BOWL

The final countdown to the end of the ProBowl voting has begun, and that means you only have 6 days left to make your vote count!  Dec 9th at Noon EST is the deadline, and time is flying.

To help rally the votes I will be using this series of posts to give you reasons every day to get out and throw some votes up for one of the most impressive rookie campaigns we have had the pleasure of seeing.  I know a lot of you have been trying to vote everyday, and to you I can only say Awesome! and Keep it up!  I have been voting 10 times per day for a little while now, but I recently timed how long it took to vote twenty times on a DSL connection.  It only took me five minutes, so I have decided to up the ante a bit.  If you are up to the challenge, try the following:  set a timer for ten minutes and vote as many times as you can in that ten minute time span.  Try it again tomorrow, to see if you can beat your previous best, and know that it is all for a great cause!

On the Second day of Clady... 

Ryan Clady #78

Opponents Faced

@ Oakland:  Derrick Burgess (1.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 9 attempts), Tommy Kelly (4.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 15 attempts)

vs. San Diego:  Luis Castillo (1.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 12 attempts), Jyles Tucker (4 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 35 attempts)

vs. New Orleans:  Will Smith ( 3 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 34 attempts)

@ Kansas City:  Brian Johnston(0 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 18 attempts), Glenn Dorsey(1 sack, 0 vs. Clady in 17 attempts)

vs. Tampa Bay:  Gaines Adams(5.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 30 attempts), Derrick Brooks (0 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 4 attempts)

vs. Jacksonville:  Reggie Hayward ( 2.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 37 attempts)

@ New England:   Richard Seymour(7.5 sacks, .5 sacks vs. Clady in 20 attempts), Adalius Thomas (5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 9 attempts)

vs. Miami:  Vonnie Holiday(3.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 13 attempts), Joey Porter(14.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 26 attempts)

@ Cleveland:  Shaun Smith(0 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 27 attempts), Kamerion Wimbley(3 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 15 attempts)

@ Atlanta:  John Abraham(12.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 25 attempts), Chauncey Davis(2 sacks, 0 vs. Clady in 2 attempts)

vs. Oakland:   Tommy Kelly (4.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady), Derrick Burgess (1.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady)

@ New York Jets:   Kenyon Coleman (0.5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady), Calvin Pace (5 sacks, 0 vs. Clady)

The above opponent's impact int he rushing game was also held in check by Clady, with the above group losing 55% of their production from average (as a factor of solo and assisted tackles against a rusher, when facing Clady.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR RYAN CLADY -- PRO BOWL

The final countdown to the end of the ProBowl voting begins today, and that means you only have 7 days left to make your vote count!  Dec 9th at Noon EST is the deadline, and time is flying.

To help rally the votes I will be using this series of posts to give you reasons every day to get out and throw some votes up for one of the most impressive rookie campaigns we have had the pleasure of seeing.  I know a lot of you have been trying to vote everyday, and to you I can only say Awesome! and Keep it up!  I have been voting 10 times per day for a little while now, but I recently timed how long it took to vote twenty times on a DSL connection.  It only took me five minutes, so I have decided to up the ante a bit.  If you are up to the challenge, try the following:  set a timer for ten minutes and vote as many times as you can in that ten minute time span.  Try it again tomorrow, to see if you can beat your previous best, and know that it is all for a great cause!

On the First day of Clady... 

Ryan Clady #78

Sacks Allowed:  0.5

Penalties Committed:  3 for 20 yards (illegal formation, holding, false start)

Has only allowed a half sack in 453 passing plays, the 4th most attempts in the league this year.  (ARI 477, NO 472, PHI 471)

30% of Denvers rushing attempts have favored Clady's work on the line, and Denver ranks #1 and #2 in Adjusted Line yardage with their Left End and Left Tackle attacks, respectively, according to the statisticians at Football Outsiders.

9 of Clady's 17 opponents through 2008 have a combined 72 sacks among them.  They have combined for all of half of one sack vs. Clady, however.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR RYAN CLADY -- PRO BOWL

At present, the Kansas City Chiefs are 1-4, and in a tie break scenario would be the worst team in the AFC West.  And things are getting worse.

Rumors are swirling that KC is in talks with several teams to trade TE Gonzales.  This would garner a pick that may help the Chiefs long term, but can't help them this year.  To make matters worse, RB Larry Johnson is now facing assault charges, which would be the third assault charge against him.  Regardless of how the case turns out, the NFL must be wondering what possess a young milionaire to hang out in bars and clubs at all hours of the evening to begin with.  Putting one's self in such an environment just invites trouble.

As if that isn't enough, the undefeated Titans come to KC this week. 

The Chiefs have scored 65 points this year, making them the second to worst offense in the NFL (the Rams have only 62 points).  They have been outscored by 66 points so far this year (the third worst in the NFL).

Having traded a star DE during the reloading season, and with talks pending on Gonzales, this is a front office that has given up on this year and is looking to the future.  Their sole win (against Denver) shouldn't affect the Broncos too much, as Denver is far from being threatened by KC for a playoff shot.

KC is a team doing the right things to build towards a future, but the interim period will be a tough pill for fans to swallow.

More on the AFC West below the fold...

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