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Mile High Report Mailbag: Barren Dysert Edition

Bronco Mike here on a Friday to answer all your Broncos questions! Be sure to follow me on twitter, and keep the questions rolling!

By Bronco Mike

Sanders should be fine.  He returned to practice yesterday.  When we get to the regular season, I would expect Bubba Caldwell to step in and play.  I do think the Broncos will try and get Cody Latimer on the field, but right now Bubba holds the experience and knowledge of the offense tie-breaker.

All I want from returns is to hand the ball over to our offense with decent field position.  Scores are nice, but cleaning up turnovers and getting rid of bad decisions will put the offense ahead of last year.  I really liked Jordan Norwood and would have liked to see the Broncos keep 6 WR's to have him on the roster.  Now that he's gone, Burse has not looked good at all and I'd rather save that roster spot for the defense who has a ton a depth.  If they do not keep a true PR, look for Omar Bolden to return kickoffs while Bubba Caldwell or another backup skill position player returns punts.

In 636 coverage snaps last season, Chris Harris Jr. was targeted 92 times (14.4%).  Talib was targeted 75 times in 566 coverage snaps (13.2%).  Both are coming off of injury, but until Chris Harris Jr. proves that he is 100% healthy and capable of playing on the elite level he was pre-injury, he should be targeted more than Talib.

Pro Bowl, possibly.  All-pro, no.  Malik was more effective last season on a pitchcount.  The sack numbers that will get him attention will have to come primarily on the inside from the nickel defense, as I do not see Malik taking away snaps at end from Miller or Ware.  When it comes to the base defense, he will rotate with Wolfe.  If pressed I believe Jackson could be a decent starter, but he has not shown the ability to sustain dominance over the long stretch quite yet.

Thus far in preseason, albeit against backups, the Broncos offense guided by Brock Osweiler has averaged 3.11 points per drive which is outpacing the record-setting Broncos offense from last season.  The pace and scoring will drop off from Peyton Manning, but this is a good team with great depth, and plenty of weapons.  A lot would depend on the defense.  I believe at present that a Brock-led offense could average about 24-25 points per game which would put them about top third of the league.  Right now I believe the Broncos with Manning can win between 12-14 games.  With Brock my guess is 9-11 games.  If we're talking a start here or there for a minor injury, I think Brock could help guide the team to a win if needed.

It's hard to top such platinum releases like "Football on your phone" and "Fantasy Football Fantasy" but there are a lot of talkers on the team.  Going to the defensive side of the ball I bet Terrance Knighton and Bradley Roby could spit some hot fire.  But my darkhorse nomination is John Fox himself.  When you're versed in the art of coachspeak, you're already used to making stuff up on the fly.  Yes John Fox, gruffy voice and all, is the best rapper on the Denver Broncos.

I don't understand the infatuation with Zac Dysert especially after the way Brock Osweiler has played thus far this preseason.  When I look around the league at the way some of the reserves have been playing, I think Dysert would get scooped up by someone.  That is not an issue though.  Brock is the future, not Dysert.  If the Broncos could get something for him, I would trade him in a New York minute.  Last year with the uncertainty behind Manning, I understand keeping 3 QB's on the active roster, but Brock is starting to become someone you are willing to trust with the offense.  While the Broncos are likely to take 3 QB's to the active roster as they've done every season under John Fox, Bronco Mike is here to tell you that two will do.

Peter King angers me so

King recently spent a couple of days in Denver to watch the Broncos practice.  Now I know he's a national guy that only has superficial knowledge of a lot of teams, but he actually implied that Will Montgomery was in a competition with Manny Ramirez for the starting center spot.  Once you get past his surface drivel where once again he perpetuates the falsehood that Elway and the Broncos are "All-in" at this point, he decided to take a jab at the Broncos over their Super Bowl loss.

I want to address the NE part of the question first because, well, I hate them.  New England put up two garbage time scores against a Denver defense that was missing a handful of starters in the AFC Championship Game.  A handful of missing starters and all Brady and that putrid offense could muster was 3 measly points through 3 1/2 quarters. They only scored because Del Rio started playing soft zone with a 3-score lead.  Had NE made it to the Super Bowl against the Seahawks, I don't think they score.

Now to the 2nd part of that...it's just rubbing salt in the would at this point.  Football more than any other sport is subject to a lot of variance.  That blowout loss was an outlier and the product of Murphy's law.  Bad momentum couldn't be stopped.  I guess I wouldn't be so sore about it if King actually had more knowledge of our team beyond Peyton Manning and John Elway.

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions!

GO BRONCOS!!!

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