Horse tracks: Real football is back (and so is the Orange Crush)!

Football is back (in case you missed it). The Seahawks beat the Packers quite handily in the grand opening of the 2014 NFL season, without the help of the replacement refs and the Fail Mary. In a dominating performance, Seattle cruised to a 36-16 victory on a night where they dominated on both sides of the ball.

Although the game ended with a lopsided score, it was nothing short of awesome having real, meaningful NFL football back. From the time this is posted, there will be approximately 61 hours until the Broncos will kick off their season on Sunday Night Football; let the celebrations commence.

Side note: the coolest thing from Thursday night's game came courtesy of Eddie Lacy and his Hulk undershirt.

Horse Tracks

• Jack Del Rio believes that the Broncos defense has potential to be the second coming of the Orange Crush. Much is yet to be proven, but this is undoubtedly the most talented defense the Broncos have had in years, and it's not entirely unrealistic to think that they can be the best Broncos defense since the Orange Crush of the late seventies and early eighties.
• According to Adam Schefter, the NFL and NFL players association are heating up in talks regarding a new drug program (which can be read about here). If the new program were in effect now, Wes Welker would not have been suspended for the first four games of the season.

With agreement for HGH testing, NFL-NFLPA would have new drug program rules. Had they been in place,Wes Welker would NOT have been suspended

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 4, 2014

• The Broncos are well-equipped to cope with Wes Welker's suspension, and apparently Las Vegas knows so. Updated Super Bowl odds from Wednesday still have the Broncos as the favorites to win Super Bowl 49.
• Peyton Manning, just like Tom Brady, intends to play until he sucks. It seems like Manning has finally found an answer to all of the repetitive questions about his retirement plans.
• Hopefully Manning continues to act in commercials until he sucks, too. With more gems like this, he'll be on TV for a very long time.

P.S. Commercial quality counts for something in the debate for greatest quarterback of all time, right? If so, Manning has a huge step up on the competition.

• Speaking of commercial quality, Terrance Knighton apparently wasn't all that thrilled to see himself in his Bridgestone ads on Thursday night, during the Packers and Seahawks game.

Lol. Seeing urself on TV..... Awkwarrrrrrd lol

— Terrance Knighton (@MrKnighton2u) September 5, 2014

• Tired of traffic on your way to Broncos home games? Now you can avoid the road altogether and bike to every one of Denver's 2014 home games.
• Three people who likely won't be biking to the Broncos' home opener are a trio of professional golfers who will be in attendance at the game against the Colts.

More NFL notes:

• Former Broncos corner Champ Bailey has not called it quits yet, despite being cut by the New Orleans Saints earlier this week; Champ worked out for the Detroit Lions on Thursday morning. Although no signing has been announced, it would make sense that the Lions are pursuing Bailey, considering their fairly shallow group of corners.
• Former Bills quarterback Jim Kelly received the news that he is cancer-free on Thursday. Watch Kelly pass the great news on to his daughter.
• Tom Brady missed practice with a calf injury; however, the injury won't keep him out of the Patriots' game against the Dolphins on Sunday.
• Andre Brown and Erin Henderson, two NFL veteran free agents may have a hard time finding work. Already without NFL roster spots, Brown and Henderson were suspended four and eight games respectively; four games for Brown (most recently of the Texans) and eight for Henderson (most recently of the Vikings).