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It’s All Orange, Fat Man: 02/10/16

Introduction

Hello all. Hope all is well on your side of the world. Welcome to the first edition of “It’s All Orange, Fat Man!” which used to be known as the “Daily Lard” on the site which does not need to be named. I am not even going to attempt to fill Douglas Lee’s shoes who wrote the Daily Lard for years. He eloquently set a Cal Ripken-like streak of quality, or not so quality, news to links. I will be doing a similar format as he would to recreate the content we used to love and enjoy. Albeit, there will be a lot less words used and it will be a lot less eloquent.

My objective going forward is to provide the best conglomeration of information for one person: YOU! So this is your product. If you don’t like something about it or have ideas on how to make it better, please tell me. If you want to tell me that my grammar sucks and/or there are certain words that are misspelled, tell me. If you want to tell me that I am doing a fantastic job, tell me. Finally, if you just want to add some links that I didn’t include but you feel is interesting/relevant to the conversation, comment below. My main reason for doing this is to give you our edition of the morning newspaper, which I can only make great with the help of your input. So please, don’t hesitate to include your feedback.

I also want to let you know that if this is something you are definitely not interested in and want to go in another direction in the form of a daily thread, please let me know and we can go in that direction as well. As I have said before, this is designed for you, not me.

Continue reading It’s All Orange, Fat Man: 02/10/16

Is There An Interest For A Daily Open Thread?

Jeremy helped us out by doing so for the days leading up to the Super Bowl, and I’d appreciate some feedback as to how people thought that experiment went.  If there is interest in doing this regularly, I could look into seeing if I could automatically program a post to be created daily for this purpose.  If so, I’d also like a catchier name than simply “Open Thread” so that people will know that it’s an auto-programmed post.  Please leave any good suggestions for such a name, as well.

In the meantime, feel free to use this thread as a grab bag to collect all the glorious aftermath of the Broncos winning Super Bowl 50!

Can Von Miller Become “The Highest Paid Defensive Player In Football”?

UPDATE: (10:15 MT) While I was writing this, Jason Fitzgerald gave his own take on OTC.  I recommend reading his article as well as good complementary material, as it’s more technical and less Broncos-centric than my own.

We all know that Von Miller is going to get paid.  The only question will be how much.  When insiders started suggesting the quote in the title, I took that news with little surprise or alarm.  That’s because Miller’s floor was always going to be Justin Houston’s deal agreed upon with the Chiefs last offseason.  Houston is the second highest paid player by APY, and the fourth highest in full guarantees.  With a floor that high, why not set your ceiling as high as possible if you’re Miller’s camp?

Continue reading Can Von Miller Become “The Highest Paid Defensive Player In Football”?

Who Will The Broncos Play On The Opening Week Of 2016?

As we all know well, due to the privilege of winning the Super Bowl, the Broncos will get to start their next season at home on Thursday night on NBC.  In addition to the usual division rivals, Denver will host Houston, Indianapolis, New England, Atlanta…and Carolina.

I think it’s safe to say that the Panthers game will be ruled out, as Fox will fight tooth and nail to get that game as one of their featured ones, considering they only get the Broncos twice a year under the standard scheduling rules.  That may also rule out the Falcons for similar reasons.  I think CBS will fight hard for the Patriots game since they lost it to NBC in 2015.  Gary Kubiak facing his former team in the Texans also seems destined for prime time in midseason.

My leading guess would be the Colts, with the Chiefs or Raiders also being real possibilities.  What say you?

Gut Reactions: Broncos Win Super Bowl 50

I’ll always remember the first time the Broncos won the Super Bowl, what a relief it was to see my favorite team finally win the Lombardi, to see John Elway get his ring after three disappointing Super Bowl outcomes, and to see Terrell Davis run roughshod against a Packers defense that so many believed would have its way against the Broncos.

But the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 win may be the most satisfying of them all. Everyone was convinced that the Panthers would have their way, that the Broncos defense had never played an offense like the Panthers and that Peyton Manning had nothing left in the tank and would fold against the Panthers defense.

Not only were the doubters proven wrong, but the Broncos can smile, knowing that they got Pat Bowlen yet another championship. (And how awesome was it that John Elway got to thank him for everything?)
Continue reading Gut Reactions: Broncos Win Super Bowl 50

Super Bowl 50: Perspective On Peyton (Or Why QB Wins Are A Dumb Stat)

Good afternoon, Bronco fans! Tomorrow is the big day and I’ll get to a few final thoughts about that game, but first, I wanted to talk about the career of one player who will most likely be playing the final game of his NFL career.

Of course, that’s Peyton Manning, a player who we have discussed countless times this season and who I discussed a fair amount a couple of days ago as to what he’ll need to keep doing to give the Broncos a chance to win. But I don’t want to focus on what he’s done this season (one point aside that I’ll get out of the way early), nor do I want discussion in this thread to focus on this season alone, because that’s not the focus of this piece.

Instead, I want to focus on his career and why some of the narratives that come along with his career really need to be tossed aside and that we recognize him as one of the best to play in the game and that total wins or playoff wins don’t really put his career into proper perspective.
Continue reading Super Bowl 50: Perspective On Peyton (Or Why QB Wins Are A Dumb Stat)

On The Issue Of Personal Foul Penalties

In the Patriots’ playoff game against the Chiefs early this year, we saw Danny Amendola as a punt returner deliver a brutal blindside hit on a gunner to prevent him from downing the ball deep in Patriots territory.  He was flagged for a personal foul, but because it took place on the Patriots’ 5 yard line, it only cost the team 2.5 yards, a penalty markoff that hardly felt like it matched the foul.

Perhaps in response to this, Roger Goodell just delivered this from his press conference:

I think this is too harsh, and I hope the Competition Committee doesn’t pass it.  Players can play honest, good faith football and still accidentally commit personal fouls.  Fear of an ejection after just one could make the offender play too tenuously.

What I have long argued for instead is for the NFL to create a “penalty box” for personal fouls.  A player that commits one has to sit out X number of plays on his side (offense or defense).  The number of plays could increase if multiple personal fouls occur in one game.  You’d likely have to employ an new official completely in charge of the penalty box to enforce it and give the incumbent officials less to think about it, but the NFL can certainly afford it.  Finally, unlike hockey obviously the team needs to be allowed to make a substitution, as playing 11 on 10 would be far too harsh.