Month: December 2015

So here we are, the final week of the NFL regular season. We know the Broncos will be heading to the playoffs, the fifth straight year the Broncos have done this, and a win against San Diego will mean the fifth straight AFC West title for the Broncos. It’s been amazing to watch what has happened since John Elway stepped into the Broncos’ front office.

Of course, it hasn’t been a perfect ride and Elway has made his share of mistakes, but what front office person hasn’t done that? Even the best personnel evaluators make mistakes. Just look at the track records of people like Bill Polian, Bill Parcells, Bill Walsh and Bill Parcells (how is it that so many people named Bill seem to be good at drafting players?), which are filled with mistakes from drafting and free agency, but the majority were very good.

So far, that’s been the case with Elway, too. There are those draft picks and free agents we can debate as to whether they were good or not, with some picks that really belong under “the jury is still out” and some free agents who you could go either way with an assessment.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: Evaluating Elway As Personnel Evaluator

The first half was another pathetic display where I honestly thought this game was going to continue what we saw in the second half against the Steelers. I was pleasantly surprised that we went to a no-huddle format in the second half and started a majority of plays in shotgun and pistol formations. This allowed Brock just a second or two more to throw, because our offensive line was getting manhandled the entire game.

Continue reading Bengals at Broncos: The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t

As I’m sure most of you know, Football Outsiders rates DYAR for quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers and tight ends. Earlier this season, when I discussed the possibility of the Denver Broncos reaching the Super Bowl, I reviewed the DYAR for the Broncos who play those positions.

I figured it was a good time to revisit where those players are at since the end of November. Let’s examine the players who are currently starting or contributing and how they have fared.
Continue reading Football Outsiders DYAR: How Are Bronco Players Doing Now?

Time to roll out another set of Not So Scientific Rankings. Links to the rankings used are below.

Pro Football Focus Power Rankings

Pro Football Reference Simple Ranking System

Five Thirty Eight ELO Playoff Probability Rankings

Football Outsiders DVOA Rankings

Unfortunately, Andrew Mason has not posted his power rankings as of this morning, so I am moving forward without them.
Continue reading Not So Scientific Rankings, Week 16

When Anchorman first graced theaters in 2004, the famous line in this thread’s title has long been a reliable one for fans of the Broncos, Chiefs, and Raiders to use when the Chargers are the next team up on the schedule.  (It’s also been handy to use the “You stay classy, San Diego” line ironically when the Chargers pull dubious stunts like this.)  But the utilization of Ron Burgundy to twist tails may only last 11 years, as a decision on what the NFL will do with Los Angeles is looming immediately after the end of the regular season.  When the Broncos play Week 17, they may be playing against the San Diego Chargers for the last time ever.  So I thought this would be a perfect time to lay out some detailed thoughts on the NFL’s plans for returning to Los Angeles.

Continue reading “Go Fuck Yourself, San Diego!”: For The Last Time?

Broncos to sign guard Robert Myers off Ravens practice squad https://t.co/wAoj8cra1Q via @9News #9news #9sports

— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) December 30, 2015

The Broncos have not yet officially announced the signing, but Klis’ story indicates Myers will report to Dove Valley Wednesday.

The Broncos have already released S Shaun Prater. Although T.J. Ward did not play much of the second half, he had no setbacks with his ankle injury and Gary Kubiak was limiting his snaps. The same applied to Darian Stewart. Both Ward and Stewart are expected to play against San Diego.

Also, the Broncos expect Omar Bolden to return to the lineup soon. It remains to be seen if he’ll play against San Diego, but it does appear he’ll be ready to go for the playoffs.

A little late with this, but because my busiest work day comes on Tuesday, bear with me.

I’ll admit that I was shaking my head in disbelief during the first half of the Broncos game against the Bengals, to the point I made several observations on Twitter where I was somewhat disapproving of certain players and coaches.

Then came the second half, where they all forced me to eat some of those words.
Continue reading The Morning After: Breathing A Little Easier Now

Here are some of my observations I saw throughout the game:

Continue reading Observations: CIN vs DEN (20-17)

You like playoffs! You. Like. Playoffs!

The Broncos needed a win plus a Jets or Steelers loss to get in, and that’s what they got.  Step 1 is complete, but there’s far more work to do. The playoff ticket may have been printed, but the seed on that ticket has yet to be written–and it can be any number but 4.  Here’s how the Broncos can end up in the other five seeds as they prepare for the Chargers next week:

• #1: DEN win AND NE loss (@ MIA)
• #2: DEN win AND NE win, OR DEN loss AND CIN loss (vs. BAL) AND KC loss (vs. OAK)
• #3: DEN loss AND CIN win AND KC loss
• #5: DEN loss AND KC win AND NYJ loss (@ BUF)
• #6: DEN loss AND KC win AND NYJ win

EDIT: since I ended this article a bit anti-climatically, let’s throw in this beauty to conclude.

I apologize on the delay on this with holidays and all. These last two games we had a horrible second half. The media kept talking about the future of Brock Osweiler and Peyton Manning. I kept hearing conversations about how poor Brock Osweiler has played in the second half of games lately. Regardless of how he played, giving up 34 points on defense is rarely going to win games.

Continue reading Broncos at Steelers: The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t