Author: Bob Morris

The Broncos are 5-0 but based on some of the comments regarding the offense’s play against the Raiders, people are aware that all is not well.

That doesn’t mean the wheels are about to come off or the Broncos are destined to finished 2-8 following the Week 7 bye. It is worth visiting the issues that are plaguing the Broncos, though, and exactly what can be done to get the offense up to speed so it can at least complement what’s arguably the best defense in the NFL.

Of course, we all start the conversation with Peyton Manning and one debate that keeps coming up, regarding whether or not the Broncos should sit him out for certain games early in the season, saving him for divisional matchups and the tougher opponents. While I understand the reasoning that you don’t want to wear out Peyton, the problem is that it’s nearly impossible to sell that idea on his teammates when the Broncos are winning.
Continue reading Gut Reaction: Is The Offense’s Struggles Really About Resting Peyton?

Ty Sambrailo Cody Latimer definitely out

— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) October 9, 2015

Also, Evan Mathis and Bennie Fowler are questionable but each practiced during the week. I would imagine both will play.

Even more interesting is this tidbit.

Kubiak said several linemen will play Sunday including Garcia and Polumbus. Harris, Mathis both dealing w minor injuries

— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) October 9, 2015

Before anyone gets tuned up, there’s another team who has been rotating offensive linemen in and out of the game this season.

One guess which team that is.

Deadspin had two good articles about daily fantasy sports, one which I shared elsewhere but will post here for those who missed it.

First, an in-depth article about how the NFL’s influence allowed daily fantasy sports leagues to become reality.

Second, Barry Petchesky weighs in on how the recent DFS controversy may do more to set back a push for legalizing gambling than it may convince people to support it.

Needless to say, the DFS controversy isn’t going to die down any time soon, especially because those ads are certain to keep running constantly during NFL programming.

Pro Football Focus’ Sam Monson examines Peyton Manning’s play against the Vikings and discusses what was the real issue: Decision making.

I said as much in my Gut Reaction earlier this week, but Monson takes time to illustrate where Peyton made good decisions as well. Specific examples of those I’ll point out:
Continue reading PFF’s Monson On Manning And What It Really Means

It seemed like only yesterday that the Oakland Raiders were the joke of the AFC West. That is no longer the case, but it doesn’t mean they are evenly matched with the Broncos. Let’s examine this year’s Raiders squad.

First, we must remember that when general manager Reggie McKenzie took over, the Raiders were a mess from both the roster and salary cap standpoint. He inherited a team that wasn’t going to be transformed overnight, even if the Raiders managed to get Andrew Luck, because the late Al Davis was still using outdated strategies to build the roster. And while Al’s son Mark Davis may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, he deserves credit for showing patience with McKenzie.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: This Is Not Your Al Davis’ Raiders Team

A few years ago, when the likes of Brian Burke, Pro Football Reference and Pro Football Focus (I’ll refer to the latter as PFF from here on) were putting together team rankings, I noticed that each site tended to differ on where they ranked teams and what their systems examined.

I noticed that Burke would sometimes rank a team in the top 10 that Pro Football Reference Simple Ranking System put further down the ranks. So I decided to take the rankings that each site did, using Burke’s breakdowns of offense and defense, the same for SRS, and throwing in PFF’s power rankings. I did that to see if it could give a clearer picture of where teams measured up and account for what some might call anomalies in a site’s rankings.
Continue reading The Not So Scientific Power Rankings

Pro Football Focus ranked Evan Mathis and Vance Walker among the top 10 free agent signings of the 2015 season/offseason.

The best thing about Mathis is he was a street free agent, so the Broncos got a quality player that won’t affect the compensatory draft picks they could get in 2016.

Throw in Darian Stewart, who has been a quality player, and the Broncos have three free agents that proved good value signings.

There have been misses (Shelley Smith, for example), but as always, it’s important to hit more than you miss, and when you hit, get the best value you can. That’s what John Elway continues to do with most of his FA signings.

I am sure most of you know that the Monday Night Football game between the Seahawks and the Lions ended in controversial fashion.

Long story short: As Calvin Johnson ran to the end zone after catching a pass, Kam Chancellor knocked the ball loose. It landed in the end zone, where K.J. Wright knocked it out of bounds. It should have been a penalty but the line judge didn’t throw his flag.
Continue reading Do We Need More Reviews Or A Rule Change?

The Miami Dolphins fired Joe Philbin four games into his fourth season.

Along with this news, I bring to you Michael Tanier’s Monday Morning Hangover, in which he says the Dolphins need to stop alternating between changing either the coach or front office, while keeping the other, and just clean house after the season.

A neat executive-coach-quarterback/core arrangement guarantees nothing. But a situation in which a coach who wasn’t hired by a general manager tries to lead players who were not selected by either of them guarantees failure. Sometimes, it’s a dull failure like the Dolphins have endured for years. Other times, it’s the spectacular 2015 Eagles situation: The coach ousts the general manager and moves mountains for a quarterback, and everything comes unglued quicker than a no-huddle offense.

There are instances in which a GM hires a coach, then fires him later for a new hire, has worked out, but it hasn’t worked out so much when the GM was fired and the coach retained under a new GM. Just ask the New York Jets (fired Mike Tannenbaum, hired John Izdik, kept Rex Ryan, both gone two seasons later) or the Chicago Bears (fired Jerry Angelo, hired Phil Emery, retained Lovie Smith, Smith later fired, Marc Trestman hired, he and Emery fired two seasons later).

Even worse for the Dolphins is they are stuck with Ndamukong Suh through at least 2017 thanks to a poor contract structure and could be stuck with him longer if the Dolphins decide to restructure his deal to gain cap space next season.

It’s hard to argue with Sam Monson’s logic that the Denver Broncos would be 4-0 even if Peyton Manning wasn’t the QB.

I’m sure you can guess why, so I’ll just let you read the article and sing the praises of the latest version of The Orange Crush.