Peyton Manning Will Be Out At Least Two Weeks

Via Andrew Mason on the team’s website:

Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning is expected to miss at least the next two weeks as he continues his recovery from a plantar fascia tear.

Following a Monday consultation with noted foot and ankle specialist Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, N.C., it was recommended that Manning spend at least the next week in a walking cast. After the cast is removed, he will begin additional rehabilitation on his injured foot.

We’re all well aware that next week’s game is against the Patriots.  The game after that will be at San Diego.

Mason also adds that, as is typically the case with John Elway, you can never have too many quarterbacks–and they’re not going to expose themselves to possibly being forced to start rookie Trevor Siemian:

With Manning sidelined for multiple weeks, the Broncos will look to add depth at quarterback. The team is expected to work out former Minnesota Vikings starter Christian Ponder on Wednesday.

 

Broncos at Bears: The 10 Things I Liked and the 10 Things I Didn’t

We won and I want to get some things out of the way before diving into my jive. Brock Osweiler finished the game with 20 complete passes out of 27 attempts. He had a 127.1 QB rating, two touchdown passes, and zero interceptions. A great start for any QB in this league, especially a quickly improving Bears defense. However, I would hold off jumping on the bandwagon until he starts more games. The Bears had very little game tape to scheme against Osweiler. The Patriots have more tape, so it will be interesting to see how they play against him this weekend.

Regardless, it’s obvious that Osweiler is a better fit for the Kubiak offense. He can move out of the pocket quickly and scramble if necessary. Working from under center allows the running backs to gain some speed before the hand-off, providing them an opportunity to gain more yards than the pistol/shotgun formations. SterlingMalloryArcher wrote more on this in a previous article.

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

Analysis: Super Bowl Chances With Top Defense But Not Top Offense

The other day, I remarked that I wouldn’t have Midweek Musings this week because of Thanksgiving, but I do have something else for you. I did some research the past couple of weeks to consider if the Broncos can win a Super Bowl with the No. 1 defense in the NFL when the offense isn’t doing enough to help.

It’s easy to write off the Denver Broncos as having any hope of reaching the Super Bowl because of the various issues plaguing the team, particularly after last week’s shellacking against the Chiefs at Mile High. However, we must remember that seasons are not decided in Week 10 or 11 but in the playoffs.
Continue reading Analysis: Super Bowl Chances With Top Defense But Not Top Offense

Mike Florio: Chiefs Would Demand Realignment In Chargers/Raiders Move To Los Angeles

This take isn’t nearly as hot as what he said about Peyton Manning last night, but it’s still hot enough to raise some eyebrows:

Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Chiefs believe it would be an unfair advantage for both the Chargers and Raiders to have what amounts to an extra home game every year in the form of a road game. And it would be; both teams would have one less travel obligation per year, and that could indeed create a competitive advantage for those teams — along with a competitive disadvantage for the other two in the division.

The other team that would be equally impacted by this, of course, are the Broncos.  I’m skeptical that it would create that much of a competitive advantage, but there’s an easy way to solve such a problem: require that the Chargers and Raiders devote a home game overseas as a condition of moving to Los Angeles.  If that’s a condition that the Rams would balk at, then it just gives the Chargers and Raiders another advantage in squeezing the Rams out.

I’m also skeptical that realignment is needed for other cited reasons, mostly having to do with television.  Yes, CBS would get a double dose of the #2 media market, but the AFC contract is already significantly smaller by terms of media markets (the NFC would exclusively have the #3-#7 markets in this scenario), and getting Los Angeles twice would make things more even in that regard.  And thanks to the new addition of cross-flexing (first used in a Broncos game in fact, against the Vikings in 2011), it’s no longer mandatory that every AFC/AFC game has to be on CBS, thus the potential problem of the Chargers and Raiders airing on the same network can also be dealt with.

But if realignment must happen, then it better be the Chargers that get realigned, as the Raiders can’t leave the AFC West until the Broncos regain the head-to-head record over the Raiders.  But while that reason is selfish on my part, I think the Chiefs have their own selfish reasons in the race to Los Angeles.  If the Rams are the team that moves, that means that the Chiefs can get all of Missouri to themselves.  And while the Chiefs have one of the best local draws in the NFL, they aren’t exactly a big draw beyond the Kansas City metro area, so picking up more fans in the greater St. Louis area couldn’t hurt.

And for that matter, I would guess that the Broncos would favor the Rams in this battle, as well.  They have built a pretty decent following in Southern California, as the swaths of orange in the stands at San Diego demonstrates.  If a team has to move to Los Angeles, I’m sure they would much prefer that it’s not one or two division rivals that make that move.

Mike Florio: Peyton Manning “Intends To Play” In 2016

I made a note of this in the tail end of today’s game thread, but now that we have a clip of Florio’s statement (and notable reactions from Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison, I figured that this should be split off into its own thread.

Broncos Vs. Bears Final Injury Reports

DeMarcus Ware and Peyton Manning, of course, have been ruled out and will not travel to Chicago. Smith and Walker will be game-time decisions, but it sounds like Sanders will play.

The Bears will be without Royal and it remains to be seen what happens with the others.

Again, my guess is that Jeffery will play and I would expect the same for McClellin. If Forte plays, he will probably get fewer touches than Jeremy Langford.

How Have Recent Non-Rookie First Time Starters Fared?

In the NFL it’s almost taken as a given that a young inexperienced quarterback will likely struggle early in their career. Often rookie QBs are thrown into the fire without full knowledge of their team’s playbook or adequate preparation for the difficulties of playing QB at the NFL level. Most teams draft a QB with the intent of letting him learn for at least a year before starting but many times impatience or circumstance scraps that plan. So how do first time starters do when they actually are given the time that every NFL coach and GM will tell you that they need? That is what I am going to look at here. Here are the results from first time starts of non-rookie QBs in recent years: Continue reading How Have Recent Non-Rookie First Time Starters Fared?

Adam Schefter: Teams Can Now Trade Compensatory Picks

I may have a longer post on this at Over The Cap, but from the Broncos’ perspective, this is certainly good news. At its simplest, it’s because they’re expected to get three fairly high compensatory picks of their own.  But remember that the Broncos have had a considerably deep roster for quite some time, and since John Elway has been GM they’ve repeatedly had to cut some of their draft choices and hope to send them to the practice squad.  There’s a good chance that there may not be room for 10 rookies in 2016, so having the full flexibility to either trade up to get the player they’d really like, or to defer their draft strength by trading into 2017, will be quite advantageous for the Broncos.