Broncos Injury Report: McCray Practicing Again

Nicki Jhabvala shared the Broncos injury report for Wednesday. It’s worth noting that Lerentee McCray was a full participant in practice.

What makes that interesting is, with McCray healthy, it will force the Broncos into a tough decision about who to release when Derek Wolfe returns from suspension.

Kenny Anunike was a limited participant and showed promise in the preseason. It may be tough for the Broncos to slip him through waivers onto the practice squad, should the Broncos attempt that route when Wolfe returns.

Of course, the Broncos could make a different roster move. Assuming the Broncos don’t lose anyone to injury or suspension when Wolfe returns, you have to wonder how secure the roster spots are for Lorenzo Doss, Shelley Smith and Josh Bush.

Broncos Stats You Might Not Have Noticed

Since it’s a slow day at work this afternoon, I figured I’d toss out some tidbits that may be getting overlooked in our discussions about Peyton Manning, the offensive line, what offense to run and how well the defense has played.

Later in the season, we’ll start seeing the advanced NFL metrics and power rankings some people put together. I used to take those rankings and average them to get a clearer picture of how teams might actually rank, because the advanced metrics often depend on what the person doing them is considering. Whether or not I do that again remains to be seen.

But here are a few numbers worth considering from the Broncos’ first two games, some which are a good sign and some which indicate areas in which the Broncos need improvement that may not have been obvious upon first glance.
Continue reading Broncos Stats You Might Not Have Noticed

Charles Pierce: Peyton Manning Should Retire

Charles Pierce’s column about Peyton Manning is worth considering because of the reasons why he believes Peyton should hang it up — for his health’s sake.

Right now, his fingertips are numb and he can’t get out of anyone’s way on the field. Peyton Manning is gambling against fearsome odds, and he’s using his future for chips as certainly as his brother Cooper would have done if he’d continued to suit up for the Rebels. He is not the “exception that proves the rule,” which is good, because there aren’t any.

Read the whole thing.

Midweek Musings: Lions Game Good Chance To Get Offense Going

As the Broncos prepare to face Detroit this Sunday, the question everyone seems to be asking is whether or not it’s best for the Broncos to go back to the offense Peyton Manning usually runs or stick with the offense Gary Kubiak wants to implement.

I wrote last week that I believe Kubiak’s intent is to not rely too heavily on Peyton. That was an issue last season even before Peyton got hurt, because the Broncos couldn’t run the ball well, and as we’ll recall, the biggest issue was the offensive line. The biggest culprits that season were Chris Clark (who wasn’t comfortable at right tackle) and Manny Ramirez (who was good in 2013 but rapidly regressed in 2014). There were a few issues with the running backs (Ronnie Hillman hadn’t yet hit his stride and time has told us about Montee Ball’s issues) but the primary problem was the offensive line.
Continue reading Midweek Musings: Lions Game Good Chance To Get Offense Going

Matt Stafford’s Status Uncertain For Sunday Night

Via Kyle Meinke of MLive:

The Detroit Lions quarterback was brutalized by the Vikings defense in a 26-16 loss, and underwent X-rays at TCF Bank Stadium after the game. A day later, coach Jim Caldwell is declining to say whether anything’s broken.

[…]

When asked whether he would play Sunday night against Denver, Caldwell said: “We’ll see. Like I said, he’s very, very sore. There’s no question about that. He was hit far too many times.”

Meinke notes that “far too many times” translated into one sack, eight official hits and two unofficial ones.  Given the play of the Broncos’ pass rush so far, Stafford could be in for another rough outing even if he does play.  Something to certainly keep an eye on.

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

I apologize on the delay of this post. Unfortunately, I didn’t have access to view the game for a few days afterwards. One observation I made throughout the game was the formation differences in the first half verses the second half. In the first half we saw a mix of a hybrid offense with some I-formations and Run N Shoot formations (or what many call Manning’s offense). The second half primarily consisted of the Run N Shoot formation and we saw a lot less pressure on Manning. However, I don’t expect we’ll drop the hybrid offense in the future as the offensive line is still growing and we’re still developing. Moving on, then:

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

PFF: Broncos New O Is Hybrid Of Several Things

Pro Football Focus’ Neil Hornsby gives his impressions of what’s going on with the Denver Broncos offense.

This isn’t Kubiak’s offense—it’s a hybrid between what he wants, what Peyton would like, and the personnel he has at his disposal.

So the real problem for Denver is an offense that’s neither one thing nor the other, behind an offensive line that is still going through its growing pains.

That’s somewhat along the lines of what I was getting at in my discussion about last night’s game. Kubiak is trying to do a few things to take the load off Peyton, but things haven’t clicked yet, in part because of the offensive line.

Compensating For Peyton And Other Post-Game Thoughts

Earlier today, I shared a writeup from Bill Barnwell about Peyton Manning and what may be contributing to his decline.

Let me start by saying that, while it’s understandable that the Peyton alarmists are annoying, we don’t respond to alarmists with “nothing to see here, move on” or “it’s not just Peyton,” even if the latter statement holds some truth. Instead, it’s better to take the approach Barnwell took by dispelling obvious myths while figuring out what may be the bigger issue.
Continue reading Compensating For Peyton And Other Post-Game Thoughts