AFC 41 vs. NFC 34 - Pro Bowl 2010

The 2010 Pro Bowl was moved to Florida this year but the big highlight was the appearance of 5 Broncos players.

Ryan Clady, Brandon Marshall, Elvis Dumervil, Champ Bailey and the wild Brian Dawkins all were voted to the Pro Bowl this year and indeed showed why they earned the trip to sunny South Florida.

Clady finally made it to the All-Star game after getting snubbed last season ('09). The guy is awesome... nuff said. He will do great things... so long as he remains a Bronco! Marshall was voted to his 2nd consecutive Pro Bowl and made his presence known with a 23-yard TD in the first quarter to give the AFC a 14-3 lead.

Meanwhile on defense, the Broncos had some fun. Dumervil had somewhat of a quiet night but still managed to harrass the NFC QBs. Always a fun sight to watch. The other 2 Bronco defenders... well, let's just say they made everybody dizzy in the 3rd quarter.

Early on in the 3rd quarter our very own Weapon X, the former Eagle of the East, intercepted a pass from his former QB McNabb. As it appeared he was about to be tackled he lateraled the ball to his own Bronco teammate Champ Bailey who took off with it. Then just as Bailey was getting tackled he managed to lateral the ball off to AFC teammate Darrelle Revis (Jets) who was heading in the wrong direction. Revis no more than got the ball from Champ then went down and technically fumbled the ball which was then recovered the one who started the little circus... Dawkins. Was pretty funny to watch and was good to see our guys just having fun for once.

The game itself went to the AFC (41-34) in what was a constant battle between the two offenses.

Below are extra pictures of our boys at the Pro Bowl. And not to rain on everyone's parade but this may have been the last time we all see Marshall wearing anything Bronco Orange & Blue. Hope & pray the geniuses running this organization re-sign and ASAP!! We'd be complete fools & idiots to let him walk out the door.

Oh, but in other good news, Pro Bowlers Bailey & Dawkins were named to the All-Decade Team and were recently joined by fellow Bronco, Ty Law. Congrats boys!!

I've also posted a couple highlights from the game.

Marshall’s First Pro Bowl TD

Dawkins INT

Gouldinator1's take:

Five Broncos plays took part in today's Pro Bowl game which was won by the AFC. The game was a fairly laid back contest and both teams scored freely and often. But here is a look at what the Broncos players did.

Brandon Marshall
He scored early on a 23 yard pass from Matt Schaub and then was interviewed afterwards and said this "I think we’re past that. I love the city of Denver. I started there and I’d like to finish there." Is this a good sign for Marshall to still be a Bronco? Also this was Marshall's first TD in the pro bowl as he dropped a pass in the end zone last year from Peyton Manning. He finished the game with stats of 1 rec, 23 yards, 1 TD.

Elvis Dumervil
Had a bit of a quite night, but on one play he dropped back into coverage and knocked down the intended pass. He did register a sack with Shaun Ellis, but he was credited with the sack, late in the fourth quarter. He finished with stats of 1 Tackle, 1 Sack.

Brian Dawkins
Was his all pro self in this game. He took a pick from former teammate McNabb intended for Jason Witten and made off with it, he looked as if he would be tackled, but he passed the ball to Bailey, who ran down the sideline. Just as Bailey was about to be tackled, he passed the ball to Darrelle Revis. Then when Revis fell to the ground, he tossed the ball over the back of his head, which is a fumble, and it was finally recovered by Dawkins. Dawkins also made a tackle on McNabb earlier in the game. He finished the game with stats of 3 Tackles, 1 Int.

Champ Bailey
Made a tackle early in the game and received the lateral pass from Dawkins to gain a few extra yards before he himself passed the ball to Revis. He did make a tackle for loss on Roddy White in the fourth quarter and the NFC had to settle for the field goal. He had stats of 2 Tackles, 1 Assist

Ryan Clady
And not much was said of Clady, which is a good thing as his unit did well allowing only 2 sacks and letting the QB have lots of time to release the ball. Clady had to play right tackle in this game because Joe Thomas played left tackle. He did scare Astute Samuel into going down at his feet after he had taken an intercept to start the fourth quarter.

Dawkins and Bailey, now they are badass, image from DenverBroncos.com

~Aussie and Princess out, haha

The 2009 - 2010 Season - Part 2

After starting so well the Broncos had begun to change the expectation of them from the experts, they went from being thought of as cellar dwellers to playoff contenders. This I think was one of the many reasons that the Broncos would fail in the coming weeks. At the time the bye week was seen as coming at the perfect time. Coming off three hard fought games the players were tiring and needed a break. But it is in my opinion that the bye was one of the worst things that happened to the team. The reasons are as follows.

1. Before the start of the bye week Brian Dawkins came out and said that the team needed to stay humble and hungry for the game once they got back. The problem was I don't think the whole team was eating the same humble pie Dawkins was. Some of the players read to much of what was being said of them and their heads swelled. And it showed, players tried to go for the big play instead of making the simple correct one. Their wanted to go for their own glory and lost sight of the team mentality that won them games. Which resulted in missed assignments and gaps.

2. Over the bye week the team did some self evaluating and looking at personnel they had. This resulted in the cutting of Jack Williams and then the hiring of old Ty Law. The cutting of Brett Kern and hiring of Mitch Berger as well. As I read from another blogger else where this may have resulted in some distrust from the players towards McD.

3. Also during this evaluating of the team the coaching staff decided to implement the power blocking scheme more than the zone blocking scheme that they had been mostly using. Which of course was a bad decision.

4. Again during this time they tired tweaking with the defense and running more zone than the aggressive blitzing that had been working which again caused problems.

These things I believe were big contributes to the failings of the Broncos in the coming games. To many big heads and to much tweaking of the team. And with that the Offense also didn't play well at all. Now to looking at the next six games of the season.

F 30 - 7 at Baltimore - Loss
The Broncos would face the Ravens in their first game back from the bye and most fans thought this was an easy game to win. Firstly because the Ravens had been struggling in recent games. Also because their Offense had been playing badly and the defense wasn't much better. The Ravens also were coming off three straight loses and facing a team on fire, so we thought this was in the bag. Ray Lewis though came out during the week and said that they were fired up and the defense was prepared. And they were, the game really was a defensive struggle with the game very close going into the half and with both offenses not able to get anything going. But to start the second half the Ravens would return the kickoff back for a TD. The Broncos managed to get back within striking distance in the third with a TD but without Offensive help the Bronco defense could not hold back the Ravens and they scored two TDs in the fourth to blow the score out to 30 - 7.

F 28 - 10 vs Pittsburgh - Loss
This game was so bad for the Broncos. It was a home game and there were more Steelers fans in the crowd then Broncos. Also the game on the field wasn't great either. It did start out however very good for the Broncos, the O seemed to be firing and was all over the Steelers secondary, Royal made some really good grabs. But then Kyle Orton got picked off by the Steelers Safety which was returned for a TD. That was the turning point in the game, Orton would go on to have two more picks to have three for this game. Also the Steelers Rashard Mendenhall begun to fire and ran all over the Broncos defense for over 100 yards. Also it is note worthy to know that this was Ty Law's first game for the Broncos after Jack Williams was waviered.



F 27 - 17 at Washington - Loss
The Broncos would come up against the Skins who had been playing really bad. I thought this was a sure win and it would come at a good time with two losses in a row. But again things don't always go to plan. The Broncos would jump out to an early lead of 14-7 because of two deep bombs that Orton would pass to Brandon Marshall. And the Broncos went into the Half with the lead and the game seemed well in hand. But just before the end of the half Orton went down with an ankle injury and Chris Simms would play out the game. Unfortunately Simms was terrible, bearly completing a pass. Betts of the Skins would run for over a 100 yards on the Defense and the Skins would also score on a fake FG and beat the Broncos and send them to a third consecutive loss.

F 32 - 3 vs San Diego - Loss
The Broncos would then face the Chargers and there was not much chance of a victory in this game. The Chargers had not lost since losing to the Broncos back in week 6. They would continue to win 11 straight games before losing to the Jets in the playoffs. Orton was still injured and Simms would start this game. But Simms was terrible and was pulled at the end of the 1st quarter in which was probably his last pro-football game time. But even with Orton they could not get anything going, they were unsuccessful in all four of their redzone visits. And would only get a FG in the third quarter and were tramped by the Chargers. This game though is better remembered for the pregame words that were exchanged between San Diego LB Edwards and Coach McD.

F 26 - 6 vs N.Y. Giants - Win
The Broncos would finally regain some swagger when they beat the Giants in what was a real good game. And in largely part because of Elvis 'Doom'ervil. Doom was a force on a Denver defense that simply dominated the Giants, finishing with three tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Doom would then have 14 sacks on the season, and lead the league. The Broncos had a strong rushing attack and managed to get several TDs and make this an easy victory. The victory was made in large part by the great defensive efforts of the Broncos who just dominated in all areas of the game.

F 44 - 13 at Kansas City - Win
The game against the Chiefs was a coming out party for the Broncos offense. The Broncos D was good but it was overshadowed by the great play of the Broncos O. And this would mean the Chiefs got dominated by the Broncos. Orton would throw two TDs and Buckhalter would rush for over 100 yards and Knowshon would add another 86 yards to give the Broncos a dominate rushing attack. But it was the extra action that Peyton Hillis would get in this game that was also very good. He would have 7 carries for 47 yards. Which would give the Broncos 249 yards of total rushing yardage. But this would be the last action we would see of Hillis this season and maybe in a Broncos uniform.

The Broncos would now be 8-4 on the season and be on the home stretch with 4 games remaining in the year. The Broncos had regained some hope for fans with those two victories. We were thinking of a possible 12-4 or 11-5 finish for the year with easy games against the Raiders and Chiefs at home. But nothing goes to plan. Tune in soon for part 3 of the season review which will also include an outlook on the offseason.

~ Aussie Out

The 2009 - 2010 Season - Part 1

Well it was an odd year indeed, full of hope and then great disappointment. And it will lead into an Offseason of great interest with many moves ahead and an interesting draft. Which is pretty much how this year started. First with the firing of long time HC Mike Shanahan and then the surprise hiring of coach McD. Which was then followed by the monster trade of Jay Cutler and the unrest of WR Brandon Marshall who wanted to be traded.

The season was predicted to be a failure for the Broncos with many 'experts' saying the Broncos would win no more than 3 games this season, namely Jamie Dukes. The reason being that the Broncos had downgraded at QB from Cutler to Kyle Orton and that they hadn't upgraded their D-Line.

The Preseason didn't start great with the Broncos winning only 1 out of the 4 games. The Broncos seemed to make a lot of mental errors, but I think all the players were trying to get use to the new systems that were put in place. For example the Kyle Orton left handed throw, though now we know that Chris Simms couldn't do much better in that department. But as most Broncos fans saw there was a lot of young talent and promise in this team myself included. Now I am going to say I didn't think we would make the playoffs this year but I thought we would go close to 10 wins. Reason being that this was really a rebuilding season and it won't be till next year or even a few more good years before we become a feared team again. A few good Offseasons and we will be set.

Now on to the season and the first six games of the year, the highlight to many Bronco fans years.



F 12 - 7 vs Cincinnati
The Broncos played at Benegals home stadium to start off the year in what was a close hard fought defensive game. Also during pregame special teamer and fullback Spencer Larsen was injured in a freak accident that injured his shoulder which keeped him out for several weeks. To the game and the Broncos managed to hold off the Benegals for almost the entire game until the final minutes allowing the Benegals to get an late TD and the lead. This game would be decided on a Hail Mary pass to Brandon Marshall in triple coverage which was deflected to Brandon Stokley. Who was in the open field and ran in an easy TD that was the winning play. Which has now be named the 'the immaculate deflection' and will be remembered in Broncos folk law for a long time.

F 27 - 6 vs Cleveland
The second game of the season was another good one for the Broncos. As the Broncos run game came to town and Buckhalter ran all over the sorry Browns. Aided by his teammate Knowshon Moreno the Broncos managed to show what they way able to do on the ground with good run blocking. Against a bad team (at the time) the Broncos really needed to show that they were a force and dominate a lesser opponent. Also in this game Elvis 'Doom'ervil managed to record 4 sacks on Quinn and it would be the start of a good season for him.

F 23 - 3 vs Oakland
This game isn't very memorable as the Raiders were merely a small bump in the road as the Broncos drove over them. QB Russell had a great game for the Broncos throwing intercepts to Goodman and Hill and the Broncos offense managed to capitalized on these mistakes and win an easy game.

F 17 - 10 vs Dallas
Now this was suppose to be the first game that was a true test for the Broncos against a tough opponent. And that was what happened, a really tough contest and a hard fought game. The Broncos took the lead when the Beast Brandon Marshall took a grab high above CB Newman and ran around Cowboys defenders for the score. For his celebration he ran down the Broncos sideline and gave the Broncos coach a big hug, making it look like the bridges between them had be mended. The game would be close with it going right down to the wire where Romo made a big mistake trying to take on Champ Bailey. You would have thought he would know better since Champ had already picked him off and stopped a scoring opportunity. Champ knocked down Romo's pass in the endzone on 4th down to secure the win for the Broncos.

F 20 - 17 vs New England
After beating the Cowboys, the Broncos where agian doubted and people keep saying that the Cowboys were a bad team. But when they faced the Patriots people knew this would be a big game with McD taking on his old team. This was a hard fought game, the Pats took an early lead and the Broncos managed to tie up the game in the 4th. The game would go to over time where the Broncos won the toss and moved the ball down field where Prater kicked the game winning field goal. But it is the moments that happened after this game that made it special. With McD celebration after the game and the fist pumping towards his family in the crowd was a magical moment.

F 34 - 23 vs San Diego
After the big game against the Patriots the Broncos would come up against a tough game against the Chargers who were at home. This was an odd game with 3 kick returns going for touchdowns. 2 of which were by Eddie Royal who had the best ST game of the year. The Broncos defense also helped greatly by sacking the crying Phillip Rivers 5 times. Also Tony Scheffler had a big game against the Chargers secondary as well and had over 100 yards and a TD. This was a big win for the Broncos and the players were flying high.

This would be the last game of real joy as after the bye the Broncos would tumble. But at this point the Broncos were on top of their game and playing good defense. The Broncos were posed for a deep playoff run and the Broncos fans were more than happy. In part 2 will look at the next 6 games and in part 3 will have a look at the last few games and the Offseason ahead.

~ Aussie Out

Doom Needs Our Help!

In case no one has heard and/or read about it, the country of Haiti experienced a 7.3 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday causing incredible amounts of damage and deaths.

Since Dumervil has some Haitian descent he was on ESPN today asking for some help. He said he has about 45-50 family members there, no word on if any of them survived the earthquake. On the DB site, there's a blog about it and there's a video you can click to play, he actually called into ESPN and talked about the situation and what sites you can go to if you want to help out financially.

Haiti was already the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere before the disaster happened and now they have more troubles than they know what to do with. I know at least one hospital collapsed during the quake so I can only imagine how high the death toll is going to be.

Just thought I'd post this up and let everyone know we all have Doom's back and we care! Hope him and his family hear some good news soon. God bless!

This is the statement he released earlier today:

“I would like to thank everyone who has already offered their support to the victims of this tragedy. On a personal level, I must express my sincere gratitude for all of the love and support I have received. This is a difficult time for myself and my family, as we try to contact our family members in Haiti. Your thoughts and prayers are well received and greatly appreciated. I have personally witnessed the power and impact of the American people coming together in times of turmoil. I would like to encourage you all to do whatever you can to offer support to the people of Haiti. Wyclef Jean has put together The Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund. You can visit the website www.yele.org to get more information and to donate, or you can text the word “YELE” to 501 501 to automatically donate five dollars. You can also visit The Second Chance Opportunity Center at www.secondchanceopp.org or The Stark County Out of Poverty Partnership Foundation at www.scopp.org to help the victims of this tragedy.”

Stokley and Doom still making headlines

The Broncos continue to make (good) headlines despite not ending the season very well.

Seasoned WR Brandon Stokley is up for the "Can't Miss Play of the Year" award for his 87-yard touchdown in Week1 against Cincinnati in the final seconds of the game giving Denver an exciting start to the season.

This is where the Broncos looked like a promising 2009 contender to at least make the playoffs. They started off 6-0 before the season but then crashed and burned heading into the final 10 games of the season. Like you all really wanted to read that.

Anyway, to vote for Stokley's amazing, and I mean AMAZING catch & TD click here.

Voting ends January 25 @ 4pm MST, so hurry!!


And in other good news from Denver, 'Doom'ervil tied for third when a nationwide panel of 50 sportswriters and broadcasters came together to vote for the AP Defensive Player of the Year award.

After a stellar season for the DE, Doom led the league in sacks (17), setting a new Broncos single-season record. His 11 sacks on third downs in 2009 tied for the most in a single season since at least 1991, and became the first Bronco to lead the league in sacks, and joined Indianapolis DE Dwight Freeney as the only two players in history to win a sack title at the NCAA-FBS and NFL levels. He finished the 2009 campaign with 49 tackles, three passes defensed, four forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.

Congrats to Doom... had we made a better ending to our season & made the playoffs he would've taken that award. But we'll take what we can get, right?!

Make sure to vote for Stokley. For as little as he was apart of the season, when he did play he made a huge impact on the team's play. He's got class. Gotta say though, when he was yelling at that ref during the Philly game... lol, that had to be the funniest thing I saw all season. Nice to know he means business and he cares enough to let loose on one of the "zebras".

Sharpe, Little Named Hall of Fame Finalists

Well my Bronco lovin' friends, despite the bitter end to the Broncos' 2009 season there is some good news.

Shannon Sharpe and Floyd Little have been named finalists for the Hall of Fame.

Sharpe made it this far last year but got snubbed by the "geniuses" in Canton. Hopefully 2010 will be a year of justice for the Broncos starting with two new Hall of Fame inductees. That would be too sweet.

Obviously, Little is a legend in the Mile High City. He set a few records in his day and became a huge part of Bronco history. Let's hope the HOF committee will see that when it comes time to name the lucky few who make it into Canton.

A first-round pick in 1967 from Syracuse University, Little finished his Broncos career ranked No. 1 on the franchise's all-time list for rushing attempts, rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. He played in the Pro Bowl in 1970, 1971 and 1973, and partipcated in the AFL All-Star Game in 1968 and '69.

He led the team in rushing for seven consecutive seasons from 1967-73 -- the longest such streak in club history -- also leading the NFL in rushing in 1971. During his career, the only running back to total more rushing yards than Little was Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson.

He retired as the seventh-leading rusher in NFL history.

Sharpe also left behind a legacy in Denver. More recent memories for most of us but a career that will be hard to forget. He helped the Broncos reach ultimate paradise when they won back-to-back Super Bowls merely 10/11 years ago. Man, that seems like forever.

Sharpe owns more receptions, receiving yards, receiving touchdowns, Super Bowl wins and Pro Bowl selections than any of the seven tight ends enshrined in the Hall of Fame. He was named the first-team tight end on the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team, which was chosen by the Hall of Fame Selection Committee members.

When he retired after 14 seasons, he led all NFL tight ends in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, putting together a resume that makes him, in Tony Gonzalez's opinion, "absolutely the greatest of all time when it comes to a career."

Once again though, Terrell "TouchDown" Davis got rejected as a finalist. He may never make it since his career was cut short, way too short, but at least he'll always have 2 Super Bowl wins to his name. He deserves to be in the HOF but we'll be lucky to get even one more in there anytime soon.

Final voting to see who makes it in will be conducted Saturday, February 6, 2010 in South Florida, a day before Super Bowl XLIV.

Sharpe and Little are up against some stiff competition but if the committee has a brain bigger than the size of a pea they'll do what's best for them and elect these two men that helped breathe life into what we all know and love, the Broncos and the NFL.

Congrats to both former Broncos!