Still Keeping Score

It's not easy to say farewell to one of the best players to ever don the orange and blue, but trading Demaryius Thomas is a move the Broncos had to make. After Denver picked up two quality wide receivers in the most recent NFL Draft, there was talk of trading DT or Emmanuel Sanders back during training camp. After watching the team in Dove Valley myself, I understood why those early trade rumors continued to persist. Almost all of the young wide outs were doing some amazing things, including free agent Patrick Smith. The depth was solid enough that Jordan "Sunshine" Taylor, a solid contributor from last season, was on the outside looking in and his unfortunate injury bought him some additional time on the roster to start this year. In a perfect world, Thomas would be allowed to stay here in Denver until he was ready to retire. The business of the sport doesn't allow much room for such happy fairy tale endings, even for former first round draft picks. Picked du...

Ready or not, the new NFL season is here. Broncos Country is about to find out if the most recent overhaul of the roster will be enough to return the team to winning ways. Led by the cast-away quarterback, Case Keenum and a fascinating draft class, Denver will face off against former AFC West division rivals and their Super Bowl XLVIII oppressors, the Seattle Seahawks. Most fans and local media members are attempting to temper their excitement as no one really knows if all of the changes made in the off-season can move the Broncos in a more competitive direction. Even the Vegas oddsmakers are shrugging their collective shoulders for the opening contest. The line opened with both teams as even, save for a slight home field advantage with game hosted here in Denver. I made the trek to Dove Valley during training camp and I learned a few things by watching from the grassy knoll overlooking the team practicing under the summer sun. The first thing I noticed was that a number of grump...

Of all the moves the Broncos could have made to improve at the quarterback position, they went for practical play over the spectacular. Apparently, the Broncos do have a "Plan B" and his name is Case Keenum. As the legal tampering period leading to NFL free agency opened up yesterday, Denver was linked with every single soon to be available quarterback in the league. I heard A.J. McCarron in the morning, and by the evening the name of future hall of fame quarterback Drew Brees was mentioned as a real possibility. Of course Drew Brees would have been the fun way to go and the Broncos would have been able to take a short cut through a lot of roster holes with a guy who has looked great throwing for over 70,000 yards in his career. It was a beautiful fantasy football moment that vanished into the night and there would be no repeat of the Manning-style free agent quarterback miracle in the Mile High City. I'm certain John Elway heard long before the rest of Broncos Co...

Once the last whistle sounded at the Super Bowl and well before the green victory confetti settled on the artificial turf in Minnesota, speculation season kicked off in grand fashion. Heck, the media folks were asking Eagles' quarterback Nick Foles if he thought about where he would play next year -- right after he was asked about being the ultimate surprise Super Bowl MVP of the new century. The only one-punt championship game of any era I can remember produced instant questions in a league that has been suffering a bit of a quality quarterback shortage the last few years. The Eagles shut down some of that speculation by not offering Foles to any other team. The rumored asking price was as high as two first round draft picks. It is a nice way to tell the league to buzz off while the team tries to figure out whether Foles' seven million dollar salary is too much to pay for quarterback insurance if their youthful gunslinger Carson Wentz gets hurt again. I can't blame the...

While the rest of the world prepares for the next Super Bowl this weekend, Broncos Country is already hard at work with ideas on how to get Denver back into the big game. After reading through social media responses, tuning into local sports radio and reading way too many sports blogs, it appears the fans and the armchair experts have figured it all out. But the answers are as varied as Colorado weather. Everything from blowing up the entire offense and starting over to all we need is to draft Baker Mayfield with our rare number five overall pick and we're golden. With the Broncos coaching staff volunteered for the Senior Bowl, that horribly played exhibition was covered by local media as if it was the Super Bowl.  You could hear folks really wanting Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen to our magic answer. And well, we heard how well Oklahoma signal caller Baker Mayfield impressed the crowd of credentialed reporters when the word "aura" was utilized with great reverence af...

Future Hall-of-Fame linebacker Von Miller recently claimed he could play quarterback for Denver and basically implied anyone can play that position.  However, the Broncos did try and prove him right by playing as many people back there as possible. It appears not just anyone can play signal caller in the National Football League. I also think the conversation about football in Denver should include lots of other player positions that could use some help. For example, we could spend a few weeks discussing the wildly inconsistent effort by the very offensive line. Or has the tight end spot been replaced by Where's Waldo? We might even spend some time trying to get placekicker Brandon McManus an appointment with a sports psychologist. After signing his first substantive contract, McManus has barely been able to keep his roster spot, much less earn the bonus cash. Dark humor is all the fans have left this season on the eve of the second to last game of the season. And much hum...

When the Broncos lined up to play the winless New York Giants on a nationally televised Sunday night game, optimism, and maybe a dash of overconfidence filtered up into the mile high night sky.  After all, the home team was 3-1, with two impressive division wins, and a rare romp over the Dallas Cowboys, one of the toughest teams in the NFC.  It appeared team co-captain Trevor Siemian had put the quarterback question to rest, and Denver was aiming at a return to the post-season. What a difference a handful of days can make. The Broncos were stunned by the Giants, and then shut-out in the very comfortable confines of Stub Hub Stadium in Los Angeles, with half of the small crowd clad in orange before turning the ball over five times to the division rival Chiefs on Monday Night Football. By the time the final whistle sounded, 15-days passed, from the loss to the Giants October 15th to error filled loss in Kansas City on the October 30th. It was far more trick than treat for ...

Brock Osweiler is back in town and he's on the horse he rode in on. And thus, the tension in Broncos Country escalated quickly. A mere year and one half ago, the defending Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos watched Peyton Manning ride off into a soon to be Hall of Fame sunset. The handpicked successor to the Manning era, Brock Osweiler understandably took full advantage of a bidding war with the Houston Texans, and surprised most experts when he took the deal. To be fair to Brock, it was a really, really good deal. Four years and 72-million dollars, with more than half of it guaranteed. How good of a contract? Osweiller will earn 15 million bucks from Cleveland and $775,000 from the Broncos in a back-up role. Of course, this is the Mile High City. Quarterback talk around the water cooler is a year round exercise in these parts. In fact, just before Paxton Lynch got hurt, somebody asked me what exactly was Elway's plan with the position? The plan really was Brock. And...