2007 season thread

[Steve_Atwater]

We're almost there.

The 2007 season is upon us. First pre-season action next monday in San Francisco. So let's get this thing rolling.

[Steve_Atwater]

Here's the schedule. Some tough games (Indy, Chicago, San Diego twice) and some games we should win (Oakland twice, Detroit, Houston) plus teams on the bubble that could be good, but who could also be laughers (Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Minnesota). It's a long season.


2007 DENVER BRONCOS SCHEDULE

PRESEASON

Wk. Day Date Opponent Site Time TV

1 Mon. Aug. 13 at San Francisco Monster Park 5 p.m. PDT ESPN (NTL)

2 Sat. Aug. 18 at Dallas Texas Stadium 7 p.m. CDT CBS 4

3 Sat. Aug. 25 CLEVELAND INVESCO Field at Mile High 7 p.m. MDT CBS 4

4 Thu. Aug. 30 ARIZONA INVESCO Field at Mile High 7 p.m. MDT CBS 4

REGULAR SEASON


Wk. Day Date Opponent Site Time TV

1 Sun. Sept. 9 at Buffalo Ralph Wilson Stadium 1 p.m. EDT CBS

2 Sun. Sept. 16 OAKLAND INVESCO Field at Mile High 2:15 p.m. MDT CBS

3 Sun. Sept. 23 JACKSONVILLE INVESCO Field at Mile High 2:05 p.m. MDT CBS

4 Sun. Sept. 30 at Indianapolis RCA Dome 4:15 p.m. EDT CBS

5 Sun. Oct. 7 SAN DIEGO INVESCO Field at Mile High 2:15 p.m. MDT CBS

6 Bye

7 Sun. Oct. 21 PITTSBURGH INVESCO Field at Mile High 6:15 p.m. MDT NBC
(NTL)

8 Mon. Oct. 29 GREEN BAY INVESCO Field at Mile High 6:30 p.m. MDT ESPN
(NTL)

9 Sun. Nov. 4 at Detroit Ford Field 1 p.m. EST CBS

10 Sun. Nov. 11 at Kansas City Arrowhead Stadium 12 p.m. CST CBS

11 Mon. Nov. 19 TENNESSEE INVESCO Field at Mile High 6:30 p.m. MST ESPN
(NTL)

12 Sun. Nov. 25 at Chicago Soldier Field 12 p.m. CST CBS*

13 Sun. Dec. 2 at Oakland McAfee Coliseum 1:05 p.m. PST CBS*

14 Sun. Dec. 9 KANSAS CITY INVESCO Field at Mile High 2:15 p.m. MST CBS*

15 Thu. Dec. 13 at Houston Reliant Stadium 7:15 p.m. CST NFLN (NTL)

16 Mon. Dec. 24 at San Diego Qualcomm Stadium 5 p.m. PST ESPN (NTL)

17 Sun. Dec. 30 MINNESOTA INVESCO Field at Mile High 2:15 p.m. MST FOX*

[Steve_Atwater]

No real houselhold name has been released. Kyle Johnson might be the most notable of the bunch.

The full list of released players is as follows:

Quarterbacks: Darrell Hackney, Preston Parsons.

Fullbacks: Kyle Johnson.

Running Backs: None.

Wide Receivers: Glenn Martinez, Marquay McDaniel, Quincy Morgan.

Tight ends: None.

Offensive linemen: Emmanuel Akah, Greg Eslinger, Mark Fenton, Kevin
McAlmont, Chad Mustard, Cliff Washburn.

Defensive linemen: John Browning, Steven Harris, Jimmy Kennedy.

Linebackers: T.J. Hollowell, Cameron Vaughn.

Safeties: Steve Cargile, Roderick Rogers.

Cornerbacks: Bill Alford, Kevin House.

[Steve_Atwater]

This one was never a doubt.

15-14 on a last second field goal by Elam.

Seriously, we should have won that game by at least two touchdowns. But you can never complain about a win on the road, no matter how ugly it was.

More later.

[Steve_Atwater]

Here are a few hilights from yesterday's game.

The special teams didn't play very well. They're returners threatened pretty much every time they touched the ball, while our return game didn't amount to much. They're punter was better than ours, and Elam, as clutch as he was on that last instant FG, was still just 3 for 5.

Travis Henry had interesting statistics, but he wasn't much of a factor before the fourth quarter. His catches were even bigger than his runs.

Cutler made two very bad plays (a pick and a toss to no-one late in the fourth) but he played well, in only his sixth career NFL start. But he tends to rely on his arm strenght too much. He made way too many off balance throws, often when he didn't have too.

Walker made great plays, but dropped two easy catches. That's bound to happen on occasion. But Marshall played well and with the play of Brendan Stokley, the Broncos might just have 3 quality WR on the roster for the first time in years.

The defense was hot and cold. Generally they did what they had too, except on that drive where they couldn't stop the young Bills RB (I forget his name). Dre' Bly made a great play on the one deep ball thrown by Losman during the game. He was with Lee Evans every step of the way.

The LB made some big hits, they also missed big on occasion.

In all and all, you're always happy to start the season with a win on the road. But let's just say we didn't show that we deserve to be mentionned in the same sentence as the Colts and Patriots yesterday.

[CCN]

Despite winning ugly, there is consolation in how their division rivals played yesterday. Oakland's defense seems to be a sieve, and KC looked really bad. Yeah, the Chargers won, but Tomlinson had an unLT-like game with only 25 rushing yards. The Broncos moved the ball well enough despite the difficulties in scoring. They'll contend with this lot.

[Steve_Atwater]

Again, we were just too much, too good, too strong for the lowly Raiders.

Now, the only question is, can we win the division going away? Can anyone in the AFC west keep pace with the Broncos juggernaut? :goteam:

Seriously, we barely sqeezed by two or the weakest teams in the conference. We really need to start playing better. Or hope we play nothing but lousy teams until the end of the season (playoffs included).

[Steve_Atwater]

Ouch.

Never, in my whole life, had I stopped watching a Broncos game in the middle of the third quarter. Note the past tense. That was before yesterday.

That was hard to watch. 41-3, at home? Good lord!

This is not a very good football team. We kind of knew it, but yesterday's display was embarrassing, even for a not very good team.

Where do we start? Protecting the football? Keeping the other team from rushing the ball? Keeping them from getting into field goal range when they're just looking at running the clock late in the first half?

Now, Walker's hurt. Bailey's hurt. Henry likes the weed a little too much... I'm afraid things are gonna get worse before they get better.

[Steve_Atwater]

Well, look at that. Something for Broncos fans to smile about.

Altough we won by a hair, again, it was a good win. A good team, a patchwork O line, no Walker... That was nice. And an entertaining game on top of that. Too bad the Red Sox/Indians game was entertaining as well (I had to split time between the two). But in all and all, we're not very good, but we might spare ourselves of being embarrassed in 2007.

[Steve_Atwater]

Too bad the packers didn't lead by 2 with time running out in the fourth. Would have been another typical Broncos win. With the field goal, again.

Instead we took the game to overtime. Maybe it would have been better had Elam missed the FG, and spared us the embarrassement of a play we're sure to have to see over and over...

Speaking of seeing over and over; is it normal that the wife of an opposing player gets more camera time than any of our players? I know they're not playing real well, but still...

I didn't have the sound on the game, but I was still getting tired of hearing about Favre. And his wife, I'm sure she's a fine lady. And she had to battle thru some tough times. But I don't care about her that much.

Too bad sports on TV has to be a soap opera. It's the Olympification of MNF. And that's kind of sad if you ask me.

[Steve_Atwater]

The Broncos beat the Chiefs by 16 today.

Winning by more than a field goal? You're allowed to do that?

Winning at Arrowhead always feels good. No matter how the season's going.

[Steve_Atwater]

Last week's game is really a game we should have won. Leading by 14 with 11 minutes left...

There's a history of throwing games away against the NFC north, formerly central.

This one's really on the special teams. They allowed Devin Hester to return a punt and a kickoff for scores, and they had a blocked punt. Talk about stinking up the joint.

[Old Sweater]

Perhaps the Broncos will play better this year.

At least I hope so. I don't follow football like I do baseball but I do enjoy watching the weekly Broncos game.