1:15 P.M. MST: Ordinarily I’d say we’re “just” waiting, but a compressed week means that to merely dawdle for a few minutes is to further compress a schedule that is already as tight as the strings on a tennis racquet. Take about five and a half full days of work and shove it into three, and you have the week for both the Broncos and for those of us chronicling their summits, canyons and the gently rolling hills in between. Shanahan should arrive in about 15 minutes. Click here to watch.
1:26 P.M. MST: Just a note on the team’s schedule … the special-teamers are practicing today, with the full team back on the field for work Tuesday and Wednesday before leaving for Houston. It’s a similar schedule to the one the team used prior to its Thanksgiving games of 2005 and 2006. The Broncos are 2-1 this decade playing off the short week, with wins in 2001 and 2005 at Dallas and a defeat at Kansas City in 2006. It certainly would be pleasant to cover one of these at home for a change.
1:29 P.M. MST: Off we go.
1:30 P.M. MST: On Selvin Young: “We talked to him in the fifth round, but we thought he’d get drafted. We kept communication going hoping that if he was a free agent, we’d have a chance to get him, and luckily we did … I said in preseason that it wouldn’t surprise me if he was a starter in the National Football League and would be over a 1,000-yard back. I said the same thing about Andre Hall when he got his opportunity. When guys go down, guys get opportunities. Sometimes they take advantage of it; sometimes they don’t.”
1:31 P.M. MST: When asked whether he worries about the durability of his running backs: “That’s the case in the National Football League. That’s why you need depth. Guys go down. For a back to stay healthy is a little bit unusual. We’ve been healthy for a couple of years and unlucky other years, but that’s why you need depth on your football team, and that’s why when a guy does go down you’re hoping that a guy comes up and shows you that he’s a football player. You never know for sure.”
1:32 P.M. MST: When asked whether Young could add some weight: “I don’t think he needs to put on a lot of weight. The guy’s tough as nails. He blocks in pass protection; he blocks in the open field. We’ve got him in the nickel and he takes on linebackers and gets the job done. I kind of like him where he’s at. He’s averaging 5.7 yards per carry. That’s not too bad for a young kid.”
1:33 P.M. MST: Emphasizes that Travis Henry is “going through a tough time,” but has also said that both Young and Andre Hall could be productive, 1,000-yard starting running backs with the Broncos. “You can never have too many backs.”
1:34 P.M. MST: On Mike Bell and his lack of playing time this season: “Well, there’s competition at every position. Mike was not one of our top three running backs — among the guys we talked about — and Paul Smith has played better on special teams than Mike has. That’s why Mike hasn’t been dressed. If something happened to Paul — which it has — then Mike came up and played in the Chicago game. Every game you’ve got a chance to show people what you can do if a guy goes down, and hopefully you take advantage of that opportunity when it comes.”
1:35 P.M. MST: On talking with son Kyle Shanahan, a Texans assistant: “To be honest with you, you’re so busy during the week that the time you usually talk is the night before the game, and you don’t really have time to chit-chat during the week, so it’ll probably be like we normally do. I’ll probably talk to him the night before the game and wish him some bad luck and go on.”
1:36 P.M. MST: On his son and whether he’s on path to be a head coach: “Well, you’ve got to earn your spurs. He’s got a long way to go. But I know one thing — he’s a lot further ahead than I was when I got in the NFL at 31. Just being around the game as a kid, studying it at the collegiate level and the pro level, studying it from an Xs and Os standpoint — it’s not even close.”
1:36 P.M. MST: On who his wife will cheer for: “If (Kyle) was a head coach, there’d be no question — it’d be for him. As an assistant coach, probably for us.”
1:38 P.M. MST: On the preparation for the game and some of it coming before this week: “You work extra on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, knowing that you’ve got a few extra days off after the game. Friday, Saturday and Sunday you’ve got a mini-bye week, I guess you could say, so you load it on the front side.”
1:39 P.M. MST: When asked how much he let Gary Kubiak take with him from Denver: “Oh, he’s got everything … and if I would have tried to limit it, he’s smart enough to already have it (a playbook) in his house anyhow.”
1:40 P.M. MST: On Todd Sauerbrun’s weekend arrest: “We’ll let due process take care of itself.”
1:40 P.M. MST: On the NFL’s for comments regarding the league’s substance-abuse program: “Let me put it this way: If I was driving down the street and the officer pulled me over for speeding — say, 20 miles an hour over (the limit) — and I disagreed with it, so I decided to go to court, and I went to court and the officer was the judge, I wouldn’t feel very good about it. Let’s just say the chances aren’t very good … I’m just saying that the odds aren’t very good. I saw that once on The Andy Griffith Show. I think it was Andy who pulled somebody over, and the guy complained, so (Andy) threw on his robe, listened to the guy’s complaint and didn’t beat the ticket, so it was not a good sign.
1:43 P.M. MST: On Jay Cutler’s effort: “I thought he played very well … He did a great job using his eyes a few times with coverages, knowing where he wanted to go … That comes with experience. A couple of big-time plays that young quarterbacks don’t make … Pretty impressed.”
1:44 P.M. MST: Says Brandon Marshall is “starting to be a pro … and it seems like he’s having fun doing it … he’s made tremendous strides just from the summer (training) camp, playing through injuries, playing through a little pain.”
1:44 P.M. MST: “(Marshall) has stepped up, made a number of plays this season … it’s really a credit to his ability.”
1:45 P.M. MST: On Javon Walker’s health: “Any time you’re gone as long as he’s gone after surgery, it’s tough. You want to go full speed; we had him in Chicago and it did not look like he got it loose … He looked better Friday in practice but still wasn’t full speed … when Brandon was healthy, I felt we needed two healthy receivers … It turned out pretty good for us because Glenn (Martinez) stayed healthy, and Taylor Jacobs came in and played well.”
1:46 P.M. MST: On Stokley: “With Javon being down, we had no other choice but to play Brandon (Stokley) as much as we did, and he’s really played well … Hopefully he can recover quickly to where he can play against Houston.”
1:47 P.M. MST: Believes that safety Hamza Abdullah will be okay after being hurt Sunday.
1:48 P.M. MST: And that’s it for the day.
Tags: Mike Shanahan
Good stuff Mason. These short weeks have to suck.
Thanks Andrew.
Your reporting always helps ease my Broncos withdrawals.
Denver fans saw the future on Sunday !! This offense is going to be awesome for years to come !! Now we have to get the defense and special teams going also. Go Broncos !!!!!
mason,
pass this to pat bowlen, keep brandon marshall AND javon walker. i read an article that javon is due a roster bonus in ’08 and the broncos may just release him.
Thanks a million Andrew, you’re the best!!!!
I can’t get over yesterday, we were so amazing and fun to watch I just pray they stay consistent with that. We all knew we have a young talented team full of bright futures and winning seasons but that takes time for it all to come together… and I think we’re at a huge breaking point. And I definitely can’t get over our raging ball of fire that we call Jay Cutler… Mike Shanahan’s pretty impressed, I’m beyond impressed. He’s earning his right to be the starter, he’s earning that really cool QB rating of 141, this kid is going places but he better stay in Denver, the last thing I want to see is us finally getting a QB worth keeping and then all the sudden he goes to another team… we’d be starting all over, we CANNOT afford to lose this kid. He’s becoming a solid foundation to our offense… I have nothing but good things to say about Cutler, his talent, his future and definitely that better-than-Brady-rocket-of-an-arm he has.
On to other fantastic players, Marshall, Young and Stokley just to name a few – WOW!!!!! Marshall is having too much fun out there and that’s the way it should be. He’s starting to show that he’s not playing pro football just for the money, he’s doing it because he loves the game and its fun. That’s all that really matters at the end of the day. Selvin Young is too good for words. This kid is the future star RB for this team… I’m speechless. Stokley is clearly looking impressive and just as good as the next guy… he got signed to a 3-year extension.
Yesterday’s game was just phenomenal to watch, we were completely 100% unstoppable. KC’s so called 9th ranked defense was in no way shape or form a match for our very much improved offense. We completely destroyed them – and I couldn’t be happier about that especially to a rival like KC, now if we could only do what we did yesterday to San Diego and give them back what they did to us earlier, we’ll be smokin’!!!!!!
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the updates!! I saw somewhere that Marshall is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday for his DUI charge. Will he be traveling with the team?
Thanks!
jwalkbmarsh: the only reason they would release Javon in that manner is if 1. Irreversible injury problems or 2. They could acquire someone equal or better. There will be some quality WR’s up for free agency soon, certainly many who could come cheaper than Walker. Javon has familiarity going for him. If he can stay healthy, they’d probably opt to keep him.
Good names out there next year though: Moss is the big one, but Bernard Berrian, Patrick Crayton, Bryant Johnson, and Andre Davis are all guys out there either stuck behind star receivers or playing in lesser offenses who wouldn’t look too bad in orange and blue next year. Moss might be out of reach, but I’d certainly take Crayton or Johnson if we couldn’t keep Walker.
But what they NEED is a real O-line, with a completely revised approach. If this means sacrificing 400 rushing yards next year, so be it…it could add 600 yards to the passing game and cut turnovers by 20%…I’d rather have this than musical chairs 1000 yard rushers and early vacations like we’ve been having for nine years now. Draft some line help (both lines) and maybe look at one of the good free agent offensive stoppers like Max Starks in Pittsburgh, Floyd Womack in Seattle, or Flozell Adams from Dallas.
Does Shanahan have the guts to scrap the old broken approach? Can he prove the Super Bowls weren’t just due to loads of talent overriding strategy? I guess we’ll have to wait another year to find out…
Champ Bailey gets paid beaucoup dollars to PLAY FOOTBALL.
Yeah, he’s the best DB in the NFL. But I’ve seen him playing special teams quite a bit on kick off coverage. Given that, why is Taylor Jacobs seeing the field at WR.
Put Champ out there at WR. He can go both ways, has. He’d be a nightmare coming in as a 3rd Wideout.
Best example I can give is when we go spread with the TB split out wide. Make that Champ Bailey, and it’s a true threat.
At least Shanny let Cutler throw the ball in the redzone, bam 4 TDS.
Selvin Young continues to be the worst short yardage back in NFL history. If only 1st and ten was every D and D.
By the way Shawn Merriman is out this week and maybe next week, so unbelievably, the Chargers could still blow the division with or without Denver’s influence. Playoff money????
Andrew Mason, I found this sentence on foxsports.com, saying r Brandon Marshall is scheduled to appear in a Denver County Court to enter a plea on a drunken driving charge, what’s with it being on Thursday? Will he play? What info do you have on this, if any?
anything on D.J.? was he hurt or was he just getting rested?
And Lorenzo Neal, who is a very underrated person for their offense, the fullback who blocks for LaDanian, is out, too. It’s still going to be hard for the Broncos to catch up to the Chargers at this point – if only the Broncos had won one of the previous two games! – then I’d feel more excited. But it’s possible – and those two guys being out hurts them a lot, at the very least in the playoffs if they make it. (Which would be small consolation to us.)
Btw, I like Patrick Crayton, too, Hoss. I’d rather us keep Walker if he’s healthy, but if not that would be a good guy to add.
I will say though that I think the OL is the least of the Broncos problems. And when Nalen and Hamilton come back, they’ll be even better and deeper. imho.
Man… So I am kind of disapointed in Tenn, and I really hope that Det can help us out a little. Its the least they could do after making us look so bad.
For all those who cry about LPP not showing up after wins…HERE I AM like a virus you can’t get rid of….
Anyway I do believe actually that Jay Cutler is better than Tom Brady right now, because I watched that game yesterday while flipping back to the Patriots game and TOM AINT GOT NOTHING on Cutler guys.
No way, plus Cutler just looks more like a QB. I mean Tom looks like a model, or movie star and that means he can’t be good!
Dekreybroncofan, I wouldn’t worry about Detriot; if you look at the whole season this year, ALL AFC WEST teams that played ALL NFC NORTH TEAMS have gotten BLOWN OUT OF THE WATER! I mean, look at how SD did against MN, for a better example, look at how WE did against the lions.. Believe it or not, the Lions are a scarey team.. Look what they were able to do against Dallas, they had that game won; we’ll just hope they don’t do the same thing against SD.
My biggest concern is the injuries, yet again! D.J. went down and they didn’t say what it was. It looked like he took a direct helmet to helmet shot and I pray it’s not a concussion. Marshall was an absolute stud Sunday, just don’t throw too many of those high balls there Jay C and everything is everything. I still can’t believe Stokley played, talk about a guy with grapefruits.
LPP, you think WAY to highly of yourself. No one really cares if you comment on here or not, though you are entitled to just as much as the next person.
But I do have to say, you’re right on the money about Cutler. He’s the future of this team and Cutler’s going to make Brady look like dirt next season, guaranteed.
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cutler will not be making brady look like dirt next year in any way shape or form with bradys multiple SB rings to cutlers 0. Don’t forget bradys better win-lose record and career stats. However, Cutler is our future and I feel he can be really good, but I will give him 2 more years until I pass judgement.
Does anyone know how Ben Hamilton is doing? Seems the O line could be considerably better with more experience, Ryan Harris coming on, Hamilton and maybe Nalen back next year. Defensive line could also be pretty good with another tackle. Cutler shoud be a top five quarterback next year. Still drinkin’ the Kool aid.
what happened to todd saurbrun
Hey Andrew, on that play where Cutler fell down and then rushed for 21 yards, was that an intentional fake or an accident?
Broncos still have snow ball’s chance after route of Chiefs
Associated Press
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/recap?game_id=29400&displayPage=tab_recap&season=2007&week=REG14
Mason, is there some way to penalize writers that don’t actually write well?
Just seeing that headline gives me a headache.
Did anyone watch MNF? I didn’t see any penalty for Joe Horn lifting up Roddy White’s jersey to expose the message on the tee shirt underneath. Whether you agree with his message or not, isn’t that more of a “prop” than Marshall playing in the snow? Grrrrr….. Anyways, of all the good things to take from yesterday’s game, I LOVE how B.Marsh plays the game! Guy is an animal……
This game was an example as to what can happen if you have a good running game going. Not sure what you mean Blue Diamond about Young being the worst short yardage back in the NFL. I do know one thing though. When healthy, the back that will gain the short yardage is Hall. To me Hall is the running back of the future for this Bronco Team. Minnesota has a one-two punch and I think Young and Hall are Denvers one-two punch. Young is the speed and finese. Hall has both speed and power. Henry, I think will see limited time from here on out. It’s the first win of the season that was enjoyable to the end. Remember though, there are some good teams left to play. Texans, who can do some good things, Chargers and then Minnesota. Out of all these teams Minnesota scares me the most. If the defense plays like they did against KC there is no doubt they can run the table. Every game from here on out is a playoff game and must be treated as such. Knock off one team at a time, and with a little help from SD opponents we could sneak in the back door of the playoffs. We all agree this season has been full of ups and downs. The key factors to this dismall season has been injuries, injuries, and a bad defensive scheme. Not sure if anyone noticed, but champ played more man coverage, was utilized how he is supposed to be and was a huge impact on defense. Guys were flying to the ball, playing with emotion and determination. Keep it rollin into thursday boys. No excuses, its a short week for the Texans to. Then it’s 11 days to prepare for SD. Go Broncos!!!!
Well, in the words of my mom and dad, “Brad, be positive.” Thus, Andrew, I know that while this short week sucks and it will be hard to beat the Texans with a short week, it’s equally hard for the Texans to beat us. I think we’re the better team because we’ve got our #1 quarterback, while the Texans will probably go with Sage Rosenfels. Also, this gives us 11 day to prepare for the ‘Bolts who have to play a tough team in the Lions. It’s a great opportunity to be on national TV so let’s take advantage of this chance placed before us and smack Houston!!!
Todd Sauerbrun got drunk, got in a cab and mistakenly thought the cab driver was Devin Hester, so he proceeded to smack the cab driver around….
Ahahahahhahahah….and the cabbie didn’t have enough head room to jump over him….
Either that or somebody was holding the cabbie down. No way he could have hit him otherwise
if he really thought the cabbie was Hester, he would have waved to him on his way to the endzone, that’s what he usually does.
[...] Sunray had some great ideas on this topic.You can read a snippet of the post here.1:31 PM MST: When asked whether he worries about the durability of his running backs: “That’s the case in the National Football League; that’s why you need depth when guys go down … That’s why when a guy does go down you’re hoping that … [...]
[...] Shanahan Fireside: Week 14 [...]