AWARD UPDATES:
The Broncos Ryan Clady and Jay Cutler were each honored with NFL awards for their performances in Week 14.
Clady was named Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week, the first time an offensive lineman has won the award since it started in 2004. Clady led an offensive line that allowed Cutler to pass for 286 yards and two touchdowns, prevented Kansas City from recording a sack and allowed Denver to total 139 rushing yards in the team’s 24 -17 win over the Chiefs.
Clady is the fourth Bronco to have won the award this season. Eddie Royal has been voted Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week twice. It is the fourth time in the last five weeks that a Denver Rookie has taken home the award.
Cutler was named the FedEx Air Player of the Week for his performance in Week 14. Cutler completed 32 of 40 passing attempts for 286 yards and two touchdowns in the win.
It is the second straight week Cutler has received the honor. He has been named FedEx Air Player of the Week three out of the last five weeks.
INJURY UPDATES:
Head Coach Mike Shanahan said several players including Champ Bailey, Spencer Larsen and Brandon Stokley will test their injuries prior to Sunday’s game so that they can be evaluated and their playing status can be determined.
As far as naming a starter for the running back position. Shanahan joked that he has been reading the newspapers and that they have a better idea of the team’s gameplan than he does. Shanahan said he and the other coaches have gotten a look at all three tailbacks, Tatum Bell, Cory Boyd and Selvin Young but they still haven’t decided on which one will be the starter.
“We have gotten a chance to evaluate three guys throughout our practices and we will make a decision before the game what direction we are going to go,” he said.
-Jake Grilley, DenverBroncos.com
Here are some photos from today’s practice.
Tags: Cory Boyd, Jake Grilley, Jay Cutler, Mike Shanahan, NFL Awards, Rookies, Ryan Clady, Selvin Young, Tatum Bell
Great, Great accomplishment for both of you, Clady welcome to the Broncos Rookie of the week club!
Cutler you are a Gold card member of this club already! Awesome guys
First OL player to receive rookie of the week honors since it was established 4 years ago…Big congrats on that Clady, if anyone deserved it you did…our oline is often overlooked….way to make history
…and as for cutler…..I expect nothing less
….congrats to you both.
Mega props to Clady.
I think what makes his designation as Rookie Of The Week so special is not just his production, and protection of #6, but also the maturity he has show in his first year. Amazing.
It’s going to be a special treat watching Clady, and ALL of the other young talent we have grow and gel together.
Jay, keep racking up those pass yards man.
Go Bronx
O ‘yea Cutler and Clady! About time Clady got national props! Could you ask for more from a rookie class Clady,Hillis,Royal,Larson,Bell(josh),Kern,Lichensteiger,Williams(Jack)Pope,Torain,Woodyard,Barrett and now Boyd! Just awsome hats off to you all and all the people in the Personel office!I have been a fan my hole life and can’t rember a rookie class like this! keep on keeepin on! And Jay Cutler MR. M.V.P. enough said! Lets seal the deal this week,and shut the door on the dolts season.
oops much love for Polumbus to almost forgot him!!
HUGE congrats to Clady – so well deserved and all I can say is ITS ABOUT TIME!!!!! Keep up the work Clady, you’ve been AWESOME this year. We’ve needed someone like you for a very long time. Thank God we drafted you!
And as for Cutler – wouldn’t have expected anything less of him. You amaze me #6… Keep up your amazing work.
Go get those kitty cats on Sunday boys… I have no doubt we will come home 9-5!!
GO BRONCOS!!!!!!
Clady is a STUD. He’s starting to get fired up a little, too. I got jacked when he pulled that guy off of casey wiegmann when he was on his back–WooHoo. I think Rod Woodson might need a tampax, though. He was boobing about an offensive lineman winning rookie of the week on NFL Network. Clady is a viable pick for the team MVP, and should be in Hawaii in February. He’s had a much better year than Jake Long, but Long was leading the fan vote last time I saw the numbers.
Keep up the good work.
Holy Mile High Magic!!! It’s good to see that the rest of the NFL audience is recognizing our standout players, our roster is FULL of them! Great job to ALL of you Broncos. I can’t wait to see what kind of trouble we can stir up in the Playoffs.
Go Broncos!!!
I am laughing, because with all our rookies playing the way they are, the nfl’s experts all sound so stupid looking back. I remember after the draft, most of the major sites/writers gave the broncos a c- or lower in the draft grades. Seriously, google it. So good job rookies!
What About PJ Pope He Should Get A Couple of Carries
He Looked Pretty Good Against The Falcons
What is up Rod woodson I say he gets booed so loud and long we cant hear his comentary (if thats what you can call it) next Thurs. night game!OMG what a PUNK!
I just goes to show you how far out of touch with reality Al Davis is. Instead of picking Clady to get a quality offensive lineman that he desperately neede he picked an unneeded runnnning back that’s been injured most of the season. Way to keep the Raiders at the bottom of the heap, Al! Lets hope the players and coaches give Clasy his due and vote him into the Pro Bowl.
Awesome to see these guys get the praise they deserve not only from Broncomania but from football fans in general because the media sometimes shows their ignorance but the fans see the talent. I was at the game this last week and got to see it for myself. GO BRONCOS!!!
Congrats to both Clady and Cutler. They are both deserving of being in the the probowl and Clady deserves rookie of the year. Has there every been a rookie left tackle that was the best Left tackle in the NFL his rookie year? I don’t think so, hope he gets the recognition he deserves. Congrats again fella’s, lets live up to those expectations another week and take care ot Carolina. Go Broncos!
oh, I say give Boyd a chance to start as tailback and see what he can do. We all know Tater can’t carry the load but is a great guy to bring in to spell the starter. I don’t think Selvin is ready yet, he need to be 100 % to be effective and we will need him in the playoffs.
bout time Clady got some recognition…
IMREADY to answer your question on rookie left takles being better than the vets their first year and yes it was last year that left takle was Joe Thomas for the Cleveland Browns and the 49s had quite the pick in Joe Staley also while we are at it the Colts got one hell of a pick also in Tony Ugoh too, what all the so called gurus are talking about is the recent influx of franchise left takles in the last two years. If you look at it Jake Long is doing a hell of a job in Miami also as well as Branden Albert of the Chiefs. Now with Clady in the count that makes a total of six pro bowl takles in two years that is impressive. Way to go for all of these teams on drafting takles that fit their scheme, these teams are now that much better for it. However out of all of these takles Clady is the only lineman to receive ROTW honors. Nice job SWEET FEET.
Clady is going to be like Randall McDaniel or Jonathan Ogden, just a solid player who rarely makes mistakes. He’ll probably be the best #78 since Jackie Slater. There is no doubt in my mind he’ll be a Hall of Famer. Nice job, Jay keep up the good work.
Mile High Salute!! P. Hillis
100 at least, that’s how many votes I must have put in for my boy Clady, and Cutler. First Tackle to get the honor in the History of the Pep.. Rookie of the Week. Cutler the only QB this year to be air player of the week 3 times. HELLA TIGHT!! And they way you shut down Larry J of KC, roll that onto Carolina.
Oh,…. and where can I get one of those long sleeve jerseys above??? I love’em
Every rookie is Rookie of the Year
I just wanted to say congratulations to Jay Cutler and Ryan Clady for their awards this week. I also wanted to say thank you to the Denver Bronco fan base who I know were voting like mad to ensure these two Broncos received their due. When listening to Jamie “I want ‘Put Up your Dukes’ back on the air” Dukes and Rod “I can’t string a coherent thought together” Woodson talk about Cutler winning the Fed Ex Air award I thought I was going to be sick. If there isn’t a bias against the Denver Broncos at the NFL channel and NFL Films then I am really misreading what I see there. Anyway; enough negativity. Here in San Diego we are awaiting a storm that is supposed to last most of the weekend but the only storm I want to see is the one the Broncos are going to bring to the Panthers. I don’t know why but I have a funny feeling about this game. I can’t put my finger on it but I believe that it centers around what this game might turn into. I have a feeling that its going to be a blow out. Either the Panthers are going to get their running game going and destroy the Broncos or Carolina is going to be sitting at the end of the game staring at the 30 points they lost by, shaking their heads, and saying “What happened?” Bill Cower made his comments that the Broncos could be the team to watch. Earlier this week Steve Young said the same thing. These are two very smart men who know the NFL on an academic level that few can compare with. It’s got me holding my breath as I begin to wonder “What if…?” Have a great game Denver and hammer those Cats!
Mike in San Diego
Congratulations to both Cutler & Clady!! It’s great to see one our lineman get recognized for all the hard work done in the trenches!!
GO BRONCOS!!!
detroit reggie…werent you the one that said we should trade cutler earlier this year?? hmmmm…ride that fence son! as for cutler and clady…PIMPS!!!
Clady will be an anchor on the o-line for many years to come. As long as jay continues to make good decisions and not force things we are unstoppable. So many weapons…….so many decisions!!!! This is my first blog. I Live in Greensboro NC and yes I will be in Charlotte supporting the ORANGE & BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Broncos for life!!!!!!!!! Lets Kick some Panthers !@#
xxgracegunnerxx: i also remember seeing someone or a few ppl saying get rid of cutler, dont worry though its like that around here. One day ppl will be calling for: Culters, Shanahans, Blys, Marshalls, and Websters heads, the next they’re their hero.. its amusing but really annoying
Clady, thanks for being humble and doing an outstanding job this season. Jay, you are an excellent QB with a bright future in the NFL. No your not perfect, but I think all the great QB’s were not perfect, rather play makers. You still make me nervous with some of your passes, but hey, that’s why I’m watchin from my sofa at home and your playin on the field. Great job guy’s.
As for Carolina, their defense has allowed the opposing offense to put up 400 + yards per game in the last 3. If our new and improved defense can shut down that running attack we can and will beat Carolina. The Panthers also go 3 and out very often and have a hard time sustaining offensive drives. When our defense smacks the RB’s in the mouth and is all over them, this will cause carolina problems. If you all notice Carolina wins on their big run plays, the opposing defense misses tackles, outta position and so on. Our guys swarm to the ball very well.
Our young defenders have done awesome in the absence of Champ and fellow starters. Yea, the defense is not in the top 10, but with the way they’ve improved and are playing with emotion, I see this young defense only getting better. I cannot wait to see some stout D-Tackles installed to push the opposing O line around and then, oh yes then, we will see a return to dominance by Denver Broncos football.
Our offense, what can I say, we will be down to yet another running back and a fill in. If Tatum doesn’t spend too much time dancing around, this could be a great audition for him the rest of the season. If he fumbles, dances around and keeps slipping I’m all for putting in Boyd. Boyd will have to play regardless, to spell Tatum. Keep healthy everyone we need you.
Any word on weather Champ will play or not?
GO BRONCOS, STOMP THEM CAT’s…….
Congratulations to both! During this up-and-down season, the O-line has been the only reliable part of the team – and much improved from last year. Just look at pass protection.
Does anyone have reliable statistical data on whether the shotgun formation reduces sacks? When I played QB (at rather modest level), I felt, that you pick up the situation on the field faster from the shotgun, but often, I lost splitseconds handling the ball off the snap (both – poor snaps and nervous hands). How does that work out in the NFL?
I am looking forward to Carolina. Not necessarily must-win, hence a great chance to beat the odds. Go Broncos!
both of those awards were well desrved…. congrats you two!
interesting to see what shapes up in the backfield for us this weekend….. I believe tatum will get the carries but i would really like to see what this Cory Boyd can do.
speaking of rankings,,,do the broncos defense still rank in the 20s??I’m ashamed at the NFL if it is so…The past six games (not counting Oakland) the defense was outstanding but I still hear so-called sports analysts and gurus (who may have not touched a football their entire lives) talk about other teams feasting on our 26 ranking defense…..then I thought about it,,its not bad to be the underdog with the underrated defense…we’ve thrived from that this whole season with teams completely underestimating the Broncos…
Clady is the Best!!Thanks for protecting Cutler all those games…
Gotta hand it to Jake Long, if it wasnt for him Pennington would be frequently on his @#$# from pressure….
personally, i hope tatum is not named as the starter this week! he has disappointed me in the past, however i think he will do fine in a backup/spell the starter type roll! i watched some you tube clips on cory boyd, and i must admit that some of it was pretty impressive!! he doesnt seem to be afraid of hitting someone, and i saw him on a screen play that gave me faith in his not quitting on a play! i also saw him hit some LB hard enough that i thought he may have killed him…. seriously!! so that in my opinion is at least worth giving him a serious look at starter! i think the question is how quick he can pick up our offense, and whether selvin is ready to play. his only down size in my opinion is that he only weighs in at like 213…. i wish he was more like 225…ish!
and now to our defense.. i would like to see DJ and Champ back for this game, but at the same time, i feel like there is a chemistry right now that im afraid to mess with. plus, i think we must keep woodyard on the field, and i dont like DJ at middle LB. he plays his best game on the outside! so i wonder how woodyard would do in the middle…. not sure it would work, but its an interesting thought! all that said, i do like the fact that NO ONE is picking us to win this weekend! we seem to thrive as underdogs, not to mention our record on the road! here’s to another “surprising” broncos win on the road!
GO BRONCOS
Tatum Bell will be the starter vs. the Panthers with Boyd/Young giving him some blows. Have faith in Bell, he knows our system and will get the job done. Selvin should be good to go provided he’s in football shape.
Good job Bronco fans! Seems like everytime a player from our team get nominated for something they win. Keep it up!
Chemaster, that is a great point. I have seen video of Mike Shanahan being asked about the shotgun for both Elway and Cutler. Part of the comments came from an NFL films spotlight of Shanahan called “Who is…?” Shanahan says that the shotgun serves several purposes for his QB’s. It does allow them to see the field with more clarity. To add to this; when Cutler uses a short snap count from the shotgun then it forces defences to reveal their intent as they line up. For those quarterbacks that can make their progressive reads it also allows them more time to do so. One of the reasons that Jake Plummer was not in the shotgun as much as Elway or Cutler was the fact that he couldn’t get through his progression. This resulted in the offense that Plummer was playing in during his last two seasons with Denver. If his primary was covered then he simply threw it away. The thing that has impressed me is Denver’s ability to gain positive yardage on running plays that come out of the shotgun. Historically, running out of the shotgun has less than a 17% chance of working but Denver’s passing game is so successful that it actually acts as a type of pass based play action. Statistically Cutler is actually better out of the shotgun than Elway was. This year Cutler is on pace for a 1.4 Percentage of time sacked and is 4.1% for his career. Elway’s career number was 5.2 but his best year (1995) he had a 3.9%. 1991 and ’92 were his worst years for being sacked as he held a 9.1 and 10.2% respectively. In those years Elway was also missing a credible running game and spent a lot of time in the shotgun. This also speaks to the incredible job that this years o-line has done. With the lack of a running game affecting the majority of Denver’s earlier games this year it is amazing that Cutlers sack numbers are not higher. One questions though; do you think that the trade off of extra time was worth the complications that sometimes accompanied the shotgun formation?
Mike in San Diego
I don’t know why Woodson keeps knockin’ us Broncos. He was raggin’ on Spencer Larsen’s election in week 11 also. How can anyone argue with us having been crowned Rookie of the Week four of the last five weeks, and having five overall, Dallas being the next closest with three? Clady being the first offensive lineman to EVER win the award is a first, and a huge accomplishment, and Woodson boo-ed him. And he must have something against Cutler too, because come on, Cutler’s been Air Player of the Week three times! He’s obviously still got some silver and black in his veins.
It’s a great time in the season for our rookies to be stepping up and showing they can stand out in this league. Yup, right when it matters. There’s some established franchise players that can’t even perform well in December!!! Yes…the rookies are getting comfortable. To all of you that have been watching closely this season, I guess I should say they’re getting MORE comfortable. Throughout this season we’ve constantly been treated to seeing our rookies step into our system and immediately excell. You can tell we’ve got some GREAT years ahead of us.
Get used to it Woodson.
Go Broncos!!!
i looked on espn and every1 there and every1 on the nfl site except td is pickin the panthers, thats ok they did that with the jets and look what happened! all i know is if the broncos follow their trend for the year the panthers are in alota trouble come sunday
GO BRONCOS!!!!!
Oh yeah the Panthers on going down. I can’t believe what all the nfl announcers are saying about Clady and Cutler winning rookie of the week, and air ground player of the week. “boo” and “I am disappointed with the nfl fans.” They must hate their confidence on the field, it’s unmatched.
Anyone know where to pick up one of those long sleeve jerseys Cutler, Williams and the rest of players are wearing? I would love to rock one of those out here in front of these Charger fans.
Ryan Clady at one side, and let’s not forget Ryan Harris who blocked for Brady Quinn in Notre Dame, on the other side. Our line is solid inbetween those 2 big fella’s. Man I know this is a Super Bowl team. I feel like there are a lot of people rooting for the Broncos this year too. How else would they get 4 out of the last 5 rookie awards? It seems like a lot more people are watching the broncos this year, and seeing how good they are and can be. I wish I could somehow help the team or even play out there for an injured player haha. I want them to win each week so bad!
GO BRONCOS!!!!
Has there EVER been a team with so many fantastic, award-winning rookie players? In ONE year? This is just awesome. Paired with Cutler cutting up the league, this is one of the best teams we’ve had in Denver! Keep it going guys!
I love it when those sports commentators diss the Broncos. All it does is fire the boys up. Go ahead, put a fire under their ass. It seemed to work well against the Jets, eh? Please , please don’t start tatum. Let another rookie have the chance. It seems to be working well for us. I know we are going to have to go with a rotation, but let someone who hasn’t had the chance to make their impression yet get a chance, Denver needs to come out flying…get an early lead and run the ball up Carolinas ass to keep them off of the field. We have exdraordinary tallent and we need to use all of it. Lets go get the win today and seal the deal for the playoffs- then we can re group and let shanny put that mind of his to work for whatever poor sole has to go up against us………LET’S GO BRONCOS!!!!
let them say what they want about the broncos, we havent lost a game this year going in the underdog, and i love how our run defence is so ‘terrible’ but yet we contain LJ, Turner, and (besides a few runs) Thomas in the last few weeks
Being a Brit I can remember our soccer equivalent to Woodson, Alan Hansen, saying that “you’ll never win anything with kids”. Manchester United then went on to win the League and Cup double with 5 players aged 21 and under including David Beckham.
The Bronco’s rookies this year remind me of that team, a team of great talent, heart, enthusiasm and confidence. For them to step up to the plate and perform so impressively after so many injuries is simply phenominal. These men can achieve so much and all your support will help them attain greatness.
Here’s is to the greatest supporters in American sport, and their magnificent team – THE DENVER BRONCOS.