NFL FanHouse http://nfl.fanhouse.com NFL FanHouse http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/media/feedlogo.gif NFL FanHouse http://nfl.fanhouse.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Hungry Broncos Shove Giants Asidehttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/27/hungry-broncos-shove-giants-aside/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/27/hungry-broncos-shove-giants-aside/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/27/hungry-broncos-shove-giants-aside/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Broncos beat GiantsDENVER -- When one team is angry and the other appears content, when one team can stay on schedule and the other is scattered, and when one team insists it is all about attitude when the other team mentions altitude, well, you get the pounding the Denver Broncos put on the New York Giants here at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium on Thanksgiving night.

The Giants were carved and shredded, 26-6. The Broncos made them look silly.

When there was a battle between receiver and defensive back, the Broncos won it. When there was a tussle to see which team would win the bruising running game, the Broncos won that, too. You pick it, Denver dominated it.
More: Check Box Score | NFL Network Sorry for 'Terrible Mistake'

Denver (7-4) had lost four straight games coming into Thursday, while the Giants (6-5) had snapped a four-game losing streak last Sunday when they beat Atlanta. This drubbing came out of the blue, according to Giants coach Tom Coughlin. He looked puzzled, hurt over his team being pushed around as if every one of his players were on roller skates.

The Giants gained three first downs in the first half, 38 total yards and trailed 16-0 at halftime. By game's end, the Broncos had outrushed the Giants 138 yards to 57, and had forced three Giants turnovers.

The effort came after the Broncos players had called a players-only meeting earlier this week.

"It was a real powerful meeting,'' said Broncos cornerback Ty Law, who played in his 200th regular season game, only the 11th NFL cornerback to do so. "You know, I just got here (Law signed as a free agent prior to Week 9), so, I didn't know if I should speak up. But then I figured, I've earned the right to speak in this league whenever I want and I am always going to call it like I see it. I think we were doing a lot of talking on the field in the last few games and we decided to cut that.

"We came out with passion and energy -- and together, in one single effort, where we were more punishing."
- Broncos CB Ty Law "You have to play your way to where you want to go in this league. A lot of times you have a clear-the-air meeting like that and it goes through one ear and out of the other, especially with younger players. It looked like it stuck. We came out with passion and energy -- and together, in one single effort, where we were more punishing.''

Maybe a Giants players-only pow-wow is in order now.

The Broncos set out to contain New York receiver Steve Smith, who finished with 71 receiving yards, and tight end Kevin Boss, who had just 22. They were intent on mauling the Giants running game. And quarterback Eli Manning would not be allowed to sit in the pocket -- the plan was to keep his feet moving, rush him, hit him, make him uneasy. Manning was sacked three times and did not throw a touchdown pass.

The Broncos outplayed the Giants individually and collectively. Brandon Marshall made a couple of stellar one-handed grabs on the Giants secondary, and Brandon Stokley scored on a 17-yard catch early in the fourth quarter -- on the play, he was the third receiver stacked to the right, came out of that cluster and did not find a single Giant near him for most of his catch-and-trot into the end zone.

What is alarming about this game for the Giants is the lack of physical play, the way they were outhit for four quarters. Even though the Giants won the third quarter, 6-0, the staple of this game was the way safety Brian Dawkins, linebackers D.J. Williams and Elvis Dumervil, offensive tackle Ryan Clady and so many other Broncos laid the wood on the Giants.

That is supposed to be the Giants calling card.



Coughlin said his team has been talking about this for some time now, how they are becoming a team that is toying with a primary ingredient that has long made the franchise special.

He said everyone involved with the Giants thought this was "going to be the night [they returned to that style], but it wasn't.''

This is a huge concern for the Giants, because it has now happened too many times this season. They have had too many games where, physically, they were simply shoved aside. Their line play on both sides has become inefficient.

"This just isn't us at all, to play this way,'' said cornerback Terrell Thomas, who made a third-quarter interception, six tackles and was one of the few Giants who rose his game to match the Broncos. "It was Thanksgiving night and we picked this game to show the nation watching that Giants football was back. And then we didn't even bother to show up. I don't know, we just didn't play Giants defense or offense.

"We've got some things to figure out.''

The Broncos can advise them on the blueprint -- it is not all about talk. It is about passion and energy and commitment. About attention to detail and desire.

All things the Broncos found in ending their ugly four-game slide.

Broncos coach Josh McDaniels offered timely perspective.

"We don't have guys that get down,'' he said. "The last four weeks in our building haven't been a funeral. We have great work ethic, great resolve. You want to put yourself in position after Thanksgiving to be able to compete to make the playoffs and that's what we hopefully have done. We have to play well from now on out, and we know that's the situation that every team is in, and we are embracing that situation.''

Hungry Broncos Shove Giants Aside originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Thomas GeorgeFri, 27 Nov 2009 02:10:00 EST NFL Network: We Made 'Terrible Mistake'http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/27/nfl-network-we-made-terrible-mistake/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/27/nfl-network-we-made-terrible-mistake/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/27/nfl-network-we-made-terrible-mistake/#commentsFiled under: ,

Josh McDanielsDENVER (AP) -- The NFL Network accidentally aired a vulgarity yelled by Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels as he chastised his players on the sideline of their Thanksgiving night game against the New York Giants.

Coming out of a commercial break following a series of false starts near the goal line that resulted in Denver settling for a field goal, the NFL Network showed a clip of McDaniels, who yelled at his players: "We're trying to win the [expletive] game!"

The vulgarity was clearly audible to viewers, and announcer Bob Papa immediately apologized to viewers.
More: Broncos Snap Losing Skid, Rout Giants

"We want to apologize for that audio as we went to the last break that got out over the air. We do send our sincerest apologizes for the Josh McDaniels audio that got out there," Papa told viewers.

In an interview with The Associated Press and the Denver Post, Eric Weinberger, executive producer of the NFL Network, apologized to viewers and to McDaniels for the "terrible mistake."

He said no one in the production trucks heard the profanity.

"No one heard it as it was said. It would never have been aired," Weinberger said. "It was at the end of a clip, so we missed it."


He said he heard the profanity at the same time everyone else did.

His reaction?

"I probably said the same thing" as McDaniels did, Weinberger acknowledged.

"We're not in this business to do that," Weinberger said. "We're in this business to show sports and to show the most emotion that we can show. And the guy is an incredibly emotional, passionate guy."

McDaniels wasn't miked. The audio was picked up by the NFL Network's cameras.

"It's amazing how aggressive the production is with microphones not even on the guys. We don't have wires on the guys," Weinberger said. "You're picking up ambient sound. If you're watching the game, you're hearing Kyle Orton calling audibles as the game's going on. He's not miked. It's the microphones that are on the sides that are picking up ambient sound."
Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us on Facebook

NFL Network: We Made 'Terrible Mistake' originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:02:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>FanHouse NewswireFri, 27 Nov 2009 00:02:00 EST Broncos Snap Skid With Rout of Giantshttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/26/broncos-get-back-on-track-roll-giants/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/26/broncos-get-back-on-track-roll-giants/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/26/broncos-get-back-on-track-roll-giants/#commentsFiled under: ,

Brandon StokleyDENVER (AP) -- The Denver Broncos still have their troubles with the red zone and yellow flags. The dark cloud that hung over them during their month of misery, though, is gone.

Kyle Orton drove them on six scoring drives, Matt Prater kicked four field goals and safety Brian Dawkins led a ferocious defense 48 hours after calling a players-only meeting, and the Broncos beat the New York Giants 26-6 Thursday night.

Elvis Dumervil dumped Eli Manning twice, extending his NFL-leading sack total to 14. Dumervil's second one came in the fourth quarter and resulted in a fumble that sealed Denver's first win since Oct. 19.
More: Check Box Score | Packers Roll | Austin Stars Again

Hosting their first Thanksgiving game since 1963 in the AFL, the Broncos returned to the physical style of play that marked their 6-0 start and ditched the sieve that was their defense during their four-game skid.

Behind three takeaways, the Broncos (7-4) halted their freefall and pulled within a half game of AFC West leader San Diego. New York (6-5), which snapped its four-game losing streak on Sunday, fell two games behind Dallas, which beat Oakland earlier Thursday, in the NFC East.

The Broncos outgained the Giants 213-38 in the first half but settled for field goals on three drives, including their first two trips inside the Giants 10-yard line as they continued their monthlong red zone struggles.

That led to an embarrassing mistake by the NFL Network, which accidentally aired a profanity from Broncos coach Josh McDaniels.

After reaching the 7, the Broncos settled for Prater's 22-yarder and a 3-0 lead.

Their second trip inside the Giants 10-yard line turned into a game of flag football as tight end Daniel Graham, left tackle Ryan Clady and center Casey Wiegmann all were whistled for false starts, and the Broncos sent out Prater for a 32-yarder that made it 6-0.

Coming out of a commercial break following that second field goal, the NFL Network showed a clip of McDaniels yelling at his players on the sideline saying, "All we're trying to do is win a [expletive] game!''

The vulgarity was clearly audible to viewers, and announcer Bob Papa immediately apologized to viewers.

In an interview with The Associated Press and the Denver Post, Eric Weinberger, executive producer of the NFL Network, apologized to viewers and McDaniels for the "terrible mistake.''

"It was on delay. We wish we would have caught it and bleeped it,'' Weinberger said. "We apologize for ever airing anything like that, absolutely, especially on Thanksgiving.''


Weinberger added, "Everyone [watching on TV] thought it was live because it was in live speed and it looked live. It came out of the truck. Honestly, we would never go live and raise audio levels on anyone live. On the sidelines, we would never do that. We came out of break and rolled it. It's a mistake. We are sorry.''

"It's the NFL Network,'' McDaniels said with a shrug and a smile. "Doesn't surprise me.''

McDaniels has shown emotion on the sideline before. He often tells his players and assistants to listen to the message and not the way it's delivered. He'll fist-up like Tiger Woods one game and curse to his guys the next.

"We're not in this business to do that,'' Weinberger said of the network's blunder. "We're in this business to show sports and to show the most emotion that we can show. And the guy is an incredibly emotional, passionate guy.''

Denver finally capitalized on its good field position after Dawkins recovered a fumble by backup running back Danny Ware, who was playing because Ahmad Bradshaw was inactive with a foot injury, at the Giants 38.

Brandon Marshall's leaping one-handed 28-yard catch set up Knowshon Moreno's 1-yard TD run that made it 13-0, and Prater added a 47-yarder to give the Broncos a 16-0 halftime lead.

The last time the Giants had gone into the locker room at halftime without any points was Jan. 8, 2006, in a wild-card playoff game against Carolina.

Lawrence Tynes kicked field goals of 39 and 52 yards in the third quarter to pull the Giants to 16-6, but Brandon Stokley's 17-yard TD catch from Orton made it 23-6 and Prater added a 24-yard field goal.

"We didn't have any tempo and we didn't make any plays,'' Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. ""We keep talking about winning the physical battle and controlling the line of scrimmage. We thought this would be the night and it wasn't.''

Moreno ran for 88 yards on 19 carries and would have had 34 more yards were it not for holding calls against the usually dependable Graham.

While some of the frustrations and faults linger - they committed eight penalties Thursday night - the Broncos, who entered November without a loss, saw to it that they didn't exit the month without a win.

Giants running back Brandon Jacobs said he wasn't worried after the team's fifth loss in six games.

"No, we've got a lot of talent and we know at some point it's going to pick up,'' he said. "We've got to really get our engine going for the next couple of weeks.''

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us on Facebook

Broncos Snap Skid With Rout of Giants originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Thu, 26 Nov 2009 23:37:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>FanHouse NewswireThu, 26 Nov 2009 23:37:00 EST Slumping Broncos Search for Answershttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/25/slumping-broncos-search-for-answers/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/25/slumping-broncos-search-for-answers/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/25/slumping-broncos-search-for-answers/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

Chris SimmsThe five stages of grief are being played out in NFL-mad Denver, where Broncos fans -- teased into believing a stunning 6-0 start had canceled out the challenges of a first-year head coach, new quarterback and assorted volatile team personalities -- are well into the process of re-evaluating a season gone horribly wrong.

Broncos players, many of whom came away from Sunday's disheartening 32-3 AFC West home loss to the San Diego Chargers embarrassed, confused and bickering, know they have to regroup in a hurry.

This was a short week, and a Thanksgiving Day game at Invesco Field looms against the revitalized New York Giants (8:20 p.m. ET). Both teams are 6-4, a game behind their division leaders, the Cowboys and the Chargers, respectively.

Both have been subjected to pride-swallowing four-game losing streaks.

Unfortunately for Denver, the run of futility is ongoing (New York broke its losing streak with a Week 11 overtime win over Atlanta). And unforgiving fans, many of whom streamed out of last Sunday's rout in the third quarter, don't figure to be empathetic if the Broncos lose control of another contest.

Or lose control among themselves.

Flashback to Sunday night: Wide receiver Brandon Marshall, not renowned for his self-control, went facemask-to-facemask with rookie Knowshon Moreno after the running back fumbled at the Chargers' goal line. Moreno responded with a two-handed shove and near-bedlam broke out.

Before kickoff of that game, rookie head coach Josh McDaniels, 33, got chippy with a Chargers defensive player who engaged him in some pre-game smack. McDaniels responded by saying that the Broncos "owned" the Chargers.

Sure they did, a month ago in San Diego, when the Broncos established themselves as a second-half power, outscoring opponents 76-10 in the final two quarters during their six-game winning streak.

"It's all fun and games. We didn't look much into it," said Chargers linebacker Shaun Phillips, who got his revenge by forcing a fumble when Broncos backup quarterback Chris Simms dropped back on his first pass attempt. "As a coach, I hope he has that [confident] mindset.

"But to say you own us? You beat us one time. How much has he really done in this league? He had a team 6-0, and how he's looking up at us, in second place."

Did the Broncos grow arrogant and complacent during the 6-0 run? Is McDaniels in over his head? Denver fans are certainly wondering those things. The coach, for instance, tried and failed with a curious onside kick attempt midway through the third quarter. That bit of cunning gave San Diego the ball at midfield and allowed Chargers coach Norv Turner to perform some trickery of his own: a flea-flicker from Philip Rivers to Antonio Gates was tossed to LaDainian Tomlinson for the running back's 147th career touchdown.

It's hard to believe the Broncos once maintained a 3 1/2 game division lead, for so much has changed. The Broncos' once top-ranked run defense is now 18th in rushing yards allowed per game (115.3) and no longer dominates opponents up front -- the Chargers ran for more than 200 yards against them. Quarterback Kyle Orton, battling a severely sprained left ankle that took more abuse when he took over for a struggling Simms in the second quarter, is likely one sack and pileup away from being sidelined indefinitely.

And there is this bit of ignominy hanging over McDaniels -- if the Broncos lose, he will have eclipsed longtime Denver coach Mike Shanahan, and not in a good way. In his 14 seasons as Broncos head coach, Shanahan never lost five consecutive games.

In Denver, where the Broncos are playing host to their first Thanksgiving Day game since 1963, it's Mile High time to regain some footing on the NFL season, and composure within the city's favorite team.

"We have to check it now," defensive end Vonnie Holliday said. "We have to come down fierce with it and with a hard fist. We're a blue-collar team. We're not filled with 10 or 12 Pro Bowl guys. The first six games of the season, we won games together, guys going out and putting it on the line. It wasn't always pretty and it's not going to be pretty.

"We have to find a way to claw back and get back into the game. Defensively, we have to do that. Guys are passionate. I understand. But you have to be smart about it."

Slumping Broncos Search for Answers originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Brandon MarshallDenver BroncosJosh McDanielsKnowshon MorenoKyle OrtonNew York GiantsShaun PhillipsVonnie HolliidayNancy GayWed, 25 Nov 2009 22:30:00 EST Orton's Return Opens NFL's Stretch Runhttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/ortons-return-opens-nfls-stretch-run/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/ortons-return-opens-nfls-stretch-run/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/ortons-return-opens-nfls-stretch-run/#commentsFiled under: ,

The NFL season officially hit the homestretch late in the second quarter in Denver on Sunday when Josh McDaniels, his Broncos trailing San Diego 13-0, inserted gimpy starting quarterback Kyle Orton for struggling backup Chris Simms.

Denver lost, 32-3, although the offense did get better with Orton leading it.

But that's not the point. The point is that McDaniels, whose team had lost three in a row coming in, felt Sunday's game was so critical that he needed to insert Orton and risk further injury to the ligaments in the QB's ankle, even with another game coming up in four days. It's like George Allen's old slogan for the Redskins of the 70s: "The future is now.'' Except that Allen's slogan worked a lot better than Orton worked for the Broncos -- he certainly was better than Simms, but it didn't matter much.

Regardless, the start of the stretch run came on a strange day, one in which the best game was the one that mattered least: Detroit's 38-37 last-play win over Cleveland after an end-zone pass interference call on a Hail Mary that kept the game alive. It's a call that's almost never made -- the officiating department has quietly made known to the zebras that they are to call interference on a desperation pass only when it's flagrant.

In this case, the replays showed it was pretty flagrant and two officials threw flags. And it capped a game that a lot of people expected to end 3-2 (hey, there was one safety), instead of the way it did. In fact, Cleveland's four offensive touchdowns were only one less than it had scored in its last 15 games combined. Yes, back to last season.

In any case, this is the way things look going into the final six games:

In the NFC, it probably will be a surprise if anyone but New Orleans and Minnesota play in the conference title game. Although upsets happen in the playoffs and teams that seem to be locks (the '07 Cowboys, for example) often aren't.

But both teams just seem better than everyone else. Yes, Arizona is reminding people that it's the defending conference champion. And if the Cowboys, Giants and Eagles get people healthy and/or figure out why they're stumbling around, they have enough talent to cause problems in the playoffs And, of course, there's always the injury factor -- scratch Drew Brees and/or especially 40-year-old Brett Favre, and the Saints and Vikings come back to the pretty mediocre pack.

But that's always true for any team. So put Arizona and one of the East teams in and assume the other East teams will battle with Green Bay and Carolina for a wild card. But this probably isn't an upset season.

The AFC is a little trickier, although with Pittsburgh losing games on special teams and with Ben Roethlisberger going down with a head injury, this looks like another down post-Super Bowl season for the Steelers. That leaves the three usual suspects for most of this decade: Indianapolis, New England and San Diego.

Throw in Cincinnati, which will win the North despite its stumble in Oakland on Sunday -- all four teams in the AFC North lost on Saturday, two of them to awful AFC West teams. That Bengals' loss was almost predictable given the potential letdown after a win in Pittsburgh and they still are 5-0 in the division. But they don't have the playoff experience to make the kind of run at the Colts, Patriots and Chargers.

Which gets us back to the Broncos, their 6-0 start now turned into 6-4. Given their division, they can regroup late and make the playoffs as a wild-card entry, but probably not much more.

And first ....

Let's see how Orton's ankle is on three days' rest.

Orton's Return Opens NFL's Stretch Run originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>ben roethlisbergerbrett favredrew breesjosh mcdanielskyle ortonDave GoldbergMon, 23 Nov 2009 02:00:00 EST Chargers Nearly Drive Broncos to Blowshttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/chargers-nearly-drive-broncos-to-blows/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/chargers-nearly-drive-broncos-to-blows/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/chargers-nearly-drive-broncos-to-blows/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Brandon MarshallDENVER -- Four consecutive losses have dropped the once impressive Denver Broncos into the middle of the AFC pack.

The San Diego Chargers (7-3) all but ensured they will win the AFC West with a 32-3 rout Sunday at Denver's Invesco Field, and only the second-quarter emergence of injured Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton off the bench sparked any life in the disillusioned home team.

Hobbling on a badly sprained left ankle, Orton was a better option than struggling backup Chris Simms, who started the game but almost immediately lost the ball on a sack and fumble and ultimately failed to move Denver's offense effectively.

With 4:10 left before halftime, Broncos first-year coach Josh McDaniels gave Simms the hook and called on Orton. The Invesco Field crowd roared its approval. Orton, who finished with 171 yards and an interception on 15 of 29 passing, fired off back-to-back long completions to Brandon Marshall and Jabar Gaffney, setting up a Denver 1st-and-goal at the 4-yard line.

Then ... disaster. And a potential rift to the once-chummy Broncos' team chemistry came out of the ensuing goal line pileup.

With the Broncos trailing 13-0, rookie running back Knowshon Moreno took a handoff from Orton and gained three yards before losing the football in a collision with Chargers defensive end Jacques Cesaire.

The turnover, which came just ahead of the two-minute warning, was reviewed and upheld. With that, Marshall -- the Broncos' volatile playmaker -- put his facemask directly into Moreno's facemask and let the rookie have it verbally.

Moreno physically pushed back, and two of the Broncos' most explosive players nearly came to blows. Afterward, both of them called it a momentary exchange of heated emotion. But neither offered an apology.

"I don't regret anything. This is a playoff game," said Marshall, who approached this contest that would break a first-place tie between the two division rivals as such. "This is probably the most frustrating game I've ever played in. I approached it like it was a playoff game. I'm frustrated that we lost.

"I think everybody needs to look at themselves first. I'm going back and looking at film from last year, see if I've changed anything, and go from there."

The Moreno fumble? "Those are plays that kill drives," Marshall said.

And what did Marshall tell Moreno when the two were facemask-to-faceask?

"That we need to pick it up."

Said Moreno, "Nothing big. But everyone was heated. Nothing long-term. Just heat of the moment."

More From NFL FanHouse
Graziano: Giants Still Have Issues
George: No Tears, Just Truth for Jets
Colts Defense Leads Them to 10-0
Stafford Guts Way to Detroit Win
Packers' Defense Hurting
Raiders Stun First-Place Bengals
Steelers' Special Teams Bomb
But Marshall, Denver's leading receiver who caught only three passes for 26 yards Sunday, admitted he was disappointed with what he felt was a lack of fire and passion from many of his Broncos teammates as San Diego got four field goals from Nate Kaeding and took further command in the second half.

"There were guys on the sideline that weren't angry, who didn't have a lot of emotion. And they need to look at themselves in the mirror," Marshall said. "This is a game where you've got to have it. And none of us can make any terrible plays."

The Broncos (6-4) would go on to make a bunch of them - three turnovers (two fumbles and the Orton interception) and countless offside and false start penalties that gave the surging Chargers, winners of five in a row, more momentum in an already lopsided affair.

Orton, who didn't practice all week after injuring his left ankle in Week 10's loss to the Redskins, came in Sunday listed as the No. 2 quarterback. Simms had replaced Orton at Washington but looked absolutely lousy doing it.

Simms, who got his first NFL start since rupturing his spleen in a 2006 game during his Tampa Bay Buccaneers' days, didn't fare much better Sunday, completing 2 of 4 passes for 10 yards and losing that first-quarter fumble at the Chargers 17-yard line on the Broncos' opening drive, following an 11-yard sack. San Diego then drove 69 yards to set up a 2-yard Philip Rivers touchdown pass to wide receiver Legedu Naanee.

Despite not being able to ignite the Broncos' offense, Simms admitted he was surprised to be yanked so soon.

"I was looking forward to [the start] and I felt comfortable out there," Simms said. "I know it was a little rocky start, but it's the NFL -- sometimes it does go rocky for a little bit. But I'll be OK and I'll continue to make myself better."

With Denver facing a short week before a Thanksgiving home game against the New York Giants, McDaniels said he had no regrets going with Simms as the starter -- and pulling him out as early as he did to go back to an injured Orton. Sensing a need to move out of the pocket-passing scheme with Simms and going to a shotgun offense with Orton went into McDaniels' decision making.

"We did a lot of decent things there early," said McDaniels, whose skidding team beat the Chargers 34-23 in San Diego on Oct. 19 and once held a 3 1/2-game lead in the AFC West. "Any time you get down there in the red zone four times and come away with three points ... I think we turned over the ball twice down there.

"Those are plays that if you make them, then you know you end up with points, maybe touchdowns and if you don't, obviously you have no momentum and you give away an opportunity."

So is Orton a Superman, or just a guy doing what the coach told him to do?

Adrenaline was a hell of a painkiller, Orton said.

"It helps. You forget about [the pain]," he said. "Guys did a good job of protecting me. I'm just thankful I didn't have to have anything set me back even more."

Others on the field could only admire Orton for his toughness, and respect his ability to make plays despite being in obvious pain at times.

"Kyle, he's very intelligent. He's really talented," Marshall said. "And he's our quarterback."

"I thought he played really well -- he obviously gave them a boost there for awhile," said Rivers, who completed 17 of 22 passes for a season-low 145 yards and one touchdown. "I told him, 'Hey, get healthy and get your guys going.' "
Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us on Facebook

Chargers Nearly Drive Broncos to Blows originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:24:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Brandon MarshallChris SimmsKnowshon MorenoKyle OrtonPhilip RiversNancy GaySun, 22 Nov 2009 22:24:00 EST Chris Simms to Start at QB for Broncoshttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/chris-simms-to-start-for-broncos-kyle-orton-listed-as-no-2/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/chris-simms-to-start-for-broncos-kyle-orton-listed-as-no-2/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/22/chris-simms-to-start-for-broncos-kyle-orton-listed-as-no-2/#commentsFiled under: ,

Chris SimmsDENVER -- Quarterback Chris Simms, who hasn't started an NFL game in three seasons, will take over for injured Kyle Orton today when the skidding Broncos (6-3) play host to the surging Chargers (6-3) for sole possession of first in the AFC West.

Orton sustained a severely sprained left ankle last week in Denver's 27-17 loss to Washington, leaving the game after the final offensive play of the first half. He hasn't practiced all week. After taking a last look at the former Bears starter, Denver coach Josh McDaniels made the decision Sunday morning to sit Orton. McDaniels is expected to activate rookie quarterback Tom Brandstater on the 45-man game day roster.

Orton will be listed as the No. 2 quarterback.

After the Broncos -- losers of three in a row after a 6-0 start -- dropped consecutive games against the Ravens and Steelers, Denver fans actually were calling for Simms to replace a struggling Orton. They may be re-thinking that after watching Simms' performance off the bench in Week 10.

He completed only 3 of 13 passes and tossed an interception that ultimately killed the Broncos' chances for a comeback. On 1st-and-10 at the Redskins' 46-yard line, Simms tried to go over the top to Brandon Marshall, who had caught two long scoring passes for Orton earlier. But DeAngelo Hall picked off the overthrown ball, setting up the Redskins' go-ahead touchdown.

The Redskins' game was Simms' first start since his days with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a fateful Sept. 24, 2006 appearance, when he sustained a career-threatening ruptured spleen against Carolina and underwent emergency surgery a day later to remove it. He remained on the Bucs' roster in 2007 but never took a snap.

Now he'll face a Chargers team that has won four games in a row.

Chris Simms to Start at QB for Broncos originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Chris SimmsKyle OrtonNancy GaySun, 22 Nov 2009 12:40:00 EST Unexpected Gift Rejuvenates Tomlinsonhttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/unexpected-gift-rejuvenates-tomlinson/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/unexpected-gift-rejuvenates-tomlinson/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/unexpected-gift-rejuvenates-tomlinson/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

LaDainian TomlinsonSAN DIEGO -- LaDainian Tomlinson's blessings simply flowed on Sunday. Two hours before his San Diego Chargers claimed a share of first place in the AFC West with a 31-23 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, the NFL's No. 3 all-time touchdown king received a gift from his wife, LaTorsha.

Tomlinson found it in front of his locker at Qualcomm Stadium, a decorative purple bag -- "TCU colors," he explained later -- tied with a bow. The attached note implored "Please Open Immediately - LaTorsha." Inside was a box, and what it contained was a pregnancy test. A positive test.

"My wife is pregnant," an emotional Tomlinson announced on a day when one of the NFL's greatest running backs reached two significant milestones: His season-high 96 yards on 24 carries pushed him past Thurman Thomas and Franco Harris for 12th place on the NFL's all-time rushing list with 12,145 yards.
More From San Diego: Brian Westbrook Suffers Another Concussion

And Tomlinson's two rushing touchdowns gave him 146 for his career, surpassing Marcus Allen for sole possession of third place on the all-time list.

Tomlinson was humbled by and appreciative of his football achievements Sunday -- not to mention the 6-3 Chargers' return to relevancy thanks to a four-game winning streak and quarterback Philip Rivers' career-best 80 percent completion percentage. Rivers was 20 of 25 for 231 yards and two touchdowns.

Tomlinson was also thankful San Diego will get a chance to break that division deadlock with the Denver Broncos -- losers of three in a row -- next Sunday at Invesco Field, and gratified that he was a key part of a victory that confirmed Rivers wasn't out of his mind a month ago when he proclaimed his San Diego team would erase Denver's seemingly insurmountable 3 1/2-game lead in the AFC West.

But that purple bag ...

"It was weird. I thought it was going to be a necklace or something," said Tomlinson, grinning widely. "But it was a pregnancy test in there. It was pretty special.

"Years ago, we lost a child so we've been trying again. God works in mysterious ways, and it's a blessing we're pregnant again."

Follow Nancy GayTomlinson and his wife, who were college sweethearts, already had a name for that baby. She was a girl, due in June 2005. Mckiah Renee's ultrasound picture was so special, L.T. carried it around with him everywhere. The couple eagerly decorated her baby room.

But when Tomlinson returned home from Hawaii following the '05 Pro Bowl, complications with the pregnancy stole Mckiah away from LaDainian and LaTorsha, who had wanted her so badly.

Sunday's news that another baby is coming, after so much heartbreak, was more than motivation for Tomlinson's milestone day. It was like a guiding hand lifting him past Eagles tacklers, and erasing the doubts of anyone who thought the 30-year-old former NFL rushing champion was past his prime.

"It absolutely was," he said, "because there is a special thing about having a child and your wife being pregnant. I can't explain it, but it was."

Tomlinson called LaTorsha as soon as he left the field, just after San Diego's defense held off a fourth-quarter charge by Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who threw a pair of touchdown passes in the final period to pull Philadelphia (6-4) to within a score of the Chargers, 28-23, with 7:18 remaining.

"I said 'You're amazing,' " Tomlinson told his wife, who had held back the news for five days. "I actually cried for about five minutes."

How will Tomlinson process everything that happened to him Sunday -- the baby news, the career achievements, the important Chargers victory in which he played such a significant role?

"I don't know. I'm thankful. I'm thankful," he said. "I'm just so excited."

Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us on Facebook

Unexpected Gift Rejuvenates Tomlinson originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Donovan McNabbladainian tomlinsonPhilip RiversNancy GaySun, 15 Nov 2009 22:00:00 EST Chris Simms Flops, Broncos Lose Againhttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/chris-simms-flops-broncos-lose-again/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/chris-simms-flops-broncos-lose-again/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/chris-simms-flops-broncos-lose-again/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Denver led Washington 17-14 when Chris Simms replaced Kyle Orton at quarterback, after Orton injured his ankle on the final offensive play of the first half. The Broncos picked up just three first downs the rest of the game, and the Redskins rallied for a 27-17 victory.

Simms, seeing his first meaningful action since suffering a serious spleen injury in 2006, completed just 3 of 13 passes and threw a very costly interception.

Denver has now lost three straight games since starting the season 6-0.
More: Check Box Score | Saints Stay Undefeated | Panthers Dump Falcons

With the clock winding down in the first half, Orton took off scrambling on a pass play deep in Washington territory. Redskins rookie Brian Orakpo hauled Orton down, and Denver's QB came up limping. He came back out with his team after halftime, and stood on the Denver sideline in full gear, but never reentered the game.

"I was hoping to come back out, and I just wasn't able to," said Orton, who hit on 11 of 18 passes for 183 yards before the injury.

Denver's first third quarter series started off well enough -- running back Knowshon Moreno broke off a couple of nice runs, Simms hit Brandon Marshall for a first down at the Redskins' 48, and it looked briefly like the Broncos might not miss a beat without Orton.

But three straight Simms incompletions killed that drive, and the Broncos went three-and-out on their next possession. After Washington tied the game at 17, Simms then made his worst mistake of the day. With Denver enjoying a 1st-and-10 at the Redskins 46, Simms tried to connect with Brandon Marshall -- who caught two long TDs from Orton earlier -- on a bomb. Instead, Simms horribly overthrew the pass, and it was intercepted by DeAngelo Hall.

Washington took the subsequent possession 60 yards for a go-ahead touchdown.
Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us on Facebook
Simms had thrown just two passes -- late in Week 17 last season for the Titans -- after having his spleen removed in an emergency procedure back in September 2006. Simms, then with Tampa Bay, took a hard hit in the second quarter of a 26-24 loss to Carolina, but played the remainder of the game. Afterward, he was taken to the hospital, where he underwent surgery.

Despite being on Tampa Bay's roster through 2007, Simms never played another snap for the Bucs.

In Simms' defense, Washington manhandled both Denver lines in the second half. Simms found himself under constant pressure -- he was sacked three times and chased from the pocket frequently -- while the Redskins rolled up 174 yards rushing, despite the absence of starting running back Clinton Portis.

Denver hosts San Diego next Sunday in a huge AFC West showdown. Orton was reportedly on crutches following the game, and his status for Week 11 is unclear.

"We'll see what happens with Kyle. If I get a full week of reps in practice under my belt, I'll be able to go next Sunday," Simms said.

Chris Simms Flops, Broncos Lose Again originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:10:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Chris SimmsChris BurkeSun, 15 Nov 2009 16:10:00 EST Big Ben, Steelers Strike in Second Halfhttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/10/big-ben-steelers-strike-in-second-half/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/10/big-ben-steelers-strike-in-second-half/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/10/big-ben-steelers-strike-in-second-half/#commentsFiled under: ,

Mike WallaceDENVER -- Maybe it took two quarters of getting acclimated to the Denver altitude, or perhaps the rust of a bye week left the Pittsburgh Steelers a bit sluggish out of the gate Monday night. But when the Steelers' defense and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger hit the field re-energized in the second half of what became a lopsided AFC battle against the Broncos, they hardly let the home team touch the football.

Roethlisberger threw three second-half touchdowns, the Steelers defense forced two of Kyle Orton's three interceptions, and Pittsburgh played its most complete 30 minutes of football this season, ultimately rolling to a 28-10 victory over the Broncos at a stunned Invesco Field.
More: No Ryan Clark, but Same Steel Curtain

"It was a tale of two halves," said Roethlisberger, who finished the night completing 21 of 29 passes for 233 yards and the three scores -- he also tossed a second-half interception -- but couldn't get his offense to sustain a drive beyond six plays in a sluggish first half. Pittsburgh led the Broncos 7-3 at the break. "The first half we didn't give our defense much rest, but we were able to keep them off the field in the second half."

And how. The Steelers (6-2) dominated time of possession in the second half, limiting Denver (6-2) to only 7:41 of offense in the final two quarters.

"We just kept pounding," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of his team's overpowering second-half performance. Tomlin is now 5-0 as a head coach on Monday nights.

With the victory, the Steelers became the third team this decade to reach 100 regular-season wins, joining the Indianapolis Colts (109) and the New England Patriots (108).

And they did it in large part with their opportunistic defense. Pittsburgh attacked Orton and converted two of his turnovers into quick touchdowns -- one, a 48-yard interception return to the end zone by safety Tyrone Carter; the other, a four-play touchdown drive following Troy Polamalu's fourth-quarter pick.

Not that Big Ben was perfect -- the Broncos forced a strip-sack in the third quarter at the Denver 46-yard line, and rookie linebacker Robert Ayers scooped up the loose ball for a 54-yard return and touchdown. Moments later, Denver cornerback Andre' Goodman intercepted Roethlisberger. Both were the kinds of plays that make some Steelers fans groan.

"In the second half we went to a no-huddle, and they only stopped us when we stopped ourselves when we had a fumble and an interception," Roethlisberger said.

One key for Pittsburgh in maintaining its amazing second-half ball control: The explosive play of second-year running back Rashard Mendenhall, who rushed for 155 yards on 22 carries.

"We feel like we have a balanced offense," Mendenhall said. "We feel like we can do whatever we need to do to win."

And rookie receiver Mike Wallace came up big Monday night, as well, making tough catches at his feet and finishing with 69 yards on four receptions, including a 25-yard scoring catch.

"He grows every week and keeps getting better," Roethlisberger said of Wallace, a third-round pick out of Mississippi. "He keeps improving on the little things that you don't expect a rookie to improve on."

Denver coach Josh McDaniels said Pittsburgh's second-half no-huddle scheme allowed the Steelers to develop some rhythm in the short passing game, which also helped the rushing attack find holes.

"Ultimately, Roethlisberger did a nice job of getting the ball to people that needed it, and they stayed balanced," said McDaniels, who got a combined 27 yards from his running back tandem of Correll Buckhalter and Knowshon Moreno. "We didn't."

Big Ben, Steelers Strike in Second Half originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Ben RoethlisbergerKyle OrtonRashard MendenhallRobert AyersTyrone CarterNancy GayTue, 10 Nov 2009 02:40:00 EST No Ryan Clark, but Same Steel Curtainhttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/10/no-ryan-clark-but-same-steel-curtain/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/10/no-ryan-clark-but-same-steel-curtain/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/10/no-ryan-clark-but-same-steel-curtain/#commentsFiled under: ,

Tyrone CarterDENVER -- Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark wasn't happy with coach Mike Tomlin's decision to deactivate him for Monday night's key AFC showdown against the Denver Broncos. So his team tried to alleviate some of the conflict Clark may have felt as a spectator.

The Steelers defense forced three Kyle Orton interceptions and Clark's replacement at free safety, Tyrone Carter, got two of them. Carter returned one of his picks 48 yards for a second-quarter touchdown, and Pittsburgh dominated the suddenly vulnerable Broncos, 28-10, at Invesco Field at Mile High.

Tomlin, whose team improved to 6-2, made the call to keep Clark in street clothes, mindful of the defensive back's previous medical emergency in the altitude in Denver two years ago. Clark has a rare form of sickle-cell trait that is aggravated by altitude.
More Coverage: Steelers Strike After Halftime

His ailment caused complications during an Oct. 27, 2007, game in Denver and Clark nearly died -- he had his spleen and gall bladder removed in separate operations and lost 30 pounds. Although Clark was medically cleared to play Monday night, teammates urged the safety to forgo this game and Tomlin -- who was deeply concerned for the player's health -- held him out.

"Some things are more important than football ... He's probably still hacked at me," Tomlin said with a laugh. "He understood where I was coming from. But it doesn't make it any easier. He's a competitor. He wants to play."

Carter, who has started five games this season -- four as an a injury replacement for Troy Polamalu -- said he was playing for his buddy, Clark, all the way. And the large contingent of Terrible Towel-waving Steelers fans who dotted the crowd of 76,716 at Invesco loved every bit of it.

"Ryan is like a brother to me, man," said Carter, a 10th-year veteran who got a hug from Clark on the sideline after his touchdown return. "We've been in this thing together for a long time. When he first got here, I welcomed him with open arms, just like he was my brother. The relationship we have now, the bond is so tight between all of us.

"To know that he couldn't play today and to know that he wanted to be out there [because] of the nature of his illness, I just wanted to make sure I went out there and played for him. Let him know, 'I'm out there for you, man.' "

Said Clark, "I might be like Wally Pipp. I better get back fast so that I don't lose my spot. He's a friend and a teammate, and he did an awesome job tonight. I'm proud of him."

The Steelers' sixth-ranked defense, which was No. 1 in the NFL against the run, shut down any hopes that the 6-2 Broncos had of going to the ground with Correll Buckhalter and Knowshon Moreno. Denver -- which has now dropped consecutive games, losing 30-7 to Baltimore in Week 8 -- was held to 27 rushing yards, and the two backs averaged just 1.9 yards per carry.

But it was the swarming Pittsburgh secondary, led by Carter's two picks and Polamalu's fourth-quarter interception at the Denver 25-yard line -- a turnover the Steelers quickly converted into a 25-yard Ben Roethlisberger touchdown pass to rookie flanker Mike Wallace -- that decided this pivotal AFC battle. Roethlisberger completed 21 of 29 passes for 233 yards and three touchdowns, although he had a second-quarter sack and fumble converted into a 54-yard touchdown return by Broncos rookie linebacker Robert Ayers.

Orton, who had thrown only one interception before Monday night's meltdown, has been forced to throw more as opponents clamp down on the Broncos' ground attack. And that has led to the kinds of mistakes he once made with the Chicago Bears.

"We went back to the film when he was with Chicago, and he threw a lot of picks there," said Clark, who found out midweek that he would get the start for Clark. "We saw that guys had opportunities earlier this season to make picks but they dropped them.

"He always keeps his eyes on his target -- he doesn't fake you out too much like Brett Favre or Tom Brady or some of the other veteran [quarterbacks]. He'll lock in on his receivers a lot."

Orton completed 23 of 38 passes for 221 yards. He said his back-to-back struggles against the Ravens and Steelers proved that the once 6-0 Broncos can't afford to have these breakdowns if they hope to hold off the surging San Diego Chargers in the AFC West. The top teams in the division clash on Nov. 22 in Denver.

"They [Pittsburgh and Baltimore] are two good defenses, and certainly when you play those guys, the margin for error is very small," Orton said. "You have to get all 11 guys on the same page and execute for 10, 11 plays in a row. We haven't been able to do that for one reason or another, and we have to get it back on track. As a quarterback, I put it on myself.

"It is my offense, and I will get it back on track."

No Ryan Clark, but Same Steel Curtain originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Kyle OrtonRyan ClarkTroy PolamaluTyrone CarterNancy GayTue, 10 Nov 2009 01:55:00 EST Monday Night Football Live Chat: Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncoshttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/09/monday-night-football-live-chat-pittsburgh-steelers-at-denver-b/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/09/monday-night-football-live-chat-pittsburgh-steelers-at-denver-b/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/09/monday-night-football-live-chat-pittsburgh-steelers-at-denver-b/#commentsFiled under: , ,


The surprising Denver Broncos already have wins over Dallas, New England and San Diego. So the question remains: How many more times do the surprising AFC West leaders have to prove themselves?

At least once more, it seems. After falling back to Earth with a 30-7 loss at Baltimore last week, the Broncos -- with San Diego closing fast in the standings -- host the defending Super Bowl champion Steelers on Monday night. Come enjoy the ballgame with us in our live chat. Festivities begin at 8:15 PM.

Monday Night Football Live Chat: Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:20:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Chris BurkeMon, 09 Nov 2009 19:20:00 EST FanHouse Preview: Steelers at Broncoshttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/09/fanhouse-preview-steelers-at-broncos/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/09/fanhouse-preview-steelers-at-broncos/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/09/fanhouse-preview-steelers-at-broncos/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Denver BroncosThe Denver Broncos, the 2009 NFL season's early Cinderella story, ran out of magic in a 30-7 Week 8 shellacking at Baltimore. Now, despite their 6-1 record and first-place standing in the AFC West, folks are wondering(again) if the Broncos' hot start was just a mirage.

The Chargers, fresh off a win over the Giants on Sunday, are finally making some noise in the division. Denver also made what could be seen as a desperation move this week, signing 35-year-old cornerback Ty Law after the Ravens' Joe Flacco had a field day against the Broncos' secondary.

Denver is even a home underdog Monday night as Pittsburgh comes in -- but the Steelers have issues of their own. Despite a four-game winning streak, the defending Super Bowl champs have plenty of question marks. They'll enter the Mile High City a game behind Cincinnati in the AFC North, and with a still clunky-at-times offense and banged-up defense.

Three Key Questions:

1. Will the Broncos' front four be able to contain Ben Roethlisberger?

2. Can Kyle Orton protect the ball against Pittsburgh's blitzing defense?

3. Is either team going to have success running the ball?

Player in the Spotlight: Tyrone Carter. Pittsburgh will be without starting safety Ryan Clark, who suffers from sickle cell and had major health issues after his last attempt to play in Denver. So Carter, Troy Polamalu's fill-in after Polamalu injured his knee earlier this season, figures to slide into the starting lineup. That means Carter will be responsible for preventing any Denver home runs -- with Polamalu's penchant for blitzing and attacking the line -- and the Broncos might try to stretch the field with Eddie Royal and Brandon Marshall. Pittsburgh's defense makes it very tough to put together long, methodical drives, so Denver will try for a few big plays.

Pittsburgh's Path to Victory: The Steelers just need to keep doing what they've been doing. Have they been flawless during their four-game win streak -- with victories over San Diego, Detroit, Cleveland and Minnesota? Absolutely not. In every game but the matchup with the Browns, Pittsburgh's nearly coughed up a lead late. But, even without Clark, Lawrence Timmons and Travis Kirschke, all defensive starters, Pittsburgh should be able to get pressure on Orton and maybe even force a mistake or two. Offensively, the running back combo of Rashard Mendenhall-Willie Parker needs to find at least some room -- say, close to 100 yards combined -- to keep Roethlisberger from getting hammered all game.

Denver's Path to Victory: If this becomes a shootout, Denver will be in trouble. Playing at home, in front of a ravenous Monday night crowd, the Broncos have to play to their strengths -- and they may not have a bigger one than their incredible pass rush. Denver's third in the league with 23 sacks, 10 courtesy of Elvis Dumervil. And with Pittsburgh's constant issues on the offensive line, that total figures to rise. But the Broncos have to get it done without needing linebackers and cornerbacks to join the rush. Pittsburgh's talked about using a no-huddle, spread offense frequently this week, and Denver will have enough trouble covering the Steelers' plethora of weapons without committing extra guys to blitzes. If Denver can keep Pittsburgh's offense frustrated, and get its own running game going early, it will be tough for the Steelers to win.

Prediction: Steelers fans are always within reach of the panic button, and Cincinnati's rise doesn't help there. The Bengals visit Pittsburgh next week, but with Cincinnati already holding a win over the Steelers this season, if the champs lost this week and next, winning the AFC North would be extremely difficult. Win or lose, Denver's in decent shape, though its schedule cranks up following a Week 10 visit to Washington. This is a great matchup -- two good, hungry teams with outstanding defenses, struggling running games and enough firepower to put some points on the board. Denver might not be a flash in the pan, but it's hard to pick against the Steelers. Pittsburgh 24, Denver 21

FanHouse Preview: Steelers at Broncos originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Ben Roethlisbergerelvis dumervilKyle OrtonRashard MendenhallWillie ParkerChris BurkeMon, 09 Nov 2009 16:45:00 EST Broncos Sign Veteran CB Ty Lawhttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/07/broncos-sign-veteran-cb-ty-law/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/07/broncos-sign-veteran-cb-ty-law/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/11/07/broncos-sign-veteran-cb-ty-law/#commentsFiled under: ,

Ty LawIn a move that came a bit out of the blue, the Broncos waived 24-year-old cornerback Jack Williams and signed 14-year vet Ty Law.

Denver rookie head coach Josh McDaniels didn't mess around after Baltimore shredded Denver 30-7 last week -- the Broncos' first loss of the year. Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco went 20 of 25 through the air in that game, and as Jeff Legwold of the Denver Post points out, 12 of 15 against Denver's nickel defense.

McDaniels said Saturday that he hopes Law can play Monday night when Denver hosts Pittsburgh.

"They're trying to get me ready to play this week in a limited fashion," Law said. "I did it last year."

Law played the last seven games of the 2008 season with the Jets. He's no longer the shutdown cornerback he once was, but he figures to slide right into Denver's nickel and dime packages, where Williams and rookie Alphonso Smith have been seeing time.

Law also adds another former New England face to Denver's roster -- McDaniels spent eight seasons as a coach with the Patriots and opted to bring in someone he's familiar with, a strategy that's been frequently used by Bill Belichick proteges around the league.

"He gives us some depth at corner. He played obviously a long time in this league. He knows how to play inside, outside and he's in good shape and ready to go," McDaniels said. "We feel like hopefully it will take us take a step forward."

Denver might need Law's veteran savvy Monday. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has pressed all week to utilize the no-huddle offense more, meaning that Pittsburgh will try to spread things out and force the Broncos into pass defense situations. We'll have to wait and see how much Law can contribute after sitting on the sidelines all season.

Broncos Sign Veteran CB Ty Law originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:25:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Chris BurkeSat, 07 Nov 2009 12:25:00 EST Between the Lines: Which Tackles Are Starring and Which Are Struggling?http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/22/between-the-lines-which-tackles-are-starring-and-which-ones-are/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/22/between-the-lines-which-tackles-are-starring-and-which-ones-are/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/22/between-the-lines-which-tackles-are-starring-and-which-ones-are/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Jordan GrossAs we have done since the FanHouse began, I'll be taking a look every week at some aspect of line play. You can read more features in the series here. Check back every Thursday for a new Between The Lines.

If you're a reasonably diligent football fan, it's pretty easy to follow which running backs, quarterbacks and wide receivers are living up to their reputations -- you just check the stats. It's not as easy, but you can also get a pretty good sense of which pass rushers are having big years, by checking out the sacks.

But when it comes to evaluating offensive linemen, it's a lot tougher to know which blockers are starring and which ones are living off reputation.

After logging 401 sacks this season, it's time to start diving into the numbers to try to get a better sense of who has stood out this year.

Thanks the Sunday Ticket Shortcuts and the NFL's easily available gamebooks, I've watched and re-watched all but two of the 401 sacks that have taken place this season in the NFL (thanks to CBS' technical screw-up five minutes of last week's Redskins game was lost forever).

I've logged how many rushers were sent on the play, who gave up the sack, the down and distance, how long the quarterback held the ball before the sack and who was responsible for the sack. Thankfully on most sacks the culprit is pretty clear. Usually it's a sacker simply lining up and beating the man trying to block him. On other plays it can get more difficult, as a blitzer will come free or a stunt will lead to a missed hand-off from one offensive lineman to another. In those cases, I've assigned the block to the blocker most likely to have been responsible for the rusher. If two blockers were both responsible, I assigned them each half a sack. And if the quarterback ran his way into a sack or a play call left no blocker with a chance to block the sacker, that sack was logged as the responsibility of the quarterback or play call (roughly 80 of the 401 sacks fall into that category).

So lets take a look at which offensive tackles have given up the most sacks. Eventually we'll list every offensive linemen, but considering how many centers and guards are still without a sack allowed, that can wait a couple of weeks. But if you're an offensive tackle who has played every week without giving up a sack, you're putting together a pretty impressive season.

OFFENSIVE TACKLES
SACKS ALLOWED
Allen Barbre Green Bay 6
Levi Brown Arizona 5
Jordan Gross Carolina 5
Daryn Colledge Green Bay 5
Jeff Backus Detroit 4
Erik Pears Oakland 4
Duane Brown Houston 4
Demetrius Bell Buffalo 4
Winston Justice Philadelphia 3.5
Stephen Heyer Washington 3.5
Jeromey Clary San Diego 3.5
Max Starks Pittsburgh 3.5
John St. Clair Cleveland 3.5
Ray Willis Seattle 3
Phil Loadholt Minnesota 3
Michael Roos Tennessee 3
Marcus McNeill San Diego 3
Mike Gandy Arizona 3
Kyle Williams Seattle 3
Jake Long Miami 3
Flozell Adams Dallas 3
Eben Britton Jacksonville 3
Donald Penn Tampa Bay 3
Andrew Whitworth Cincinnati 3
Anthony Collins Cincinnati 3
Ryan Harris Denver 2.5
Michael Oher Baltimore 2.5
Chris Samuel Washington 2.5
Brandon Albert Kansas City 2.5
Vernon Carey Miami 2
Ryan Clady Denver 2
Jeremy Trueblood Tampa Bay 2
Joe Thomas Cleveland 2
Jeff Otah Carolina 2
Jermon Bushrod New Orleans 2
Chris Williams Chicago 2
Chad Clifton Green Bay 2
Bryant McKinnie Minnesota 2
Brandon Frye Seattle 2
Mario Henderson Oakland 1.5
D'Brickshaw Ferguson N.Y. Jets 1.5
Tra Thomas Jacksonville 1
Sam Baker Atlanta 1
Ryan O'Callaghan Kansas City 1
Nick Kaczur New England 1
Kareem McKenzie N.Y. Giants 1
Jason Peters Philadelphia 1
Jon Jansen Detroit 1
Jared Gaither Baltimore 1
Eric Winston Houston 1
Damien Woody N.Y. Jets 1
David Diehl N.Y. Giants 1
Cornell Green Oakland 1
Brad Butler Buffalo 1
Adam Goldberg St. Louis 1
Alex Barron St. Louis 1
Orlando Pace Chicago 0.5
Jonathan Scott Buffalo 0.5
Willie Colon Pittsburgh 0
Tyson Clabo Atlanta 0
Sean Locklear Seattle 0
Ryan Diem Indianapolis 0
Matt Light New England 0
Mark Colombo Dallas 0
Jonathan Stinchcomb New Orleans 0
Ichekuku Ndukwe Kansas City 0
David Stewart Tennessee 0
Charlie Johnson Indianapolis 0
If you're a Packers fan, it probably won't surprise you to see a pair of Green Bay offensive linemen near the top of the list for sacks allowed by tackles.

But no one expected Packers right tackle Allen Barbre or fill-in tackle Daryn Colledge to be anything more than adequate. Barbre is truly the Packers' weakest link now that Chad Clifton is back at left tackle. And as we documented last year, Cardinals right tackle Levi Brown struggles with pass blocking, so seeing him near the top of the list is almost to be expected.

But seeing Panthers' franchise player Jordan Gross among the list of shame is pretty shocking. It seems Julius Peppers isn't the only Panthers star who has struggled at times this year. Gross had a disastrous three-sacks-allowed game against the Redskins as Andre Carter beat him a couple of times on simple speed rushes around the outside. One of those five sacks came when he appeared to miss his assignment on an overload blitz by the Eagles, but he's also been beaten multiple times one-on-one.

At the other end of the spectrum, Indianapolis has allowed only two sacks all season and neither has been allowed by an offensive tackle. The Falcons have also allowed only two sacks -- both in the season opener against the Dolphins. Part of that can be credited to Matt Ryan's quick release, but Tyson Clabo (0 sacks) and Sam Baker (1 sack) also deserve lots of praise.

It's also impressive to see Steelers right tackle Willie Colon among the unblemished. Colon has had pass protection problems in the past (6.5 sacks last year), but he's shown significant improvement this season.

Here are some other notes from watching the lines for Week Six.

-- There is a lot of legitimate criticism of Andy Reid's decision to forget the running game in the Eagles' shocking upset loss to the Raiders. But it's nearly as surprising that the Raiders' leaky offensive line was able to handle the Eagles' pass rush. Oakland's line has had lots of turnovers this year -- three diferent players have started at left guard, there have been two different centers and two different right tackles. Erik Pears, the fill-in left guard and right tackle, has been a weak link with four sacks and the Raiders need to work on their backs blitz pick-up -- the running backs are responsible for four sacks -- but left tackle Mario Henderson (1.5 sacks allowed) is giving the Raiders their first solid play at left tackle in years.

-- The Kansas City Chiefs may need to rethink some of their blocking schemes. Tight end Sean Ryan gave up his fifth sack of the season on Sunday against the Redskins. No other tight end in the league has given up more than two sacks this year.

It's hard to blame Ryan too much for this. He's given up sacks to Osi Umenyiora, Brian Orakpo and Juqua Parker. It's hard to ask a tight end to adequately block three of the better pass rushers in the NFC East. Ryan bounced round to three different teams last year, so he's fortunate to have a starting job, but the Chiefs are asking him to do things that he's not really capable of doing when they ask him to handle defensive ends one-on-one.

-- There's been a lot of explanations given for the Broncos' amazing defensive turnaround. And there are a lot of good reasons to explain why the Broncos have gone from 29th last year in yards allowed to second this year.

You can credit new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan first of all for giving the defense an identity. Last year the Broncos switched back and forth between the 3-4 and the 4-3 like they were changing socks. And even when they did go with the 3-4, they did it with undersized linebackers like Boss Bailey while asking undersized defensive ends like Elvis Dumervill to play up on the line.

This year Nolan has made them a 3-4 team with an identity, and he's done an excellent job of getting pass rushers like Dumervill into situations to create havoc.

But what stood out against the Chargers was Nolan's clever use of delayed blitzes. You don't often see delayed blitzes because they usually take too long to develop pressure against the fast-paced NFL offenses. You have to time it perfectly -- rush too soon and the offense can adjust to pick up the second blitzer, rush too late and it doesn't even matter.

But Nolan pulled out the delayed blitz in perfect situations against the Chargers. San Diego likes to throw deep to Vincent Jackson and the rest of their crew of tall receivers, so the delayed blitz has a little more time to reach Phillip Rivers.

It worked three different times against the Chargers. On the first sack, defensive back Andre Goodman waited until a linebacker had fully occupied the Chargers tailback serving as the quarterback's last line of defense. By delaying his rush, Goodman got a free rush at Rivers for an easy sack. The same approach worked later for a sack by linebacker D.J. Williams. It also worked to a degree on the Broncos' last sack of the night, although defensive linemen Darrell Reid simply beat Louis Vasquez for the sack.

Between the Lines: Which Tackles Are Starring and Which Are Struggling? originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Between The LinesJordan GrossJJ CooperThu, 22 Oct 2009 14:45:00 EST Thriving Denver D Brings Back the Sackhttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/21/thriving-denver-d-brings-back-the-sack/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/21/thriving-denver-d-brings-back-the-sack/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/21/thriving-denver-d-brings-back-the-sack/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Denver BroncosSAN DIEGO -- Outside linebacker Elvis Dumervil set aside any doubts that the 2009 Broncos' astonishing turnaround isn't legitimate on Monday night when he leveled Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers a second time in the contest, helping punctuate a 34-23 division victory that gave undefeated Denver a stranglehold on the AFC West.

With that, Dumervil had his NFL-leading 10th sack, putting him on pace to surpass Michael Strahan's single-season record of 22 1/2.

"It's hard to get to 10 [sacks]," said Dumervil, who was surrounded in the crowded visitors' locker room at Qualcomm Stadium by teammates hooting and calling him the next Strahan. "Every sack guy knows it's hard to get to double digits.

"But this ... it's a new team, a new regime, and everything is new. We're just trying to innovate. We're trying to build a brand of football here, what we want to be as the Denver Broncos."

It's not easy building a 6-0 record -- but it's a lot more feasible with plays like inside linebacker D.J. Williams' fourth-quarter, 11-yard sack of Rivers, and linebacker Darrel Reid's drilling Rivers in the game's final minutes for the team's fourth sack. Rivers lost the ball on both hits.

They've crafted a defensive masterpiece in Denver, and the art of the sack is on full display. The Broncos are tied with the Vikings for the NFL lead with 21 total; in 2008, Denver had 26 sacks the entire season.

It's quite a renaissance from the past few years, when Denver's defensive units were among the NFL's worst. In 2008, Denver's defense surrendered 28.0 points per game (30th overall). Now the Broncos are the league's stingiest team, allowing only 11.0 ppg.

"What you're seeing out there are a bunch of guys just playing for each other," said Williams, one of the three holdovers from last season [along with Dumervil and cornerback Champ Bailey] on a defense that features eight new starters in 2009. "The last few years we weren't successful, for whatever reason it was.

"This year, we changed a lot of things around, our philosophy, our scheme, changed a lot of players. It's working. It's productive. You can't really go against it, because it's working."

Is it as simple as making the head coaching switch from veteran Mike Shanahan to the fresh face and message of Josh McDaniels, 33, and the subsequent hiring of defensive specialist Mike Nolan as coordinator?

"That part of it, but it's so much more," said former NFL personnel executive Michael Lombardi, who spent the 2007 season with the Broncos as an advisor and is now an NFL Network analyst and columnist for National Football Post. "They also changed the scheme and stuck to the 3-4, rather than switching back and forth. They brought in a lot of new players -- smarter guys who understand how to play the game of football. They're just solid players who know what the game is all about and what it takes to be successful."


Newcomers such as veteran safety Brian Dawkins, cornerback Andre' Goodman, safety Renaldo Hill and nose tackle Ronald Fields epitomize these types of intelligent leaders.

When McDaniels was hired last Jan. 12 after spending the past eight seasons with the Patriots -- and rising to become Bill Belichick's trusted offensive coordinator -- he knew the Broncos' pitiful defense was only one of many areas in need of an overhaul.

"There were so many things we weren't doing well, in every phase -- offensively, defensively -- we were bad in a lot of areas," McDaniels said. "It just started with hiring a good staff. That was No. 1 on the list. Mike's [Nolan] obviously done a great job with his staff, and the coaches have done a nice job of getting their players ready and prepared.

"And we made the decision to go to the 3-4 system, which is really my background. Mike, of course, is versed in both or either. We could have gone in another direction, but we just felt like, with where we were at, we wanted to go ahead and make that transition quickly and try to get as far as we could by the time the season came around."

Monday night, the Broncos blitzed Rivers continuously, keeping one of the NFL's strongest and toughest quarterbacks under siege. But a lot of the straight pressure masquerades as blitzing, which keeps offenses off-balance. Denver's swarming attack neutralized the Cowboys' Tony Romo and New England's Tom Brady as well, so it's pretty darn effective.

"I don't know the exact percentage that we're blitzing," McDaniels said, "but we've actually created blitzing without blitzing ... I think that's a combination of good coverage and great effort up front. It isn't every time that we have a free run at the quarterback because we brought one more guy that they can block. That really hasn't happened much all year."

Dumervil, for example, often gets matched up against a blocking fullback or running back in Nolan's scheme and he typically wins that battle. Williams calls the signals for the group. The push up front has made the secondary effective again. And much of what Denver does defensively is just sound tackling and powerful hitting.

In the 17-10 Week 4 victory over the Cowboys, Williams made a crushing fourth-quarter tackle of Dallas receiver Roy Williams that looked like a full-body clothesline hit to the big receiver's midsection. Williams the receiver crumpled to the Invesco Field turf in obvious pain with three injured ribs and cartilage damage. He didn't return.

"Never in my life have I ever been hit like that, from Pop Warner through my six years in the league," said Roy Williams, describing the blow.

Said McDaniels, "D.J. is just a very good linebacker. The weak-side of a 3-4, some people think that the ball runs away most of the time ... but D.J. has some coverage responsibility and he's capable of doing that. We've done a decent job of mixing that up. We've blitzed some and created some problems in the backfield.

"And when he has a chance to run and get to the ball carrier where it's tough for somebody to get a body on him, he usually makes the tackle. And that's the sign of a good linebacker, when somebody is struggling to get onto you and because of that you're making a bunch of tackles, you're a dependable player and that's what he's shown the first four weeks."

A McDaniels/Nolan blitz is not a four-man break. "No, it's five. It's gotta be one more than a four-man rush," McDaniels said.

As they bask in the glow of a 6-0 record and enjoy their bye, the rest of the NFL has to wonder: Can the Broncos continue at this pace defensively?

"I had that same question after Week 1," Nolan, the former 49ers head coach, said with a laugh. "But it's pleasing that we're able to help the football team win, rather than hope the offense can overcome you. Our players take a lot of pride in it -- Elvis Dumervil is doing a good job, as well as many other players. Our secondary is experienced, very professional. Hopefully we just keep this going.

"If you ask me that question again in Week 16, then I'll give you a better answer."

Thriving Denver D Brings Back the Sack originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:05:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Champ BaileyD.J. WilliamsElvis DumervilJosh McDanielsMike NolanRonald FieldsNancy GayWed, 21 Oct 2009 21:05:00 EST Zebra Report: A Good Ejection, Bad Reviews and Seeing the Whole Playhttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/20/zebra-report-a-good-ejection-bad-reviews-and-seeing-the-whole/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/20/zebra-report-a-good-ejection-bad-reviews-and-seeing-the-whole/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/20/zebra-report-a-good-ejection-bad-reviews-and-seeing-the-whole/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Zebra Report is FanHouse's analysis of actual NFL rules and how they are to be applied ... because most fans think they could do a better job than the NFL officials, yet definitely could not. Click here for an introduction as to how we do things.

I'll agree with the defenders of Dante Wesley on one front, but just one: he hasn't made a career out of being a dirty player. Sunday, though, he was. What Wesley did, whether intentional or not, was one of the most egregious things I've ever seen done on a football field. Honestly, I didn't even think I'd have to cover it for Zebra Report, but I've seen so many absolutely appalling arguments in defense of Wesley on comment boards across the internet, that I feel I have to. It's simply mind-boggling (and, as a football fan, a bit embarrassing) that some people seriously think his hit was, or should have been, legal.

The kick-catching interference call by the officials was a no-brainer. They'll never have to make an easier call. I want to give them kudos for ejecting him. That's a total judgment call and I believe it to be the right one. I don't care if he "didn't mean to" hit Clifton Smith before the ball arrived or not. That's like saying you didn't mean to punch someone in the face. He still did it.

Anyway, on to the rules. I can't believe I have to do this, but the fact that Smith didn't call a fair catch is irrelevant. I keep seeing Wesley defenders post some derivative of "he should have called fair catch" or "the referees called fair catch infraction" Um ... he has protection anyway and no they didn't. If that's what the official said, he misspoke. The penalty is called "kick-catching interference." Here:

Rule 10-1: Article 1 During a scrimmage kick that crosses the line of scrimmage, or during a free kick, members of the kicking team are prohibited from interfering with any receiver making an attempt to catch the airborne kick, or from obstructing or hindering his path to the airborne kick, and regardless of whether any signal was given.

Item 1: Contact with Receiver. It is interference if a player of the kicking team contacts the receiver, or causes a passive player of either team to contact the receiver, before or simultaneous to his touching the ball.

As far as the ejection, you can use these two items:

Rule 12-2-8 (it is unnecessary roughness for ... ) (e) unnecessarily running, diving into, cutting, or throwing the body against or on a player who (i) is out of the play or (ii) should not have reasonably anticipated such contact by an opponent, before or after the ball is dead; or throwing the runner to the ground after the ball is dead;

Rule 3-6 (players can be disqualified for ... ) (b) flagrant roughing of a kicker, passer, or any other opponent (12-2-6 and 12-2-12);

I know this is technically a judgment call and I've said I won't be making these statements this year, but this play was so flagrant I feel compelled to break my own rule and say it was the correct judgment.

Finally, the worst argument in the history of arguments is the whole "this is football, not soccer" one. Punt returners have always had protection against a hit like this. Go whine about how "real men" played football back in the 1970s if you want, but you need to ask punt returners from the '70s if they were protected against hits like this: because they were. This isn't an opinion, it is a fact. Thus, if you disagree, you are wrong. There are no two ways about it. Period. Are we clear?

There, now that I've got that off my chest, we can move on.

- Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted this paragraph on the Rams-Jags game's officiating in his post-game thoughts.
* The officiating was incoherent Sunday. They got it wrong on a couple of pass interference calls against the Rams. Even when referee Jeff Triplette had a chance to review an onfield mistake - the sideline catch by Holt - he still got it wrong and didn't reverse the ruling on the field. NFL officials, for the most part, are frontrunners. (I apologize to the many good officials out there, including my friend Joe Larrew, because I know it isn't true of all officials.) They know who is good, they know who is bad, and they know who the "name" players are. It may not be something that they're even aware of outwardly, but it's always been my belief that the zebras give the benefit of the doubt to good teams and name players. Look, the Rams didn't lose the game because of the officials. But it's hard to imagine a more poorly officiated game than the one I saw Sunday.
First of all, I'm not going to dispute or reinforce his opinion about officials subconsciously favoring the better teams. I know it doesn't happen for me in high school games, but those aren't famous players. Of the two NFL officials I've met, I don't know either one well enough to say if they do this -- especially if it is subconscious -- so we'll just leave that part alone.

I will dispute his argument on the pass interference calls -- at least the one I saw. First, remember the seven principles of pass interference, which were covered in the third incident in a past Zebra Report. The first one (a) says that it is interference when contact by a player "who is not playing the ball restricts the opponent's opportunity to catch the ball." In the fourth quarter, James Laurinaitis was called for interference. He was running toward the receiver. Without turning his head back around toward the ball, he held up his hands. The receiver tried to get back to the pass and ran into Laurinaitis. Like it or not, he restricted the receiver's ability to catch the football while he wasn't playing the ball. It's a simple call. This is the only interference call I saw, so I'll apologize in advance to good ol' Bernie (whose writing I really enjoy) if he wasn't disputing this particular call.

Of course, the replay review Miklasz mentions was egregious. It was very clear for anyone who had a television set that Torry Holt's second foot was out of bounds. It wasn't a toe, either, it was half of his foot. I'm not sure if the referee, Triplette, didn't see the same replay the fans did or what. If not, this was a mistake by the replay system as a whole. This wasn't even a judgment call, in my opinion. It was an absolute fact that half of Holt's foot was out of bounds. I'm usually a defender, of sorts, of the officials, but this is unacceptable. I would hope Triplette himself would agree with me after seeing further replays.

- Speaking of botched replays, I'm not sure how the officials could change the Brandon Stokley touchdown late Monday night and still give him a touchdown (watch it on youtube by clicking here). The initial call was clearly that Stokley didn't get into the end-zone until after he was on the ground and rolled in. That much was evident because the line judge waited to throw his hands in the air until after Stokley rolled in from the ground. If the call on the field was that he caught the ball in the end-zone, we would have seen an immediate signal.

The replay clearly showed Stokley was touched by Antonio Cromartie when on the ground and not in the end-zone. If you need conclusive evidence to overturn a call, they had it there. However, the officials then awarded the touchdown on the grounds that he caught the ball when it was breaking the plane of the end-zone. It seems as though they found conclusive evidence to call it a touchdown in a different manner than the on-field call awarded one. You can't find a single angle where the ball was conclusively breaking the plane of the end-zone on the catch, at least as far as I could tell. It seems to me the only conclusive part of the replay was the touch, thus, they should have placed the ball on the half yard line. That's my judgment, though, so I guess I shouldn't say it (damn these self-imposed rules).

- In that same game, the officials got together and got a tricky enforcement correct. There was a pass interference call in favor of Brandon Marshall, but Marshall -- being the lovable, level-headed guy he is -- went ballistic because he didn't see the flag. He was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Since one foul was during the play and the other was after, how could the penalties offset and mean the down should be replayed? Here you go:

Rule 14-9: If there has been a foul by either team during a down and there is a dead ball foul by the other team in the action immediately after the end of the down, it is a double foul, and all rules for enforcement of double fouls apply (see 14-3-1). Exception: If the scoring team commits a dead ball foul after a score, the score counts,
and the penalty is enforced on the kickoff.

And 14-3-1: If there is a double foul (3-11-2-c) without a change of possession, the penalties are offset and the down is replayed at the previous spot. If it was a scrimmage down, the number of the next down and the necessary line is the same as for the down for which the new one is substituted.

Say what you will about judgment calls, but it's pretty amazing how the officials rarely mis-enforce tricky stuff like this. With a 136-page rule book, that's good work to go from memory out there and always get it right.

- Finally, we don't usually cover college plays, but this was submitted to me and I thought it was a good time to talk about a general guideline for officials of all levels. In order to make a call, you have to see the entire act. You cannot get into assuming things.

For example, if you are behind a player and see his head turn to the side really fast, you cannot throw a flag for facemask. It might have happened, but it may not have. You can't just assume penalties. People in the crowd, by the way, do this with alarming frequency. It's actually a running joke among officials. If you see someone sprawling out like superman and landing on his stomach, he must have gotten blocked in the back, right? But what if he just tripped? Do you want to flag the offense for a clumsy defender?

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is that it appears in a college game this past weekend, an official violated this premise. Watch this play:



I think it pretty well speaks for itself. No. 96 for Arkansas got blocked and got flagged for unnecessary roughness -- basically for shedding a block. It's obvious the official who made the call didn't see the entire play. Thanks to reader Robin for the submission. A final note: the SEC did admit the call was incorrect -- not that it helps the Razorbacks in coping with the egregious call.

Got a rules-related question? Whether it's elementary, high school or NFL, email TZR and he'll see what he can do.

Zebra Report: A Good Ejection, Bad Reviews and Seeing the Whole Play originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>zebra reportZebraReportMatt SnyderTue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:00 EST Broncos Take Total Control of AFC Westhttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/20/broncos-take-total-control-of-afc-west/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/20/broncos-take-total-control-of-afc-west/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/20/broncos-take-total-control-of-afc-west/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Denver BroncosSAN DIEGO -- Monday night featured perhaps the NFL's best quarterback battle this season, the duel between Philip Rivers and Kyle Orton, and it all but determined the balance of power in the AFC West, despite the fact that it's only mid-October.

Seriously -- who would have thought that Orton, once mistake-prone and reviled and probably still being burned in effigy by Bears fans, would now sit among the league's elite passers while guiding a 6-0 Denver Broncos team?

Make that the utterly dominant, AFC West-leading Broncos, who rode the franchise record-setting momentum of Eddie Royal returning both a kickoff and a punt for touchdowns in the first half to preserve a 34-23 victory over the foundering San Diego Chargers (2-3).

Royal busted through San Diego's coverage teams for a 93-yard kickoff return in the first quarter -- "I think someone may have touched me on that one," he said -- and then went completely unmolested into the end zone on the 71-yard punt return with 5:53 remaining before halftime.

"This was just a total team effort. The guys just did a great job of blocking; I have to give them a lot of credit. They opened up the seams and it was a home run," Royal said. Twice. That made him the 11th player in NFL history -- and first in Broncos history -- to perform the dual-return touchdown feat, and the sixth since the merger.

But Royal said it best: This was a total team effort for Denver, which secured what amounts to an insurmountable 3 1/2 game lead over San Diego at a very angry Qualcomm Stadium.

"We were fortunate to have two big returns there by Eddie in the first half and that kind of kept us in it," said rookie coach Josh McDaniels, whose team still trailed 20-17 at halftime despite Royal's heroics. "Our guys fought and made a few adjustments in the second half and played better football."

Orton was unflappable and almost perfect behind his superb pass protection, completing 20 of 29 passes for 229 yards and two touchdowns -- one, a 19-yard tiptoe catch in the corner of the end zone by tight end Tony Scheffler late in the third quarter; the other, a 5-yard scoring strike to receiver Brandon Stokley in the waning minutes.

The Chargers' once-feared pass rush led by Shawne Merriman no longer exists, and that's a big problem. Merriman played like someone who is still injured, and San Diego got no pressure on the quarterback. Orton had ample time to make his checkdowns and find open receivers.

"It's nice to go into the bye 6-0," said Orton, who concedes he's a better player in Denver than he was in Chicago. That offseason trade, which sent Jay Cutler and a fifth-round pick to the Bears for Orton and first-round picks in 2009 and '10, along with an '09 third-round selection, seemed to guarantee a playoff berth for Chicago.

Instead, it's made Cutler mortal (10 touchdowns, seven interceptions) and completely transformed Orton (nine touchdowns, one interception) into a playmaker.

"It's a spread passing game that gets people into space," Orton said of McDaniels' scheme. "It puts a premium of being accurate and making the right decisions."

Orton got the ball to seven receivers. "He never throws that ball to me," said Stokley, who rolled into the end zone with 2:55 left for the final Broncos' score. "But that just shows you how great Kyle has been this season. He finds us, and he puts the ball in the right place for us to make the catch."

Defensively, the Broncos' fortified pass rush and blitz sacked Rivers five times, forcing a fumble that Denver converted into one of two Matt Prater field goals. NFL sacks leader Elvis Dumervil got to Rivers twice to push his season total to 10, on the second occasion using an overhand right to drop the powerful Rivers to the turf

The Chargers' quarterback and emotional leader avoided the pressure through much of the first half, but finally succumbed to the rush in the second.

"It occasionally had an impact," said Rivers, who completed 20 of 33 passes for 274 yards, including a 3-yard scoring pass to Vincent Jackson in the first quarter. "There were times when we held it really well and we were able to get good gains on them."

The Chargers also got a 77-yard punt return for a touchdown from Darren Sproles in the second quarter to give them their halftime lead. But there was an uneasy feeling throughout the stadium in San Diego, where people have come to expect the worst.

And seriously -- who would have thought the Chargers would disappoint again? The locals, apparently. It's becoming a national pastime, calling for coach Norv Turner's scalp wherever he runs the shop. In San Diego, boozed and bitter Chargers fans let the embattled Turner -- who's getting little support from his porous offensive and defensive lines -- have it with all their might as he ran into the locker room tunnel after the final gun.

"NORV'S GOTTA GO!" a group of angry customers screamed in unison from the concourse above the locker room entrance.

Said Turner, whose team was coming off a bye: "It's disappointing. We talked a lot with our football team and talked about it this week a great deal -- you can't take anything for granted."

The vitriol is swirling in a frustrated Chargers' locker room, directed toward Turner and general manager A.J. Smith for not addressing needs in the trenches during the offseason. Guys like Merriman are furious with Smith for saying the defense has been "soft and bewildered" at times.

There is outrage everywhere, and it's overshadowing the efforts of Rivers, who continues to play at a high level each week.

"Denver came out and played well," Chargers tight end Antonio Gates said, "but there are things we could have done to enhance our chance of winning. Obviously on offense, we have to score touchdowns. We got down there and kicked three field goals. That is just not who we are offensively."

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=700165&pid=700164&uts=1256027758
http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf
Denver Broncos Photos
SAN DIEGO, CA - OCTOBER 19: Quarterback Kyle Orton #8 and the rest of the offense of the Denver Broncos in huddle against the San Diego Chargers during Monday Night Football on October 19, 2009 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. (Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Kyle Orton
Getty Images
Getty Images North America

Denver Broncos Photos

    San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers losses the ball while being sacked during the fourth quarter of the Chargers 34-23 loss to the Denver Broncos in an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. The Broncos recovered. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

    ASSOCIATED PRESS

    San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is wrapped up and sacked by Denver Broncos linebacker D.J. Williams during the fourth quarter of the NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. Rivers fumbled and Williams recovered the ball. The Broncos won 34-23 over the Chargers. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

    AP

    Denver Broncos tight end Tony Scheffler dances through the end zone after his 19-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter of the NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. Scheffler had six receptions for 101 yards. The Broncos won 34-23 over the Chargers. (AP Photo/Chris Park)

    AP

    Denver Broncos linebacker Andra Davis points to the San Diego fans as walks off the field while the San Diego Chargers offensive line leaves the field during the fourth quarter quarter of the NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. The Broncos won 34-23 over the Chargers. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

    AP

    The San Diego Chargers players hang their head during the fourth quarter of their 34-23 loss to the Denver Broncos in the NFL football game Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

    AP

    SAN DIEGO - OCTOBER 19: Philip Rivers #17 of the San Diego Chargers gets ready to walk on the field before a game against the Denver Broncos at Qualcomm Stadium on October 19, 2009 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jacob de Golish/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Philip rivers

    Getty Images

    SAN DIEGO - OCTOBER 19: Andra Davis #54 of the Denver Broncos walks of the field after defeating the San Diego Chargers 34-23 at Qualcomm Stadium on October 19, 2009 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jacob de Golish/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Andra Davis

    Getty Images

    SAN DIEGO - OCTOBER 19: Philip Rivers #17 of the San Diego Chargers congratulates Champ Bailey #24 of the Denver Broncos after the game at Qualcomm Stadium on October 19, 2009 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jacob de Golish/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** philip Rivers;Champ Bailey

    Getty Images

    SAN DIEGO - OCTOBER 19: Ronald Feilds #91 of the Denver Broncos celebrates a victory against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium on October 19, 2009 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jacob de Golish/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Ronald Feilds

    Getty Images

    SAN DIEGO - OCTOBER 19: Tony Scheffler #88 of the Denver Broncos runs the ball for a touchdown against the San Diego Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium on October 19, 2009 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Jacob de Golish/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Tony Scheffler

    Getty Images

Follow Us on Twitter Friend Us on Facebook

Broncos Take Total Control of AFC West originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Nancy GayTue, 20 Oct 2009 03:00:00 EST Monday Night Football Live Chat: Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargershttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/19/monday-night-football-live-chat-denver-broncos-vs-san-diego-ch/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/19/monday-night-football-live-chat-denver-broncos-vs-san-diego-ch/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/19/monday-night-football-live-chat-denver-broncos-vs-san-diego-ch/#commentsFiled under: ,


Before the season started, the San Diego Chargers were a sexy pick to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, while the Denver Broncos were a sexy pick to have the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. The two teams meet on Monday night in San Diego, and the Broncos are 5-0 -- shocking everyone, except for Rod Smith -- while the Chargers are toiling along at a 2-2 pace.

Join us at 8:30 PM ET for our weekly Monday night football live chat as we discuss all of the action.

Monday Night Football Live Chat: Denver Broncos vs. San Diego Chargers originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:45:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Adam GretzMon, 19 Oct 2009 19:45:00 EST NFL FanHouse Week 6 Preview Chathttp://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/16/nfl-fanhouse-live-chat-week-6/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/16/nfl-fanhouse-live-chat-week-6/http://nfl.fanhouse.com/2009/10/16/nfl-fanhouse-live-chat-week-6/#commentsFiled under: , , , , ,

The battle of unbeatens in New Orleans will certainly get a lot of attention heading into Sunday's games.

Since the Giants and Saints don't look like they're going to fade away, there's a really good chance that they'll play a more important game in January, but this is a pretty big one.

It's not the only game being played Sunday. The NFL's two other unbeatens who are playing Sunday face real tests. Read the chat recap after the jump.

NFL FanHouse Week 6 Preview Chat originally appeared on NFL FanHouse on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

]]>Bruce CiskieFri, 16 Oct 2009 11:00:00 EST