FanHouse EbenezerEkuban

Because the NFL season never ends, we present our 2009 Offseason Roadmaps for front offices to navigate through the summer.

It's a brave new world in Denver, where the Broncos will take the field without Mike Shanahan on the sideline for the first time since 1995. Josh McDaniels, their new coach, was 19 back then, and has one of the shortest resumes of any head coach in NFL history. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, but it was clear that Shanahan's system was no longer bearing fruit and the team may benefit just from the change of voice on the sideline.

This is a slightly modified segment of one that was run on NFL FanHouse last year, in which a specific team blogger scours the internet and interviews a blogger of the opposing team.

I began this season by interviewing TheSportsGuru of Mile High Report, a Sports Blog Nation column that covers the Denver Broncos.

Dan Benton: "Due to injuries, the Broncos have lost three extremely important players. How will Denver move forward without Al Wilson, Rod Smith and Ebenezer Ekuban? Just how significant are those loses?"

TheSportsGuru: "All three are tough, but for different reasons. The toughest of the 3 is certainly Al Wilson who meant so much to the team, both on and off the field. Wilson was the emotional leader and glue that kept the defense together. While there is no doubting his importance in the locker room, Wilson's play had deteriorated as injuries to his neck, back and hands began to take their toll. It is a testament to Wilson and the reputation he had garnered around the League that he made the Pro Bowl last season. The Broncos have found it harder to replace what he meant on the field than the production they from him on it. D.J. Williams will get the first chance to replace Wilson in the middle and will grow into the role nicely over time. As for Wilson's leadership, look for John Lynch, Champ Bailey and Ian Gold to be counted on for an increased voice in the locker room."

Catch the pun in the title? This one's about the defense's play late in games. When the Seahawks got the ball with two minutes left and needing a field goal to win, did anyone not see what was coming? Even though the defense had been dominating for most of the game, they couldn't put the clamps on when it counted - and this is a recurring trend.

Now I know you shouldn't blame the defense for a loss when they allow 23 points and hold an opposing offense to under 300 total yards. But something has to be done about the prevent defense that they're playing late in games. Matt Hasselbeck never got in his rhythm early in the game because the coverage was so good - but when it mattered most, he was able to completely pick apart the Broncos' zone defense.

So something has to be done to give the offense a chance to win these late games. I don't know what it is because I'm not a football genius, and I don't know how to run a successful late-game defense - maybe you do? But it seems to me that it's been a recurring trend this season: this defense cannot shut down an opponent late in the game. And because of it, the offense isn't being given a chance to perform for themselves late in the game and see if they can pull out a close one instead of the other team. I'm not giving the offense any excuses for their lousy play, I'm justing pointing out that they're not the only ones who aren't getting the job done.

I know this is the last thing you're thinking about what with other football being on right now, but for Broncos fans, I bring good news - every single player on the injury list has been upgraded to probable for tonight's game against the Chargers. This is a very good thing, because it means the return of Ian Gold, a key piece of the speedy linebacking corps, and defensive roleplayers Ebenezer Ekuban and Patrick Chukwurah. Al Wilson, who's played magnificently despite injuries all year long, also looks likely to compete again despite thumb problems.

But the most interesting one is running back Tatum Bell, who last week admitted publicly that his toes were more seriously injured than he wanted to admit to himself, and might not fully recover until the offseason. Now that he's been upgraded to probable for the game however, it will be interesting to see how much Shanahan uses him. Presumably, Mike Bell will be re-activated this week after mysteriously disappearing from the lineup against Oakland after particularly bad play at Pittsburgh. But in the Broncos' last big-time throwdown against the Colts, the latter Bell was the only running back who had any success, so Shanahan's choice might not be made until he sees how well each back performs during the game.

For the record, Stephen Alexander was also upgraded, and the other Broncos already on the list are Cedric Cobbs and Kyle Johnson.