FanHouse Karl Paymah

Not much has gone wrong for the Minnesota Vikings in their 6-0 start. Brett Favre has been playing superbly, Adrian Peterson is still a stud, Sidney Rice has become one, and the defense continues to impress.

However, if there's a hole on this Vikings team right about now, it's been their pass defense. They were largely shredded by Aaron Rodgers earlier in October, then were absolutely torched by Joe Flacco and the Ravens last weekend. As the Vikings set off on a two-game road swing starting Sunday, there is bad news on the injury front.

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.

I'm not sure if Jay Cutler has his own charitable foundation, but philanthropy is certainly something he should look into sooner rather than later. His three interceptions in today's loss to the Dolphins prove that he likes to share his wealth with others, and money is a better thing for him to give away than football games.

Cutler threw picks on two of the first three Bronco possessions, which helped stake the Dolphins to a 13-0 lead. The Broncos climbed back into the contest and appeared to take the lead on a 77-yard pass to Brandon Marshall, but a questionable offensive pass interference call negated the score. Cutler lost his cool after the call and threw his third pick on the next play to set up a Miami field goal.

Cutler's sloppiness was doubly damaging because the Dolphins stopped the Denver ground game in its tracks. The Broncos ran eight times for five yards in the first half and, as the Broncos fell further and further behind, the running game was nowhere to be found. That contributed to a 13-minute time of possession edge and enabled the Dolphins to win despite a lackluster offensive performance.

The Dolphins points, save an impressive drive for the capping touchdown, came as a result of great field position. Chad Pennington was erratic, completing just 23-of-40 passes and throwing one pick. The Bronco defense, deservedly maligned much of the season, turned in its best performance of the year.

Denver Broncos:

Out - Guard Ben Hamilton (concussion) and tackle Ryan Harris (back).

Questionable - Tight end Stephen Alexander (calf), defensive end Tim Crowder (ankle) and cornerback Karl Paymah.

Going into week one, the injury news is relatively positive for Denver. As you can see by the report, they will not be missing any starters today, and that should bode well for the Broncos, both offensively and defensively.

Buffalo Bills:

Out - Defensive end Ryan Denney (foot) and linebacker Keith Ellison (ankle).

The injury to second-year linebacker Keith Ellison could prove to be damaging for Buffalo's young defense. He will be replaced by Coy Wire, a converted safety will very little experience at linebacker. And don't look the other way on the Denney injury either. The back-up defensive end has been very productive for Buffalo in the past, and losing his production will most certainly be felt.

Just to touch base again, yesterday I posted about the injured Broncos - and just about five minutes after my post, the Broncos released an updated injury report. So here's how it stands now:

Now looking probable to play are both Bells, Patrick Chukwurah, Cedric Cobbs, Kyle Johnson, Kenard Lang, Brandon Marshall, Rod Smith, and Al Wilson. So this sets up another interesting choice for Mike Shanahan. Does he go with both Bells now that they're healthy, or does he activate Tatum, who's had an extra week to rest, and leave Mike Bell, who's had just five days to recover from his grisly performance against the Chargers, on the bench? My money is with deactivating Mike and going with Tatum and Damien Nash, who showed good strength after contact against the Chargers. We may not see another double-Bell game this season if Nash continues to perform.

The questionable players on the injury list are Cooper Carlisle and Darrent Williams, who is still nursing his shoulder. Williams previously said that he might not be fully healthy until he can rest during the off season - but if he's not ready to go, it leaves the secondary badly depleted with Nick Ferguson out for the season. Domonique Foxworth would take Williams' place as the starter, meaning two second-stringers would start in the secondary. That means that Karl Paymah, who's seen little work outside of special teams this season, would take the field as the third cornerback on nickel downs.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs, who's injury list is a total of five players, might get Tony Gonzalez back for the game (he's listed as questionable). If they do, it could really compound the problems in the Broncos' secondary.

P.S. Doesn't it look like President Bush is doing something sinister to those children with that Turkey? Kinda weird...Also, since the game is in Kansas City, does anyone know if you can barbecue turkey? I haven't really thought about it, but does turkey go well with a nice red Kansas City barbecue sauce? If it does, I'm very, very intrigued.