FanHouse ToddSauerbrun

Former Bronco punter Todd Sauerbrun pled guilty to disturbing the peace today in a Denver court to finish the criminal proceedings against him for an incident with a cab driver in December. He was sentenced to one-year probation and 24 hours of community service.

Sauerbrun's mind wasn't on courtroom, though. It was on the team he says did him wrong when they cut him in the wake of the arrest.

"The Broncos didn't give me a fair shot. I don't think they did me right. I do feel ill about it. And their new motto about character guys? The guys I've seen them pick up, you're going to tell me those are good character people? I think not."

He's probably referring to Michael Pittman, who in 2003 was accused of using his Hummer to ram a car driven by his wife off the road. It's a fair point but Sauerbrun's record of bad acts began long before that December night so he can hardly play the innocent card. When you read what else Sauerbrun did today, though, you'll see faulty reasoning is something of a hobby for him.

Sauerbrun claims innocence and says he only took the guilty plea to get the affair behind him. In his next breath, he says he's planning to sue the cab driver for defamation. That doesn't so much put the case behind you as it assures it will remain right on top of you.

To get you ready for week 17, FanHouse is previewing all 16 NFL games. Here is the Minnesota Vikings/Denver Broncos preview.

2007 Records:

Minnesota Vikings: 8-7 (2nd in NFC North)
Denver Broncos: 6-9 (2nd in AFC West)

Last Week:

Redskins 32, Vikings 21
Chargers 23, Broncos 3

When the Vikings have the ball: There's no secret about what it takes to beat the Broncos this season. Run the ball until the final whistle and you're going to give yourself a healthy chance at winning the game. That shouldn't be a problem for the Vikes. With Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor, Minnesota is well suited to letting their running game do all the heavy lifting. Yet last week against the Redskins they threw the ball 41 times, a dubious idea when the erratic Tarvaris Jackson is your quarterback. Jackson has shown flashes this year but they are almost always because the run game has set him up to make big plays downfield. The Broncos have tried eight and nine men in the box to stop the run, to no effect, and should try the same this weekend. Unless the Vikings pin all of their hopes to the aerial game again, they won't have any more success defensively.

I hope punter Paul Ernster wasn't getting comfortable in Denver because two days after a dreadful effort against the Chargers, he was cut. And this comes a week after Todd Sauerbrun got, uh, the boot, for some weird taxi-cab-related issues.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Unlike Sauerbrun, who was a pretty good punter, Ernster was released strictly for his on-field performance. He averaged 35.6 yards per kick on Monday night, including a 17-yarder that led to Denver's first touchdown, as well as 31- and 33-yarders that resulted in two Nick Kaeding field goals.

Granted, Ernster wasn't the reason the Broncos loss -- they only managed three measly points -- but he didn't help things either. Whatever, my favorite Ernster moment from the 2007 season wasn't on Christmas Eve, but way back in Week 1. At the time, he was playing for the Browns, a late-week replacement for the injured Dave Zastudil. On Cleveland's first punt of the year, Ernster muffed the snap, before finally booming a 15-yarder. Oh, and the Browns committed four penalties on that one play. Good times.

It seems that in Denver there's a line you can't cross and remain a member of the Broncos. That line? Assaulting a cab driver over an $8.35 fare because you were drunk. Todd Sauerbrun did just that on December 7th and got cut from the team today. Sauerbrun spoke with the media after getting the bad news from Mike Shanahan and believes that the decision came from team owner Pat Bowlen as opposed to the head coach.

"It's the issue that just came up," Sauerbrun said of why he was released. "I think Mr. Bowlen, it was more his decision. I don't think it had to do with Mike. Mike had mentioned that Pat maybe didn't want the bad press."

It's hard to fault Bowlen if he did, indeed, make the call. This recent assault follows a previous DWI charge which raises some suspicion that Sauerbrun has a problem with the hooch and opens the door to a suspension from the league as a repeat offender.

It wouldn't be the first suspension either. Sauerbrun missed the first four games of last season while under suspension for a positive steroids test. That all seems like a bit too much to sweep under the rug for a punter.

Early Saturday morning, Denver Broncos punter Todd Sauerbrun was cited for simple assault after a cab driver said Suerbrun hit him. Now Sauerbrun is telling his side of the story, the Denver Post reports:

"It's been very hurtful," Sauerbrun said. "I never laid a hand on the guy, and everyone thinks I'm this monster. I'm not. At the end of the day, I will be cleared, but the problem is everyone thinks I'm this bad guy and I'm not. I didn't do it."

This is a he-said, he-said case, and there's really no way of knowing whether it's Sauerbrun or the cab driver who's telling the truth. Sauerbrun, however, has a history of legal problems that makes it harder to give him the benefit of the doubt. For his part, Sauerbrun says tonight against the Texans, "I'm planning on going and kicking the ball like crazy."

Denver Broncos punter Todd Sauerbrun was cited for simple assault early Saturday, about 36 hours before playing for the Broncos against the Chiefs, the Rocky Mountain News is reporting.

According to the report, Sauerbrun took a cab home from a restaurant after going out to eat Friday night, but the driver asked him to get out because he was "belligerent." It's not clear what happened after that, but the Rocky Mountain News reports that the team is investigating whether Sauerbrun struck the cab driver in the back of the head.

Sauerbrun pleaded guilty to driving while impaired in 2005 and has previously been suspended for violating the NFL's policy on steroids and related substances. This incident could result in a suspension for violating the league's personal-conduct policy.

Every week, NFL FanHouse hits the lowlights from Sunday's action, looking at those players who did the most to move their head coaches that much closer to returning to the Bed and Breakfast business.

Joe Gibbs, Redskins
Gibbs comes across as a swell guy, a grandfatherly type who says things like "dadgummit" or "horse feathers" when he's angry, and always carries Werther's in his pocket for wide-eyed young fans. It all seems very Rockwellian. Except that reality for the Washington Redskins is nothing like the cover of the Saturday Evening Post.

Gibbs, who came out of retirement in 2004 for a second run with the Redskins, has looked out of sorts and overmatched for most of the last four years. And Sunday's game against the Eagles was a microcosm of that. The Hall of Famer and three-time Super Bowl winner now spends his weekends watching the his players -- in horror, no doubt -- repeat mistakes they were making in preseason. In yesterday's 33-25 loss to Philadelphia, the 'Skins committed 11 penalties for 74 yards, and on four occasions, penalties resulted in Eagles' first downs.
Sorry, No Photos

The New England Patriots have forfeited their rights to punter Todd Sauerbrun over a tiny little clerical error. Here's the story, according to ESPN's John Clayton:

The Patriots signed Sauerbrun to a deal that gave them a right to match any contract offer he got within seven days. It's called a "first right of refusal provision." This provision, when it's given, must be included with the contract on a seperate page. But the Patriots put the provision on the same page as other contract terms ... and the league voided it. So now Sauerbrun is a free agent and can sign wherever he wants.

Since he had previously signed with denver for $820,000, and it was that contract that New England wanted to match ... I'm thinking it's pretty likely that he'll end up in Denver.

Just bizarre ... and so un-Patriot-like. The organization that's supposed to have every small detail down, loses a player over something like this. It is not going to be a pleasant day at Patriots headquarters for someone tomorrow.