FanHouse Broncos

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around pointing skyward, while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Studs

Carson Palmer, QB Cincinnati (20-24, 233 yards, 5 TDs) -- There was an interesting moment during "Hard Knocks" on HBO this year when Palmer was giving his center, Kyle Cook, a little bit of grief about the smell that Carson had on his hand after taking snaps. It was essentially boys being boys, but Palmer played it well and had some fun at the expense of Cook.

Each week in the NFL, there are players that impress and players that distress. One week a certain quarterback might toss four touchdowns and run around pointing skyward, while the next he's laying on his back, holding his facemask as the other team returns one of his three interceptions for the game-winning score. With that in mind, here's Studs and Duds.

Studs

Tom Brady, QB New England (29 of 34, 380 yards, 6 TDs) -- People were questioning his knee this season. He seemed jittery in the pocket, made throws he didn't used to make, and wasn't leading the Patriots like he had during those three Super Bowl years and undefeated regular season in 2008.

The Broncos took care of some business ahead of time on Saturday night, locking up star linebacker D.J. Williams to a five year extension worth $32 million with $13 guaranteed, so sayeth Schefter on NFL.com.

Williams was set to become a free agency in the coming offseason, and taking care of this now precludes Williams' value going up as the premier linebacker on roster. The extension makes Williams the highest paid linebacker in NFL history without a Pro Bowl experience. I'm not sure if that sounds good or not. I mean, would you say that at a club? "I'm the highest paid guy to have never been rewarded by fans and my peers as outstanding in my field. How you doin?" I mean, I'm sure "I get paid an average of over $6 million dollars per year, what's up now?" works, too. I'm just saying it's kind of a dubious honor. And increases the pressure on Williams to, you know, make the Pro Bowl.

This is the kind of signing that's pretty vintage Broncos. Take care of the problem before it escalates. Of course, it's also the kind of signing that often times ends in a debilitating injury in the first year of the extension making the general managers want to put their faces in some sort of large shredding device. Hypothetically.

(HT: Mile High Report)

Broncos wide receiver Brandon Marshall got pinched for a two-to-three game (depending on his behavior) suspension on August 5th, for repeat violations of the NFL players code of conduct. He's out over $52,000 grand during that time. Furthermore, he needs to demonstrate that he understand the need to change his behavior and be more accountable. So where's he going for his suspension?

Jay's house, sayeth the Rocky Mountain News. Sleepover at Jay Cutler's place! No word on whether Champ Bailey is bringing the marshmallows.

It won't be all camping under the stars in the backyard and trading pogs for the Broncos' receiver, though. He's promised to dedicate himself to work. He's planning to "game plan" during the day while Jay's at work, and at night they're going to throw, to keep Marshall in playing condition. During that time, Marshall says he'll be staying in the basement. Yes, I know. Now he can blog.

In all seriousness, though, Marshall's got all the talent in the world, and as Mile High Report points out, this is a positive step towards proving he's dedicated to cleaning up his act. Showing that he's going to be spending his time working on his craft instead of getting into more trouble or 'rasslin' with any more family members/McDonalds' wrappers. Nice to see at least one guy seems to get that he needs to turn things around.

Finally, the NFL schedules have been released, and here's the Texans schedule. Last year the spacing and timing of the schedule was so dreadful, I was wondered whether the NFL hated the Texans. This year, the spacing is a slightly more reasonable, and there are plenty of media matchups:

Texans at Panthers - Week 2: Unless Jake Delhomme is terrible early on, it is unlikely that David Carr will see any playing time against his former team. Expect plenty of bad puns involving Carr's last name this week.

Texans at Falcons - Week 4: Matt Schaub v. Mike Vick. Should be an interesting sports talk radio week in Atlanta.

Saints at Texans - Week 11: This will be the first time Reggie Bush will have the opportunity to smote the Texans for not picking him #1 in 2006. Vince Young done smote the Texans twice last year, one of those times in Houston in the game called "The Vince Bowl." Texans fans hope to have a better result this year in "The Reggie Bowl." [The Texans face Young in Weeks 7 and 13 home and away respectively, and twice each season until Young retires or Bud Adams kicks Young to the curb in ignominious fashion as he does to all his good quarterbacks]

Thanks to the magic of flexible scheduling, we get to wait until this evening to renew our rivalry with one of our most hated old AFC West compatriots, the Denver Broncos. And when any Seahawk fan thinks of a match-up against the Broncos, they still break out in a cold sweat wondering if old #7 is lining up under center, which is why I went 'old school' with the accompanying graphic.

This week's enemy blogger is Gabe Stein from the Broncos FanHouse. Special appreciation to Alan from the 12 Seahawks Street blog, without whom there wouldn't be a Five Questions post this week, and to Gabe, who turned around his responses to these questions in less than 24 hours. That's why there's no reciprocal post this week.

Now, onto the Five Questions:

1. You do realize that your franchise savior, Jay Cutler, is from Vanderbilt, right? Vanderbilt. The biggest game this guy won was beating Middle Tennessee State last year to make the Commodores bowl eligible....oh wait, he lost that game.

GABE: Yes, we do realize that. He also had over 3000 yards passing and a 126 QB rating his senior year, on over 400 passing attempts in the best defensive conference in college football. And he did it all on his own, since he was, as you say, from Vanderbilt.

It's week 3 and the Chiefs managed to not lose a game for the first time this season. Chiefs' fans rejoiced. "I couldn't believe it when I heard it," a fellow Chiefs' fan told me. "This is a major moral victory for the city of Kansas City. I've already cut Lamar Hunt a check for $1,000 to pay for the new Arrowhead renovations. Heck, I'm even going to build a rolling roof of my own over my garage!"

Not all the city or the nation was thrilled about the Chiefs' non-loss this weekend. The response from AFC West rival teams' fans has been mixed:
Broncos' fan: "Whatever. Last time I checked, we just beat you chumps. Hey, you guys interested in trading for Plummer?"
Raiders' fan: "Your record is still as bad as the Raiders' is, loser. Somehow, we still believe we're better than you."
Chargers' fan: "Didn't you guys have a bye this week?"

The news hit fantasy football owners especially hard. I spoke with a fantasy football owner in my office league. Our conversation went something like this:
Anonymous: LJ really sucked it up for me this week.
Me: Zero points. Zero touchdowns. Why didn't you bench him?
Anonymous: #1 rule of fantasy football. NEVER bench LJ.
Me: i.c.
Anonymous: LJ once ran for 200 yards on Chuck Norris.
Me: lol
Anonymous: Anyway, I gotta go. The boss is looking over my shoulder and he looks pissed.
Me: ? Why is he pissed?
Anonymous: Looks like he started Trent Green this week. Horrible decision.

Local critics still found a way to criticize Herm Edwards. "Typical Herm Edwards," one patron at a Kansas City bar told me. "No yards?" she continued. "Oh, biiiiggggg surprise. Hey, you want to give me a ride to White Castle? I'm starving."

Another patron described Edwards as a manipulative snake. "He didn't tell us," the man told me. He was decked out in Chiefs' gear: Lin Elliot jersey, tattered foam finger, face painted red and yellow. "I've been sitting here in Arrowhead for 10 hours. Why didn't they tell me we weren't playing at home this week? It's that sneaky Herm Edwards character. He thinks he can roll into Kansas City and pull a stunt like this? Go back to New York, moron. And take that lousy Terrence Law guy with you!"

Herm Edwards found a way not to lose this weekend. The reaction is mixed, but my feeling is, the Chiefs will find it much tougher to keep their non-losing streak alive next week when they square off against the 49ers.

Well I did a "Five Questions Going Into the Game" thing last week and it worked out quite nicely, so here comes the second installment of the weekly Five Questions column.

Either Mike Shanahan saw a little too much sun or he's really, really, really mad--------------->

1. Jake Plummer....will he not suck?

As much as Gabe (the other regularly-posting Broncos blogger) and I like to talk down to people that want to pull Jake, it's become the biggest story of the year so far. Plummer's number through the first two games are abysmal: 0 TD, 4 INT, 311 yards total, and 38.6 quarterback rating. Those aren't so hot. I'm not going to turn this into a why Plummer shouldn't be benched post (if you want one of those, click here, here, here...or...here) but will just-oh, or here-say that a decent, good, amazing, or cancer patient-inspiringly heroic performance will go a long way to removing some of the cloud of distraction that regularly drips on the Denver team.

2. Quincy Morgan. Will he make any difference at all?

Broadcasters are always quick to point out that special teams aren't ever given their due. They claim that special teams are as important as defense and offense. This is a stupid assertion. Special teams doesn't have nearly as many plays as the other phases of the game. Anyway, unless Morgan fumbles, returns a kickoff past the 50 yardline, or returns a kickoff for a touchdown, people won't really notice much. I, however, want to see how explosive he is, whether or not he can break tackles, etc.

3. Rod Smith. Is he the Eric Lindros of the NFL at this point?

Three concussions in a year spells a serious problem for the long-time diggidy dope Broncos wideout. He, along with the rest of the offense, struggled a bunch in the first two games. He left last week's contest versus Kansas City early because of a concussion, but from all reports, he's fine. The thing about people is they sometimes lie, and I have to see Smith kicking butt on the field first-hand before I believe it.

4. Pats-Broncos rematch. Will New England get revenge?

NBC has been marketing the game as a rematch of last year's playoff game. I'm not sure much bad blood exists between the two teams at this point, but Champ Bailey's head will be on a swivel if he's returning an interception the full length of the field, because straight ballin' Big Ben Watson will take him out if it isn't. I think this question is a construction of the media (I am not part of the media) but it's still something to keep in mind.

5. The D. Awesome again?

They looked extremely strong and resilient against the Chiefs after a superb opening game at St. Louis and are emerging as a force in the league. Last week the Broncos did a 2000 Baltimore Ravens thing with pretty much no offense and a ridiculous defensive performance en route to a sqeaker of a win. The 2000 Ravens are good company for a defense. Right now, Denver is seventh in the league in scoring defense. Not half bad.

If you've got questions too, just add 'em on the comments.

I know that the game is scheduled only hours from now, and Sam has already previewed the game, and some people are already pulling into the Invesco Field parking lot to start their grills, radios, and televisions - but there's something that's been missing from all of our coverage here that I want to touch on quickly. After last week's embarassing loss to the Rams, almost all blame went to the offense. Afterall, they could only manage ten points, turned the ball over five times, and stayed on the field for just 27 minutes - and yet they were still very much in the game even late in the fourth quarter, a testament to the stellar play of the defense. Wide receiver Rod Smith event went as far as apologizing to the defense for the offense's lackluster performance.

But one thing that people glance over when looking at such lopsided stats is that there were also grumblings from the defensive side of the Broncos locker room, and they weren't complaining about the offense. They were saying that their own play wasn't good enough to win the game, and so they also need to improve.

Some of this talk is just players saying the "right" things and trying to take some pressure off of their teammates. But a lot of this talk is legitimate. Even though the defense didn't allow a touchdown last Sunday, they did allow the Rams to drive straight down the field until they got a third down (the Rams were 3 for 15) or drove into the red zone. Even though they didn't score a touch down, the Rams still had 320 total yards of offense, including 125 on the ground - all but four of those yards from Stephen Jackson. These are hardly the numbers of a championship-quality defense, even in a game where they spent the majority of the time on the field, and this is the point that the guys are trying to make from the locker room. They still need to improve.

That last statistic is the one that will have the most bearing against the Chiefs in about four hours' time. With KC quarterback Trent Green out of the mix, the ball is going to be on the ground a lot - in the hands of the excellent Larry Johnson. If the defense allows Larry Johnson to run on them the way Stephen Jackson did, it's going to be a long day regardless of what the offense does. That's why defensive, not offensive improvement is going to be key to winning this afternoon.

P.S., the experts now agree with me that the loss of Willie Roaf might have a profound effect on the KC run game. Wammo!