Eight is Enough

The Donks finally won a home game, finally beat a team they should have beaten and finally won a game that I was in the house for. Here's the GBU from the 24-17 nail-biter.

GOOD:

Jay Cutler. Dr. Jay Jeckyl-Cutler = Denver win. Mr. Jay Hyde-Cutler = Denver loss. Yesterday was Dr. J-C. He usually doesn't bounce back from early mistakes and that pick-six was a GIANT mistake. I honestly thougth it was over right there. He got it together though and was nearly flawless the rest of the way. Pinpoint control.

Peyton Hillis. That kid was starting to look like the real deal. Unfortunately, he also makes the ugly list.

O-Line. Cut had a ton of time on most of his throws and Hillis and Tatum had more giant holes to run through. Overall, the most improved unit on the squad from last year. These guys are really good.

Wesley Woodyard. Thanks for those six games as a Bronco, Boss. Now pack your shit and get the fuck out. Layin' Woodyard is a monster.


BAD:

Matt Prater. You better start making some fucking kicks over 40 yards, son. Otherwise, you'll be back in that swamp, strummin' your banjo.

Pass Rush. I think we got one sack late in the game. I know that shit is more important later on and all, but Thigpen had zero pressure on him until that point.

Kick coverage units. They did not have a good game. For a second, I thought that was Dante Hall out there in those stupid red clown pants.


UGLY:
Peyton Hills to the IR. Tore a hammy on a beautiful catch. That leaves Tatum Bell and PJ Pope as the last standing RB's. Expect Shanny to sign another no-name RB off the street this week. Can I say it now? Selvin Young is fucking finished in this town. All of his talk about 2K yards and making the Pro Bowl was clearly his audition for the next season of Last Comic Standing. If you can't go more than a couple of games without getting hurt and missing six more, you're worthless to everyone.

Hillis hurts a little more than the others, because he really has been our best back so far this season.

Officiating. When Herm Edwards is actually fucking winning challenges left and right, you guys are clearly not doing your job well.



All in all, it wa a good win against a shit team. Now all we need is one more W and we've got a home playoff game. And we don't even need that! All it takes is for SD to shit the bed one more time...like they've done all season and we're in.

New Jack City

Hey, hey! How 'bout them Donks? Here's the GBU from the 34-17 pasting the local 11 laid on the Jet Favres.

GOOD:
Jay Cutler. The ultimate boom or bust QB. Yesterday he boomed all over everyone's faces to the tune of a 63% completion rate, 357 yards and 2 TD's. The pick in the endzone was the one mistake he made yesterday.

Peyton Hillis. He ran like a beast and ALWAYS had two hands on the ball at contact (it looks like that goal line fumble last week knocked some sense into him on that score). Look, this guy isn't the long term answer at RB, but he's filled in admirably since he was pressed into duty. He can thank the next guy on this list for his impressive game yesterday.

Casey Wiegmann. He got blown up once by the Jets all-world NT Kris Jenkins and that's it. He dominated Jenkem for the rest of the game and opened up holes big enough for a white RB with 4.7 speed to blast through untouched.

Whoever had the idea of faking an injury every time the Jets tried to run no-huddle. It was hilarious.

Kevin Harlan. Yep. Once again, Harlan is the best pre-snap play by play guy in the league. Love, love that guy. I hope he gets every Donk game the rest of the way. Hey CBS, take Jim Nantz and shove him up your ass. Harlan blows him away.


BAD:

Brandon Marshall. Drops WAY too many passes to be considered one of the elite wideouts in the game.

Vernon Fox. Fumble recoveries are pure luck, so he gets no credit for that crazy ass return TD. He was so far out of position on that first Thomas Jones TD run it was comically funny. He was providing help over the top on the lone wideout on that play and didn't realize it was a running play to the other side until Jones was 15 yards downfield. Looks like we'll be starting our fifteenth different FS this weekend.

Eric Mangini. How fucking brainless was it to pass on 3rd and 1 and then again on 4th and 1 early in the 4th? Very. The game was essentially over after that. Also, why go for it on that 4th and goal late? You're down 17...you're going to need three at some point. You kick the FG and try the onside in that situation, right? Just a bungled game all around from Mangini.

UGLY:

The punting game. Hard to fault Kern for that since the wind was whipping like crazy, but I need something for this section and the gum smacking, IROC driving, big hair wearing Jersey skanks calling themselves Jets fans aren't enough.



So. Like I said, the schizophrenia continues. We pound up on teams that should beat us and we get our asses handed to us (at home) against dog-shit opponents. This might be the weirdest Donks team I've ever seen.

Unless SD wins out and we lose out, the division (and a home playoff game) is ours. Chew on that for a little while.

Nice going, losers

Way to show a ton of heart out there, you fucking pussies. Inspirational. Here's the GBU from yesterdays on-field abortion. I don't even know the final score because I was out of there after Cut threw that pick at the start of the fourth. I know they got at least 31 on us.

GOOD:
Brandon Stokley. Guy's a goddamn first down machine. He ALWAYS comes up with the twelve yard catch on thrid and ten or the seven yard catch on third and six. ALWAYS.


BAD:
Everyone else, including but not limited to:

Matt Prater - After a killer start, has proven to be pretty fucking below average. Missing kicks inside the forty is unacceptable, and this fucker does it all the time. Zero touchbacks in the last two games.

Jay Cutler - One week he looks like Elway the next like Brian Griese. Poor decisions, poor throws. He is this fucking team and when he sucks everyone else sucks.

Brandon Marshall - leading the league in dropped passes.

Peyton Hillis - You cannot fumble inside the five fucking yard line.

Eddie Royal - Key drop on a Cutler deep throw.

Dre Bly - someone has to take the heat for letting their receivers run all over the field on us. You're the guy.

Jeremy Bates - Terrible game plan. Running the ball out of the shotgun is kind of like a trick play. It should be somewhat of a surprise. When I'm sitting at the top of the stadium and I know we're running out of that formation, believe me, everyone else knows too.


UGLY
Getting humiliated by Ashley fucking Lelie.


Motherfuckers.

Spencer Larsen is from the fifties

Big time win. Here's the GBU from the 24-20 victory in a rematch of SB XXXIII.

GOOD:

Spencer Larsen. Started at FB and MLB yesterday. First guy since '03 to start both ways in an NFL game (and first non-lineman to do it in god knows how long). He wasn't great on either side of the ball (much better at LB), but anytime a guy does Clint Eastwood tough-guy shit like that he's going to get some props from me.

Jay Cutler. He threw a mistake free game. I saw one throw that shouldn't have been made (the force to the guy in the flat a couple of plays before the winning TD). That's it. JC saves...again.

Tatum Bell. Didn't get a lot of carries and he did fail to convert on 3rd and 1 early in the game, but he personally put the game away on the last drive. Speaking of which, why the fuck were we running plays after taking over on downs w/ 52 seconds left on the clock? They had 2 TO's left. If Denver takes three knees and punts, Atl gets the ball back w/ less than 10 seconds left. I'd personally rather see that scenario than see Fumble Drill get three consecutive carries w/ the game on the line. But he got it done, though.

The D-Line. Excellent against the run. Held Michael Turner to less than 4 yards a carry. And he needed two long runs to get to that. They got good penetration and forced Turner wide, where our speedy linebackers cleaned it up with some of the best tackling they've made all year. Still struggling to generate a pass rush, though.

Eddie Royal. Huge kickoffs. Key receptions. This kid is really, really good.

Wesley Woodyard. Why hasn't he been starting all along? He's not great in pass coverage, but nobody on this team (save Champ) tackles better than Wood.

Kevin Harlan. The best pre-snap play-by-play guy in the league. He actually gives you personnel packages (other than "Broncos in the nickel"). He gives you substitutions, offensive formations, etc. He's excellent. Not even the douche-tastic Rich Gannon brings him down.

BAD:

I know some of you like Jamie Winborn's enthusiasm and his attempts to fire up his teammates, but I can't stand the fucker. To wit: Under 2 min left, Falcons are down 4 and driving, 2nd down. Ryan throws a mind-numbingly bad pass right to Winborn. It hits him in stride and right in the hands. He drops it. Of course the Falcons pick up the first down on the next play. Now it's first and ten. Winborn streaks through and drops Turner behind the line. Nice play. Normally (I guess) worthy of hooting and hollering and jumping around like a jackass, but he dropped the game clinching pick two fucking plays earlier! What the fuck, man? You should be thanking your lucky fucking stars that Tyson Clabo picked up that late holding call. If Atl comes back and wins that game, it's 100% Winborn's fault. I can't stand the guy. He jaw-jacks on every single play. Every single one. Whether he's involved or not. Irritating.

The secondary is still a joke. Our inability to get off the field on third down is really frustrating. 3rd and 1, 3rd and 15, it doesn't matter. They're picking up the first.

Elvis Dumerville. Only in on obvious passing plays. Probably a smart decision, considering he's the worst D-Lineman against the rush in the NFL.

Niko Koutouvides. What a waste of a signing that guy was. A rookie FB took his job. The same job he was supposed to beat out Nate Webster's helmet for. Terrible.

UGLY:

Matt Prater's ink. I hope he wears sleeves the rest of the way. That shit reminds me of Sauerdoughbrun.

San Diego lost to Pitt yesterday, giving us a 2 game lead in the division. Is this ugly? No, but I've got nothing else for this secton. The weather was pretty ugly, though.


They're slowly turning it around on D. Hopefully they only get better.

That's how we have to win games

From here on out, that's how we win. Score a ton and hope the D can hang on. Here's the GBU from the 34-30 W over the Brownies.

GOOD:
Jay fucking Cutler. Holy hell was he good last night. He still pouts a little too much for my tastes, but whatever. Good zip on the ball, nice touch on the finesse passes, not telegraphing his throws, monster numbers, excellent with his legs. The pick wasn't his fault. Well done.

Eddie Royal. If Matt Ryan wasn't around he'd be the unanimous ROY.

Tony Scheffler. The groin was clearly bothering him, but he toughed it out. Came down w/ a couple of huge catches when we needed them.

Brandon Stokely. Way to put the kibosh on the idiotic Obama/black panther type of celebration that Marshall had planned after the game winning TD. The 15 yard penalty he was sure to get would have been costly.

Peyton Hillis. Hee-yuge two yard run on 4th and 1 in the fourth quarter. He's not the answer for our RB problems, but that was a big run.

Romeo Crennell. A minute or so to play, 3rd and 1 from near mid-field with a timeout and he calls back to back passing plays out of the shotgun. Even though our front four had been getting pushed around and stomped on all night by Cleveland's massive O-line, they didn't even have a back in the game. Hand it off on one of those downs and a picture of Meryl Streep would be at the top of this post. I don't get it Romeo, but thanks.

BAD:

The D is awful, right? And the injuries? Oh man, the injuries. It looked like the third quarter of a preseason game out there. Zero starters at LB, only half of the starters in the secondary. People named Calvin Lowry and Jack Williams getting extended time? Let's just move on. The D is in complete shambles.

Also, since you guys suck so bad, can we stop with the jaw-jacking and dancing around like you won the Lotto after a routine tackle? Retarded. Winborn is the worst offender by far. If you drop a guy for a two yard loss, then you can hoot and holler all you want. When a guy picks up five yards on first down? That's an unsuccessful play. Stop fucking dancing and/or running your mouth.

UGLY:

The running game is also in shambles. Torain got hurt again and is probably done for the year w/ an ACL. Selvin Young was too hurt to be active yesterday, but he got pressed into service after Torain went down. He was only able to go a couple of carries before he was done for the night. The only healthy RB on the roster right now is PJ Pope. I wasn't kidding about Tatum Bell last week. We've got to do something.


Nothing has really changed. We've still got Achilles heels the size of Texas with that D and that lack of a running game, but for today all is good.

Because JC saves.

I waited two weeks for this? For this?

Christ. Way to come out of the bye week, fellas. Awesome preparation. You're clearly a highly disciplined squad. Here's a reality-bites GBU from a wasted opportunity on Sunday.

GOOD:
Our lone offensive threat, FB Peyton Hillis.

BAD:
Where do you start with Jay Cutler? That's as bad of a game as I've ever seen from him. The whispers about whether or not Cut is really the "answer" will start now, if they haven't already. This is the 5th straight game where he's vacillated between average and completely incompetent. He looked like a high schooler out there yesterday. Mind-boggling throws, staring down his receivers, double clutching every other toss, pouting like a little baby. The majority of his 300+ passing yards was YAC from Hillis. He was flat-out terrible. Remember how good he was in Weeks 1-3? Me neither. BECAUSE IT WAS FIVE FUCKING WEEKS AGO!

14 rushing yards. That's the second lowest output in franchise history. Franchise history. Where's this Pain Train I've been hearing so much about? Dude was a pointless afterthought.

Brandon Marshall. 2 catches. Hard to fault him since he was doubled most of the game and when he wasn't Cutler was too locked in on Eddie Royal on the other side to notice. Eyeballing him like a bum staring at a sandwich.

Whoever the hell decided it would be a good idea for the corners to play 12 yards off the receivers at the snap. 8-10 yard out routes have fucking killing us all season. Am I the only one that sees this? No. Here's Marshall's thoughts on this nonsense.

"If I was a receiver going against our defense and they're stacking the box and we're playing a 1-high defense and eight in the box, and the DBs are 10 yards off of me, I'm going to catch 10, 12 balls a game. It's simple."

Simple. More on Brandon Marshall's mouth later this week.

UGLY:

DJ Williams and Marlon McCree get hurt on the same play. DJ is done for a minimum of three weeks, likely for the year. We lose our two best defensive players (on an incredibly shitty defense) in back to back weeks. Sweet.

I hate to bitch about officiating, but where the fuck was the pass interference on the Marshall TD catch? Two different officials threw flags on it, but sitting in the stadium, I didn't see it on the replay. Am I blind? They gave us the make-up PI call later in the game, but jesus, what a momentum killer.

Short week coming up. At Cleveland on Thursday night. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to another game so soon, though.

Jay Cutler = Linus

Here's an angry, angry GBU from the loss to Jax that I had the distinct displeasure of viewing in person.


GOOD:
Michael Pittman. Fuck this running-back-by-commitee horseshit. Name a guy your primary back and give him the fucking ball 25 times a game. If he's too delicate to handle that kind of workload or he's not fast enough as an occasional "change of pace" type of back or he's not big enough to be a 3rd and 1/goal-line type of back, get his ass the fuck gone. No more splitting series between Selvin, Andre Hall and Pittman. That shit is fucking absurd. Is it any concidence that the week we ride one horse is the same week we finally have a decent running attack? I say no.

BAD:
Brandon Marshall. I don't give a shit if he had 12 catches or whatever, he had a goddamn shit game yesterday. The fumble at the goal-line. The game killing drop on the last series. Zero effort on that deep ball in the third (it landed two yards in front of him and he never even put his fucking hands up). The fucking 10 yard loss on the WR screen. Seriously dickhead, just go down already. I'm sick of the juking and jiving and this guy having to protect his rep as the "hardest wideout in league to tackle." Fuck that nonsense. The potential reward does not outweigh the risk. JUST GO DOWN, ASSHOLE.

Jay Cutler. Have you ever seen a QB lock in on one receiver the way Cut locked in on Marshall yesterday? It was fucking absurd. He threw at least eight passes in Marshall's direction when he was doubled up and had no shot at a catch (and another that was batted down at the line). I know Eddie and Scheffler weren't in the line-up, but fuck me. You've got to find somewhere else to go with the ball, man. He's lucky he didn't have 6 INT's yesterday. Terrible, terrible game.

The Denver Defense. Or as I like to call them, Champ Bailey and Ten Worthless Motherfuckers. I was actually trying to defend the rush D on the way to the game (it's always only one guy out of position or one guy missing a big tackle. Larry Johnson skewed the numbers. They're not that bad, etc.) Embarrassing. It's time for someone to get fired. Remember when we imported almost all of the D-line from Cleveland and everyone made fun of us? Man, those were the good ol' days. That D-line was actually decent. This D-line? Dog. Shit.

UGLY:

Your momma

What defensive problems?

I don't see any defensive problems. Quick GBU from the ugly 16-13 W over Brian Griese's sniveling ass.


GOOD:

How 'bout that Denver D? It helped that Griese/Gruden absolutely refused to go down the field with the ball until late in the fourth.

Zero mistakes from Cutler. He was a little off and he didn't have huge numbers, but he was solid throughout. No stupid throws or poor decisions. It was killing him to play that kind of game though. You know he wanted to air it out.

BAD:

Eddie Royal got banged up and didn't come back.

The O only really clicked for a couple of drives there.

The play calling was a little conservative for my tastes. I know Tampa is good in deep pass coverage, but sheesh. I don't think Cut even threw a pass longer than 20 yards.

Brandon Marshall was not good. He dropped a couple and fell down while making his break on another.

Chris Meyers is one of the worst play-by-play guys in the league. He's as bad as Bryant Gumble in terms of down and distance. I don't know how many times yesterday he said that a runner "looks short of the first down," when he was tackled or ran out three yards short of the sticks. Three full fucking yards. Or "he appears to have gotten the first" when the guy's three yards past the sticks. He did that shit all day long. Irritating. Get some fucking glasses.

UGLY:

FOX. The HD feed went out about ten minutes into the game and stayed out until halftime. I completely missed Tampa's first scoring drive before realizing that it was being shown on the over-the-air channel too. Stupid non high-definition picture. Might as well rub dirt in my eyes.

Pathetic

You play this poorly, you don't get Josey Wales Clint or Dirty Harry Clint, you get pussy-ass Bridges of Madison County Clint. Here's The Good The Bad and The Ugly from the 33-19 prison rape at the hands of KC.

GOOD:

Hmm....lets see.... I guess Eddie Royal had a pretty good game. Although he did fumble the ball early...leading to a KC FG...so I guess he wasn't really THAT good.

What else?

What about...? Nope.

I got nothing.

BAD & UGLY:

Every single facet of that fucking nightmare game.

The O couldn't get on track against KC's terrible D.

Jay Cutler still occasionally makes absurdly terrible decisions w/ the football. He threw picks on consecutive throws for fucks sake. The second one was just terrible. Typical play action roll-out to Cut's left. Scheffler is WIDE FUCKING OPEN down the middle and Cut tries to go all the way across the field to Marshall, who was doubled up. Easy pick. Just a brainless throw.

The running game was non-existant.

The O line was awful.

The D couldn't stop anyone when it needed to. Seriously, doesn't it seem like opponents are converting on third down at a 95% clip? Get a fucking stop.

Larry Johnson went for nearly 200 yards.

Someone named Damon Huard looked like Len Dawson in his prime. Dre Bly will now be known as Dre Blight around these parts.

We gave up huge kickoff returns. KC's average starting position was their own 47. Forty Seven!

The Deliverance Kid shanked a 30 yarder (he did hit from 51 and 56 later in the game, though).

Britt Kern yaked a punt about 20 yards.


So yeah, this game fucking sucked dingleberried assholes. If you turn the ball over four fucking times on the road, you're going to lose. Period. You'll even lose to a team that hadn't won a game for nearly a full calender year and had averaged 11 measly points so far this season. They flat-out weren't ready to play.

Unacceptable.

Cut me a switch, Lane

'Cause we're gonna to beat your ass with it.

Here's The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the 41-14 prison rape of the Oakland Raiders. It's ok though, most Oakland fans are familiar with prison rape. For most of them, it's the only kind of love they'll ever experience.

GOOD:

Everything about the Denver O. Seriously, they haven't clicked like that since '98. Everything worked. Everything.

Shanny's got his play-calling swagger back. He turned Cut loose in the red zone, threw out of running formations, switched everything up really well. He had Oakland bamboozled all night long.

Eddie Royal is a man. He's 22! What an insane game for the kid. He made DeAngelo Hall look like Dominique Foxworth in the '05 AFC Championship. Brandon, who?

I think that any argument about who is the best QB from the '06 draft class is pretty much over, right? He had what...three bad throws all night?

O-line gave Cut all night long to throw. Pretty good w/ the run blocking too. Solid.

The D was ok...not great or even good, but OK. They have some serious work ahead of them this weekend. Pressure on the QB was better, but they looked soft against the run again, especially on the right side.


BAD

The Oakland Raiders. Oh man, are they bad. Typical Raider-type (read: cheapshot) penalties, dropped passes, terrible line play on both sides of the ball, etc. They're beyond awful. I don't know how anyone picked them to finish ahead of KC.

Mike Ditka. Seriously, gang. Get this loud-mouth, defeatist fuck-stick off my TV.

There isn't a single player on Denver that you can really point a finger at and say "you have to get better." Marquand Manual is a little soft in coverage, but that's about it.

UGLY

Oakland Raiders fans. I think you can fit some more skulls on that stupid get-up there, Violator.


Not a lot for those last two categories, eh? It's all good. All of it.

Acceptable

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly from the Packers game on Fri.


GOOD

The first team O scored on all three drives it had in the first half and tallied 17 points. One of said drives went 99 1/2 yards and chewed up eight and a half minutes. Offense looks real, real good.

Jay Cutler hasn't been sacked in the preseason. Nice job by the line. Improving every single week, especially the young tackles.

If Selvin and Andre Hall can both stay healthy, the running game will be very, very good.

The rushing D was very solid, especially up the middle. Dwayne Robertson clogs the middle and takes up multiple blockers. Exactly the way Sam Adams didn't. Best off-season move so far.

Matt Prater finally hit his first kick of a game. He's a complete monster on kickoffs. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think every Denver kickoff was a touchback.

Rook FB Peyton Hillis had a critical third down catch on that lengthy drive. He was the primary FB on that drive and did an excellent job. Cecil might want to watch his back, the kid looked real good.

Nate Jackson. You cannot get rid of this guy. Just when you think he's on the bubble, he catches a TD and looks very good blocking on the outside. Cockroaches, rats and Nate Jackson.

BAD

The first team D gave up an easy TD on the Pack's first drive. They marched right through Denver like Sherman through Atlanta.

Again, absolutely zero pass rush. Rodgers and Brohm had all day to throw. This is a serious problem. Elvis finally notched a sack at the end of the half, but sheesh.

Corners playing seven yards off the receiver on third and four. What the fuck is that all about? You're going to get a quick toss that way every single time. I'll never fucking understand that. It's retarded.

Speaking of Dre Bly, he was terrible.

Cutler was not impressive. 6 of 13 for 115yds. He did have two TD's but he got bailed out on the last one by Brandon Marshall, who is disgustingly good by the way. Cut saw the single coverage on him w/ no safety help and audibled to a go route, which he underthrew. The Packers lined up in the same D on the next play and Cut went to the go again...and underthrew it again. Marshall was able to reach back and bat it up into the air and bobbled it a couple of times, finally hauling it in for an easy TD. UPDATE: I guess this wasn't really underthrown. Eat a dick.

Terrible two minute defense at the end of the half.

My man Cliff Russell may have cost himself a spot on the team with a drop in the end zone on fourth and goal. Right now he looks better than Keary Colbert or even Darrell Jackson (did he even play?), but I don't know man....that drop was huge. Hopefully it won't cost him a spot, but I could see something like that being the deciding factor.

Chad Mustard whiffed badly on a block late in the game and nearly got Patrick Ramsey killed. As it turned out, Ramsay was blasted as he threw, the ball fluttered up into the air and was easily snatched by a Pack D-lineman deep in Denver territory. GB took it to the house four plays later. If you're looking for a play that lost Denver the game, that one was it. If the rest of the TE's can stay healthy, Mustard is gone.

UGLY

Is it me or does Darrell Hackney look like a full-sized Arnold Jackson?

There was an insane sideline interview w/ a midget from Taco Bell about the Tacos for Kids program or some shit. He probably wasn't technically a midget, but he came up to about mid-chest of the guy interviewing him. He was tanned as fuck and looked like he A-Rod style purple lipstick. Weird little exchange.

Elvis and Marquand Manual both broke fingers and will need surgery. Both should be ready for opening day. A guy I really like, the monsterous Paul Carrington, also got dinged up.


All in all, it was a decent night. The O is looking great.

Starting off

Mixed bag from Denver's loss last night. There were some positives, there were some negatives and there was some play sloppy play overall.

This year I'm going to go ahead and steal from about a half dozen places and bring you the Good, the Bad and the Ugly for each game.

GOOD:

The first team O got some rhythm on their second and last possession and ripped off a lengthy 75 yd drive ending w/ an impressive 15 yd TD run by Cutler. We're gonna need a lot of points again this year.

Wesley Woodyard looked like a young Al Wilson. He was flying around everywhere. Impressive night from that kid.

Anthony Aldridge is fast as hell. Third quarter: typical Denver running play. O-line drives left, backside is cut down at the knees, Aldridge is supposed to make one cut and go, only he cut right into a waiting LB. He bounced it past the guy and turned on the jets down the sideline for 30 yard gain. It was an insane play.

There's just something about Cliff Russell and Lamont Reid. I want both of those guys on this team.

Nate Jackson had a nice game.

Nate Webster's helmet made it's first appearance of the season.

Casey Weigmann got beat badly once, but overall he was pretty solid.

Christian Morton had one of the biggest hits on a QB I've ever seen. He came in untouched on a corner blitz and just destroyed Sage Rosenfels, who coughed it up. Rosenfels was staring at his receiver so hard he never saw Morton coming straight at him. It was awesome. More on this guy later.

BAD:

Actually, more on this guy right now. He's terrible. A pass interference call, a holding call, cream cheese coverage all night long.

I'm surprised that Patrick Ramsay has a job in this league. He's how do you say...not good. At all. If Cut goes down (knocks furiously on wood), we're in serious trouble.

Ryan Harris had a terrible, terrible night. He's got to get better. An illegal formation call wipes out a huge gain on the first series. A holding call as Denver was driving in the second half, and another on first and goal on that same drive.

Niko K was pretty much absent from the game. I heard his name maybe once.

Ryan Clady got manhandled by Mario Williams early on. Just abused. He picked it up a little bit later on, but he's still got a ways to go.

The D in general was pretty crappy. Two long, time consuming drives to open the game. No pressure on the QB. Receivers running wide open down the middle. Big holes for RB's. A lot of starters weren't playing, including three quarters of the secondary (Dre Bly did play a little later on though) so take it with a grain of salt. Disappointing, but still really early.


UGLY:

Boss Bailey (of course) sprained his ankle early on and didn't return. Starting to wonder about that guy.

Three plays later, Bailey's backup Louis Green suffered a neck injury and was carted off the field and taken to the hospital. He was back in the locker room by the end of the game, so he should be alright. Like Warrick Holdman last year, an injury might have cost him his roster spot.

A shit ton of penalties. Hey, it's early.

The Denver Broncos uniforms. It's been 11 years now. It's time for a change. Keep the logo, but the unis have to go. The blue pants are tolerable, but the white pants have to stop.

Conclusion: Satisfactory for the first game in eight months.