Random information

[cdumler7]

Since we don't have a game this week thought I would post random information from the week in this thread. You can post whatever you want here just didn't exactly know where to put all of this.

Anyway Chris Harris for the year on over 1000 snaps only allowed 3 passes of 20 or more yards. He gave up 0 touchdowns, a completion percentage of 51.7%, and a quarterback rating of 47.8 when thrown at.

Some good news on the injury front. Orlando Franklin looks like he will be fine after sustaining a concussion in the Raider game. David Bruton I'm not quite as sure on. The good news is he is out of the hospital and is back home. The bad news is he did get a pretty bad concussion and possible neck injury from what I have read. He will go through the protocol of course so we shall see if he is shut down for the year or not.

On PFF the Broncos are the only team to finish with 2 Corners inside the top-12. Harris finished as the top Corner in all of football with Talib really finishing the season playing just as well as Harris has all season.

Some more injury news in it looks like both Ward and Marshall will be ready for the Divisional round. Julius Thomas said that he plans on using this bye week to continue with his rehab on his ankle trying to get it a little further along to be a bigger part of our offense in the playoffs.

Juwan Thompson was deactivated this last week and it was more just as a precaution so he could get a knee and hip injury healed up plus give Hillman a chance at some live action for the first time in 6 games. We should be at full strength at the RB position for the playoffs (well other than Ball on IR).

 

[cdumler7]

DT broke the Broncos single season record for receiving yards with 1619 yards. His 111 receptions were just two shy of the Broncos record set by Rod Smith in 2001. He also posted his 10th 100-yard game of the year being only the 7th receiver in NFL history to do that.


The Broncos have had twice this year where they lost to only then follow it up with 4 straight wins. If the Broncos do that again then it means a Super Bowl victory with just 3 games remaining plus the Raiders win.


Over the last 6 weeks CJ Anderson has 648 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns. Both of those figures lead the NFL over that span. He also scored more touchdowns in a season than any undrafted player in Broncos history this season with Mike Bell being the next closest with 8 while Anderson has 10.

 

[cdumler7]

Tickets for the Divisional Round sold out in less than an hour with non-premium seats selling out in less than 15 minutes. 96% of Season Ticket holders decided they wanted to buy playoff tickets (they get first dibs) leaving only about 4,500 tickets for the general population.

 

[cdumler7]

DT actually had more receiving yards by himself than all of the Chiefs receivers combined for the season. The Chiefs receivers had 1,588 yards on the season while DT had 1619 for the year. Throw in he also had 11 more touchdowns by himself than that of the Chiefs combined but hey when you get 0 touchdowns (first time since 1964 that a team has gone a full season without a receiver catching a touchdown pass) it is not hard to beat.

 

[WalkerBoh]

Since we don't have a game this week thought I would post random information from the week in this thread. You can post whatever you want here just didn't exactly know where to put all of this.

Anyway Chris Harris for the year on over 1000 snaps only allowed 3 passes of 20 or more yards. He gave up 0 touchdowns, a completion percentage of 51.7%, and a quarterback rating of 47.8 when thrown at.

Some good news on the injury front. Orlando Franklin looks like he will be fine after sustaining a concussion in the Raider game. David Bruton I'm not quite as sure on. The good news is he is out of the hospital and is back home. The bad news is he did get a pretty bad concussion and possible neck injury from what I have read. He will go through the protocol of course so we shall see if he is shut down for the year or not.

On PFF the Broncos are the only team to finish with 2 Corners inside the top-12. Harris finished as the top Corner in all of football with Talib really finishing the season playing just as well as Harris has all season.

Some more injury news in it looks like both Ward and Marshall will be ready for the Divisional round. Julius Thomas said that he plans on using this bye week to continue with his rehab on his ankle trying to get it a little further along to be a bigger part of our offense in the playoffs.

Juwan Thompson was deactivated this last week and it was more just as a precaution so he could get a knee and hip injury healed up plus give Hillman a chance at some live action for the first time in 6 games. We should be at full strength at the RB position for the playoffs (well other than Ball on IR).

Hillman got about as many carries as Anderson did against the Raiders. So he should be more than ready for the divisional round.

 

[cdumler7]

Hillman got about as many carries as Anderson did against the Raiders. So he should be more than ready for the divisional round.

I actually liked the way he ran. He got stuffed a few times but it looked like his speed is still there. Plus he showed some great grit in my opinion on that run that he refused to go down and really if the refs hadn't blown the whistle when they did I think the OL would have pushed him right into the end zone. Worries me a little with his fumbling problems but hey love the fight.

So more just random information. Broncos have changed up a bit how they are going about this bye week compared to the last couple of years. The last 2 years the Broncos have actually had a pretty full practice schedule even on the off week. This year the Broncos are only practicing today and tomorrow then getting Thurs.-Sat. off and then strength training back at the facilities on Sunday. So giving the players a little more of a break. I think that is a great idea with how many guys are dinged up right now.

Another good news on the injury front is that DT does not have broken fingers like some had thought for a bit after Sunday.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Over the last 6 weeks CJ Anderson has 648 rushing yards and 8 touchdowns. Both of those figures lead the NFL over that span. He also scored more touchdowns in a season than any undrafted player in Broncos history this season with Mike Bell being the next closest with 8 while Anderson has 10.

Lots of interesting facts, but other than the injury updates, I think that this stands out most to me. Hopefully CJ has a big postseason, since I figure that would bode well going forward.

 

[iknowftbll]

I actually liked the way he ran. He got stuffed a few times but it looked like his speed is still there. Plus he showed some great grit in my opinion on that run that he refused to go down and really if the refs hadn't blown the whistle when they did I think the OL would have pushed him right into the end zone. Worries me a little with his fumbling problems but hey love the fight.

He hasn't fumbled in quite a while, though. I recall some discussion on that earlier this season that Hillman was a much better ball carrier than before. Am I making this up? I thought Hillman was more reliable in protecting the ball.

 

[cdumler7]

He hasn't fumbled in quite a while, though. I recall some discussion on that earlier this season that Hillman was a much better ball carrier than before. Am I making this up? I thought Hillman was more reliable in protecting the ball.

I have noticed that he seems to run through the hole with both hands on the ball and when he does get into a pile makes sure to get both hands on the ball. So I will say he is running a lot smarter than he was any other time in his career. The issue though that I still worry about is he is probably arm wise the weakest of all our RB's. His grip just is not quite as strong making it a bit easier to pop that ball out. Again he has been doing better so maybe this is me just remembering too much of the past but I always will be one that turnovers are the great equalizer in the NFL giving lesser teams the chance to pull the upset.

 

[iknowftbll]

I have noticed that he seems to run through the hole with both hands on the ball and when he does get into a pile makes sure to get both hands on the ball. So I will say he is running a lot smarter than he was any other time in his career. The issue though that I still worry about is he is probably arm wise the weakest of all our RB's. His grip just is not quite as strong making it a bit easier to pop that ball out. Again he has been doing better so maybe this is me just remembering too much of the past but I always will be one that turnovers are the great equalizer in the NFL giving lesser teams the chance to pull the upset.

Understandable. It is very difficult for a RB to overcome an early reputation for being a fumbler. Players will go for the ball rather than wrap up and make the tackle and a lot of times the gamble will pay off. Hillman's timing was always really bad, too. Not that there's a good time to fumble, but in a lot of ways it can be worse at critical moments in a game. I think Hillman had a couple that ended potential game-winning drives, didn't he?

Also, I agree about the refs blowing the whistle on that play. He did stall and they blew it just before the linemen collectively got the pile moving again. The forward momentum did stall and they blew the whistle at the right time. Still, it was a micro-second later that the pile began to move again and I was thinking, "Damn refs blew the whistle too early." Isn't it amazing how the refs can never get it right? Some running plays stall and it's an eternity before you hear the whistle blow, almost like they're waiting for a strip. On those plays I'm screaming at the refs, "Blow the play dead, asshole!" Refs... They can never get it right!

 

[cdumler7]

Understandable. It is very difficult for a RB to overcome an early reputation for being a fumbler. Players will go for the ball rather than wrap up and make the tackle and a lot of times the gamble will pay off. Hillman's timing was always really bad, too. Not that there's a good time to fumble, but in a lot of ways it can be worse at critical moments in a game. I think Hillman had a couple that ended potential game-winning drives, didn't he?

Also, I agree about the refs blowing the whistle on that play. He did stall and they blew it just before the linemen collectively got the pile moving again. The forward momentum did stall and they blew the whistle at the right time. Still, it was a micro-second later that the pile began to move again and I was thinking, "Damn refs blew the whistle too early." Isn't it amazing how the refs can never get it right? Some running plays stall and it's an eternity before you hear the whistle blow, almost like they're waiting for a strip. On those plays I'm screaming at the refs, "Blow the play dead, asshole!" Refs... They can never get it right!

The refs might have the most thankless job in the country. Maybe Obama gives them a run for their money but don't want to get into politics too much on here. Yeah that whistle seemed to come quick on that play compared to some where we get stuffed at the LOS to only have them wait 4-5 seconds before ever blowing the whistle and seeing guys do everything possible to cause a fumble.

Hillman's fumbles have come at inopportune moments it seems like. The one that sticks out in my head is the one against the Colts last year where we were mounting this amazing come back. We down by 9 at the time and had 1st and goal at the 2 yard line. Hillman had this huge hole to run through to only have some guy stick out a random arm as he was running in and stripping the ball away. We ended up losing by 6 points so that touchdown wins us the game instead his fumble cost us a huge opportunity.

That one above all others sticks out in my head at least. In reality as I just looked it up he hasn't fumbled a ton. He has I think 5 fumbles in 3 years. Given he doesn't have a ton of carries in that span so it makes it a little bit more but he has only lost 2 fumbles so far and one of them happened when we beat the Chiefs 38-3. That one big fumble though against the Colts when it possibly cost us a game will be one I don't forget any time soon.

 

[cdumler7]

So today for practice Manning, DT, Sanders, Welker, Marshall, Bruton, Franklin and Thompson were all given days off today. Welker and Sanders came out on the field but just played catch on the sidelines during practice.


Stats wise for the year the Broncos finished 3rd in yards on defense. Essentially they were an 85 yard run by Jeremy Hill from being 2nd in the NFL only behind Seattle.


Only 5 players hauled in 100+ catches on the season. The Broncos had 2 of them.


The Broncos finished 2nd in scoring for the year (this is total points by all groups). We were beat out by the Packers by 4 points (darn you McManus and your missed chip shots).

 

[randymon]

The refs might have the most thankless job in the country. Maybe Obama gives them a run for their money but don't want to get into politics too much on here. Yeah that whistle seemed to come quick on that play compared to some where we get stuffed at the LOS to only have them wait 4-5 seconds before ever blowing the whistle and seeing guys do everything possible to cause a fumble.

Hillman's fumbles have come at inopportune moments it seems like. The one that sticks out in my head is the one against the Colts last year where we were mounting this amazing come back. We down by 9 at the time and had 1st and goal at the 2 yard line. Hillman had this huge hole to run through to only have some guy stick out a random arm as he was running in and stripping the ball away. We ended up losing by 6 points so that touchdown wins us the game instead his fumble cost us a huge opportunity.

That one above all others sticks out in my head at least. In reality as I just looked it up he hasn't fumbled a ton. He has I think 5 fumbles in 3 years. Given he doesn't have a ton of carries in that span so it makes it a little bit more but he has only lost 2 fumbles so far and one of them happened when we beat the Chiefs 38-3. That one big fumble though against the Colts when it possibly cost us a game will be one I don't forget any time soon.

I liked what I saw in Hilman ystrdy. He looked fresh, showed his quickness, some good leg drive for the little guy and he looks very fresh. I think he is going to be a great asset gong forward in the PO. I see him making some big plays for Denver with his ability to get outside and in the passing game as well. Good to have him back for sure.

 

[Malibu]

Hillman as a receiver out of the backfield as well with his speed should give the Broncos offense a little more punch. I like the fact that the Broncos are going to be pretty much as healthy as they can get going into the playoffs after this bye week.

 

[cdumler7]

Peyton, DT, and Sanders all missed their 2nd practice in a row. Honestly this is what I was hoping the Broncos would do as all of these guys have proven when the time comes they can step up and do just fine. What they need now more than ever is just some time to rest up, let the body heal, and for at least Manning maybe just get a bit of a mental break. The problem I have seen for Manning this past month isn't so much his physical injury (although I do think that has been a bit of an issue) but it is more the mental side of things. He has thrown into triple coverage more in the past month than probably his entire time with the Broncos combined up to that point. So keeping him away from practice I think is the smart thing to do right now.


Also how crazy is it that maybe our healthiest WR right now is Wes Welker?


Finally a piece of information that I think is maybe the coolest of this week is that the Broncos since they do not know who the opponent will be have been spending this week doing some self critiquing. They have actually gone to the point of contacting coaches like Andy Reid, Mike McCoy and others asking what it is they saw as weaknesses of the team this year and what kind of tendencies they had. Thankfully this is where John Fox being the well respected coach he is can actually get other coaches to give up this kind of information.