OK, so I was WAY too optimistic with my W-L predictions for the Broncos (I had them going 11-6 on Sept 16th). Here is my updated prediction (I’m afraid even this might be a reach unless the Defense make significant strides)…  

   Opponent     Prediction
at Buffalo            W
Oakland              W
Jacksonville        L
at Indianapolis    L
San_Diego           L
BYE 
Pittsburgh          L
Green_Bay         W
at Detroit            L
at Kansas City   L
Tennessee          W
at Chicago           L
at Oakland         L
Kansas_City      W
at Houston        W
at San_Diego     L
Minnesota          W

Season Prediction: 7 and 9

We are now 4 games into the fantasy football season and things are not what I had hoped. I am currently 1-3 heading into the dreaded “Bye Week Gauntlet”. The good news is that I could have won 2 of the games I lost had I played the right players (who knew I should play Ronnie Brown over Travis Henry 2 weeks ago??). Can’t seem to get all of my players to fire at the same time (like I have anything to do with it). Hopefully things work themselves out over the year as I’m still fairly happy with my team. Time will tell…

 BTW, I obviously missed one of the games for the Broncos (I thought they’d be 3-1 right now…never saw that loss to Jacksonville coming!). I’m also not all that confident about my predicted win this Sunday to the Chargers. I think the only way the Broncos can win is to 9 guys in the box, shadow LT with 2 guys, and dare Rivers to beat Champ or Bly. Otherwise LT just might run for 400 yards and 17 touchdowns against “The Predominantly Orange Sieve Defense”.

Go Rockies!!

 Never tried doing this in the past, but since I’ve got the Blog now so I thought it might be interesting to give a shot at predicting the Broncos’ Wins and Loses this year. I obviously have gotten a head start since I already know they won their first game (still recovering from that one). Below is the table with my predictions for each game.  

   Opponent     Prediction
at Buffalo            W
Oakland              W
Jacksonville        W
at Indianapolis    L
San_Diego           W
BYE 
Pittsburgh          L
Green_Bay         W
at Detroit            L
at Kansas City   W
Tennessee          W
at Chicago           L
at Oakland         W
Kansas_City      W
at Houston        W
at San_Diego     L
Minnesota          W

Season Prediction: 11 and 5

I think this is fairly optimistic and there are a few games I’m not very confident in (but when it comes to the Broncos I tend to be optimistic–but hey, I’m a fan!).  The games I’m not confident in are:

1. Week 5 versus San Diego: Depends on which teams show up. I have them splitting the series with San Diego, wining at home and losing on the road.

2. Week 10 versus KC: Not that KC is any good, but it’s always tough for the Broncos in Arrowhead Stadium.

If I’m wrong on one of these games I think we’re still OK (10-6 I think gets us at least a Wild Card). If I’m wrong on both then it’s last year’s season all over again!!

Thanks to the generosity of my amazing Pastor (if you haven’t heard Pastor Ray preach and teach you really need to), I was able to take Logan to the Bronco game last night. He could not have been more excited when I told him we were going…he even finished his homework without a single complaint.

To everyone else it was “just a preseason game”, but to him it was an adventure. He’s been asking to go to Invesco field for awhile now…and he has really wanted to go this year since watching the Broncos on T.V. has become more interesting to him. On the way there (we took the Light Rail…which he loved too) I asked him which he was looking forward to the most: seeing the players or seeing the stadium. He couldn’t decide.

So we get to the stadium and the boy was truly in awe. It’s big, it’s shiny, it’s larger than life…especially to an 8year old boy. The seats were great–Club Level about even with the South End Zone (not a bad way to experience your first pro football game). He was so awestruck by the entire scene he couldn’t even eat his $5 hot dog (that’s a whole other blog…how do they sell a $0.25 hot dog for $5 and keep a straight face?)…and hot dogs & ketchup are a major food group for Logan!

I don’t think he watched much of the game. And not because it was mainly third string players, primarily because there was too much else for him to take in. There were roughly 55,000 in attendance, but I doubt anyone paid as much attention to the entire scenery as Logan did…he even noticed the guys standing at the top of the scoreboard (I had to look twice to see them after he pointed them out).

It was fun watching him experience this new atmosphere. For most of the people at the game it was just a game. For Logan it was a little more than that. He may or may  not look back on this as a grand memory in his lifetime, but it was still watching someone experience something larger than life for the first time. Made me appreciate it a little more too.

Thanks again Ray for the opportunity…you made an 8year old’s day!

Football is finally here!! Yes, I know it’s just the preseason…but when you’ve been “jonesing” for football since January you take what you can get. And while the entire preseason game isn’t very exciting (OK, downright dull)…it wasn’t a total loss. We got to see some of the “new guard” take the field for the first time. Here’s my assessment (for what it’s worth…which is about…well…nothing):

• The Good: Jay Cutler & Travis Henry. Individually they are very good…together I think they will make a great tandem. Defenses will have trouble focusing on either one. Should make for a fun year watching this offense get better and better…more dangerous each week. On a smaller level, Sauerbrun looked OK.
• The Bad: The new defense has a ways to go. Denver couldn’t stop the run to save their own jobs (which is the case for some of these guys). And they weren’t even facing Frank Gore! I’m putting on my optimistic hat and hoping that this is a case of a new system that just needs a little more time…let’s just hope it’s no more than 3 more games. But it does make me nervous.
• The Unknowns: Didn’t see much from Daniel Graham and there are still some question marks surrounding the WR position (aside from Walker of course). I’m also not sure about Special Teams coverage…didn’t see a lot good or bad, but I was hoping for something more spectacular (more games should help clarify this situation a little more).

I’m still optimistic about the Bronco’s chances this year. I think the playoffs are a strong possibility and am still calling for them to lead the West (I still think Norv Turner will screw things up in San Diego somehow).

One final thought…did you see the size of Sam Adams?? The man is a house (and then some)!! Here’s to more football (and it’s nice that the Broncs play again on Saturday)!

Even though it’s summer, from a sport’s perspective I hate this time of year. The only sport going on right now is baseball and since the Rockies have pretty much always sucked and there was no professional baseball in Denver until them…I am forced to wait for football season to get here. And it’s almost here!!

Just 21 days…count them…that’s a mere 3 weeks until Broncos’ training camp starts. And the first real game (Preseason still doesn’t count) is only 2 months away. I for one cannot wait!! I love professional football and I bleed Orange & Blue! And I am pretty bullish on the Broncos’ prospects this year. I think they have a better than average shot at winning their division (can anyone guess the last time Norv Turner had a winning season as a head coach?? That would be never!). I think their season hinges on Travis Henry and Jay Cutler…and I like those odds.

And with the start of the NFL season comes half of the reason to watch. Fantasy Football baby! Two months from the draft and I’m already starting to plan. Just can’t help myself. The last two seasons I’ve had LT on my roster (and paid dearly for him too since we run an auction draft). Didn’t win either year (although I was in contention) so this year I may have other plans in mind.

NFL 2007 here we come…can’t get here soon enough!