Day Two of the Draft Complete

John Elway surprised just about everyone by selecting Adam Gotsis, a defensive tackle from Georgia Tech with the 63rd pick of the draft. Before he was selected, I had never heard of him. He was a hot name before the draft and shot up boards and was expected to be gone in the third round. Although it may seem to be a reach based on draft analyst rankings, but Elway and co. have drafted well on the defensive line since he became the Vice President of Football Operations. 

This pick fits an immediate need for the Broncos and if he shows that he is polished and rehabs successfully he could find himself starting by the midway point in the season. Even if he does not crack the starting lineup, he will still play a role as a rotational player. Malik Jackson’s departure left a gaping hole at defensive end and although they signed Jared Crick, he is not the longterm solution at that position. 

He tore his ACL midway through the season last year, but he should be ready by the beginning of the season. His ACL injury should not be a longterm problem for him, which is why the front office felt comfortable drafting him in the second round. 

With the final pick of the day, the Broncos selected safety Justin Simmons out of Boston College. David Bruton and Omar Bolden left in free agency, and Darian Stewart is in a contract season, safety depth was much needed.

Simmons needs to be able to be in the rotation from day one. He does not need to be starter quality, but he needs to be good enough to give the starters a rest every now and then. He played free safety at Boston College so he will likely be Stewart’s eventual replacement. Simmons was the emotional leader on his defense, hopefully he can carry that over to the NFL.  

Thoughts on Denver Drafting Paxton Lynch With the 26th Overall Pick

Many thought the Broncos would have to move past the New York Jets in order to grab Paxton Lynch, but they obviously knew that New York would not pick him in the first round. They ended up trading up to the 26th spot to take their future quarterback, relinquishing the 31st and the 94th picks. 

After the draft concluded, there were reports that Dallas was also trying to trade up for the opportunity to select Lynch, but the possession of a first round pick enticed Seattle to accept the Broncos offer. Good job on Elway’s part to ensure that another team was not able to complete a trade before them to pick Lynch. 

John Elway possessed 10 picks going into the draft so I was not a surprise that he used one of his mid-round picks as ammunition to put himself into a position to draft a player that he really wanted.

Lynch is a polarizing pick among Bronco fans because many thought they would be able to get a project quarterback in the later rounds. Dak Prescott and Christian Hackenberg would both be available in the second and maybe even third rounds. However, I am a huge fan of this pick because Lynch has the highest ceiling of any of the other quarterbacks in the draft. Some have raised concerns of his ability to work from under center and his ability to read NFL defenses (which every rookie QB is unequipped for). 

The best case scenario for both Lynch and Denver is for him to take zero snaps during the 2016 season. Hopefully Sanchez is able to hold down the fort without getting injured or preforming poorly enough to get benched. 

Jon Gruden compared Paxton Lynch to Cam Newton during the ESPN broadcast of the draft, which is good but Gruden is known for overemphasizing player skill. I don't agree with Gruden’s assessment because Cam is much more athletic and more polished coming out of college. 

Lynch has a strong arm and athleticism, but he needs to work on his mechanics, especially since he will be transition to an offense that operates mainly under center. With that said, it is reassuring that Lynch compares closely with Cam according to a former head coach. 

The Broncos did a good job of getting the player that they wanted in the first round and without panicking a trading up before they needed to. Lynch may not be prepared to play this season, but I believe he is the quarterback of the future. Reportedly, Paxton Lynch was the number one quarterback on the Broncos board, ahead of the first two overall picks Jared Goff and Carson Wentz. Although I might not agree with that, it is hard for me to criticize John Elway when it comes to ranking quarterbacks.

Denver Broncos Early Offseason Preview

The Denver Broncos just won the Super Bowl, but the front office probably already has their eyes on free agency. They have a couple of high profile players that will become unrestricted free agents. They will have some tough decisions to make because they only have $11 million in cap space, according to Over The Cap.

Von Miller will probably receive the franchise tag designation from the team, which will cost them around 14 million if he does not sign an extension before the season begins. Von's negotiations will likely follow the same timeline as Demaryius' negotiations last summer Von will sign a deal over $100 million sometime before the extension deadline before those that receive the franchise tag. His performance in the playoffs probably earned him an extra couple of million on his new contract.

The defense will likely lose two or three starters. I would love for them to find a way to keep Malik Jackson, but they will probably allow Malik Jackson to walk in free agency. He will probably command $10+ on the open market. He has been an absolute beast all season and whichever team signs him will be in a really good position.

Danny Trevathan is another one that the team will likely have to let go. Brandon Marshall is the better player (not a slight to Trevathan) and the Broncos cannot afford to pay two inside linebackers top five money. Todd Davis will be able to fill his void though. Coaches have been high on him this past year and proved himself when he got his chances this season.

Demarcus Ware could be cut during the offseason since he will be in the last year of his deal and the Broncos could save $10 million in cap space. If he leaves, he will probably sign a one year deal in Dallas to finish out his illustrious career. There is a slight chance that Denver could keep him under contract because of his leadership on the defense.

Brock Osweiler's situation could get tricky if he slips into the open market. The Broncos hope to get his deal done before the tampering period is over because there are plenty of needy teams in the league and one of them might be willing to overpay for the chance at a franchise QB. Hopefully they will be able to get him on a short 2 year deal at $14-15 million per year so he can prove himself for a full season before he becomes a $20 million per year player.

I don't see the Broncos keeping many of the older veteran players that are free agents. Mathis, Vernon Davis, Antonio Smith will all probably walk in free agency. Elway will likely have to draft a defensive end in order to replace both Jackson and Smith on the line, unless he is able to find someone cheap in free agency. Max Garcia made progress as the year went along and he should be ready to take the starting job at left tackle next season.

Jeff Heuerman tore his ACL early in training camp in his first year, but he should be able to do just as much as Davis did for Denver this season. I am actually excited to see what he is able to do in the passing game with Brock next season. There is no reason to bring Vernon Davis back since Heuerman should be able to easily replace his production from last season. All he needs to do is hang onto the ball.

Bruton is an important player to re-sign though. He broke his leg against the Steelers in week 15, which might bring his price down. Bruton is a very important player on the defense and it was evident when Stewart and Ward went down in the playoffs. Bruton is very good in coverage and is probably one of the best if not the best third safety in the league.

I am of the opinion that the Broncos should probably let Ronnie Hillman walk. CJ Anderson does everything better as a back. They can easily replace Hillman in the draft. He is not the dynamic back that the Broncos thought they were getting when they drafted him four years ago.

Elway has a lot of tough decisions to make this offseason, but his track record shows that Broncos fans should remain calm and trust the process.

Denver Nuggets All-Star Break Review

The Nuggets were coming off of a terrible past two seasons and after trading away two starters, it did not look like 2015-16 had much in store for the Nuggets. But they have been pleasantly surprising this season. They come into the All-Star break with a 22-32 record and are in the race for the eighth seed in the West, 5 games back from the Jazz. They are also not too far away from having a top five pick in the 2016 draft. I don't want them to have a top pick and if they do end up getting one that isn't in the top three, they should trade it away. There are enough young players on this team that are showing potential, that I feel that another mid-lottery pick would just clog up the rotation.

Nikola Jokic has improved throughout the season and has become an important part of the offense and is often the second option behind Gallo who has played phenomenally through the first half of the season. Jokic is going to be a major weapon for the Nuggets in coming years because he scores with ease from both inside and out and is a pretty good rebounder as well. The only aspect of his game that is lacking is his defense, but he should be able to improve on that in the coming years. Look out for Jokic to have a very successful two months post All-Star break.

Gallinari is the surprise of the season for this Nuggets team. He has made major strides in his game since his injury and has put up almost 20 points, 5 rebounds and almost 3 assists per game this season. Many thought that it was a mistake to sign him to an extension last summer, but now that is looking like a bargain.

Emmanuel Mudiay has had a tough first season so far, but he does seem to be improving on his game throughout the season. He has limited his rookie mistakes as of late and is becoming a more efficient player. He still needs to work on getting good shots because he has a good shooting stroke, but he takes too many contested looks. He is shooting an abysmal 33% from the field. Over the past 17 games, he is shooting 38% from the field. It's not great, but it shows that he is improving his shot selection. His turnovers are also down from about 3.9 per game before to 2.9 over the past 17. He should start looking like the player many thought he would be coming into the season after the All-Star break.

Jusuf Nurkic took longer than many thought it would for him to get healthy and once he was finally healthy, he was hurt again. He has been coming off of the bench because of the emergence of Jokic. Those two should be able to play together in the future, but as of now, Jokic is the starter and Nurkic is forced to come off of the bench. He finally had a good game against Detroit on Wednesday, putting up 16 points and 11 rebounds. He is the best interior defender on the team, but he needs to be able to stay on the court for the rest of the season.

Will Barton has been the biggest surprise for the team this season. He went from an energy guy off of the bench to the biggest scoring threat on the bench and the third biggest scoring threat on the team. He is scoring 15.5 points on 45.5% shooting and grabbing 6 rebounds per game. The Nuggets signed him to a very cheap three year $15 million deal last summer and the the front office is probably rejoicing that they have him on such a cheap deal for the next two years.

Gary Harris has blossomed into one of the best wing defenders in the league and has improved him offensive game immensely. His improvement on the offensive side of the court earned him more minutes, which has allowed him to showcase his defensive abilities. I wish he would shoot a little bit more than he does. He does a good job of getting to the rim and finding good shots.

The Nuggets will make a playoff push in the second half of the season and the player discussed above are going to play a big role in ultimately get them there. They have over preformed this season so there is no reason that they can't over perform some more. Everyone involved in the team has the incentive to make the playoffs because, as I said earlier, another young player will just mess with the rotation. It will be interesting to see if they do anything before the trade deadline. I don't see anyone that they could trade for that would immediately improve the team, without losing some important young pieces.

This is about as excited as I have been for the second half of a basketball season since 2013 when the Nuggets finished in third place. They do have an easy schedule down the stretch because they had the third hardest in the league pre All-Star break. They play LA twice, Cleveland, San Antonio and Oklahoma City once. The rest of their games are against middling to bad teams, which gives many fans, like myself hope that they will be in the playoffs.

Can We Please Not "Favre" Manning

I have a favor to ask the media. Can you please not ask Peyton Manning, John Elway or anyone in the Denver Broncos front office about Manning's potential retirement every chance that you get? He will make his decision when he is ready to and he won't give you an answer if he hasn't even decided.

Let the man have his space. He probably won't be back next season, but we should cherish all four years that he was a quarterback in Denver.

There is so much more to talk about, such as impending free agents draft prospects. Hell, you could even still write stuff about the Super Bowl and the aftermath. There is absolutely no reason to badger him about his decision. I definitely don't want this to turn into a Brett Favre situation where reporters are camping outside of his house waiting for a decision.

His $19 million contract becomes fully guaranteed on March 9th. Even if Manning does not have a decision by then, the Broncos will probably cut him in order to save on salary. Obviously he is not the same quarterback that he was when he initially inked his deal almost 5 years ago. He is not worth that much money and even if he does come back, which is a HUGE if, it will have to be at a severely discounted price.

Honestly, I hope he does retire because it could get real ugly next year in Los Angeles if he decides to play another season. He was clearly not the same quarterback as before. He should go out on top rather than playing for one more franchise that probably wont have a good chance to make a deep run into the playoffs.

Super Bowl Parade Information

I can't make it because I have a test in one of my classes today (that should be illegal), but I encourage everyone to attend this joyous event.

The parade starts at noon, but events will begin in Civic Center Park at 10AM. The parade starts at 17th and Wynkoop. After the parade, there is a rally at Civic Center Park at 1PM that will feature Broncos players and coaches.

They are expecting one million people to show up for the parade and rally. 675,000 showed up for the parade after the teams first Super Bowl victory so one million is not out of reach.

Being at the parade will be a moment to remember for those that are able to attend. If I didn't have a test, I would be one of the first people there. If you can call off work to go, call out and attend the parade.

Nuggets Lose a Heartbreaker to the Nets

The Nuggets came into this game off of back to back victories against Chicago and New York. This matchup against Brooklyn is their second to last game until the All-Star break. They are five games out of the playoffs and that dream keeps slipping away. They can't afford to drop games to inferior teams if they wish to keep their hopes alive.

This was a heartbreaking loss for the Nuggets. They got the go ahead runner from Faried with 1.3 seconds left, but Joe Johnson banked in a buzzer beating three pointer that gave the Brooklyn Nets the win. I am not putting the entire loss on that one play because the game should not have been that close in the first place.

The struggled out of the gate and Mike Malone already had to call two timeouts by the midway point in the first quarter. The team recovered well out of both timeouts though and were able to close the gap. This pattern was a trend throughout the game. They could get down, then make up the deficit then they would get down again. If they would have come out with some fire, the game would have been over much earlier.

Kenneth Faried continued his recent stellar play into tonights game. He was the star of this game, he played fantastic defense, hit the go ahead shot for the Nuggets on a broken inbound play and finished with 22 points on 10-16 shooting and 10 rebounds. He is communicating very well on defense, which makes him a much more effective player on the defensive side even if he doesn't have the tangible defensive skills. I hope he continues to play this way so that I don't have to hear anymore trade rumors about him.

Gallinari had another fantastic game, which seems to just be the norm now. He has been automatic in recent games and has been getting to the line effectively. Although he did not get to the line double digit times today, he still got there 7 times. He never stopped driving to the hoop even though he was not getting calls and he was still able to finish effectively.

Malone utilized Gallo as a small ball four for most of the fourth quarter because of Nikoa Jokic's stinker of a game. It doesn't normally work well for the Nuggets, but it seemed beneficial to the team tonight. The loss had nothing to do with this small ball lineup because it worked for the most part.

Foye was a star for the Nuggets, hitting two late threes to keep the game close. He played the entire fourth quarter. Although he was playing well on offense, he struggled on defense, which hurt them down the stretch.

Gary Harris was another great player on both sides of the ball. He played great defense and finished with 17 points on 8-11 shooting. He also had a clutch steal when the game was tied with less than a minute to go. He should be getting more recognition around the league as a young up and coming player, but maybe that will come with time. Efficient offensive games like the one he had today will serve to earn him more minutes.

This was a tough loss for the Nuggets and they are now 5.5 games behind the Utah Jazz who are in eighth place. The playoffs don't seem as reachable now as they did a week ago even though the Nuggets have been playing well during that stretch. They have one more game at Detroit on Wednesday before the All-Star break. They won their last matchup against the Pistons a couple of weeks ago, but Drummond did not play many minutes. It will be interesting to see how the Nuggets deal with him when he is not in foul trouble.

Super Bowl Champions!

The Denver Broncos are Super Bowl Champions! The defense absolutely dominated the number one offense in the league from the start. Someone on the defense had to win Super Bowl MVP after their stellar performance and it was Von Miller who brought home the trophy. He had an absolutely amazing game as he racked up 6 tackles 2.5 sacks and 2 forced fumbles, one of which went for a touchdown and the other got the Broncos down to the 4 yard line. He probably added another couple million to his contract with his performance today. I'm surprised Elway didn't meet him on stage with a giant novelty check.

Cam came out and showed some nerves early when he sailed some early third down passes high. Then he started to get hit and he was hit a lot. After Von Miller's sack when he ripped it from Newton's hands, Cam and the rest of the Panther's looked shook. They were not able to get any sort of running game going, which put them in a lot of third and long situations, which aren't going to be converted a lot against this defense. When the Panthers were able to move the ball, their drives were derailed by mistakes. Turnovers and a missed field goal caused the game to slip away from them.

The Broncos defensive line was absolutely unstoppable. Von and Ware were obviously doing their thing, but Malik Jackson and Derek Wolfe made very important plays and they were consistently able to get pressure up the middle.

The Broncos offense did not look good outside of CJ Anderson, but as I said earlier in the week, the offense only needed to manage the game. They only had one turnover, which was an interception on a spectacular play by Kony Ealy. They weren't able to score a touchdown on offense until they were given a second chance on a defensive holding in the end-zone. But they did their job and the team played how they have all season. They snuck out one last gritty win. which was a fitting ending for the season.

I am so happy for Peyton Manning to be able to go out on top. He did not do much they game, but the second ring will help with his legacy. Demarcus Ware was able to get his first ring, validating signing with Denver two years ago.

Free agency is coming up, but we can talk about that later because the Denver Broncos won the SUPER BOWL!!!!

Terrell Davis Left Out The Hall of Fame Once Again

The 2016 NFL Hall of Fame class was voted on Saturday night. Brett Favre highlights the class. He is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game and was a lock to make it in on his first year of eligibility. He was joined by Orlando Pace, Marvin Harrison, Ken Stabler, Dick Sanfel, Eddie DeBartolo and Tony Dungy.

Favre, Pace and Harrison definitely deserved to make it. Tony Dungy was known for pioneering the Tampa 2 so I think he also deserved it based on innovation. It does seem like Sanfel and Stabler made it because of their deaths between voting. Both deserved it, but their inductions were expedited, by their unfortunate deaths.

Terrell Davis was once again left out of the hall. The Hall of Fame continues to be a farce as long as Jerome Bettis is in the Hall of Fame and Terrell Davis isn't. It baffles me that one of the best running backs to ever step on the field is left out because he only played four full seasons. Too bad he couldn't be mediocre for five plus years like Bettis, then he could be towards the top of the all-time rushing list because clearly thats all that matters to the Hall of Fame voters.

The accomplishments of TD are unmatched by most other running backs: One League MVP, one Super Bowl MVP, 2000 rushing yards in one season, in which he sat out the equivalent of 8 quarters because of blow outs, three time first team all-pro, two time offensive player of the year. TD was also the best post season running back of all time bar-none. He averaged 142.5 yards rushing per game in eight career playoff games. He increased his total rushing yards in each of his four healthy seasons.

Steve Atwater and John Lynch were also finalists, but neither made it. Atwater should also be in, but for some reason, it is extremely hard for safeties to make it into the Hall of Fame. He was a huge difference maker at safety and just about every player feared going over the middle during his years in Denver.

It will be a while until Lynch makes it in. He wasn't as good as Atwater and I think it will be at least another five years before he even makes it in. Out of the number of Broncos players left out of the Hall of Fame, Randy Gradishar and Karl Mecklenberg should go in ahead of Lynch.

Super Bowl 50

We have had two weeks of talk, but now the game is actually almost here. This is Denver's 8th time going to the Super Bowl, which tied the record for most appearances in the big game. Carolina is still seeking their first Super Bowl win. They have had only one other Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl XXXVIII against the New England Patriots. They lost a thriller when Adam Vinatieri with four seconds remaining.  One thing to remember for both teams is that it is an honor to get to the Super Bowl, only two teams do each season. Many Broncos fans doubted they would even make the playoffs after the mid-season Chiefs disaster game. Fans should relish in the fact that they got to see one of the greatest passers to ever play the game play in Denver and get the team to two Super Bowls. However, we all know there will be an empty feeling if they fail to win the final game for the second time in three years.

A lot is at stake for Manning's legacy. If the Broncos win, he is solidified as one of the best to ever play the position, but if they lose many people will bring up that he only won one Super Bowl when talking about his legacy. I don't think that it is fair that one game will decide how fans look back at Manning. He is one of the best quarterbacks in history who has been on the unlucky side in a lot of playoff games, which is affecting his legacy. It should be the onus of the media and fans to have a nuanced view on quarterbacks instead of just looking straight at win/loss.

The media has exhausted all of the possible talking points for the Super Bowl. Therefore, I will talk about fun things that still pertain to the game, namely betting.

All of my prop bets are under the assumption that the Broncos will win because I don't want to win money of they don't win the Super Bowl. However, there is one bet that seems like it could work if the Broncos win or lose. Will Peyton Manning cry at any point during the broadcast? Obviously I want to see tears of joy when the clock hits zero, so I bet that he would. I could still win this if the Broncos lose because I am sure that he won't be stoic if he loses his (or what will probably be) final game.

I have a couple of bets on who will win Super Bowl MVP. So far I have put money on Von, Emmanuel Sanders and Brandon McManus as my bets for MVP and I will still probably put another name or two into the mix. Probably Demaryius and Talib. I also have a bet on CJ Anderson as the first touchdown scorer since I think the Broncos will focus on the run a lot.

There is a bet out there asking, will Ted Ginn Jr. drop a pass? I sure he is due for one big drop during the game, though I hope he is blanketed so that Cam will not target him downfield often. There is another bet where the over/under on amount of times the word "dab" or "dabbing" is set at two. I don't think there is anyway Nantz and Simms say it two times or less and i'm sure it will even be mentioned right before kick-off. Simms might even forget he said it and then say it again the next sentence. Now as a Broncos fan, I hope it doesn't go too far above two because that likely means Cam is in the end-zone a lot.

There is one very morbid bet that is available. Will there be an earthquake during the game? The only option is yes. This would be an awful thing to bet on because who in their right mind is celebrating that if they are right?

I have two bets that actually directly pertain to the score of the game. Before the season started I took 12/1 odds that the Broncos will win the Super Bowl. I also bet an alternative line that listed the Broncos -3.5 favorites at +300. I didn't bet on the spread or the money line though because I don't want to win money of the Broncos lose and I already have basically a head to head bet when I bet the Broncos winning the Super Bowl at the beginning of the season.

I hope everyone does well on their bets, unless you bet on Carolina, then I hope you lose all of your money.

I am coming into this Super Bowl with very little nerves because what could happen? They lose by 35? I saw that two years ago. With this years defense though, that won't happen unless the offense turns the ball over a ton of times. This will be a close, low scoring game no matter who wins.

My final score prediction is 24-20 Broncos. Manning will ride out on top and one of the best defenses ever will finally be fully recognized.

Denver Broncos Defensive Outlook For Super Bowl 50

The Broncos have had the number one defense in the NFL this season and they have continued their success in the playoffs by holding both the Steelers and the Patriots below 20 points. This unit has been very impressive, especially early in the season when defending short fields because of turnovers, 3 and outs and bad punts was the norm for them. They have not had to deal with most of those issues for a around two months, save for the first half of the Chargers game. Which has allowed them to play with more ferocity.

This unit forced a lot of turnovers over the first half of the season, which made up for the many times that the offense gave the ball away. However, they subsided in the second half of the season, but hopefully the two pick on Brady in the AFC Championship Game are a sign of things to come on Sunday.

The Broncos pass rush harassed Tom Brady from the time the game started, but it will be tougher to get after Cam Newton. Von Miller and Demarcus Ware were able to get upfield and behind the tackles on a lot of plays because they didn't have to worry about Tom Brady taking advantage of the running lanes that type of style lends itself too. With Cam and the Panthers running game, they will not be able to use the same style of pass rush without getting burned. Although they will have to adjust their pass rush, they can still be super effective. Ware and Miller both have very good bull rushes that can put pressure on Cam even without utilizing their speed.

They Broncos will have more freedom to blitz (or dog) against the Panthers compared to the Patriots because they won't have to worry about their receivers making plays. This should make up for having to take a conservative approach on the outside pass rush. Derek Wolfe and Malik Jackson will have to do their part in containing Newton as well. Both cannot get themselves outside of their pass rushing lanes because of Newton's ability to move inside and outside of the pocket. Wolfe's ability to defend against the run will be invaluable to the defense when it comes to the Panther's dynamic running game. Expect to see Sylvester Williams a lot more on Sunday than you did in the AFC Championship Game. His capacity to run-stop will be called upon time and time again. I also wouldn't be surprised to see Darius Kilgo off of the inactive list for the first time in a while just because he is another big body who can slow down the Panther's running game.

According to Pro Football Focus, Jonathan Stewart finished the season third in broken tackles, behind Adrian Peterson and Doug Martin. The Broncos defense does wrap up well, but they will have to make sure to bring him down. They cannot afford to give Carolina any extra rushing yards on plays that should have been stopped.

Many people thought before the season that Carolina's offensive line was going to be one of the worst in the league. Ryan Kalil and Michael Oher were probably the only known names on that line outside of Charlotte and people only knew of Oher for non-football reasons. However, they have come together as one of the best units in the league, according to Pro Football Focus. Although, they don't have one individual name that one could point to as one of the best at his position in the league, they have come together fabulously as a unit. The key for the Broncos will be to try to confuse them with intricate blitz schemes. Sending different players on blitzes and dropping some back, could confuse the line enough to get some key hits and sacks on Cam Newton. Dropping Von and Ware into coverage occasionally should keep them guessing as to where the pressure is coming from.

The Broncos secondary will give Carolina's passing game fits. Chris Harris and Aqib Talib will be able to shut down whomever lines up across from them. Harris has battled a dinged up shoulder for the entirety of the the playoffs, but it did not seem to bother him against the Patriots like it did against the Steelers so there is reason to believe that he will be fine, especially with the extra week between games. Bradley Roby should also be able to handle whichever third-rate receiver that Carolina decides to throw at him. He is one of the best young corners in the league and would be a starter if he wasn't stuck behind two top 10 guys. TJ Ward and Darian Stewart both got hurt in the Patriots games, but they will be starting in the Super Bowl, thankfully. When they went down in the AFC Championship Game, the defense had trouble stopping anything that was thrown at them. As long as they remain healthy throughout the game, there shouldn't be much worry about this group. If one goes down, they might be alright, but if both do then Carolina will probably have a scoring party.

Ted Ginn jr. would be my biggest worry on the Panther's offense because of his big play ability. The Broncos don't have a single player that can match up with his speed so it would be smart to play off man and probably keep either Stewart or Ward back in order to protect against passes over the top. They can live with short passes to him, especially since he will drop a few. They just can't let him make the big play. Greg Olsen is the only other pass catcher that I am worried about. He is top 3 in the league at his position, but the Broncos held Gronk in check, until the starting safeties went down. He will be tough to cover, but they won't have to triple team him like they did to Gronk.

Most analysts seem to be picking Carolina and some even say that it might get out of hand quick. However, I think everyone remembers the last time that the number one defense was overlooked and everyone was picking the number one offense to win easily.

Denver Loses a Defensive Battle To Utah

The Nuggets came into Utah hoping that they would make headway in the Western Conference playoff race and Utah is working their way into 8th place in the West. They came into the game 4 games behind Utah so they need all of the head-to-head wins that they can get. Utah came into the game holding the 9th seed in the West, only a half game behind the Portland Trailblazers.

Their inability to close against the Jazz put a damper on their playoff hopes a little bit. They lost a heart breaker 85-81. They only scored 35 points in the second half and none of the players could buy a shot from the field in the second half.

This was a low scoring battle as neither team was able to top 25 points in a single quarter. Free throws were able to keep the Nuggets in the game even though they only shot 37% from the field. The Jazz did not crack double digit free throw attempts until late in the fourth quarter, but it didn't matter as they got to the line 12 times in the quarter. It also helped that they shot 8 percentage points higher from the field.

Nikola Jokic was limited in this game because he was battling a sore left shoulder. He struggled in the first half and failed to score a single point in the first half, but he settled into rhythm and redeemed himself in the second half with 8 points. I hope they let him get fully healthy. The team should not expect him to be as effective when battling a nagging injury. The All-Star break is coming up so he should be able to get some more rest then.

Gary Harris, Will Barton and Gallo played some good defense on Gordon Hayward. He only had 2 points the entire first half and he finished with only 16 after recovering a little in the second half. The defense on him was a major reason why they had such a great first half as a team.

Gallo was really the only player on the Nuggets to do much of anything on the offensive side of the ball and even he only shot 5-15 from the field. He was able to get to the line 14 times, which helped the team when they were going through cold spells from the field. He needs to have another scoring option on this team. When Jokic is going, he can be that guy, but he was hurt coming into the game and was ineffective for the first half. If Gallo had another option to defer to, he would become a much more efficient player.

The team falling apart in the second half is not a good sign for the remainder of the season. They should have put away this game in the third quarter, but they let the Jazz hang around and eventually the rest of the game got away from them. The Bulls are coming into town Friday night and the Nuggets will be looking for redemption after the way that this game ended. As I said, they can't lose more than three games before the All-Star break and still expect to contend for a playoff spot. They don't need to beat the Bulls in order to reach that goal, but it would certainly be helpful.

Denver Broncos Offensive Outlook For Super Bowl 50

Peyton Manning is walking into this game as a shell of his former self, but luckily his former self is one of the best quarterbacks off all time, so his shell is not too bad to have. His arm strength is not what it once was, but he can still get the job done because he is one of the smartest quarterbacks to step foot on a football field. He has not turned the ball over since reclaiming the starting job 2.5 games ago, which is key for the offense. As long as he is able to manage the game and not make costly mistakes, the offense should score enough points to give the defense room against their potent offense.

The success of Denver's running game is the key for their chances to win the Super Bowl. The offensive line probably needs to double either Kawann Short or Star Lotulelei in order to open up holes for CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman. I think the running game has a chance to be very effective against the Panthers defense. They ranked seventh in the league in rushing defense so there is some room to move. They key is to force them to respect the pass so they can't put 8 in the box without any worries.

Josh Norman will cover either Emmanuel Sanders or Demaryius Thomas. Whichever one gets lucky and is ignored by Norman should be thrown to at almost every opportunity. The risk of throwing Norman's way is too high to take that risk unless the receiver clearly wins the battle. Look for three wide receiver threats, using Jordan Norwood and Bennie Fowler, to take advantage of Cortland Finnegan in coverage.

The tight end passing game will probably be somewhat limited with Kuechley and Thomas Davis providing excellent pass coverage. The ability for the tight ends to get open will rely on sucking the linebackers in with play action plays. For that to work though, the running game needs to actually be a threat, unlike it was against New England. For some reason, New England kept biting on the fakes even though the runs were not going anywhere.

The line will have to be ready for Carolina's star-studded interior, but I am sure Vasquez, Paradis and Mathis/Garcia will be up to the task. I am more worried about Charles Johnson dominating Schofield. However, Schofield has played much better during the playoffs, which should give fans help, but he is still the weak link on the line and is the most cause for concern.

It will be interesting to see how often they switch Max Garcia in and out. I wouldn't expect much to change, but maybe Kubiak won't think it is worth the risk in the Super Bowl. However, if it were me, I would continue to do what brought the team to this point. Keep the line rotations the same in order to keep fatigue from becoming a factor late in the game.

The offense can absolutely not afford to turn the ball over. The Panthers defense is incredibly opportunistic and their offense will be sure to turn turnovers into points. The main reason that the Panthers finished first in the league in points scored was because of turnovers that the defense forced. There was a reason they failed to finish top ten in yards, but were number one in points. Manning has done a great job of not throwing interceptions since he returned from injury. I am more worried about Ronnie or CJ putting the ball on the ground.

This offense will not put up more than 30 points in this game. They should be able to get some drives going, but they will be slow burners, nothing quick. Expect them to look like the 80 yard touchdown drive against New England. Productive runs by CJ and Ronnie are needed on first and second down in order to have manageable third downs. The pass protection absolutely cannot look like it did during the second half against New England. However, I can't expect that they wont because Carolina has a much more talented line. This is why they need to have manageable third downs to ensure that Manning does not have to hold the ball too long. If they do these things, they should be able to put up around 27 points, which should be enough to win the game with this fantastic defense.

Jokic Has a Coming Out Party Against Toronto

Toronto was one of the hottest teams in the NBA coming into the game, winning 11 straight before they came to town. They are second in the Eastern Conference and are only a couple of games out of first, but none of that mattered when they stepped into Pepsi Center. The Raptors did not look like a team that rattled off 11 straight. The Nuggets deserve a lot of credit for that, they played great defense Nikola Jokic had a coming out party on the offensive side of the ball. They cruised to a 112-93 victory and righted the ship on this important seven game stretch before the All-Star break.

Jokic got off to a fantastic start and scored the first 11 points for the Nuggets and assisted on the next basket. He added two boards and a block in the quarter as well. He continued to play well for the remainder of the half and was in triple double range going into the half with 17 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists.

Jokic was not the only player to play great in the first half. Even Randy Foye decided to get in on the action and scored 7 points in nine minutes. Gallinari scored 10 points in the first half on 3-3 shooting and played fantastic defense to top it off as well. The team shot 54.3% from the field collectively shot 54.3% from the field and held Toronto to a mere 38.5%. The difference in field goal percentage was the main contributor to the 60-49 lead that Denver carried into halftime. The team did a fantastic job of facilitating the ball and finished with an incredible 17 assists in the first half. Mudiay, Gallo and Jokic did a great job of finding the open man.

They got off to a rough start in the third quarter, but fortunately, the Raptors didn't feel like taking control of the game. Jokic continued to dominate the game and showed off some fancy posts moves on his was to a pivotal 6 straight points in the third quarter. He is going to be a star has probably earned himself at least 30 minutes per game until the season ends. Tim Connelly deserves all of the credit in the world for drafting him in the second round in 2014.  He is the best young player on the roster currently. He and Mudiay could make a great 1-2 punch in 5 years if everything goes well. He finished with career highs in points and rebounds with 27 and 14. This was probably his coming out party, look out for him to become a well known name in a year or two.

The Nuggets ran away with the game to start the fourth quarter and worked up to a 27 point lead at one point. This game is up there with one of the best game for the Nuggets this season. They did everything right: They had 60 points in the paint, 24 assists, shot 52% from the field and won the rebounding battle. There is not really one negative thing you could say about any player after this game.

Mudiay had an impressive game as well. He only had 4 points, but also had 8 assists and more importantly, only one turnover. It's always nice to see him have games where he limits his turnovers, without sacrificing his assist totals. Will Barton should also get recognition for his game as well. He finished with 20 points 7 rebounds and was a staggering +22 while he was on the court, before they let up late in the fourth quarter.

They made up for losing to the Pacers two nights ago. They are now on track again to win 5 of their last 7 games, which is much needed if they want to make their playoff push after the All-Star break. Their next game will be at Utah on Wednesday. That is a game they should win, but is tricky since they are on the road and its a divisional game.

Promising games from young players like Jokic make the games so much more enjoyable to watch. Getting a glimpse of what those players might be someday helps many fans get through seasons like these.

Monta Ellis Has It All Against the Nuggets

Monta Ellis got off to a fantastic start, which propelled the Pacers to an eight point lead after the first quarter. He scored 13 points on 5-6 shooing, while hitting all three of his attempts from three. I thought he would cool down as the game went on, but he kept hitting typical Monta shots. He finished with 32 points and he iced the game with an and-one lay in with 20 seconds left.

Will Barton was showcasing why he should be in the dunk contest early in the game with two fantastic dunks.

Number 1: https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/693593845196394496/video/1

Number 2: https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/693595635761582080/video/1

Gallinari forced himself to the line six times in the first half. His ability to get to the line and manufacture points even when the rest of the shots aren't really falling is almost invaluable to the team.

Gary Harris played an important role in the game for the Nuggets. Gary was born in Indiana so he must have cooked up something special. He was sensational in the third quarter when he played a pivotal role in helping the Nuggets get the lead back in that quarter. He had eight points in the quarter and made both of his three point attempts.

The team played fantastic as a whole in third quarter, which is when they finally got the game in hand after Indiana was doing well keeping a 6-10 point distance in the first half. They outscored the Pacers by 11 points in the quarter and it should have been even more. The front court let the Pacers get a lot of offensive rebounds in the quarter and they were able to turn those opportunities into points most of the time. The starters played phenomenal as well and Malone elected to keep them on for the entirety of the third because of their special play.

They struggled to begin the fourth because all of the bench players were cold after not playing at all in the third. They were able to get things back on track and not let the Pacers take a commanding lead. It was the starters who got the lead in the first place and it would have to be up to the starters to win the game. Every player on the bench finished with a negative plus/minus, while all of the starters finished on the positive end. They were able to tie the game 99-99, but they did not get a good shot when they had a chance to go ahead late in the game. Luckily, Monta Ellis missed the game winning shot and the game went into overtime.

They weren't able to finish the game in overtime and were not able to overcome a quick 5-0 run by the Pacers to begin overtime. They climbed back to make it a one point game with less than a minute left, but a three point play by Monta Ellis with 20 seconds left took away any chance that they had to win the game.

Nikola Jokic played a great game and finished with 16 points 11 rebounds and 5 steals. He showed fans why he should be seeing at least 30 minutes per game. If he and Nurkic show that they can play together, and I don't think there is any reason they shouldn't since Jokic can shoot from deep, they will be one of the best under 24 front courts in the league. This game showed why I cant wait to see Jokic's development during the rest of the season.

These are the games that you would like to see the Nuggets win against similar competition on the road, but a loss isn't all bad. They were competitive throughout the game and there were many points where they could have let it slide away from them, but they held on. They will need to win against either the Raptors or the Bulls in order to finish the seven game stretch before the All-Star break at 5-2.

The Nuggets Season Could Be Determined Before the All-Star Break

The Nuggets have seven games to play until the All-Star break. The outcome of these seven games will be a major indicator for how the Nuggets will likely finish out the season. As of now, they are 3.5 games out of eighth place in the Western Conference. They are also 4.5 games away from having a top five pick in the 2016 NBA Draft. As long as they are in the race for the playoffs, they will go all out for it, but if they drop five or more of these games, the team could be demoralized and slide for the rest of the season.

This pivotal stretch starts tonight in Indiana. The Nuggets beat them in a matchup at Pepsi Center two weeks ago. This is definitely a winnable game since the Pacers are not much better than the Nuggets this season and they are coming off of losing six of their last eight.

The Nuggets are finally healthy, minus Wilson Chandler of course. Nurkic and Myles Turner is an intriguing matchup since Nurkic is playing more minutes since getting healthy again. Turner has been fantastic for Indiana of late and is looking like their center of the future. Nurkic should be able to stifle him, but he needs to stay out of foul trouble, which has costed him minutes over the past few games.

These are the games that the Nuggets need to win for the rest of the season if they want to make the playoffs. Winning games against team on your level or slightly better is a good sign of improvement. However, if they lose games like these, we know that they are one more high lottery pick from being an actual playoff contender.

Thee rest of the games in this stretch include home matches against Toronto and Chicago. It's rough for the team to have their only home games before the All-Star break against tough competition, but they may be able to sneak out a win against the Bulls. They will also have road matches against Utah, New York, Brooklyn and Detroit. All of these are games that this team should win or at the very least bring the games down to the wire.

Fans should be happy about the state of the team right now. They have the best of both worlds since they can contend for a playoff spot and still have a chance for a good draft pick. Even if they do make the playoffs, they will still have two first round picks, which they might be able to swing into a better pick.

If they can end this stretch at 4-3 or 5-2, they will be in the thick of things. Then they will have two quick games against the Sacramento Kings after the All-Star break that they can use to catapult themselves even further up the standings. They could be in the playoffs within a month if all goes well or they could be competing for a top five pick.

This Is Not 2013, The Offense Only Needs To Do Enough

The last time the Broncos offense was in a Super Bowl, they were decimated by the Seahawks. They brought the best offense in the league into New York and left as a laughing stock because Seattle's defense matched up very well against that type of offense. They were not able to get anything going for just about the entire game. This time around, the defense is the unit to be feared, while the offense doesn't need to do a lot, just enough to win the game.

Carolina had the second best defense in the league for most of the season. Their passing defense is on par with Denver's when looking at yards per attempt, but far behind when looking at DVOA. Injuries have hurt their ability to defend against the pass. Josh Norman is undoubtably one of the top corners in the league. However, injuries to Charles Tillman and Bene Benwikere stripped Carolina of their second and third best corners. They are now left with Robert McClain and Cortland Finnegan in the backup and nickel spots. Finnegan was never that good even in his prime and he looks like a shell of his former self now. The biggest threat that he poses to the Broncos is him taking a swing at Demaryius or Emmanuel Sanders. The Broncos receivers will be able to take advantage whenever McClain and Finnegan are lined up across from him. If I were Manning, I wouldn't target whoever Norman is covering. Don't even try him, he will make plays when given the opportunity.

The front seven for Carolina is where the offense will find its biggest challenge. Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis present unique challenges for Manning and the tight ends. They can both cover really well, Kuechly has two pick sixes in each game, and they are both amazing in the run game as well. Luckily for the Broncos, Davis is fresh off of surgery on his broken arm that he suffered during the NFC Championship Game. He says he will play and I have no reason to doubt him, but it is very hard to believe that he won't be limited during the game. His health is important for the Panthers, not because their backups are bad, but because Davis is too good just to have most of his production replaced by a guy off of the bench.

Star Lotulelei and Kawann Short have torn apart most offensive lines they have faced this season. They are both dynamic players who can both be game changers. Charles Johnson is a threat off of the edge as a pass rusher. The Broncos game should include keeping the running back in on almost every pass play because there is no doubt that Carolina's rushers will be able to get through on almost every play, if they decide to protect Manning with only 5 guys.

The Broncos offensive line has been horrid for most of the season. They have played better since Manning has come back because he gets the ball out quicker and does a great job at making adjustments at the line of scrimmage. Even with all of that said, there was a period in the second half of the AFC Championship Game where the offensive line was getting beat pretty easily, which lead to a lot of drives being stalled.

The best lineman on the team reside on the inside. Vasquez, Paradis and Mathis are the best linemen on the team and occupy the inside of the line. These three will focus almost all of their energy on stopping Lotulelei and Short. Their ability to do so will determine if the offense will actually be able to put up points. At this point in his career, if Manning has a lot of pressure down the middle and in his face, he will not be good. He needs to be able to step into the pocket in order to be accurate. This is probably going to be the most important battle in the Super Bowl. If they don't do their job, the Broncos might put up less than 10 points in the Super Bowl again.

I do think that the offense will be able to find some holes in the running game. The Panthers ranked seventh in the league in yards allowed per rush attempt (3.9), which is very good, but its not like their run defense is unstoppable. The Broncos will also lean on the run a decent amount as long as they don't get behind by a good margin. That strategy worked last week when they stuck with the run even though it was not working and CJ Anderson was able to break a long run late in the game.

I would like to see the Broncos mix it up and use seven players to block for Manning often. Normally that does not work all of the time because it can lead to a lot of coverage sacks with only three receivers on a passing play, but with Finnegan and McClain covering two of the options, they should be able to find plays to get open. They will need all of the blockers that they can use to stop the Panthers front seven on passing downs.

The Broncos hope for scoring in this game resides in the running game. The offense cannot be expected to convert a ton of third and sevens or longer. CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman need to run well on first and second downs in order to give the team easy conversion opportunities. Manning will make plays if he is given time by the offensive line, but if they cant block then there is no hope.

They probably need to put up around 24 points in order to win this game. I think they are more than capable of doing that if they execute. One another note, this game might be one of the quickest Super Bowls in recent memory since both teams will lean on their running games and play good defense. If there is an over/under bet on the length I would probably go with the under.

To Stop Cam and the Panthers, the Defense Will Have to Play At an Elite Level

The Broncos defense completely obliterated the Patriots in their AFC Championship victory. They were able to do so by only rushing 3 or 4 players on almost every down and still getting an amazing amount of pressure. This is the key to beating literally any quarterback. If you are able to get pressure without blitzing and allow 7 players to drop back in coverage, any quarterback will have trouble finding open players. However, the main reason that the defense was able to pull this off against the Patriots was because there was absolutely no threat to run from New England. Obviously, things will be different when the Panther's offense is on the other side.

The Panthers offensive line is better than the Patriots offensive line, but if the Broncos defensive line plays as well as they did last game, they should be able to get pressure with four or five guys most of the time. Cam Newton's ability to run means the pass rushers need to be discipline and stay in their lanes. Cam is not easily brought down either. An arm sack will not work against him, sometimes even a gang sack is required to actually bring him down to the ground. Von and Ware cannot get too far upfield against him because when he has that opening he will probably take it. The sack numbers wont be as gaudy as they were in the AFC Championship game, but if they get Cam uncomfortable in the pocket by forcing pressure up front, that is all the defense should need to succeed and hold them below 20 for the game.

The best thing that the Broncos can do on defense would be to force Cam to stay in the pocket with a 4 or 5 person rush and let their excellent secondary to shut down options for Cam. Carolina simply does not have the receivers to counteract Denver's excellent corners. The defense was also able to neutralize Gronk for the most part until both Darian Stewart and TJ Ward went down with injury. If they were able to handle Gronk and not let him have many big plays, I don't doubt that they can do the same with Olsen. Unfortunately even though they do not have a great or even good receiver on this team, Ted Ginn is just too fast to leave one player on him for the duration of the game. One of the safeties will have to watch the deep zone of whichever side he is lined up on.

The Panthers running game adds a threat that the Broncos' defense did not have to worry about against the Patriots. Jonathan Stewart has been playing excellent this season and will provide the run defense's its biggest challenge of the season, outside of Adrian Peterson and Jamaal Charles. Although, Stewart had his best season since 2009, Cam is the one who makes the running game what it is. The defense has to account for him on every play. I am sure the Broncos are counting their blessings that they have one of the smartest outside linebackers in the league and his partner on their other side is probably the best in the business. Von and Ware have to keep their eyes on Cam on every run play and allow the interior lineman and inside linebackers to focus their attention on Stewart.

The Panthers do have a dynamic running game, but I think a lot of people are forgetting how great the Broncos' defense has been this season. Although most of the praise is placed on the pass rush and coverage, this defense also had the number one defense against the rush, when looking at yards per attempt (3.3). Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevanthan are two of the best 3-4 inside linebackers in the league. They do a great job dissecting running plays and meeting the runners in the hole. They will be instrumental pieces defending against Cam and Stewart.

There will be plays for the Broncos defense to make. Sometimes Cam sails balls high when he is under duress and the secondary needs to take advantage of those few opportunities. The offense will probably need all of the extra possessions and good field position that is possible in order to score enough to win this game. They know that Cam is a gunslinger and throws off balance a lot so I am sure that they will focus on practicing on creating those during the week leading up to the Super Bowl.

The key for the defense is to stop the runs on first and second down and force Cam to convert third and longs. If the Panthers are able to get ahead of the sticks and are facing a lot of third and threes, the Broncos will be in trouble. They cannot allow running to be an option on third down or else they will never get off of the field.

Mudiay and Jokic will Participate in the Rising Stars Challenge

Although the Nuggets aren't likely to have any representation in the all star game, their young stars will be represented in the Rising Stars game. Both Mudiay and Jokic have played shown that they can be stars in a couple of years and they will demonstrate their abilities in front of a national audience against other first and second year players.

Mudiay has had his ups and downs this season, but he is on the upswing as of now. He was turning the ball over a lot and shooting at a low percentage, but slowly, he seems to be turning those things around. He is scoring 11 points per game and dishing out 5.7 assists per game. Once he is able to shot consistently he should be one of the best point guards in the league.

Nikola Jokic is probably more impressive. He only gets around 19 minutes per game, but he does the most that he can with limited minutes. His per 36 stats are 17 ppg, 10 rpg. This is on 55% shooting from the field and 35.7% from deep. He can score inside and out, which causes problems for any matchup. He still needs to work on his defense, but once that rounds into form, he will be one of the top big men in the league.

It should be remembered that this game is still an exhibition game and success in this single game only means so much. Many Nuggets fans will remember when Faried dropped 40 in the Rising Stars game a few years ago, but he did not continue that scoring success.

All in all it is a good experience for Mudiay and Jokic. They should be happy that they are being recognized as two of the best young players in the league. Especially Jokic who was the 46th overall pick two years ago and only started playing in the NBA this season.

Mudiay being from the Congo and Jokic being from Serbia means that both players will suit up for the "World" team. This is the second year of this new format for what used to be the Rookie-Sophomore game. I'm not sure when the starting lineup will be set for the game, but it will be interesting to see if either earn the nod.

Malone Should Keep Riding Mudiay

The Nuggets were probably giddy at a chance to draft Emmanuel Mudiay with the seventh pick in the draft when it was predicted that he would go in the top five of the draft. However, they knew that Mudiay still had a ton of work to do on his game in order to become what they drafted him to become. His jumper still needs work, but he has shown enough flashes of having one that the staff can live with the ugly field goal percentage for now. He turns the ball over a lot, but he has shown improvement in that area over the course of the season. All the staff should want to see in Mudiay is improvement. Improvement is the name of the game and I think he has shown enough to earn 32+ minutes per game for the rest of the season.

Ever since Jameer Nelson injured his wrist, Mudiay has seen increased minutes. During that six game span, he has averaged 13.5 points per game on 39.5% shooting and 35% from deep and 6.1 assists per game and 3.3 turnovers per game. All of these numbers are above his season averages and are better than any of his full monthly splits. This recent stretch of games, is probably his best five plus game stretch of the season. He is also more aggressive and by doing so is getting to the line more often and seems to not escape from contact as much as he did earlier in the season. He still needs to be more consistent at the line, some nights he forces you to remember that he is a guard at the line, other times he might as well be Andre Drummond.

Mudiay looks to be coming into his own that last couple of games. He is more controlled when driving to the hoop. He rarely jumps without a purpose, which lead to a lot of his turnovers previously. Him being more aggressive is something the coaches have to like. Some people, including myself, were worried that he would turn into Rondo and just refuse to go to the basket. Fortunately, that does not seem to be the case. He has shown that he has a smooth stroke from the line and from mid range, so I don't think it will take much to make him a serviceable free throw shooter.

He needs to remain in the starting lineup even when Jameer Nelson comes back because getting minutes is the only thing that will help him develop his game. Putting him on the bench only serves to limit his minutes and therefore his learning time. Although Nelson might have more experience and better basketball IQ, Mudiay is still better than him on the defensive end of the floor. This is an underrated aspect by many fans because it doesn't show up in the box scores, but I think when he reaches his prime he will be considered one of the best defensive point guards in the league. His performances can be shaky at this point in his career because he lacks some basketball IQ that comes with experience, but when it comes to straight up man to man defense he is much better than Nelson.

The goal of any team should be to win games and I know Mike Malone would rather not lose games since he has to put that on his resume, but he should know that he wont get fired this offseason. Starting Jameer Nelson might give the team their best chance to win, but Mudiay is the future. With the team only three games out of eight place in the West, Nelson starting might even be enough to push the team over the top into the playoffs, but Malone still shouldn't do it. Mudiay's development is too important to the future of the team to have it wasted on a chance to get embarrassingly swept by the Warriors.

Mudiay will have a tough matchup tonight against the Celtics tonight. First he will have to try to create some offense against Marcus Smart who is one of the better defensive point guards in the leagues. Then they also have Isaiah Thomas coming off of the bench who presents a very tough defensive matchup for Mudiay. He will be tested both offensively and defensively throughout the game.

Hawks @ Nuggets Thoughts

I was at this game and was excited because the Nuggets have been competitive if nothing else, however that was not the case tonight. They trailed by about 12-20 points for most of the game and never really had a run to back into the game. These types of games are the type that the Nuggets need to not have in order to take the next step in their development.

The team struggled to shoot the ball all night and finished 39% from the floor. They still could have been in the game if the defense was able to do anything at all. The Hawks shot 50% from the field; Millsap and Horford could not be stopped. The duo combined for 40 points on 16-27 from the field. Nurkic must still not be at full strength or else he would have seen the court for more than a measly seven minutes. He makes the Nuggets a much better defensive team when he is on the floor and is the only big on the team that has any interior presence.

Nikola Jokic obviously still needs to work on his defense, but he was still the only starter on the Nuggets to have a positive plus/minus. I'm of the belief that Coach Malone should play Jokic much more. He was only on the court for 18 minutes despite being the only starter who wasn't a net negative.

Will The Thrill played a very good game off of the bench like normal, but they need to get better performances off the the bench from just about anyone else. Foye finished with 0 points, though he was injured during the game. Darrell Arthur was awful from the field in this game (1-7). Other than Barton, he seems to be the only player who can put up points off of the bench, but when he has games like this the bench has no chance.

Sean Kilpatrick played well and finished with 11 points. He is the type of scoring option this team desperately needs off of the bench. I think the Nuggets should sign him for the rest of the season after they re-upped his 10 day contract earlier in the week.

This was a down game for the Nuggets. They came out flat, much like they did against the Grizzlies and Pistons, but they were never able to make a comeback. When Nurkic is at full health in the coming weeks, Malone should experiment with some lineups that utilize him and Jokic. These are the big men of the Nuggets future and they need to get as much court time as possible this season while there isn't much at stake.

The Nuggets will take the floor next in Boston on Wednesday.

The Broncos Are....SUPER BOWL BOUND!

The Broncos are headed to Super Bowl 50! This will be their second appearance in three seasons, but hopefully this one turns out different than the last one they "participated" in.

Manning played well in the first half, connecting on two touchdown passes to Owen Daniels before getting out of rhythm in the second half. He did what he needed to get the Broncos the win. All he needed to do was keep them ahead and he did his job. The offense was not able to get the running game going all day besides a long run by CJ Anderson on 3rd and 1.

The defense was the star of the game though. They pass rush hit Brady 23(!) times during the game, which was the difference maker. That was the most hits in a game in either the regular season or playoffs in any game this season. Most of those hits came from 3 or 4 people rushing the ball, which allowed the Broncos secondary to focus their attention on Gronk and Edelman.

The Patriots offense did not do much until TJ Ward and Darian Stewart were sidelined with injuries. Before they went out, the Patriots only had two field goals and a touchdown when field position was gifted to them by Ronnie Hillman not picking up a football that was at his feet. The defense shut down Tom Brady and his offense all day in what was their best showing of the year. The offense tried to give the Patriots every chance to tie the game, but the defense came up big every single time. Even when Gronk made an exceptional play to pull them within two, they stopped the two point conversion.

This defense just needs to play one more complete game for the Broncos to become world champions. As long as Manning continues to play the game manager role, they will have a chance.

Im still too amped about the game to give it a proper run down. Time to find Super Bowl tickets.

Patriots Broncos Preview

Manning-Brady XVII will likely be the last matchup between the two legendary quarterbacks. They couldn't ask for any better of a backdrop for their final game, a chance to go to the Super Bowl. For a while, it looked as if Manning would not start another game for the Broncos, but he took his starting job back in the last game of the regular season and now has a chance to lead his team to the Super Bowl. It is fortunate that this game even happened, fans could easily be watching Osweiler-Brady II instead of this iconic matchup.

The Broncos were able to squeak out a win in overtime in the snowy week 12 matchup. However, Brock Osweiler was the starting quarterback so the previous matchup provides little indication as to what will happen on Sunday. However, the run game has looked pretty much the same because Manning has been taking more snaps from under center since he returned. CJ Anderson was able to get whatever he wanted as he ran for 113 yards and 2 touchdowns on 15 carries. Hillman also ran pretty well, he had 14 carries for 59 yards. This game was played in the snow so neither running back was able to grip the field very well. Both should have very good games again, especially since the field will not be covered in snow.

The running game is the key for the Broncos, they cannot abandon the run early and have Manning throw the ball 45 times this game. If the running game is going and keeping the offense ahead of the sticks, Manning should be able to convert a lot of third downs. Otherwise, the team will face a lot of third and longs and their conversion rate could look like it did against the Steelers. There have been a couple of instances during the regular season where Kubiak just decided to not run the ball consistently in the second half. If they do that in the AFC Championship game, the Patriots will probably run away with the game.

The drops need to be fixed this week if the team is going to win. There were a couple of drops on crucial third downs last week that could have extended drives. It is imperative that the offense scores touchdowns against the Patriots, or they will be on vacation starting Monday. Demaryius Thomas had is worst showing of the season in the first meeting against the Patriots. I don't remember how many drops he had, but it was pretty egregious. He only pulled in one catch on on 13 targets. Some of the incompletions were the result of good defense, but the success rate on throws to one of the best receivers in the league should be much higher than that. That game looks like an anomaly so I expect him to have a typical Demaryius day on Sunday.

Emmanuel Sanders was great in the first game, he finished with 6 catches for 113 yards. He is the key to the passing game since I believe that they do not have a corner that can lock him down. Sanders is a third down converting machine and I expect to see him move the sticks often on third downs.

The pass protection seemed improved in the Divisional Round. Manning is able to get the ball out quickly, which means that if the line can hold up just for a little bit, the offense should be in good shape. If the offensive line breaks down again, it is a wrap from the Broncos. Manning has to have a clean uniform by the end of the game.

The Passing game will rely on the ability for Sanders and Thomas to get yards after the catch. I suspect most of Manning's passes wont go more than 10 yards downfield. because of the porous offensive line, so the receivers will need to make some plays. 

According to Pro Football Focus, the Broncos pressured Brady on 40% of his drop backs and he only completed a quarter of those attempts. This is the key to the defense's success on Sunday. They need to get to Brady while only rushing four or five, which is not a stretch when you have Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Derek Wolfe and Malik Jackson on the line. Pressure through the middle of the line is very important against Brady. The success of Wolfe and Jackson getting up front pressure is paramount. Expect to see some A gap blitzes from Miller and Ware as the team tries to find creative ways to get pressure up the middle. In the divisional round, the Chiefs failed to put pressure on Brady, which is why they were able to drive the ball with ease.

The Broncos had the best defense this season according to The Football Outsiders DVOA metric and they were leagues ahead of anyone else in passing defense. I don't feel like writing about how DVOA is measured so I'll leave a link to the explanation. Their total defense DVOA was -25.8%, which was well above Carolina who clocked in at -18.4%. When measuring pass defense alone the Broncos came in at -28%, which was well above Carolina who was at -18.2%.

However, the defense will have to deal with Gronk. He is basically impossible to cover because of his unprecedented combination of size and athleticism. He recorded 6 catches for 88 yards and touchdown before he left late in the fourth quarter because of a knee bruise. The Patriots offense was non-existent after Gronk was injured, which proved that he is the MVP of that offense and team. The good news for the Broncos is that TJ Ward will be back after not playing most of the first matchup because of an injury he sustained in the first quarter. He is the only player on the Broncos that has the size and speed to handle Gronk so it is very important to have him back. Even Ward cannot handle him on his own, which is why I think Brandon Marshall or Danny Trevathan should be physical with him off of the line of scrimmage and let Ward so move of the coverage beyond 5-7 yards.

Chris Harris is listed as probable for the game. He was always going to play this week, even with the bum shoulder, but it is great to see him listed as probable. This likely means that he will start and he that he will play a majority of the snaps, after being in doubt earlier this week. His health is paramount because Julian Edelman is back after not playing in the first meeting. Edelman is a very good slot receiver who makes a lot of important plays in the Patriots offense. However, Harris is the best slot corner in the league and if he is at full health Edelman will have a tough time finding room to work. Harris will be the most important corner on the team because Edelman is really the only threat at wide receiver. Talib and Roby should be able to easily cover whomever they end up lining up across from.

The Patriots are not going to run the ball. The defense should come out in nickel and use that package for the entirety of the game. Even if they do run the ball, what is old-man Steven Jackson actually capable of in 2016? The defense needs to keep them behind the sticks. If they get to third and five or shorter, it is almost a gimme with Gronk.

In a rematch of the 2013 AFC Championship game, I believe the Broncos will put on a repeat performance. However, winning this game means they need to get pressure on Brady and the offense will need to put up 27 points. Both of these are doable. I have seen many talking heads pick the Patriots and some even predicting a blowout. This game will be much more competitive than they are predicting. This will be a one score game one way or the other. Expect a great final matchup between two of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.

Inactive Update: Lorenzo Doss is inactive and the Broncos only have four active cornerbacks for this game. This is good news for Chris Harris' health. They team must be confident that there is little chance that he is re-injured during the game. They also decided to make Juwan Thompson inactive and roll with two running backs again. This frees up another position at a position of need. 

Grizzlies @ Nuggets Thoughts

The Nuggets had a awful first quarter in which they allowed Memphis to shoot lights out. Memphis jetted out to a 37-23 lead to begin the game. 37 was the most points in a quarter for the Grizzlies this season. Even after that great start by Memphis, the Nuggets were able to keep the game close. Games like these are bittersweet for the team because they showed that they could perceiver, but they were still not able to pull away in the end.

After an abysmal first quarter, coach Malone laid into the team and they were able to completely turn the game. They trailed by 7 at half after trailing by as much as 18. Gallo's play in the second quarter was a huge reason why they were able to cut the lead. He had 5 points in the first, but got called for two quick fouls that kept him out of the game for the rest of the quarter.

Gallo is the only player on the team that can consistently create and make his own shot. His presence on the court makes the team so much better. This was demonstrated during the contrasting first and second quarters tonight. Gallo finished with 17 points, but he should have had more if he was not in foul trouble.

Jameer Nelson missed the game with a sprained ankle, which allowed Mudiay to start. He had a rough first half with only 2 points. Even after his rough first half, Mudiay played really well to begin the second half. He finished with 14 points and 8 assists, but the most important part was only 1 turnover against a very good defensive team. He also shot 6-13 from the field. If he can improve on his turnovers and shot selection, he should undoubtedly be the starter moving forward.

Mudiay's recent performances have shown improvement in almost all aspects of his game. His passing looks much better than it did a month ago and he is making much better decisions. More games like this will give him confidence going into the all star break.

Gary Harris is much better than many people give him credit for. He played great defense today and can be a difference maker on that side of the floor. He needs to become a more consistent shooter and he did not shoot well this game (3-9), which is holding him back from being a net positive player.

Joffrey Lauvergne was a very important player off of the bench because he was able to bother Marc Gasol more than Faried and Jokic. Gasol still had a good night, but at least Lauvergne was able to contest most of his shots.

Josef Nurkic made his return, but he was only on the court for three minutes and picked up 3 fouls. It was not a pretty return for him, maybe he was not quite ready yet. It will be interesting to see if he can stay on the court when the team plays again on Saturday.

Will Barton made all of the plays for the Nuggets late in the fourth quarter. He was not playing very well heading into the fourth quarter, but 10 quick points from him allowed the Nuggets pull ahead with 30 seconds left in the game.

The game came down to one possession with the Nuggets leading 98-97 with 23.8 seconds left. They had a terrible defensive possession that allowed Gasol to easily get to the hoop and get the and one. The team needs to be better in these types of situations. I would have been OK if he made the shot, but it was contested well. The fact that he was able to get to the hoop easily is cause for concern. Malone should have at least brought in Nurkic for that last defensive possession since he is their best post defender. For some reason he stuck with Lauvergne and it hurt them.

The Nuggets let another close game slip through their hands, but being competitive is very important in order to get back on track. They were able to handle the Grizzlies for the majority of the game, but the terrible first quarter came back to haunt them. Without it, they would have likely won this game.

Chris Harris' Shoulder Has Improved

According to multiple reports, Christ Harris' shoulder feeling much better than was initially projected. Earlier this week, it was reported that Harris would not be able to play the majority of the snaps during the game, which raised many questions as to how well the defense would fare against Julian Edelman who is their best receiver. Harris is the best slot corner in the league and Edelman lines up almost exclusively in the slot. If Harris can play the majority of the snaps while being somewhat physical at the line of scrimmage, the defense as a whole will have a much easier time.

Bradley Roby will still be available and he is a pretty good slot corner too. If needed, he could probably lock down Edelman, but most would rather have Harris doing that job.

The one concerning thing about this news on his shoulder is that he could land wrong during the game and the team would be down one of its best players. The coaches should probably still limit his snaps to second and third and longs in order to preserve him.

Lorenzo Doss should be active again just for depth purposes if Harris were to get injured in game.

Thunder at Nuggets Recap

The Nuggets were not able to squeak out the win, but they continued to play tough the entire game and the teams seems to be getting better with every game. This was one of the games that the recent teams and even this team earlier this season, would have been blown out in. Playing against a far superior team would have been an automatic loss and likely a blow-out a year ago. Now, they at least believe that they can win these types of games.

As is protocol, Durant and Westbrook combined for 57 points 17 assists and 16 rebounds. There was nothing that team could do all night. Gallo's length bothers Durant at times, but he is just too good of scorer to expect him to be held down for the entire game.

Mike Malone said the Josef Nurkic was on a 15 minute limit restriction, but apparently that meant zero because he did not see the floor. Without their only rim protector, Enes Kanter was able to do what he does best, get buckets. He racked up 14 points in the first half alone as he abused just bout any defender the Nuggets threw at him.

Gallo absolutely went off in the first half (20 points in the first, 27 overall), but he did not get much help from the rest of the team, which was a major reason the team was not able to hold onto the lead in the first half. Their disappointing second quarter was a major reason why they were not able to win this game. If Gallo had another player to take over the scoring load when the Thunder began to key on him, They would have taken a 5+ point lead into the half. Gallo began to cool down in the second half, which was unfortunate and was another reason the team fell behind late in the third and into the fourth.

Mudiay really improved his play in the second half. He finished nicely at the rim at one drive early in the third quarter after missing several layups in the first half. A lot of his success in the second half came from making better decisions when passing the ball. Hopefully he continues to improve in that area over the next couple of games. He has been getting better at jumping with purpose, which is where a good chunk of his turnovers stem from. With Jameer Nelson out, he will be seeing a lot more playing time so he has plenty of time to prove to the coaching staff that the lessons he learned in the first half of the season stuck.

Kenneth Faried played well today. He finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds, but his lack of ability on defense was a major reason why the team lost today. He continues to play well this season, but I think the Nuggets need to look into trades for him as the deadline nears. Faried has nice boxscore stats and in the right system he can be a very effective player, but the Nuggets need to look into finding power forward who can play defense.

Once the team lost the lead in the second quarter, they were not able to regain it as Durant and Westbrook were just too good offensively. Its good to see the team in competitive games against good teams. This type of experience will benefit the young guys for years to come. It is painfully obvious that they do not have any rim defenders when Nurkic is out. Enes Kanter finished with 23 points in as many minutes. There was not a defender on the Nuggets who could even come close to stopping him. They either need to go after another big man who can defend or hope that either Lauvergne or Nikola Jokic turn into serviceable defenders.

Denver Nuggets Halfway Point Thoughts

The Nuggets will begin in the back half of their season against Oklahoma City on Tuesday. They are 16-25 through the first 41 games and are in a strange position because they are only two games out of 8th place in the Western Conference, yet they would also own the 6th spot in the lottery if the season ended today.

Danilo Gallinari has been playing very well, which has contributed to the team winning three out of their last four with one of those being an amazing win over Golden State where he had a clutch steal on Stephen Curry to seal the game in the closing seconds. Plenty of teams will come calling about his availability, but the front office needs to stand firm. He is very important to the success of the Nuggets in the next five years and they cant trade him away for just anything,

There is no reason that the front office to buy during the trade deadline as it wont make the Nuggets contenders. However, there is very little reason to give up and start selling assets because they could have a high pick in the lottery anyways. Adding another draft pick to the team next season could make them an actual contender in the future.

The team has to be excited about how they are playing right now. Even though they are still one of the worst teams based on their record, they are competitive on most nights, which is sadly a compliment after the Brian Shaw era. They need to continue to develop their young talent. Gary Harris is a very good defender early in his young career, but he has made great strides on offense. He upped his three point percentage by 16 percentage points up to 36.5% and field goal percentage up 15 percentage points up to 45.8%. If he continues to develop offensively, the Nuggets have their shooting guard of the future.

Emmanuel Mudiay has struggled at times, but if he gets his turnovers under control, he can still be the player that the Nuggets envisioned when they picked him with the seventh pick. Josef Nurkic and Nikola Jokic might be the two most important young players on the team.

Nurkic has only played 6 games due to injury this season. However, he completely changes the game on the defensive side when he is in the game. Nurkic is the only rim protector on the team and he is big enough to handle any player in the league on the block. Hopefully he is not a player that will be chronically injured because he has the ability to be a defensive player of the year award candidate when he reaches his prime.

Jokic is a better player on the offensive side of the ball and at 19 years old, he has a lot of potential. Having two players like that to anchor the front court in the future should not be tinkered with by bringing in players at the trade deadline that would start immediately.

The Nuggets should stand tight for the rest of the season and just see where the season takes them. If they contend for a playoff spot, that will provide great experience for the young players. I won't complain if they end up with a nice shot at a top lottery pick though as long as they don't give up in the process like last season.

I look forward to seeing the development of the team throughout the second half of the season. Even if the team begins to lose, the games will still be fun to watch because of the young talent on the team.

Chris Harris' Shoulder Injury

Chris Harris had a shoulder injury that will relegate him to the nickel back role, while Bradley Roby ascends to the starting lineup. It has apparent that Harris was injured during the Steelers game as he was not able to be his normal physical self with receivers.

He only played a smattering of snaps in the second half, only coming in on third down or obvious passing downs. Hopefully before the AFC Championship game, he will take painkillers that will allow him to be effective for the limited amount of snaps he will be on the field.

Luckily, against the Patriots, the Broncos don't need two lockdown corners because they do not have star receivers on the outside. Gronk will be the main focus for the defense. If they are able to contain him, then the rest should fall in place.

I would be more worried if wasn't for Talib locking down one side. He will be able to take on Edelman, Amendola and Martin with no problem. Edelman only runs a couple of routes and doesn't usually go long so might have some play making opportunities when they line up one on one.

Many non-Bronco fans don't know about him or don't think that he is that good because he is not a starter, but they are sorely mistaken. Roby would be starting on 75% of the teams in the league and maybe even more. There should not be much of a drop off in production when he takes the field on Sunday. Roby, like Harris can lock his man up without much of a thought so, Harris' limited availability shouldn't change the scheme at all. The scheme will focus around Gronk as they'll need two people to bracket him.

The most important part of this injury is his availability if the Broncos move onto the Super Bowl. Maybe a week off will heal his shoulder enough to take the majority of snaps, especially if they end up playing Arizona.

Kayvon Webster will have to put on a very good performance too. He was shaky during the season and putting together a full game might be tough to ask. Brandon Marshall and Danny Trevathan need to both stay on the field in passing situations, if the team does not want to go very deep into the depth chart for corners. Both are very capable in coverage and should not be at a disadvantage because the Patriots play a lot of two tight end sets. Lorenzo Doss may make an appearance on the active roster this week because the team will need all depth available if Harris is re-injured during the game.

Broncos Steelers Recap

I felt like I was watching a repeat of last years Divisional Round game against the Colts. They struggled to convert third downs (1-12 for the day) and struggled to run the ball. Manning didn't look terrible, but dropped balls in critical situations really put a limit on what the offense could do. They had missed opportunities on all of their potential scoring drives. None of this mattered too much in the end since they were able to come away with the victory. Brandon McManus tied the record for most field goals made in a playoff game with five, which was very impressive in those windy conditions. 

 

Ben Roethlisberger demonstrated on the first play that he was not lacking any arm strength by over throwing Marckus Wheaton on the first play of the game. They almost capitalized on a shot to the end-zone on 4th and 1. Talib made a good play, but the initial coverage on the flats forced Ben to go deep with the ball. 

Manning got good field position on the first drive, but was only able to turn it into three points. Kubiak broke out a trick play early that involved a direct snap to Ronnie Hillman while Manning was calling a phantom audible, but it was easily stopped by the Steelers. CJ Anderson needed to be in on short yardage plays, not that it would have made a difference on that particular play, but he is better in those situations. After a terrible punt that had the Broncos starting at the Pittsburgh 30, they settled for another field goal after what looked like a miscommunication between Manning and Norwood.

Kayvon Webster made this great play to avoid a touchback. 

Fitzgerald Touissaint scored the first touchdown of the game on a one yard run after an explosive Steelers drive that only took 5 plays to complete. Another busted coverage lead to a field goal for the Steelers on the next drive. Big plays continued to hurt the defense early in the second half as they extended their lead to 13-9. 

Peyton gave himself up on a sack, but was not touched so he immediately got up and made a throw to Sanders. I knew he had been self-sacking himself in order to do that one time. Pretty tricky Peyton.

Apparently there is a rule that if you muff a punt, but recover it in the end zone, you are actually rewarded. That rule needs to be changed because it makes absolutely no sense. 

Roby made a great play to force a fumble with 9:52 left in the fourth quarter which gave the Broncos life again as it looked like the Steeler would at least get a chance to attempt a field goal on the drive. That crucial takeaway gave Manning a chance to lead the go ahead drive down, which (and CJ) turned into a touchdown. Manning made a critical pass to Bennie Fowler on third down that got the Broncos to the Steelers side of the field. Good running and precise passing put the Broncos ahead 18-13 after a CJ one yard run. A screen pass to Demaryius Thomas for the two point conversion put the team up by 7 with around 3:00 left. 

Settling for field goals and not converting third downs was detrimental to the team throughout the game, but they were able to escape with the win because of a nice strip by Roby and a nice touchdown drive by Manning. Manning played well enough to win in the playoffs and his stats would be much better if the receivers were able to hang onto the ball in the first half. It was an ugly game, but in the playoffs the game are much tougher and all you need to do is advance. The wins might not be pretty, but if they are there then nobody will care. 

The Patriots will be coming to town next week in a rematch of their week 13 bout where Brock and the Broncos prevailed in overtime.