Cleveland Browns Jerome Harrison (C) is tackled by Denver Broncos Wesley Woodyard (L) and Ronald Fields (R) for a loss during their NFL football game in Denver, Colorado September 20, 2009. REUTERS/Mark Leffingwell (UNITED STATES SPORT FOOTBALL)

 Click here to read part one of “The Way I See It.”

Disclaimer: My ignorance, which I am seeking to rectify, regarding the 3-4 defensive scheme is probably going to be apparent in this post. I am going to take my crack at assessing the Denver Broncos’ defensive line. In my opinion, this is the area where the Denver Broncos need the most improvement, especially at the nose tackle position, which is what this post will be all about.

One thing that I do know about the 3-4 is this: you must have a beast at nose tackle. I used to play pick-up basketball games with a guy who played nose tackle for Arizona State University, and he defined the role of nose tackle as follows: “My job was to make the linebackers look good.” There is a lot of truth to that. A threatening nose tackle will draw enough attention from the interior offensive line, thus, freeing up the inside linebackers for run and pass blitzes.

Right now, I don’t see anyone at defensive tackle who is that much of a threat–no offense to Ronald Fields and Marcus Thomas. Fields and Thomas combined for 52 total tackles and zero sacks, pass deflections, and forced fumbles. Those really aren’t the type of numbers to strike fear into the hearts of opposing interior linemen.

So, where do we go from here regarding the nose tackle position? Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh and Oklahoma’s Gerald McCoy, two prospective 3-4 beasts, are most likely going to be long gone after the first ten picks in the 2010 NFL Draft. Do the Broncos try to trade down to a top five pick to have a chance at either of these prospects? They probably don’t have any kind of a chance of getting the number one overall pick, so Suh is most likely out of the picture. It doesn’t hurt to imagine, though, does it?

There are three nose tackles available via free agency whom I think might be an upgrade, Vince Wilfork, Casey Hampton, and Ryan Pickett. All three are unrestricted free agents and played in 3-4 schemes. Hampton would probably be the best player, but he is 32 and would probably be more of a short term fix. Wilfork and Pickett both had less total tackles than Ronald Fields and the same amount of sacks, zero. Wilfork only played in 13 games, however.

The problem with the 3-4 is the difficulty in finding such a dominant defensive tackle; they are few and far between. Denver definitely needs to do something here if they are to improve the horrible display they showed in week 17 when Jamal Charles ran all over the Broncos D. Maybe Hampton would be the way to go for the short term. The NFL is, after all, becoming more of short term league.

The most likely thing that will happen, in my opinion, is that McDaniels will try to load up on as many New England guys that he can; hence, Vince Wilfork will be wearing blue and orange in 2010. He is definitely a beast as far as size is concerned. My concern is…well, did you see the way Wilfork and the rest of the Patriots defense played against the Baltimore Ravens on Wild Card weekend?

There are certainly other defensive tackles available via the draft and free agency. I am basing this analysis on the needs of a 3-4 defense. There is one guy whom I haven’t mentioned, and I think he could be a plausible acquisition in the draft. His name is Terrence Cody of the national champion Alabama Crimson Tide.

My main concern with Cody would be his stamina. The dude proved to be a beast as far as pass deflections and field goal blocks are concerned, but can he handle the intensity and speed of the elite players of the NFL? He certainly handled it in what is arguably the toughest conference in college football. I think he would be worth a shot. However, I don’t think that the offensive “guru” Josh McDaniels is going to agree with me.

Something has to be done. If nothing is done through the draft or free agency, then, hopefully the new defensive coordinator will be able to coach Ronald Fields into a premier nose tackle. The Broncos need to start bringing the orange crush from front and center.

So, to sum it all up, here are my top four scenarios (that I think are realistic):

1. Use the first round pick to take Terrence Cody. If he struggles with stamina, Ronald Fields would make an excellent number two nose tackle. Cody is too big and too passionate to pass on if he is still available when the Broncos make their first pick.
2. Go after Casey Hampton in free agent signings and sign him to a two or three-year deal. During that time, make moves to acquire a top tier nose tackle via free agency or the draft.
3. Do nothing and keep drafting receivers and running backs, but, please, Josh McDaniels, switch back to the 4-3 (probably not realistic) if you don’t care to address the nose tackle need.
4. Go after Vince Wilfork or Ryan Pickett via free agency.

What do you think the Broncos should do regarding defensive tackles?

I am concerned with the “parting of ways” between Josh McDaniels and DC Mike Nolan. Is McDaniels trying to rebuild all over again in 2010? Does he think all of his daring moves were successful this past season(8-8)?

The rumor is that McDaniels is going to bring in Dean Pees from New England to replace Nolan. Does he want the organization to change its name to Patriots West too?

At some point, Josh McDaniels is going to have to slow down and work with what he has. He is not a proven entity, but he seems to believe that the Broncos can be successful no matter what drastic moves he makes. I really would like him to stop flexing his “I am in charge” muscles and commit to the players and personnel that are in his care, making the most of what is there and turning the team he was hired to coach into a winner.

Too many coaches are all about “their guys” when they should be about their team. I am afraid to say that Josh McDaniels is proving that he is no different.

Over the past three years, I have had to deal with the heartbreak of watching the Denver Broncos get eliminated from the playoffs late in the season. So, when the playoffs roll around minus the Broncos, I usually look for three things, good games, good stories, and the demise of teams I dislike such as the Steelers, the Patriots, and, most importantly, the San Diego Chargers.

Sunday afternoon, after three really lopsided NFL playoff games, I was treated to a wonderful experience, watching the Chargers’ egotistical balloon of arrogance and self-confidence burst as they lost to a team who finished 9-7. I do not bring up the record to disrespect the New York Jets; they are on a roll and looked like the better team. However, San Diego was 13-3 , had won 11 straight, and probably should have won that game.

We can get into why the Chargers lost in the comments section if you want, but I am not really interested in that. I am more interested in celebrating the fact that they lost. They flat out deserved it. Three Chargers players fill me with so much disgust week in and week out that I am happy to see them get humbled.

First, Shaun Phillips is a dirty, foul-mouthed instigator. Granted, there are probably dozens of players like him. We do not get to hear all that gets said, but we can see the body language. What I constantly see is Shaun Phillips jacking his jaws at opponents after every single play. What I see is Shaun Phillips getting unneccesary roughness calls in crucial playoff games.

He is about as classless as they come out on the field. The whole controversy with Josh McDaniels saying that “we own you” before the game in Denver is most likely Phillips’s fault. Think about it. Everyone likes to hate on McDaniels because he is young, confident, and expressive. Because of that hatred, a lot of people just automatically believed Phillips’s story when he said that Josh McDaniels instigated the whole thing. However, McDaniels claimed that Phillips first said to him, “I’ll kick your [effin' a@#] too!” McDaniels just responded to that. If you watch Phillips closely, is it hard to question whether or not McDaniels is telling the truth?

Next, Philip Rivers continues to get on my nerves. I think he is way too mouthy for a quarterback. In my opinion, quarterbacks need to be above the trash-talking and cocky swagger so prominent in every other NFL positions, but Rivers exudes it to the hilt. I also get really annoyed with Rivers’s constant borderline intentional grounding throws to avoid sacks. Heck, maybe he is being resourceful and avoiding sacks, but most of those throws don’t have a reasonable chance of being caught. In my opinion, that is not skill; it is relying on a loophole to basically get away with intentional grounding.

Also, I got really irritated at Rivers’s response when Darrelle Revis had the acrobatic pick of one of his throws on Sunday. It was clearly an interception from my angle, but, boy, did you see how unjust Philip Rivers thought the call was? He ran up to the referee screaming bloody murder. How dare they rule that an interception. He doesn’t throw interceptions. He just throws at the back of elligible receivers’ feet.

Vincent Jackson takes the cake with his stupid antics at the end of the game when he kicked Rex Ryan’s challenge flag immediately after he threw it. Seriously, why does anyone believe any of these Chargers players when they accuse coaches and other players of instigating stuff with them? What would drive Jackson to do something so stupid if he thought he really made the catch? Did he think the game was over and they didn’t have a chance anymore because that was clearly not the case. Jackson should not only have been penalized for kicking the challenge flag, but he should have been ejected. Before you Chargers fans get all uptight about this, understand that I would support any player on the Denver Broncos being ejected if he pulled something like that. However, the smile on Rex Ryan’s face as he picked the challenge flag back up was priceless.

I could go on and on about how classless the San Diego Chargers are. Typically, a post of this fashion makes a lot of people angry and leads to vicious responses. I mean nothing personal against Charger fans. Fan behavior and mentality and that of the players are not one in the same. I am not denying any of the arguments you would throw back in my face in retaliation: “Well, the Broncos have choked the past two seasons.” “The Chargers beat the Broncos in Denver by a score of 32-3.” “At least the Chargers made it to the playoffs.” Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it.

My point is that the San Diego Chargers have a few real punks on their team. They do not have the poise, the leadership, or the class to stop the playoff meltdowns that occur promising season after promising season. Go ahead and make all of the excuses for why the Jets won the game, but the actions of Phillips and Jackson are totally inexcusable.

What’s happening, Broncos fans?

I am going to start a series entitled “The Way I See It.” This will be my reflections and opinions on how the Broncos are looking in each category, some changes I would like to see for the 2010 season, and some potential possibilities via trade, the draft, or free agency.

I would love to get your feedback on my opinions. Do you agree? Do you think I am full of crap? What do you think would work? So on and so forth.

Category #1: The Hallowed Quarterback Position
Quarterbacks have a lot to live up to in Denver, and it is not because of Jay Cutler. It is all because of John Elway, the undisputed face of Denver Broncos history. QBs have been highly scrutinized since the legendary number seven retired, flying high off of back-to-back Super Bowl wins.

Brian Griese, Jake Plummer, and Kyle Orton all had something in common: they all had talent, but, in the eyes of many fans, they could never live up to the greatness of John Elway. Look, I have a ridiculous amount of respect for John Elway as a football player and fully appreciate what he did for Denver Broncos football. However, I am not going to sit and lament in Rick Pittino-like fashion that “Shannon Sharpe is not walking through that door. Steve Atwater is not walking through that door. John Elway is not walking through that door.” Yes, it is true that those three players aren’t coming back, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t appreciate the new players that are here now.

Kyle Orton was a decent quarterback this season. His last game was atrocious, sure. Nevertheless, he showed me that he can manage a game and demonstrate conisderable poise. I have listened to so many people blast him for not being a good quarterback: “He can’t throw the deep ball…He can’t scramble…He relies too much on Brandon Marshall…” Orton is not perfect, but neither were Jay Cutler or John Elway (Oops, I can’t believe I said that!) for that matter.

I believe that Kyle Orton is the right quarterback for 2010. I will not accuse anyone of being a hater of the Denver Broncos if he or she disagrees. I definitely don’t think that Chris Simms has anything left after what he showed us in Washington and against San Diego, and Tom Brandstater is just not ready to be a starter. I think Josh McDaniels could focus on making Brandstater into the second string quarterback in 2010 and give him more preseason experience.

Orton has the experience as a starter in the NFL ,and, more importantly, he started 15 games for the Josh McDaniels-led Broncos. Trading for another starting quarterback, though not completely out of the realm of possibility, would deplete any chemistry that developed this season. Also, as far as I’m concerned, using a first or second round pick on a quarterback would be very wasteful.

With Kyle Orton as the Denver Broncos quarterback in 2010, there are a few things that I would like to see happen:

• Red zone conversions–The amount of touchdowns did not match up with the way that the Broncos moved the ball with Kyle Orton at the helm. It may not be Orton’s fault completely, especially on those third and short plays (more indicative of a weak running attack), but the quarterback has to find ways to get his team into the end zone. Four field goals against Oakland is just not getting the job done.
• Avoiding sacks–While I appreciate that, for the most part, Orton didn’t try to force a lot of throws, I did not appreciate all of those sacks he gave up (159 yards lost in sacks) on third down or to take the Broncos out of field goal range. Orton has shown from time to time that he has the ability to scramble. What a help it would be if we could rely on our quarterback to create a couple of yards with his feet on those third and short plays. He may never be as good as Plummer and Cutler were with the bootlegs and rollouts, but isn’t it the quarterback’s job to be able to improvise with his feet?
• Better distribution–There is a point to the argument that Orton relied too heavily on Brandon Marshall, but I don’t think it is fair to say that he doesn’t spread the ball around. The way that Marshall played this season, what quarterback wouldn’t throw the ball his way? What I mean by “better distribution” is establishing a type of passing game where any receiver can have a big game. Gaffney, Royal, and even Brandon Lloyd have the potential to do a lot of damage on offense, especially Gaffney who had 21 receptions in his last two games. Going into week 17, Marshall had 61 more receptions than any other Broncos player. There are other options, and in 2010, I am guessing that Brandon Marshall is not even going to be an option.
• Consistency–Orton at times seemed like a sleeping giant this season after the Broncos fell behind (Indianapolis and Philadelphia), but it would turn out to be too little too late. This relates to the the whole red zone conversion woes. Orton will not win over his harshest critics if he doesn’t show that he can move the ball at will at any time.
• Give him what he needs–There are some things that need to happen for Orton to play to his potential: (1) The offensive line needs to give him better time and protect the pocket. (2) The offensive line needs to produce good gaps for the run; no running game equates to difficulty in the passing game. (3) The running game needs to explode so that Orton can start relying on the play fake. Right now, the running game isn’t all that respected, so a play fake doesn’t really fake any defenses out.

As you can see, there are a lot of other pieces that I mentioned that need to come together for Kyle Orton to play at his best. Those pieces will be addressed in the coming days and weeks.

Would you have stayed until the end?

I could rip the Broncos and Josh McDaniels after yesterday’s nightmare loss, but what would be the point? It really wouldn’t have mattered if Denver had beaten Kansas City yesterday with the way the Jets played against the Bengals. IT IS WHAT IT IS. 32-32 for the past four seasons. It is not necessarily bad, and it is not anything good. It is just mediocre: IT IS WHAT IT IS!

As a Denver Broncos fan, I would never claim to be any better than any other Broncos fan–or any other NFL fan for that matter. We have a tendency to question the fortitude of certain fans’ support. Don’t get me wrong; I am not a fan of the fickle-minded fan who starts to talk about burning his jerseys or getting rid of his season tickets when things don’t go well. Those people are not fans. A fan, to me, is someone who loves his team, cheers for them no matter what, and wants the absolute best for his team.

Here are some reasons why I feel like I love the Denver Broncos:

• I eat up any kind of information on the Denver Broncos. I love denverbroncos.com, MHR, bleacherreport.com, and any other kind of media related to the Denver Broncos.
• I have devoted myself to writing a blog about them. I will continue to update this blog at least two times a week regardless of  the depressing outcome of the season.
• I have paid hundreds of dollars just to sit in the nosebleeds at Invesco Field after an 18-hour drive to Denver, and, let me tell you all, it was one of the best trips of my life.
• When my wife and I started dating, we were both hardcore Broncos fans. Eight-and-a-half years later, our two oldest kids (4 and 2 1/2) get excited when they see the Broncos emblem because they know that they are mommy and daddy’s team. It is a huge part, though not one of life or death, of our family.
• Since, I live out of the market, I mute the Seahawks games on the TV and tune in to KOA online to listen the Broncos games when they aren’t televised here.

Those are a few of the ways that I feel I show that I love the Broncos. I also will cheer for them no matter what:

• The past four seasons have been very hard for me. The Broncos seem to get my hopes up every year in the early parts of the season only to lose it at the end. I will still follow them and support them.
• Often times, my evening mood on Sundays or Mondays is heavily influenced by the way the Broncos perform. I will never yell at my wife or kids because of it, but it definitely affects me whether it be positively or negatively.
• I get sick of the MSM’s endless campaign to make the world doubt the Broncos. I am more of a believer in taking things a week at a time rather than jumping the gun on assumptions and predictions. My team doesn’t have to get all of the love the the Patriots, Steelers, Giants, and Chargers get from the media for me to love them and believe in them.

I may have negative things to say about the way they are peforming, but that is my passion getting the better of me. I want the Denver Broncos to win. Period:

• I do not know more than the coaches or players. I promise you that I would lead an NFL team into the grave if I was a head coach, coordinator, owner, or GM, but does that keep me from being opinionated? Absolutely not!
• Fans are a huge part of professional sports. The money and the time we invest to support our favorite teams and players certainly do not entitle us to run the show, but we see what is going on and, therefore, have thoughts and reflections on how things are going.
• I appreciate the job Mike Shanahan did winning two Super Bowls for the Broncos, but I was ready for him to go after last season. Many people accused me of hating my team for wishing for such a thing. I am sure a bunch of those same people will say, “Be careful what you wish for. McDaniels didn’t do any better.”  Well, I have certainly made negative comments about Josh McDaniels as of late, but McDaniels hasn’t been with the Broncos for over a decade like Shanahan had been. McDaniels deserves a few years of patience to get things figured out.
• The reason I was negative about Shanahan was that I felt like he cared more about what was best for Shanahan, not what was best for his team. Some might say the same thing about Josh McDaniels, but only time will tell. I want the coaches and the players who will help the Denver Broncos be the best team that they can be.
• The Broncos always show flashes of brilliance, in my humble opinion. They did it in Shanahan’s last three years, and they did it this year. When that starts to fall apart like it has the past four seasons, I get frustrated. I will compare it to the teacher who gets upset with a student who is just flat out intelligent and capable of doing quality work, but for whatever reason, time and time again, that student underachieves and never does anything to realize her potential. That is what I see in the Denver Broncos. It is not them that I hate, it is a hatred for them not doing what they are capable of doing.

Now that I have explained the last two ways that I am a fan, I want to talk about the fine line between supporting one’s team rain or shine and wanting the best for your team. Many fans seem to blur this line. I am not trying to personally attack anyone, but I find a lot of Denver Broncos fans are intolerant of people who have anything critical to say about the Broncos. If you criticize the coach, you hate the team and are a pompous, arrogant fool who probably lives in your mother’s basement and is unemployed. Maybe that person just wants to see his team do what it is capable of doing.

I think we all have a right to an opinion. So, I want to offer my sincere respect to those who love Josh McDaniels and would never venture to say anything negative about him. I don’t question the strength of your passion for the Denver Broncos because we reflect on things a little differently. In fact, I don’t know most of you personally, so I feel like it would show immense weakness of character for me to turn something like some banter about football into a personal attack. Too many people don’t think before they type.

I want to make sure that I show respect to people as human beings when I type things on this blog unless I am talking about Jay Cutler, the Oakland Raiders, or the San Diego Chargers. We are all human beings, but not all can be considered human beings.

I am, as always, very proud to be a Denver Broncos fan. I am happy to have the opportunity to write and interact with passionate fans like myself, and I wish all my fellow Broncos fans a happy 2010 and offseason. Please check in with the blog as often as you would like. I will be around.

Click here to view the different scenarios for AFC teams clinching the playoffs.

I have viewed the press conference when Josh McDaniels addressed the media regarding his decision to deactivate Brandon Marshall from the Broncos’ final regular season game, and I have also read Marshall’s response to what happened. I must say that I do not have confidence in this decision by Josh McDaniels, and, surprisingly, I find myself sympathizing with Brandon Marshall.

Josh McDaniels was less than forthcoming in his press conference, giving very vague explanations as to why he took such a drastic measure. He kept talking about “accountability” and putting the 45 guys out there who are willing to give their all, but he never got into any specifics as to how Marshall was being unaccountable.

Marshall seemed to shed more light on the subject in his response, stating that he believed McDaniels was responding to his hamstring injury which he suffered at practice on Wednesday. Marshall feels like he can’t play in his current condition, Josh McDaniels feels like he is exaggerating the injury and should be able to play.

So, was it absolutely necessary for Josh McDaniels to deactivate Brandon Marshall? I will never claim to know more than the coach does, but I think this was a huge mistake.

First, it makes McDaniels look like an egomaniac. Maybe he is one. I am pretty sure I would hate his guts if he coached any other team, but he is the coach of my beloved Denver Broncos. If all that was going on was that Marshall was complaining about his hamstring bothering him and doubting if he would be ready to go on Sunday, McDaniels’ move is a complete overreaction. It’s a little too late for him to be trying to send a message to his team. With a 2-7 streak, any move that could lower morale or hurt team unity is ridiculous. To me, it looks like Josh McDaniels is desperate, trying so hard to pass the blame to his players for the late season meltdown. He seems to be trying to send the message that he is in control when, in reality, he lost it somewhere around the bye week.

Second, deactivation completely eliminates the possibility that Marshall could play. Why not list Marshall as doubtful or questionable for the game against the Chiefs? With Eddie Royal possibly out of the picture, why deactivate yet another receiver? What if Marshall ended up being well enough to play? Hasn’t he contributed enough this season and fought hard enough to deserve that chance?

Third, it could potentially destroy any hopes of what seemed to be a happy reconciliation process between Marshall and the Broncos. We all know where Marshall was at the beginning of the season, and he seems to have taken gigantic steps to improve on his image and attitude. His immediate response to the deactivation seems fair and mature–more mature than the actions of his head coach, if you ask me. However, I wouldn’t blame him if his attitude resoured (if that’s even a word).

McDaniels has not yet proven to be the genius that he would like the media, his players, and the rest of the NFL to believe he is. This is definitely a gutsy move, but I am having a hard time seeing any positives that can come out of it. If he is trying to send a message, it is a little too late in the year.

I really got annoyed with all of the doubters among Bronco fans and the dipsticks in the media saying that Denver wouldn’t win five games in 2009 going into the season. I was thinking 7-9 or 8-8, possibly a small step backward from last year. My hopes were really set on the 2010 season. After six games, I was so happy that I was wrong. The Denver Broncos were on a roll.

Well, it seems that I wasn’t wrong. One more loss this coming Sunday, which is not completely out of the realm of possibility, and the Denver Broncos will finish at .500 again.

To me, this is a complete disappointment of a season after the hot start. I mean, which team are they, the 6-0 team, or the 2-7 team from the past nine games. Are they the team that falls behind 27-10, or are they the team that comes out with lights out defense for four or five drives while the offense rallies to tie the game? Are they the team that squashes teams like Cleveland and Kansas City or the team that loses to the likes of Oakland and Washington?

My biggest beef is that going into week 17, the Denver Broncos seem to be a team without an indentity. After six games, there definitely appeared to be an identity, but after the past nine, they are bipolar at best.

So, I am honestly not even interested in writing about the playoff scenarios right now. The season has turned out to be yet another disappointment, and it would have been much easier to take if it hadn’t started with such promise.

I’m tired of seeing Knowshon Moreno get stuffed at the line of scrimmage time and time again.

I’m tired of watching Mitch Berger struggle to punt the ball 30 yards after the Broncos struggle to move the ball 1 or 2 yards on third down. (Can we please stop complaining about Peyton Hillis not being utilized? He got stuffed too).

I’m tired of the undisciplined style of play. This is on the players as well as Josh McDaniels. Brandon Stokley was a complete idiot for ten seconds yesterday, and it cost him and hurt his team for three quarters of a ball game. In an earlier drive, Brian Dawkins got away with some illegal contact, so it goes both ways; there is no excuse to get up in a refs face and shake your fist at him.

What can I say? I am tired of a lot of elements of the Denver Broncos. I would like to believe and be hopeful this week, but the Denver Broncos need a lot of help. It’s too bad that they haven’t been able to help themselves these past nine games.

Wow! I knew the Broncos shouldn’t have taken the Raiders lightly. How do they go from busting the Chiefs and Giants in the mouth and competing with Indy to getting upset at home by the Raiders? How do the Broncos let the Raiders run the ball the way they did? How did they let JaMarcus Russell convert on 4th-and-1? How do they keep letting Oakland beat them at home? How do the Broncos have a 1st-and-goal at the 2 and only walk away with a field goal.

I have so many questions. I am flabbergasted. I could take comfort in the fact that Oakland beat Philadelphia earlier this year, which might mean that we have a chance with the Eagles too, but I am not so sure.

I love my Broncos, but I am getting sick of these meltdowns year after year. This is Josh McDaniels’s team with a few of the older fellas, so the failure to convert red zone trips into touchdowns is a McDaniels thing, not leftover baggage from the Mike Shanahan years. All of the penalties on third down, though they did seem to happen a lot with Shanahan, are a reflection of an inconsistent, undisciplined team coached by an inconsistent young head coach.

Coach, I will be patient with you, but this is extremely frustrating. The Broncos got outplayed by one of their biggest rivals, and that really shouldn’t have happened looking at the stats coming into the game. Losses like these were one of the things you were brought in to change.

Now, I am going to be eating a bunch of crow for my trash talk to the Raider faithful this week, and that is not fun. Now I am going to have to give it to them that they seem to have our number the past few years at Invesco. Now I am going to have to acknowledge that they play better than us when they have nothing to lose and we have everything to gain by winning. Now I am going to have to keep my mouth shut, and not make any excuses for this depressing loss because I am not the type of fan who makes excuses and desperately tries to defend himself and his team.

I am sick of this feeling, but I will endure it because I am a diehard. I want the best for the Denver Broncos. What happened today was far from that.

Q. What do you buy an Oakland Raiders fan for Christmas?
A. Why would you buy a gift for a Raiders fan?