A Few Good Questions With.....TheSportsGuru, Broncos Blogger

I don’t know where to start! I guess I will with our o-line signings. Ryan Clady was an excellent draft pick that overshadows recent first round woes when drafting o- linemen (cough George Foster cough.) Right now, he looks like a Pro Bowl LT, and would be my pick for Rookie of the Year if I got one. While not a new guy technically, first year starter Ryan Harris has been lights-out at RT, and looks like a guy who could be a perennial Pro-Bolwer opposite Clady. Also, Casey Wiegmann was probably our best free agent signee of the off season, as he has stepped in valiantly for the injured Tom Nalen and leads an o-line that has only given up one true sack all year long (technically two, but one was that pseudo- fumble-that-wasn’t against San Diego.) As you can tell, I have been extremely satisfied by our o-line this year.

For skill positions, you have to look at Eddie Royal. He’s surpassed everyone’s expectations and developed into a lethal #2 wideout. We only hope he’ll available against you guys on Monday, because he makes us that much better. Also, Michael Pittman, who many of us thought wouldn’t make it out of camp, has stepped up nicely in a steadily increasing role, and has become our featured back. He is the hardest runner we’ve had since Mike Anderson.

Rookie Spencer Larsen and signee Niko Koutouvides have helped out in special teams kick coverage, and our young K/P tandem of Matt “Elam Who?” Prater and Brett Kern have been Pro Bowl worthy as well. Rookie Peyton Hillis has been excellent at FB, but was replaced for aome reason by Larsen. Remember this name: Ryan Torain. He’s the new 1,500 yard back that Mike Shanahan seems to find every year, just as soon as he gets healthy. Early reports had him back for this game, but right now it looks like we’ll have to wait until after the bye.

I think that about covers it. Good luck on Monday, even though we’ll be playing against you.:)

Good Question —

I think it is pretty easy to answer as well.

1. LT Ryan Clady(First Round – 2008 Draft) – Has started at LT since Day 1 and has been awesome. He has yet to allow a sack and has just one holding call(last week and it was totally bogus) Clady should garner some Pro Bowl votes for the job he has done in a pass heavy offense.

2. WR Eddie Royal(Second Round – 2008 Draft) – Royal has been just as good as a rookie, starting opposite Brandon Marshall. Even after missing last week, Royal still leads all rookie receivers with 30 catches. He should be healthy and ready to go for Monday night and the Broncos need him.

3. K Matt Prater – Prater was actually signed late last year, but I am going to count him anyway. He has made everyone forget Jason Elam very quickly, and what some considered a huge concern heading into the season is now a strength of the team.

Personally, I consider the refs part of the game and as long as they are not purposefully trying to affect the outcome, then it is won fairly. It was a nice surprise to get that call to go our way, but I am sure SD fans were thinking the exact same thing 30 seconds before when they saw the ball pop out of Cutler’s hand for no reason.

As for the tuck rule game, I think most Broncos fans were rooting against the Raiders from the opening kickoff.

Last week is a perfect example, we had three horrible calls against us that did change the outcome of the game, yet we all said that bottom line was we still had oppurtunities to either stop the Jags or score and we didn’t do it, that is why we lost, not the refs. San Diego after the blown call still could of stopped Denver, but they failed so yes it was a bad break for SD, but bottom line was their defense couldn’t stop us.

As for the Tuck rule, I don’t like it, but that is the rule and it was called correctly, it was also used in a Denver game a couple of years ago to our benefit, so I can’t complain. In addition, having Raider fan mad because of bad refs calls is too ironic, anything to make Raider fan bitter and unhappy is a good thing in my book.

1) The rule itself was introduced by none other than Al DAvis himself.

2) Like the rule or hate it, it was the rule in place, and the official called it properly.

The only reason there is such a big deal made is that the Raiders lost, and they always blame officials for their own shortcomings. Last year they cried about a last minute time out by Denver to throw of the kicker (which is perfectly legal). Yet they did the same thing in there next game. The Raider faithful also complain about (and confuse) chop blocking with cut blocking (one of the biggest myths regarding zone blocking today), yet Oakland runs the same system.