[bizmark]

how is everybody overlookin denver?!?!?! honestly, they underachieved last year and finished the year bad, but they had a rookie starting in the fiercest part of the regular season. but jay cutler did show some good signs and has some experience under his belt comin into this year.

also, for a team that has had a running back rush for 1,000+ every year since 1995 including 5 different 1,000 yard rushers since 1998 and has arguably the best o-line in the league, they picked up a back that is probably better than 3 of those 1,000 yard rushers ( mike anderson, orlandis gary and tatum bell) and maybe just as good as another ( clinton portis) in travis henry. henry was 1,500 yard back in buffalo and rushed for 1,200 yards last season for tennessee who has a bad o-line.

some other good news for jay cutler is llok at the weapons around him. javon walker and rod smith are a pretty good 1 2 punch if you ask me. smith might be gettin older but he can sure as hell still play the game. but look at the free agent pick ups. daniel grahm from new england is a big, physical, athletic tight end and denver has been missin a good tight end for a couple years now. and who in the nfl is a better slot receiver then brandon stoakley? throw travis. henry in that mix and thats a pretty good crew to put around a young qb like cutler.

all that said, lets look at the defensive side of the ball. first off, champ bailey is the best corner in the league hands down. any time indy has beat denver since 05 champ has shut harrison down every time, its been the number 2 cb who hasnt been able to cover reggie wayne and wayne tears us up. but now reggie wayne is gonna be covered by dre bly and in my opinion bly and bailey is the best corner duo in the league. and dominiqe foxworth could be a solid #2 corner for a lot of teams in the nfl. john lynch is really the same deal as rod smith, gettin older and out of his prime, but hell still make wide receivers scared to go over the middle of the field.

the line backers will be a little down with the loss of al wilson, im not gonna lie that will hurt. but when you still have 2 pro bowl backers in dj williams and ian gold i think that well be fine there.

the d-line is about the same as last year which was a pretty good d-lie, #12 against the run. but after drafting jarvis moss from florida in the first round they now have two good pass rushing de's ( moss and last years team leader in sacks elvis dummerville) and 2 good run stopping de's ( ebunezer ekuban and kennard ). the 2 combined for 99 tackles last year, ekuban had 63 by himself. last season dwight freeney finished with 29 tackles, will smith had 52, john abraham-18, julius peppers- 58,leonard little- 60, richard seymoure- 41, kabeer gbaja-biamila- 40.

so i think that people should look at denver a little bit harder before they make these rankings. and lets not forget, just 2 seasons ago denver was becoming the first team to beat the patriots in the playoffs in the tom brady era and went on to get beat by the eventual super bowl champs in the afc title game.

last thing, denver has arguably the best kicker in the league jason elam and arguably the best punter in the league todd sauerbrun. field position is very important.

and one more thing, mike shannahan is a pretty good coach.