One down, Shakes, one down.

FINALLY IT IS HERE! Football season has started in Denver! The Broncos pulled off a miracle win last night on the biggest stage.... the first pre-season game on Monday Night Football. Just when it looked like the 49ers would snatch the victory away from our beloved Donks, some dude from our 3rd string defense stopped the 49ers 3rd string QB (and his gang of a bunch of guys I've never heard of) on the 3 yard line to secure a hard fought victory. Here are some game notes: 1.) The one drive our starters participated in looked great.... on offense at least. We looked pretty shaky on defense. Our run defense was especially un-inspiring. 2.) If Jay Cutler, Javon Walker, or Travis Henry miss any significant time due to injury or drug usage, we are fucked. 3.) Our equipment managers must be in pre-season form also. I've never seen a game in which so many players lost their helmets. Either that, or they all ditched the "how to adequately secure a chin-strap" workshop the first day of minicamp. 4.) Apparently Bill Walsh was a good coach. Approximately 85% of the broadcast was dedicated to this little known tidbit of football information. 5.) Jay Cutler always looks like a wasted frat guy at the end of a party. Another accurate description could be someone who just walked out of a Cyprus Hill / Snoop Dogg concert. Luckily for us, despite his look of constant intoxication, he is very good at football. 6.) Here is a favor I have to ask of Jay... I want you to dedicate at least 3 days of practice next week to the quarterback SLIDE!!! Former CU Buff Michael Lewis nearly decapitated you on that run. For the love of God get down!! I saw our season flash before my eyes on that play. 7.) How was Patrick Ramsey ever a first round draft choice? He blows. Despite the entire 8 minutes that Mike Turico and Ron Jaworski spent trying to convince the public that Ramsey is actually good, it was just the Redskins offense that stunk.... I feel his play on the field did more than enough arguing against him. His final numbers were 2+ quarters played, 4-10, 45 yards, 1 TD pass, 1 interception, 2 interceptions called back, and one extremely awkward high five. 8.) I thought it was absolutely awesome when Trent Dilfer was going crazy that his coach wouldn't throw the challenge flag with .40 seconds left in the first half, when the booth automatically reviews close plays in the last two minutes. How long has it been since you played in a real game Trent? I also thought it was awesome how he threw an interception on the next play, then tried to blame it on the receiver with Jaws saying "what an absolutely horrible read by Trent Dilfer!" 9.) Travis Henry looked great. He reminds me of that guy on X-Men 3 that can't be stopped once he has gained momentum. He sounded borderline retarded in his post game interview though.... I'm not sure what was going on there, but he is from Tennessee.... 10.) Mike Bell and Cecil Sapp did little to instill any confidence for me. I know they put up decent numbers, but that was against 2nd and 3rd stringers. Can you really imagine either of them stepping in and getting 100 yards per game if Travis Henry goes down? Me either. 11.) We need to get Brandon Marshall and Brandon Stokley healthy. Last night saw David Terrell and Quincy Morgan both get significant playing time despite the fact that it wasn't the year 2002. Although Domenik Hixon looked pretty good. Hixon was a 4th round pick in '06 and missed all of last season with a broken foot. He has impressed the CB's in camp (mainly Champ Bailey) and was a good kick returner in college too with the Akron Zips. (I look for a chance to mention the Akron Zips whenever possible. Go fighting Zips!!) Even though his first name would lead you to believe he was a hockey goalie from the Czech Republic, he should see some PT for the Broncos this year. 12.) Our third string QB looks like most teams middle linebacker. His name is Darrell Hackney. He is 6 foot 240lbs. He went to UAB. That's about all I can tell you about him. He did look better than Patrick Ramsey though. 13.) Monday Night Football needs to get rid of it's mandatory "celebrity" interview mid game. I really didn't need to hear Jerry Rice talk for 45 minutes in the first half. Sometimes it seems like ESPN forgets that there are actual sports going on during their broadcasts. At least it wasn't Cristian Slater again, or somebody like Corey Haim and Corey Feldman pimping their new reality show "The Two Corey's". Actually, scratch that. Having a 45 minute interview with the Two Corey's would have been outstanding! 14.) Mark Fenton got on the field for the Broncos last night. Fenton was yet another casualty from last seasons 2-10 debacle up in Boulder. Fenton was All Big 12 and a Remington Award finalist as a Junior, and started his senior season on the watchlist for every offensive lineman award. Then he got injured and missed half the season, the Buffs were the worst team in the nation, and Fenton goes undrafted. I hope he makes the final roster for the Broncos because he is a very good player and is a potential steal as an undrafted free agent. Overall I felt pretty good about the team after last night's effort. If we can stay healthy we have a shot at a deep playoff run. Cutler looks like things have slowed down a bit for him, Henry looks like a great fit for our running scheme, and with the addition of Dan Graham at TE, and a healthy receiving core we could have an extremely explosive offense. Of course, if Cutler goes down and we hand the keys to Patrick Ramsey all bets are off.