Yet the Broncos were also helped out by two controversial referee decisions that will be second-guessed for the rest of the season. The first occured in the first quarter, when Champ Bailey was initially awarded an interception after stripping Chris Chambers of the pigskin. TV replays showed that Chambers was down and that it was not an interception. But the on-field hooded replay cameras were not operating. Due to the malfunction, referee Ed Hochuli had to stick to the original call of an interception. A incident which also raised suspicions that someone on the Invesco Field staff might've "accidentally" unplugged the replay station. It recalled memories of a commercial that ran last year-- where a referee called his wife, at home, to see the correct ruling on the play. In this modern age of connectivity, TV-enabled cellphones and other extraneous crap, it seems unreal that such a technical difficulty could affect a game.

The second ref fart occurred in the fourth quarter. Jay Cutler was driving the team down the field with roughly 42 9-yard passes to Brandon Marshall. On the 4 yard line and rolling out to his right, Cutler fumbled the ball and the Chargers recovered. Strangely enough, Hochuli was on-hand again, as he blew his whistle believing it was an incomplete pass. Replays showed otherwise, but the Broncos inexplicably ended up with the ball at the 10 yard line. For a franchise that has had "The Drive" and "The Fumble", they can now add "The Whistle" to their lexicon. Eddie Royal's touchdown and two point conversion soon followed. Hochuli strolled over to Chargers coach Norv Turner and told him, "I blew it". An admission which will now draw countless complaints and formulations from NFL bloggers over the depth and reach of Instant Replay.

While it's always cheap or heartbreaking (depending on your team allegiances) to see a game decided in such a way, this was still a very exciting and harrowing game. Blown ref calls and defensive collapses aside, the game came down to the final 30 seconds and the decision to go for 2. Now it can be known that Mike Shanahan is the owner of the biggets set of balls in the AFC, if not the NFL. Conventional wisdom says "go for the win on the road, the tie at home". But the Broncos defense had blown a 21-3 lead and hadn't forced the Chargers to punt since the second quarter. A Charger Coin Flip Win after a 38-38 tie may well have sealed the Donkeys' fate. Thus, Shanahan gambled, put the game's fate in the hands of his offense. The winning number was 2 and the place errupted.

Very rarely in the NFL does a player fuck-up, then get to redeem himself almost immediately. Kickers might miss a field goal, then get to try for a win 20 minutes later. Cutler had almost blown the game with his fumble, yet he got to redeem himself just a few minutes later. Shanahan showed confidence in his prized QB project, and it was rewarded. Shanahan is smiling today at the thought of knowing that he finally could take some credit for his draft picks winning the game. The game was won thanks to Cutler, Eddie Royal, Brandon Marshall's franchise-tying 18 receptions, and even guys like Ryan Clady and Ryan Harris (no sacks were allowed all game). It was a true homegrown win for a team that has done very little with their draft picks since 1999.

As mentioned above, this was also a harrowing game. No disrespect to the Chargers and Darren Sproles, but when a defense blows a 21-3 lead, it is officially Time for Concern. Watch film all you want, but there was no pass rush, the linebackers looked overmatched and the M&M Mis-Connection safety duo of Marquand Manuel and Marlon McCree seemed to do nothing but chase after Chargers all day. But the Chargers were just as guilty of a porous defense as the Donkeys were. With those two elements evening out, it seems fitting that the game came down to a gutsy two-point conversion.

Week Two was, indeed, one for the Broncos' Record Books. Since the league adopted the two-point conversion rule in 1994, only 7 games have come down to a two-pointer. The team that went for it had only been successful 3 times. This is the reason the NFL added the rule in the first place. Go for two, go 2-0 and let your coach show off his two big nads. It was almost too much.

Chop Blocks
..||.. Look, I don't pretend to know all the facts about the Broncos, pre-1980s. But it was flat out ridiculous that the Denver Post (who have followed the team since their inception) listed "KITRICK TAYLOR, 1964" among the team's all-time single-game reception leaders. Even though I didn't arrive in Denver until 1978, I still know that LIONEL Taylor had some gaudy numbers in the 1960's. Kitrick Taylor was a little-known wideout and kick returner who played for a few teams in the 1990's. But I suppose the Post also lists David Little as one of the Broncos' all-time leading rushers.

..||.. So I'm hanging out at Big O Tires today (I mean, who doesn't hang out there), and I'm reading "Mile High Sports Magazine". A local rag that, while it has some redeeming qualities (including the long-running stance of Dinger as the "Worst Mascot in Sports". Which I agree with, 100%), it seemed that every other page featured a "babe". Whether it was a Hooters ad, a swimsuit calendar shot, or just some hotsy-totsy 20 year old female volleyball player (which is kinda' gross. Shouldn't you at least wait until she's 21 before pronouncing her a "babe"?). The mag featured a goofy trivia game as a main feature, with game show graphics and pictures of game show hostesses, a la "Deal or No Deal". I'll be darned if one of the hostesses wasn't our ol' pal, Renee Herlocker. So, here it is, two weeks into the clean start and she's still haunting my website. Well, dammit.. at least there are now NO pictures of her on this site.

..||.. I can't recall the advertiser, but there's a commercial showing fans and their gameday food creations. One lady made a big-ass chocolate football, another a special pizza. But one lady made ..a plate of CHIPS!?!? That was it. Other people took time to cook stuff, but this broad opened a can of Pringles, put them on a plate and thought it was something special.

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