vs Cleveland Browns (W 27-6)

Before Sunday's game, Shannon Sharpe skydived into Invesco Field to celebrate his ascension into the team's Ring of Fame. Sharpe then stated that he could cross this off his "bucket list".

Meanwhile, the Browns still have "Beat Denver" unchecked on their own personal bucket list. The "new" Browns have yet to beat the Broncos, and going back to the lineage of the old Browns, they're 0 for their last 9 (nevermind that the displaced Browns-- the Ravens-- have a good history against the ol' orange and blue).

Peyton Hillis tried to get the Browns off the schnide, though. Hillis; who has never met a pile he didn't like; crashed into a crowd of tacklers and promptly fumbled the opening kickoff and the Browns were soon up 3-0. Hillis has become something of a fan favorite in the past year, but "elusive" is not a word you would use to describe him. He has some bullshit macho mindset and always tries to run into people, instead of darting through a hole for extra yardage. That's okay when it's 3rd and 1, but an awful concept while returning kicks.

The Donkey defense held up for the rest of the game. Allowing no touchdowns, while linebackers Andra Davis and Elvis Dumervil ran wild. Dumervil, officially now a "LB", yet playing in the DE/LB spot that guys like Simon Fletcher played in, accumulated 4 sacks, all in the second half. "Doctor" Dumervil tied the franchise mark, which was last reached by Fletcher back in 1994. Davis led all defenders with 10 tackles, as he had extra inspiration to show-up his old employers.

Kyle Orton and Knowshow Moreno have been the most talked about acquisitions on offense. While those two performed adequately, it was Correll Buckhalter and Jabar Gaffney; two rather unheralded offseason acquisitions, who provided the big blows for the offense. Gaffney made a 49 yard catch to set up Hillis' 2 yard TD jaunt, while Buckhalter had a 45 yard TD run in the fourth quarter to put the game away. Highlight moment for Buckhalter, who will most likely have his leg fall off again and go on the DL in a few weeks.

The Broncos are now 2-0 against the state of Ohio for the season. Negotiations are under way to schedule the University of Toledo and Ohio Bobcats for the next two weeks. They're shying away from scheduling the Ohio State Buckeyes, though. For one week, everything went right in Broncos Country. Brandon Marshall even seemed to mellow out.

Chop Blocks
..||.. So, this Sunday the facility let me out for good behavior and I got to watch the Broncos/Browns game at a friend's house. A friend of the friend was there, all decked out in Bronco gear and announced himself as a "Broncomaniac". Despite his fervor, I couldn't take him seriously.. it was probably the orange/blue pom-poms stuffed under his hat which gave him his "Bronco mullet". (Really, no man should be allowed to; or even consider; wearing pom-poms in public).

Then, in the second quarter he displayed the depths of his stupidity...errrrr, "mania". Kyle Orton threw an incompletion and the Broncomaniac (with the pom-poms) yelled: "Darnit! Why couldn't Lelie catch that?!"

Really... Ashley Lelie? Wow...that's not only out-of-date by a few years, but Ashley Lelie wasn't really know for catching much during his tenure here (okay, in fairness, Lelie made some great catches at Buffalo in the 2005 season).

I didn't have the heart to tell the Broncomaniac (with the pom-poms) about his error. But I certainly hope he wasn't upset when Darrius Johnson made no tackles in Sunday's game.

..||.. "TALENT ALERT". But it wasn't from the Broncos. Browns QB Brady Quinn was quoted, after the game, as saying the Denver defense has a lot of "talent".

..||.. It's been a few years now, but Browns coach Eric Mangini has gotten more notoriety and mileage out of a two-second cameo on "The Sopranos" than anyone in that show's entire history.

..||.. Regardless of next week's game, this column may be the last Bronco one I write. It's apparent over the last NINE years that the Internets are not the place for my Bronco Babblings. In my eyes, I've written only a few good columns since my comeback in 2005, but the overall response and audience has been less than I expected. People STILL only come to this site while searching for "Renee Herlocker" or "Denver Broncos Three Amigos". Both with the average total time spent READING this site at less than 4 seconds. It seems people just want mindless Bronco Dick Sucking from their Internets. My site does mad traffic with GI Joe Comics and that wacky Shogun Warriors page, but I've spent more than 300x the effort writing about the Broncos and it's netted me zilch. I'm trying a few marketing/traffic boosting tactics this week, but if I don't see a significant increase, I'll stop doing these weekly recaps.

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