"We all convinced ourselves Manning is the man for the job. But has he regretted his decision to come to Denver as the window on his career rapidly starts to shut? Let’s take a look."

"Super Bowl caliber teams are strong in all three phases of the game, the Broncos are not that." Rich Kurtzman

Denver Post sports columnist, Adrian Dater confused his readers mid-day with his Thursday column for the papers web site.

Dater, who's known more for his scorn that for his sweetness, expressed a little much-deserved gratitude to such Denver Sports luminaries as Jim Tracy, Peyton Manning and Stan Kroenke in the refreshingly un-snark-like piece.

He says "thank you" for some of the positive contributions these men - and others - make to our community. This column is a must-read. CLICK HERE.

It’s a Bronco hangover show but we fire it up eventually as we welcome in the Orange Page’s Ian Henson (@theorangepage and @ianhenson) for a chat about out of state Bronco fans, Monday night’s game and just what exactly is a pencil skirt. Ian talks about which NFL fans are most obnoxious in NYC and Colin reads a little Juggalo poetry. A visit from Captain Fantasy, a Tweep of the Week and John explains exactly why Von Miller’s sack dance was a ridiculous travesty that should never be acceptable to fans of anything good and decent. 

John Hamm’s cock, Broncos and we get raw and emotional about the Brandon Spano situation right off the bat on tonight’s pod.

We salute Javale McGhee and we discuss picking NFL games and how it works (or doesn’t work) in Vegas. Colin goes on an existential journey regarding Raider and Juggalo fans and we’re not sure what is said. Our web master @MattMegaC is outed as a train hopper. We finally get into the Bronco game and what it’s like to watch a true master at work. Peyton Manning that is, not Colin going on and on about Juggalos.

Captain Fantasy lays out some tasty nuggets of fantasy knowledge for you. It doesn’t take as long as Colin did talking about Juggalos. A Tweep of the Week and our preview of next Monday’s clash between your Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons. Welcome back to football Bronco fans. 

Great news, Broncos Country!

The Steelers' dirty, cheating, cheap-shot artist, linebacker James Harrison, is hurt and he can't play on Sunday.

Peyton Manning is certainly breathing a sigh of relief. Harrison is capable of destroying things like surgically-repaired necks with his unethical plays. 

Harrison had $120,000 in fines in 2010 alone! That he's sitting out Manning's debut is a blessing.

The Steelers' defense is old and withering. It can hardly afford to lose Harrison. Safety Ryan Clark is already out of the mix because he can't handle the flight into Denver. Last time he was here, the altitude (along with his sickle-cell condition) robbed him of his spleen and gallbladder.

An already frail and pathetic Steelers' defense (the aged-ness of we delved into earlier this week) will be huffing and puffing in the thin Rocky Mountain air, whiffing on tackles and getting dusted by Denver's skilled speed guys. Silly to even play this game.

Denver 34. Pittsburgh 23

Benjamin Hochman is a Nuggets beat writer for the Denver Post. A darn good one. Unfortunately, there's not always tons of basketball stuff going on for Hochman to write about. He's a born scribe, though. So, during the lull between seasons, he finds other things to occupy his keyboard with - like burger joints and, just in time for the NFL's big kickoff weekend ... BRAIN INJURIES.

Guh.

Talk about a party pooper. The last thing football fans want to think about today is grey matter. But, Hochman's column for the Denver Post titled "NFL on collision course to tragedy" promts readers to consider the long-term impact brain injuries will have on the overall health of the NFL and its players.

After assuring us: "Look, I'm not trying to sour the season that has just begun", he proceeds to totally sour the season that has just begun by pointing out that:

"On the same day the season opened with the Cowboys defeating the Super Bowl champion Giants, a new study suggested that pro football players are not just more likely to have neurodegenerative diseases than the regular population — they're three times as likely. Lou Gehrig's disease? The risk is four times greater for NFL players."

Great. Thanks for nothin', Downy McBummer.  Here we are all, getting ready to grill up some brats, pop open some bags of chips, crack some brewskis and set down to watch America's game all day Sunday - and Hochman reminds us that the human beings who actually perform on the field could be exposing themselves to long-term risk.  What a jerk!

Hochman goes on to speculate as to what it will take to bring the issue of brain injuries amongst active and former football players to the public arena:

"One could argue that AIDS awareness in our country didn't change until Magic Johnson put a face on it. This pains me to say, but perhaps football fans — and, more important, football decision-makers — won't truly feel the effects of their sport's violence until a Magic Johnson-type player undergoes a devastating brain injury."

Jees! Who asked this guy, anyway? Isn't there some kind of new sneaker being released that Ben Hochman could be discussing, instead? Or a taco stand or something?

(Via Fansided)

Steelers' QB "Big" Ben Rothlisberger is excited to be an expectant father.

His wife, Ashley Harlin, was willing to overlook the whole rapist thing and have Big Ben's baby. The Pittsburgh footballer is so fired up about being there to see his child born that he will skip playing the game he loves on any given Sunday if Ashley goes into labor. 

“I’m not missing the birth of my child,” Roethlisberger told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ed Bouchette. “There’s no chance. I know some fans probably don’t want to hear that, but there’s no chance.”

If that happened, the Steelers would turn to Byron Leftwich for the week.

We aren't too shure when Ashley's due. We just hope she doesn't pop on Sunday. We feel the plodding Big Ben gives the Broncos "their best chance to win" their home opener.

John finally reclaims his space pen on air tonight. It’s a triumphant victory. We welcome our old pal Snyder back into the bunker for an NFL and Broncos prediction show. Snyder (@madgamecc69) has been eerily accurate with his recent predictions and you may want to stick around to hear what he has to say about your Denver Broncos.

We talk a lil’ fantasy and John goes on a lengthy rant about the gullible Rockies fans who’ve been sucked back in. Then as we do our NFL division predictions, there is a hilarious discussion about how many wild cards there are. Then a college football argument breaks out. Snyder loses. Bronski Beat is discussed. A baffling quiz about head coaches is stumbled through and then we finally hit our Broncos predictions. We bring it home with a Juggalo or Raider fan. 

(via ProFootballTalk)

The San Francisco 49ers are tired of being asked about the time they actively courted Peyton Manning. The team claims that it "evaluated" Manning as they would any other free-agent - but most people know they're full of poop. They wanted him just like many other teams, including the Broncos, did. And who can blame them? Alex Smith blows.

Now, with the Broncos meetin the 'Niners in their third pre-season game, the media is asking all about it again. The 'Niners are sticking to the company line but Peyton isn't really playing along. He told BayAreaNewsgroup.Com: “It’s pretty well documented how all that went down in the offseason. Not really going down memory lane.”

To paraphrase: They're fibbing, but Manning doesn't really want to talk about it.