Broncos Face Jets On Road

Longtime Green Bay Packer Brett Favre arrived in New York during the off season and has led the Jets to a surprising 8-3 record.

The Denver Broncos will return to the road Sunday to face the New York Jets in the Big Apple who are coming off their fifth straight win after knocking off the undefeated Tennessee Titans. New York is led by former Green Bay Packers QB Brett Favre, who has taken the Jets to first place in the AFC East for the first time since 2001.

The Broncos will have to rebound quickly after a tough loss to their division rival Oakland at home on Sunday. The Broncos might have overlooked the 3-8 Raiders and it certainly showed with the Raiders dominating the Broncos for a 31-10 win.

Denver has played well on the road recently, coming up with two straight road wins in Cleveland and Atlanta before their loss on Sunday.

The Broncos will need all the help they can get on defense going up against the second leading scoring offense in the NFL on Sunday.

The Broncos will be happy to have their all-pro cornerback Champ Bailey back in the lineup to face Favre after Bailey missed the last four games with a torn groin.

The defense may also return linebackers Nate Webster and D.J. Williams, who have missed the last two games due to injury.

Rivalry Continues Sunday

Former Broncos kicker, Jason Elam celebrates with holder Todd Sauerbrun after his game-winning overtime field goal on Sep. 16, 2007 in Denver.

The rivalry between the Denver Broncos and Oakland Raiders has been a little one-sided during the Mike Shanahan era, going 21-6  against them during his 14 seasons with the Broncos.  However the Raiders still lead the all-time series between the teams 54-39-2.

The Broncos took on the Raiders in the first game of the season, and laid a beat down on the Raiders in Oakland 41-14.  Jay Cutler threw for 400 yards and Eddie Royal signaled his arrival on the big stage and has continued to impress.

But the two teams are heading into this weekend’s game in very different circumstances than they were in Week 1, each eager to start the new season.  The Broncos are coming off their second straight road win and  are leading the division by two games over San Diego.

The Raiders on the other hand are coming off a 17-15 loss to the Dolphins, dropping their record to 2-8 and are headed for their sixth straight losing season.

However the Broncos understand that the Raiders are very capable off pulling off the upset in Denver, looking back to last year’s game in which the Broncos nearly escaped defeat at home.

Shanahan called a timeout just  before the Raiders attempted a game-winning field goal in overtime. This voided the made field goal by Sebastian Janikowski because of the timeout called just seconds before the snap of the ball.  On his second attempt he would miss the field goal and give the ball to the Broncos who would go down and get a field goal, and escape with a 23-20 overtime victory.

The Broncos will be looking to avoid a close game with the offensively inept Raiders heading into Week 12 and extend their division lead over the San Diego Chargers who are facing the 6-4 Indianapolis Colts this weekend.

However the Broncos are notoriously known for losing to teams they should beat and playing well against some of the tougher teams in the NFL.  One of the Broncos four losses this year is to division foe, Kansas City, who are 1-9  on the season.

Spencer Larsen Makes History

Spencer Larsen(46) going after Atlanta Falcons RB Michael Turner (33) during Sunday's game.

Spencer Larsen made history on Sunday versus the Atlanta Falcons by being the first player since 2003 to start on both offense and defense in an NFL game. In addition to his duties on offense and defense, Larsen played on special teams.

Larsen is a sixth round rookie out of Arizona University and got his first start in the NFL Sunday at  both the linebacker and fullback position.

Larsen was filling in at middle linebacker for the injured Nate Webster, and had to step in at fullback for Peyton Hillis who moved to runningback this week because of injuries at the position.

Larsen finsished Sunday’s game as the third leading tackler for the Denver defense with 7 tackles.  Larsen also made his presence felt  at fullback by leading the way for Peyton Hillis.

“I think it is cool,” he said. “It’s a great experience and I credit the coaches for allowing me to do it. I think it’s just the type of coaching staff that we have. (Shanahan) is always looking out for his players and he knew that would be fun for me. It’s great for him to allow me to do that.”

Shanahan kept it a secret all week by closing practice 30 minutes early each day last week saying to reporters after the game, “I can’t trust you guys in Denver.”

Larsen became a backup fullback to Hillis after training camp, but he did play some linebacker in training camp as well.

Larsen played a key role in the Broncos 24-20 comeback win over the Falcons on Sunday and will be looking to get more action next week at home against Oakland.

Tatum Bell Back In Denver

Former Broncos running back Tatum Bell, who is back with the team after being signed on Tuesday.

The Broncos announced Tuesday the signing of former Broncos running back Tatum Bell, who was not with any NFL team, but was living and working in Denver.

Bell was a second round draft pick of the Broncos in 2004 and he rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2006 for the Broncos before being traded to the Detroit Lions with George Foster in 2007 for current starting cornerback Dre Bly.

Bell was cut by the Lions this summer and was last in the news for being accussed of stealing Rudi Johnson’s bags after Bell was cut to make room for Johnson on the Lions roster.

The Denver Broncos have suffered severely at the running back position this season with Michael Pittman, Andre Hall, Ryan Torain and Anthony Alridge all being placed on the IR, ruling them out for the season.

The Broncos were down to rookie fullback Peyton Hillis  at tailback during their Thursday night win against the Browns, after fellow rookie Ryan Torain suffered a season-ending knee injury in the first half.

The other Broncos running back, Selvin Young has been battling a groin injury and has not been 100% for over a month.

The Broncos will head to Atlanta to take on the Falcons on Sunday and Bell is expected to suit up for the team.