Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos / Photo: Newscom

Because of the loss, Brandon’s happiness was held to a minimum after the game:

“I believe it was one of those games where, whenever you accomplish something like that, it definitely feels good. But we have goals, and our only goal is to win games. I’d definitely trade in a couple of those catches for a win.”

This is not really new territory for Brandon. Last season he had 18 catches in a September 14 game against the San Diego Chargers. But today’s effort was all for naught because the Broncos, as a team, accomplished nothing—other than to prove they can stay on the same field with the unbeaten Colts. But at the end of the day, that doesn’t really matter, either—if Denver can’t beat the best in the AFC.

Source: NFL.com

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Brandon Marshall Sets NFL Single Game Mark

GREEN BAY PACKERS at DETROIT LIONS (FOX, 12:30 PM ET): These two NFC North rivals will meet on Thanksgiving for the 19th time. The Lions, who will host their 70th Thanksgiving Day Classic, have an 11-6-1 record on the holiday against the Packers. Green Bay is coming off a 30-24 win over San Francisco, led by QB Aaron Rodgers’ 344 yards passing and two touchdowns. The Lions pulled off a stunning comeback victory over Cleveland as QB Matthew Stafford passed for 422 yards – the most ever by a rookie – and five touchdowns – tied for the most in NFL history by a rookie (Ray Buivid, 1937, Chicago Bears).

OAKLAND RAIDERS at DALLAS COWBOYS (CBS, 4:15 PM ET): The Cowboys will host their first Thanksgiving Day game at Cowboys Stadium when the team welcomes the Oakland Raiders to town. Dallas, who defeated Washington last week, has a 26-14-1 record on the holiday and QB Tony Romo has a perfect 3-0 mark on Thanksgiving. The Raiders will make their sixth appearance on the holiday and first since 1970 when the team played at Detroit. Last week, Oakland scored 10 points in the final 33 seconds to defeat Cincinnati, only the second time in club history the Raiders have scored two times in the final minute of the fourth quarter for a comeback win (November 17, 1968 vs. NY Jets, the “Heidi Game”).

NEW YORK GIANTS at DENVER BRONCOS (NFLN, 8:20 PM ET): Denver will host a Thanksgiving game for the first time since 1963 when the Broncos face the Giants in a primetime battle of two 6-4 clubs. New York will make its first appearance on the holiday since 1992 and 15th overall dating back to the Giants’ 17-0 win over the Brooklyn Lions in 1926. New York is coming off a 34-31 overtime win over Atlanta, highlighted by QB Eli Manning’s career-high 384 passing yards. The Broncos, who will play their 11th Thanksgiving Day game, will look to rebound from a 32-3 loss to San Diego.

Source: NFL Media

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Thanksgiving Day NFL Games

Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos / Image: Zuma Press

Instead, the Broncos have managed a 4-0 record out of the gate and are fresh off an impressive 17-10 win over the Dallas Cowboys. Quarterback Kyle Orton (who came over from Chicago in the Cutler trade, of course) has been a perfect game manager, throwing five touchdowns to no interceptions with an impressive 97.7 QB rating. Brandon Marshall has 16 receptions and two TDs—including the game winning 51-yard catch and run yesterday. And the Broncos defense is returning to their “Orange Crush” glory years, having only allowed 240 total yards per game, second only to the N.Y. Giants. I don’t think anyone can really question whether the Broncos are “for real” or not. Believe it. They are.

Source: NFL.com

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Denver Broncos Off to Surprising 4-0 Start

Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos / AP Photo

For the time being, however, immensely talented but extremely immature Brandon is suspended until September 5 for what head coach Josh McDaniels called conduct “detrimental” to the team. But it’s merely a slap on the wrist. Coach McDaniels is almost doing the guy a favor by giving him the rest of the preseason off. And Brandon won’t file a grievance. Why would he argue with a paid vacation?

Source: NFL.com

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Brandon Marshall is a Punk

Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos / Image: Zuma Press

The Broncos would probably want a first and third round pick and Brandon would command somewhere in the neighborhood of $9 million (or more). Considering his checkered past, it’s a pretty high risk. Then again, considering his immense talent, it could be a pretty high reward as well. Stay tuned.

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

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Brandon Marshall Wants to be Traded

This deal was surprising in that all signs were pointing toward a trade to the Washington Redskins until the Bears stepped in and made the deal worth Denver’s while. Chicago GM Jerry Angelo was understandably excited and pleased about the acquisition. And he could’ve cared less about Jay’s recent reputation for being “difficult” to deal with:

“We felt that he’s a very good person, a good leader. He had some things that happened in Denver. We recognize those, but we treated them as just speed-bumps, part of the growing process. He’s highly competitive, he’s highly emotional. That just comes with the territory.”

Even though they gave up a lot to get Jay, the Bears now have their first “franchise quarterback” since Sid Luckman. OK, I’m kidding. But you can go back as far as the Jim McMahon era to find one and that was over 20 years ago. That’s right, it’s been a running joke around the NFL (and especially in the NFC North) about the number of quarterbacks who have started for the Chicago Bears since 1986. I mean, they had four different starting quarterbacks in 2004 alone. Even when the Bears went to Super Bowl XLI just three seasons ago, it was almost in spite of their starting QB Rex Grossman. Put Jay Cutler on that particular team and I think they beat the Indianapolis Colts.

It was a happy day at Halas Hall. And one Bears fans might remember forever.

Source: ChicagoBears.com, Photo: Newscom

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Broncos Trade Jay Cutler to Bears

Broncos owner Pat Bowlen released a statement today explaining the team’s plans to deal Jay to another team:

“Numerous attempts to contact Jay Cutler in the last 10 days, both by head coach Josh McDaniels and myself, have been unsuccessful. A conversation with his agent earlier today clearly communicated and confirmed to us that Jay no longer has any desire to play for the Denver Broncos. We will begin discussions with other teams in an effort to accommodate his request to be traded.”

Compared to what Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson went through with the Bengals last offseason, this really didn’t seem all that hard. Jay put in a mere 30 days or so of whining and/or the silent treatment. Chad ran at the mouth for six months (maybe more?) and was told, in no uncertain terms, to report for work.

As much as everyone is making a big deal out of new head coach Josh McDaniels’ efforts to trade Jay about a month ago, I think things were headed in the wrong direction as soon as former head coach Mike Shanahan was fired. It certainly didn’t help when coach McDaniels had discussed a deal that would have brought Matt Cassel to Denver (Matt ended up in Kansas City, of course). But I think coach Shanahan’s departure — and Jay’s lack of knowledge about that departure — was what got the ball rolling, so to speak.

Now, the speculation begins as to where Jay will end up. Rumors have been circulating about a quarterback swap with Cleveland (for Brady Quinn) or an arrangement with the N.Y. Jets or Detroit Lions. But it’s all just hearsay until something concrete develops. Now that the Broncos are officially fielding calls about a trade, things should begin to heat up pretty quickly.

Source: DenverBroncos.com, Photo: Newscom

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Broncos Agree to Trade Jay Cutler

Is anyone else tired of hearing about the ongoing soap opera between Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels and quarterback Jay Cutler? At the NFL Annual Meeting today, coach McDaniels said Jay is still the team’s quarterback and he’ll do what he can to improve their strained relationship:

“I’ve always been optimistic. He’s on our team, he’s under contract, and I understand there’s things we have to work toward in our relationship. I’ve heard (Jay’s trade request) but have not heard it from him personally. No one has contacted me, called me, text-messaged or e-mailed me. You take into consideration what anybody is trying to offer up. If the quality of the trade you feel, in the long run, improves your team, you analyze it. It’s been made very clear to me it’s my job to listen to a number of scenarios that would improve the team.”

My guess is Jay’s as good as gone, but I wish both sides would just speed the process along so we don’t need to hear about it anymore. Everyday it’s a new he said/he said and it’s getting absolutely pathetic. The Detroit Lions are interested. Lions general manager Martin Mahew said the team was “open to all options” with the first pick in next month’s NFL Draft. That answer was in response, specifically, to Jay’s availability. Make it happen, already.

Source: NFL.com

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McDaniels-Cutler Saga Becoming Tiresome

The NFL announced its 2009 Kickoff Weekend primetime television schedule today — including a Monday night “AFL 50th” doubleheader — and the Thanksgiving Day national TV tripleheader.

In a tradition that began in 2004, the Super Bowl champion annually hosts the NFL Thursday night season kickoff the following year. This September 10 at 8:30 PM ET on NBC, the Super Bowl XLIII champion Pittsburgh Steelers will host the AFC South champion Tennessee Titans, who had an NFL-best 13-3 record last season. The Sunday night primetime game (8:30 PM ET) on NBC will feature a division matchup as the Green Bay Packers host the Chicago Bears. Green Bay and Chicago have won seven of the past eight NFC North titles. On Monday night, September 14, ESPN will host a Monday Night Football doubleheader that will be part of the NFL’s celebration of the 50th anniversary season of the American Football League. The four clubs competing that night began playing in the inaugural 1960 AFL season. The first game (7:00 PM ET) will send the Buffalo Bills to Foxboro to visit the New England Patriots, the decade’s winningest team (102-42 since 2000). The MNF nightcap (10:15 PM ET) will be an AFC West battle as the Oakland Raiders host the three-time defending AFC West champion San Diego Chargers.

Continuing an innovation introduced in 2006, the NFL will serve up three nationally-televised games on Thanksgiving Day. The early game (FOX, 12:30 PM ET) will be an NFC North meeting of the Green Bay Packers at the Detroit Lions. The second game (CBS, 4:15 PM ET) features the Oakland Raiders visiting the Dallas Cowboys in the Raiders’ first Thanksgiving game since 1970. The Thanksgiving primetime game will be at 8:20 PM ET on NFL Network with the defending NFC East champion New York Giants visiting the Denver Broncos, marking the first Thanksgiving contest in Denver since 1963.

The announcement of the Kickoff Weekend and Thanksgiving Day games was made today by National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell at the NFL Annual Meeting in Dana Point, California. The rest of the 2009 regular-season schedule will be completed and announced in April.

Source: NFL Media

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NFL Announces 2009 Primetime Kickoff Weekend and Thanksgiving Day Games

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

Denver Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels has a real mess on his hands. By trying to get quarterback Matt Cassel to join him on his trip from New England, he alienated Broncos QB Jay Cutler with trade discussions that told Jay he wasn’t good enough to fit into coach McDaniels’ new system in Denver. And from the events that have happened since (a conference call and face-to-face), it doesn’t appear he’s done a whole lot to remedy the situation because Jay’s more miffed than ever. In fact, he now wants to be traded.

At the Broncos first offseason OTA yesterday, coach McDaniels told his players he would “take care” of the situation with Jay. But it appears there is really only one way he can truly take care of it — by giving Jay his wish and trading him. I don’t see these two peacefully coexisting.

So, what we’re dealing with now are two stubborn people who won’t budge and it appears the only satisfactory solution will be to ship Jay to another team. I think Jay is standing his ground not because he’s a big baby but because he feels he has completely lost (or never had) the trust of his head coach. And that’s very important. Jay is still under contract with Denver so the Broncos can essentially force him to play for them, but do they really want to? Do they want a completely disgruntled and furious quarterback who can’t get along with his head coach leading their team? It’s obvious coach McDaniels thinks he can do better (although I’d have to argue that one), so he should have at it. After all, the Broncos could get some pretty impressive returns for one of the NFL’s best young quarterbacks. So, it will be interesting to see if and when Denver opens to door for this trade to happen. And what teams will show an interest — and put up the proper compensation — for such a deal to happen. Either way, I think it’s a no-win situation for the Broncos.

Source: NFL.com, Photo: Newscom

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Jay Cutler Wants to be Traded