A "Champ" Gone...Denver leaves Bailey in the Dust

Reports broke last night that Denver planned on releasing 12 time pro bowler Champ Bailey after 10 seasons with the Broncos. What's more surprising....Denver has no plans to rework a deal with the starting corner to keep him on their roster.

After a season low of five starts because of a recurring foot injury, Champ was determined to come back from his injury and play in his first Super Bowl appearance in Superbowl XLVIII. Bailey currently had a $1million roster bonus coming up in March, and cutting Bailey will reportedly save the Broncos $10 million in cap space.

Even after talks that Champ should retire, or that he is too old to play, Bailey has no intentions of retiring. "I'm going to still play, absolutely. I'm looking forward to it."

Several of the Champs teammates in Denver, including safety Mike Adams are actively showing their disappointment via Twitter in the Broncos decision.

Adams was joined by defensive back David Bruton

Many believe that Champs cut will help make room for Denver's Corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie who becomes a unrestricted free agent on March 11th. 

Although Denver will not pay Bailey for his 11th year, five years after his retirement the Broncos expect to induct Bailey into their Ring of Fame. 

"It's a little bittersweet," Bailey said. "I'm excited. At the same time I'm a little disappointed it has to end here. Nothing to cry about. Let's move one."

Onto the AFC Championship

The Denver Broncos played their "first round" of the playoffs against the San Diego Chargers on Sunday afternoon.

Leading into the game, bronco fans kept flashing back to exactly one year earlier when Denver lost with seconds left against the Baltimore Ravins. This time was a little different, Denver came out with a 24-17 win. The broncos went into the fourth quarter with a 17-0 lead when suddenly Denver's defense looked tired, worn out, and defeated. Denver's cornerback Chris Harris Jr went out of the game with a torn ACL, and Philip Rivers took advantage by scoring 17 points in the fourth quarter.

The Broncos offense wasn't going to let a repeat of last season happen again, and scored a final 7 points to send them to the title game for the first time in eight seasons. They'll host the New England Patriots on Sunday 1/19 at 3pm EST. The last time the two teams faced each other the broncos managed to blow a 24 point lead and lose in overtime.

As the broncos prepare for the game on sunday, there's no doubt that it will be a showdown between two future hall of fame quarterbacks.

A Overtime Heartbreaker in Foxborough

Denver traveled to New England for a Sunday Night smack down between two future hall of fame quarterbacks, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Sunday morning news that a false fire alarm went off in the middle of the night at the Broncos team hotel. Rumors quickly spread that the Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick had sent someone to the hotel to pull the alarm. Although these speculations were anything but true, fans couldn't help but think how it would affect the teams performance.

The game started Sunday at a bone chilling 6 degrees and 30 mile per hour winds. It couldn't have gone any better for the Denver defense, forcing 3 fumbles in the first 3 possession of the game, making the score 17-0 with two minutes left in the first quarter.

Denver held Tom Brady to less then 80 yards in the entire first half, which ended with a hail mary to the end zone when Denver cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie dove for a potential interception and injured his left shoulder that resulted in leaving the game. The Broncos go into the half leading the Patriots 24-0.

After the half, it seemed like two different teams took the field. The Broncos lost three key defensive players, and Tom Brady kept attacking the weak spots, throwing for 3 touchdowns to take the lead. Manning late in the fourth quarter threw an 11 yard pass to Demaryius Thomas for Denver's first score in the second half, tying the game at 31.

Things got interesting when the Patriots won the overtime toss and chose to defer. The game remained scoreless until less then three minutes left in overtime when Patriots punter Ryan Allen kicked the ball deep into Denver territory. Nobody would've imagined that the game was about to end the way it did when Wes Welker signaled for a "no catch" and for his team to get out of the way. Since the ball was unmatchable it bounced up and hit Denver's, Tony Carter in the leg, making it a fair ball, and the Patriots recovered the ball on the Broncos 14 yard line.

The game ends with a Patriots 31 yard field goal, and giving Denver only its second loss of the season.

Is John Fox Going to be Back Before The End of the Season?

Denver's head coach John Fox was released from a North Carolina hospital only 4 days after surgery. Fox made a statement to the press saying, "My goal and dream is to be there (on the sideline) before the conclusion of the season." The average person takes 5-7 days of hospital recovery from an aortic replacement, and Fox took just 4. Fox plans to travel back to Denver as soon as he is cleared to fly. 

Fox also made several statements that this was not related to living an unhealthy lifestyle, or stress. It was simply a condition that he was born with that he never needed to be replaced until now. He also told reporters that we should focus on how fast he is recovering which is directly related to his healthy lifestyle. 

No one knows if Fox will be ready by the end of the season, but all the fans, and surely his team hopes that he will be back to lead his team to their potential Super Bowl victory since 1998. 

John Fox makes an Emergency Trip to the Hospital

Denver's head coach John Fox was rushed to a local hospital in North Carolina during the teams bye week, after suffering harsh chest pains during a morning golf match. After several media speculations of a heart attack, it was determined that Fox needed to undergo immediate heart surgery to replace his aortic valve. Later that day the Broncos announced that the defensive coach Jack Del Rio would be assigned the interim head coach during Fox's absence.

Fox is scheduled to go into surgery on Monday, November 4th. We all wish John Fox the best of luck and a fast recovery!

Denver Records its First Loss...Against the Colts...

Denver traveled to Indianapolis for the Sunday Night game on October 20. The game was the most buzzed about game of the week because it was Peyton Manning's first homecoming after being let go from the Colts in 2012. Earlier in the week the Colt's owner, Jim Irsay made comments to the USA Today stating that he had, "no regrets" releasing Manning because he only lead the team to 1 Superbowl victory.

His comment lead to a media circus causing the game against Indy to be the biggest of the season so far. Bronco's fans went in with no doubt their undefeated season would continue when Peyton Manning completing a first drive touchdown, but that quickly dwindled when Colts quarterback Andrew Luck came out to prove a point with 121 rushing yards and 213 passing yards to defeat the Bronco's 39-33.

The Bronco's looked off their game all night, and nearly shooting themselves in the foot with 12 penalties for 103 yards, 3 turnovers, and completing only 5-16 first downs. The Bronco's tried to come back with 2 back to back touchdowns late in the fourth quarter, but couldn't catch their groove when they fumbled at the 10 yard line, and Manning throwing an interception with 2 minutes left in the fourth.

We all hope the Bronco's can recoup from the loss and come back strong next week against the Redskins in Washington.

Bronco's make it interesting against the Cowboys!

On Sunday, October 6th, Denver traveled to Dallas to take on the Cowboys for a game many thought would be a blowout. Everyone knows that the Bronco's are undefeated, and I don't think there was a sportscaster out there that favored Dallas over Denver. 

When kickoff began Dallas came out with a lead of 7-0 with 8:06 remaining in the first. Tony Romo completed a 2 yard pass for the touchdown. Now, there was no need to panic yet, but then they scored another touchdown with a 4 yard run, making it 14-0 in the first quarter alone.

Denver's defense had been explosive for the first 4 games of the season, and we started to wonder if it had just been a fluke. 

Fans started to breathe a sigh of relief when Julius Thomas caught a 4 yard pass from Peyton Manning to make it 14-7. 

It didn't stop there, the Cowboys went on to score 34 more points with Tony Romo throwing 506 yards and completing 25 of 36 passes. The game continued to be back and forth until the last seconds in fourth quarter. The Cowboys took the lead with with 7:19 left in the fourth when Tony Romo threw one of this infamous interceptions, that lead the Bronco's to tie the game 48-48 with 2:38 left in the game.

The game ended with :02 left on the clock after the Bronco's kicker Matt Prater completed a 28 yard field goal, taking a 51-48 victory, and remain undefeated on the season.

The Broncos face the 0-5 Jacksonville Jaguars at home this Sunday, October 18th. Not only do the fans want a 16-0 season, but Denver is nothing short of impressive.