Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler will be named AFC Offensive Player of the Month for September, the National Football League informed the Broncos on Wednesday.

Cutler's selection as AFC Offensive Player of the Month is the first such award of his three-year career. It marks the first time in seven seasons that a Bronco has received AFC Offensive Player of the Month with quarterback Brian Griese earning that honor for his performance in September of 2001.

Cutler helped the Broncos to a 3-1 record and a first-place standing in the AFC West in September, completing 102-of-157 (65.0%) passes for 1,275 yards with nine touchdowns and four interceptions for a 98.6 passer rating. He led the AFC and ranked second in the NFL in both passing yards (1,275) and completions (102) while placing third in the league in touchdown passes (9).

Selected by Denver in the first round (11th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft from Vanderbilt University, Cutler registered an AFC-best three 300-yard passing games in September that tied for the most in the NFL. He finished the month with two of the top three single-game yardage totals by an AFC passer.

In addition, his four touchdown passes in a win against San Diego (9/14) marked the second-highest single-game total in the NFL for September. His 36 completions against the Chargers tied a Broncos single-game franchise record and were an AFC high for the month.

Cutler's selection as AFC Offensive Player of the Month marks the 10th time a Bronco has earned that award since it was initiated by the NFL in 1986. He is the third Denver quarterback to receive the award, joining Griese (September 2001) and John Elway (November 1997 and October 1996)

It seems like every week the same people say the same thing about the Broncos defense.  We hear how horrible they are, how they can't stop the run, how they can't defend the pass, how they can't put pressure on the quarterback.  Some of that is true, we all know that, but something has become a disturbing trend, something that continues to be overlooked.  Much of the problems with the defense start with the offense and special teams.  No, really, it does. 

Specifically against Kansas City, I'd go so far as to say the defense, for over 3 quarters, played as well as it did against the Raiders Week 1.  Unfortunately, the offense didn't give them much of a chance. What is certain is the Broncos defense is by no means a dominant defense in any facet, run defense, pass defense, pressuring the quarterback, none of it.  The defense as a group is average at best, but with the offense the Broncos put on the field this team should be able to win, unless the offense, the strength of the team, let's it down.  On Sunday, that is exactly what happened.

Take a look at the drive chart for the Chiefs on Sunday --

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The Broncos fell flat, there is no other way to describe it.  Before closing the book on Week 4 and looking forward, with nervous anticipation, to a visit by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, let's take one last look at the (lack of)performance by the Broncos in yesterday's loss to the Chiefs, in something I like to call, "Making The Grade"  As always, the most important "grade" is the one on the scoreboard, and for that, the Broncos earned a big, fat F.  What about the players performance?  Let's take a look....

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Denver Broncos wide receiver Clifford Russell, who suffered a sprained neck during Sunday's game at Kansas City, was released from the hospital following examination and accompanied the team on its charter flight back to Denver.

HEAD COACH MIKE SHANAHAN

On today’s game: “We talked about the keys to the game. Obviously the first one is you can’t turn the football over. Kansas City has an unbelievable home record when they win the turnover battle, and they won it by three today. Credit that to them. They ran the football exceptionally well. You’ve got to be able to stop the run and you’ve got to be able to run the football. Kansas City made a couple plays on special teams right there in the clutch; a big kickoff return to give them field position. Now we go back, obviously a tough loss. We had our opportunities during the game, credit to Kansas City for fighting like they did and finding a way to win. We’re obviously disappointed, but now we go back and get ready for the next game.”

On the status of WR Clifford Russell: “I really don’t know. I don’t know how he is. I know he was numb on his right side. Had feeling in his toes, and that was it. We’re keeping our fingers crossed.”

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FINAL

REMEMBER -- MHR Radio coming up at 8:00 PM est / 6:00 PM mst

Hard to decide on a place to start, so I'll go the classy route.  A big tip of the MHR cap to the Chiefs, who campe out and played 4 quarters of inspired football.  Congratulations to their fans over at Arrowhead Pride who joined us for a great week of cross-blogging.

Now, for the game.  First, I picked the Broncos to win, and picked them to win big, but I can't honestly say I am "surprised" by the outcome.  The Broncos have had one of the winningest frnchises in football the past 40 years, and still we are only 13-35 all time in K.C.  Mike Shanahan has won alot more football games than he has lost as a Head Coach, but overall he is only 3-11 in K.C.  It just hasn't been a good place for the Broncos to play.  Worse, they rarely play well in Kansas City, whihc is why today's performance was so disappointing, if not surprising.

I have called 2008 "Year 3 of a 5 year rebuild".  There are several reasons for that, most notably the holes that exist in 2 of the 3 phases on the team - defense and special teams.  When there are holes on 2/3 of the team, the other 1/3, in this case the offense, better play lights out when the other two struggle.  That didn't happen today, with the offense turning the ball over 4 times.  This defense cannot make up for that.  For three quarters, the defense kept the team in the game(16-13 Chiefs), despite being on the field 8 minutes longer than the Chiefs defense(26:15 - 18:35).  I'll take that, but we can't expect the defense to hold out forever.

When the offense wasn't putting the defense in tough spots, it was the coverage teams, who seemed to allow big returns every time the Broncos scored in the 2nd half.  The Chiefs offense has trouble moving the ball, but when you give them a short field, when only a couple first downs are needed to get into FG range, that puts the defense in a tough situation.

Lastly, I won't mention any names, but I was bashed for saying the Chiefs had the advantage at Running Back in my "EDGE" post, and for saying the Broncos running game hadn't been as dominant as they needed to be as we moved through the season.  Well, today, you saw exactly what I was talking about.  This was a game where Jay Cutler was struggling and the Chiefs pass defense, ranked 4th in the League coming in, was doing a great job forcing the Broncos to make alot of plays to move down field.  The Broncos needed to be able to run the ball, first to give the defense a rest, second to control tempo and set up the passing game.  They couldn't do it.

The play calling left something to be desired as well.  I know Brandon Marshall can't fumble the ball in that situation, but we should expect a wide receiver to run like a running back.  Marshall is used to being tackled by DB's, not linebackers or defensive linemen.  He's used to being the strongest guy in any confrontation on the field, against linebackers and defensive lineman, he isn't.  Should Marshall have held on to the ball, yes.  Should the play ever been called in the first place?  Absolutely Not!!

There are many reasons the Broncos lost, and blame can go alot of different directions.  Keep this in mind, however, Broncos fans - the Broncos are 3-1 and no matter what happens the rest of the day the Broncos will be alone in 1st place.  If I had said before the season that the Broncos would be 3-1, in first place, after the first 4 weeks you would have been ecstatic.  Well, that is exactly where we find ourselves.  As bad as the Broncos played, this is only 1 loss.  We need to focus on what's next, including two home games.  Everyone must take a look in the mirror, players and fans alike, and evaluate who and what the Broncos are, but in the end, the Broncos are 3-1, in 1st place in the AFC West.  Not a bad place to be at all.

For all your Kansas City Chiefs News, check out Arrowhead Pride

Start of 3rd Quarter

Continue the discussion of today's game right here!

  For all your Kansas City Chiefs News, check out Arrowhead Pride

Start of 2nd Quarter

Continue the discussion of today's game right here!

 
  For all your Kansas City Chiefs News, check out Arrowhead Pride

2008 OFFENSE

2008 DEFENSE

The Broncos look to go 4-0. The Chiefs are trying to avoid going 0-4, not to mention losing their 13th straight game overall. Talk about the game here. As always, there will be a thread for every quarter.  The Inactives are listed below --

DENVER --

CB Vernon Fox
RB Ryan Torain
LB Louis Green
DT Dewayne Robertson
OT Erik Pears
OT Dylan Gandy
WR Darrell Jackson
DT Josh Shaw.

KANSAS CITY --

Ingle Martin
Brodie Croyle
Patrick Surtain
B.J. Sams
Napoleon Harris
Donnie Edwards
Brian De La Puente
Barry Richardson

 
  For all your Kansas City Chiefs News, check out Arrowhead Pride

2008 OFFENSE

2008 DEFENSE

The numbers seem to indicate the Broncos have the advantage when they travel to Arrowhead to face the Chiefs. Broncos fans know better, however, since we have seen many strange things over time in our travels to the Show Me state.  The Broncos are looking to 4-0 and win consecutive regular season games in Kansas City for the first time in nearly 30 years.  Can they get it done?  Let's find out.

It's Broncos/Chiefs. Who has "The Edge"?

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YOUR SOURCE FOR THE VERY BEST

IN DENVER BRONCO PRE-GAME ANALYSIS

MILEHIGHREPORT.COM

  For all your Kansas City Chiefs News, check out Arrowhead Pride

Denver comes into this feeling like they are on top of the world.  They are already 3-0, and now face a division opponent that is 0-3.  With a win, Denver will have scored at least one win against each AFC West rival.  For the playoff race, this means that Denver can do no worse than tie if a tiebreaker comes down to intra-division records.

Denver may also be licking their lips in anticipation for the game.  While KC is a difficult venue for the Broncos to play in, injuries and uncertainty plauge the Chiefs.  Huard is taking the helm at QB from Thigpen, and LB Edwards is out with an injury.  Surtain (CB) is questionable.  A 4-0 start would be great for the Broncos, but it would be foolish to assume that the game is already over.

Read on...

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