Larry Brown Sports

During his time with the New England Patriots, Wes Welker was arguably the most reliable receiver in the league. The 112 passes he caught per year proved he was Tom Brady’s favorite target, but that does not mean he will serve the same role for Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos.

Welker played alongside Randy Moss for three seasons, but he has never played with as talented a receiving corps as the one the Broncos will have in 2013. Eric Decker caught 85 passes for 1,064 yards and 13 touchdowns last season. Demaryius Thomas hauled in 94 passes for 1,434 yards and 10 touchdowns. To think that Welker will come in and match the production he had in New England would be unrealistic, and Welker is hoping that won’t be the case.

“If I have to catch 112 balls, that probably means we’re in trouble,” Welker said Monday after his first official practice with the Broncos, via the Denver Post. “(The catches) are not the goal. The goal is to go out there and help your team win games. However many catches that is, however many blocks that takes, however many routes I’ve got to run, whatever. I think we all feel the same way about that.”

Welker may not even catch 90 balls this season. Given the type of player he is, that just goes to show you how loaded Denver should be. Manning will have more weapons than any quarterback in the league. Barring any significant injuries, the Broncos may not have a receiver with over 85 catches next season. However, having three with 80 receptions is not out of the question.

Helmet smack to Around the League

Wes Welker signed with the Denver Broncos on Wednesday, and there has been a ton of speculation about whether it was more his decision to leave or the decision of the New England Patriots to push him away. If Welker did indeed return to the Patriots after he was offered a two-year, $12 million contract from the Broncos to give New England a chance to match, why didn’t they want him at such a reasonable price?

Perhaps the reason is that the Patriots had already signed Danny Amendola. According to CSNNE.com’s Tom E. Curran, New England actually inked a deal with the former St. Louis Rams wideout on Tuesday. Apparently the Patriots had already made up their minds when Welker’s camp informed them that the 32-year-old would be testing the free agent market and seeking an annual salary of somewhere in the $8 million to $9 million-per-season range.

Curran said that the Patriots’ line of thinking was that they could not afford to miss out on both Welker and Amnendola. Since their offer to Wes was reportedly two years, $10 million, they clearly realized they were nowhere near the $8 million his agents said he would seek on the open market. In other words, New England did not react to the Broncos signing Welker by quickly locking down Amendola — he was already a Patriot.

It’s obvious that the Patriots did not value Welker all that highly. However, you have to wonder if they would have matched the two-year, $12 million offer had they not already gone ahead and signed Amendola. Perhaps they thought there were teams out there who would have offered significantly more than that, thus causing them to shift their focus when they realized there would be no hometown discount offered. The dynamics of the NFL are even more crazy and unpredictable than we thought.

Anquan Boldin had an outstanding game in the NFL playoffs on Sunday to help the Ravens beat the Colts 24-9. Baltimore advances in the playoffs and will travel to Denver to face the Broncos next Saturday.

Boldin said after the game that he wanted to face Denver to get revenge.

“I wanted Denver,” Boldin said, “because they beat us.

“We’ll make it different.”

Boldin was referring to the Broncos’ 34-17 Week 15 win over the Ravens in Baltimore. Denver led 17-0 at halftime and was up by as much as 28 points in the game. They dominated time of possession 38:34 to 21:24, forced two turnovers including a pick six, and out-gained the Ravens 350-278.

The Ravens have momentum entering Saturday’s playoff game at Denver, but so do the Broncos. Denver finished the regular season on an 11-game winning streak to earn a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Baltimore lost four of its last five games in the regular season but came through on Sunday.

Boldin was truly spectacular in the game. He had five catches for 145 yards and a touchdown (pictured above), and he consistently made difficult catches. But Baltimore had a tough time with Indianapolis overall. I’m not alone in thinking it will be a big challenge for them to beat the Broncos on the road, regardless of how badly Boldin wanted to face them.

When the Denver Broncos chose to go with Peyton Manning as their quarterback of the near future over Tim Tebow, very few questioned their decision. While Tebow had just led Denver on an improbable run to the divisional round of the playoffs, Manning is a future Hall of Famer who has already won a Super Bowl. Opportunities like that don’t come around all that often for a franchise, so the Broncos had to strike.

But would they have stuck with Tebow even if they missed out on Manning? According to Jeff Legwold of the Denver Post, the Broncos were prepared to draft Brandon Weeden if Manning chose not to sign with Denver. From the Post:

The Broncos liked Weeden’s NFL-ready game. They like his maturity; he was, after a stint in minor league baseball before he arrived at Oklahoma State, 28 years old before the draft. And they liked his ability to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage.

Elway particularly liked the fact Weeden already understood what it took to be a professional athlete and thought that would serve Weeden well in the inevitable struggles that come on the job.

The Broncos traded Tebow two days after signing Manning, so many will argue that Tebow was simply a victim of circumstance. However, you don’t draft a 28-year-old rookie with the intention of letting him hold a clipboard for a few years and develop into an NFL starter. Like the Cleveland Browns, it’s safe to say Denver intended to use Weeden right away if they drafted him. In hindsight, it sounds as though John Elway and the Broncos may have felt the same way about Tebow as the Jets do now.

Apparently this is what Tim Tebow gets for minding his own business. The New York Jets backup quarterback has done and said all the right things this season, but that hasn’t shielded him from heavy criticism. Several anonymous Jets players ripped Tebow a few weeks ago and it turned into the biggest media circus of the 2012 season. Now, it would appear that the Denver Broncos want in on the act.

According to Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com, a few anonymous Broncos players felt the need to do the exact same thing the cowardly Jets did by bashing their former teammate.

“When Tim was here we saw the issues up close,” an unidentified Denver player reportedly said. “The Jets didn’t, and now they are seeing the problems, too. I feel really, really bad for Tim. He’s a good person, just not an NFL quarterback.”

Defenders of Tebow point to the fact that he led the Broncos on an improbable playoff run last season and a dramatic postseason win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Did Tebow make that improbable run possible, or was it improbable because Tebow was the quarterback?

“Of course we’re comparing this year to last year,” another anonymous player said. “This year we won the division with four games left. That’s all Peyton Manning. If Tebow was here, we’d still be squeaking out wins, or losing games we shouldn’t be losing. The division would be coming down to the last game.

“I’ve been following Tim in New York and I feel horrible for him. Everyone here, I think, wants the best for him. He’s a good guy. But you can’t turn Tim into something he’s not, and he’s not really an NFL quarterback. He’s more of a gimmick player.”

There’s a lot of truth in what player A and player B said, but again the issue I have with it is the anonymity. Manning is proving that the Broncos are an elite team with consistent quarterback play, but Rex Ryan was right about anonymously bashing a current or former teammate. If you don’t feel comfortable attaching your name to it, you probably shouldn’t be saying it.

H/T Around the League
Photo credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

The Broncos have not been very good defensively to start out the season. They haven’t really played well in general, but their offense has scored over 25 points per game through the first three weeks. However, their defense has allowed more than three touchdowns per game, which has resulted in a 1-2 record.

Appliance Factory Outlet in Denver has decided to roll the dice on the Broncos’ shaky start, as the store recently announced it will be giving away free appliances worth up to $3,000 per person if Denver shuts out the Raiders this weekend. Fans can purchase appliances from now until Saturday, Sept. 29 and bring in their receipt for a full reimbursement if the Broncos hold Oakland to a goose egg.

While the Broncos will have the luxury of playing at home in front of their electrifying crowd (all pigeon poop aside), shutting out the Raiders will be no easy task. The Raiders are also off to a 1-2 start, but they rank 7th in the NFL in passing and Darren McFadden may have had his coming out party against the Steelers with 113 yards rushing and a score. If I had to guess, I’d say Appliance Factory Outlet won’t be giving away any free stuff. But if you’re in the market for a new washing machine, what do you have to lose?

Thanks to Peter Burns for the tip

After the Broncos lost to the Falcons on Monday Night, backup quarterback Brock Osweiler said he was prepared to go in for the Hail Mary in place of Peyton Manning if the team needed him to. Naturally, a number of people have viewed this as an indication that Manning is struggling with his arm strength, but in reality the former Arizona State quarterback has a cannon for an arm. Even in his prime, Manning’s arm probably wasn’t as strong as Osweiler’s.

If Denver needs a 70-yard prayer at the end of a game, it makes sense to bring in the guy who can throw it further. However, the comment raised questions because it came after an uninspiring three-interception performance from Manning. Now, many are wondering if Peyton is healthy.

Healthy? Seems like it. Back to full strength? I don’t think so. Manning is 36 years old and missed an entire season last year. His skills would likely be declining at this stage in his career regardless, so having missed a year with a serious injury certainly didn’t help. The alarming thing for Broncos fans on Monday was that Manning’s interceptions weren’t necessarily the result of poor decision-making. On at least two of the picks and possibly all three, it simply looked like Manning couldn’t make the throw.

A tremendous stat line for Peyton in Denver’s opener was encouraging, but let’s not forget Demaryius Thomas took a simple wide receiver screen 71 yards for a score. On Monday night in Atlanta, Manning made some wobbly throws that almost appeared like they were tipped at the line of scrimmage — but they weren’t.

The point is the Broncos’ dramatic victory over Pittsburgh may have temporarily masked the fact that Manning is going to be a work in progress. Anyone who watched their loss to the Falcons can tell you that. Considering he’s working with a new offense and a surgically-repaired neck, it would be unreasonable to expect to see Peyton Manning, NFL MVP right out of the gate.

Helmet knock to Around the League
Photo credit: Ron Chenoy-US PRESSWIRE