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Broncos report

By Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published December 18, 2007 at 12:45 a.m.

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Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall has a shot to be named as a backup for this season's Pro Bowl. Marshall is seventh in the league in receptions and receiving yards.

Photo by Marc Piscotty / The Rocky/2006

Broncos receiver Brandon Marshall has a shot to be named as a backup for this season's Pro Bowl. Marshall is seventh in the league in receptions and receiving yards.

Coach Mike Shanahan will be the first to admit he's no "Guitar Hero," as proved by his lack of prowess playing the video game.

Photo by Keyur Khamar / Bloomberg News

Coach Mike Shanahan will be the first to admit he's no "Guitar Hero," as proved by his lack of prowess playing the video game.

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Be there, aloha

With rosters for the AFC and NFC Pro Bowl teams set to be announced today, the Broncos might find their playoff miss will spill over into their representation at the NFL's annual all-star affair.

"I don't know if officially missing the playoffs figures in because the voting was done before we were eliminated, but not having a good year as a team, I think it does affect how your team does in that regard," safety John Lynch said.

Lynch, cornerback Champ Bailey and former linebacker Al Wilson were the only Broncos named to the AFC's team last season, when the Broncos finished 9-7 and failed to advance to the postseason.

It was Lynch's eighth selection to the game and Bailey's seventh.

"You know, if it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't," Bailey said. "At this point in my career, I just want to win games and go deep in the playoffs."

Receiver Brandon Marshall, who is seventh in the league with 86 in receptions and seventh with 1,136 receiving yards, has some chance to be named as a backup in the game.

Close eye

With two games to play and having officially been eliminated from the postseason mix, coach Mike Shanahan reiterated he would like to close strong and will take the final two games into account when some roster decisions are made in the offseason.

"I think you always want to end the season on a positive note," Shanahan said. "We'd like to play our best football on Monday night. Obviously, the playoffs are out of the picture, but I'd still like to do the little things the right way and work to the offseason, and, hopefully, we finish strong.

"They're pros. . . . You always figure out which guys play hard, which guys don't. But I'll be surprised if we don't have anybody that doesn't play hard."

Shanahan admitted his disappointment about missing the playoffs was tempered by the fact he didn't believe the team has played well enough to make a dent in the postseason race if it had made it in.

"You've got to play better than we've played, even if you do get in, or you're not going to do anything once you get there," Shanahan said. "You've got to be more consistent than we've been."

Numbers game

$7,500 is the fine Marshall was assessed by the NFL for throwing snow into the air to celebrate a touchdown catch against the Kansas City Chiefs on Dec. 9.

$5,000 is the fine Broncos safety Nick Ferguson was assessed for a low hit on a special-teams play in the loss to the Bears that the league termed "unnecessary roughness."

$0is the fine Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens was assessed for dumping popcorn on himself after a touchdown catch this season.

Deep thoughts

The Chargers showed Sunday they can run the ball with some effectiveness, even when they take the do-it-all LaDainian Tomlinson out of the lineup.

That's a concern because the Broncos are 29th in the league rushing yards allowed per game and let the Texans, currently ranked 22nd in rushing, finish with 158 yards and three rushing touchdowns.

At 9-5, the Chargers can't move past No. 3 in the AFC playoff seedings to get the bye, but by clinching the AFC West division title, they have clinched a home playoff game for wild-card weekend.

So it's unclear how much Chargers coach Norv Turner will use some of his front-line players beyond trying to keep their edge in the early going.

Still, in their 51-14 win against Detroit on Sunday, San Diego had two running backs gain at least 100 yards in the same game for the first time in franchise history, and the Chargers' 274 rushing yards was the second-highest single-game total in franchise history.

Darren Sproles, filling in for the injured Michael Turner as Tomlinson's backup, finished with 122 yards on 25 carries, while Tomlinson had 116 yards on 15 carries before leaving a game that was out of hand late in the second quarter.

Etc.

* The Broncos have filed their two-year contract extension with linebacker Jamie Winborn with the league. Winborn is scheduled to earn base salaries of $800,000 in 2008 and $1.7 million in 2009. He also has roster bonuses of $900,000 in 2008 and $500,000 in 2009 to go with workout bonuses of $50,000 in each of those seasons. Winborn is expected to start at weak-side linebacker in the final two games of the season because of the knee injury to Ian Gold.

* Marshall said he was going to appeal his $7,500 fine. League rules say players cannot use props in touchdown celebrations.

* The Broncos practiced for about one hour at their Dove Valley complex Monday, their first on-field work since the loss in Houston on Thursday night.

Injury report

Gold (right knee) and tight end Daniel Graham (left ankle) did not participate in practice.

Neither is expected to play Sunday, and both players could miss the Broncos' remaining two games.

Gold did jog onto the field after practice began but did not have his helmet.

Shanahan described Graham's injury as a high ankle sprain, usually an injury that takes two weeks or more to heal.

Big difference

The difference between winning and losing has not exactly been a razor's edge for the San Diego Chargers this season. The Broncos face the Chargers on Monday night.

In nine wins

Average points for 30.1

Average points against 11.8

Average yards gained 326.9

Average yards allowed 282.4

Opponents winning pct. .439

In five losses

Average points for 17.6

Average points against 31.6

Average yards gained 303

Average yards allowed 408.2

Opponents winning pct. .681 He said it

"I did play that new game with that guitar. Man, I'm horrible. I'm not a musician. I got killed on the easy level."

Shanahan, on trying the video game Guitar Hero during the weekend.

Comments

  • December 18, 2007

    9:22 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    LarryB writes:

    A $7,500 fine for throwing a handful of loose snow in the air? The NFL must be in a cash flow crunch. Or not. Marshall was fined, and T.O. wasn't. Marshall's fault for not being named Terrell Owens.

    This has all gotten past asinine. Someone in the NFL front offices is driving without headlights.

  • December 18, 2007

    1:58 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    esarem writes:

    I want to repeat something I read here a couple of weeks age. The Broncos need to "lose out". Otherwise Mike or Pat will say "Well, we got it on track at the end of the season so we'll be okay". It's not okay. Drastic changes need to be made. Don't get distracted because we can get lucky and beat someone with nothing to play for at the end of the season. This team/coaches etc.are BAD.

  • December 18, 2007

    10:07 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    EmbO writes:

    The NFL head office is digging for cash or just had to find somebody to fine...7500 for snow? Get real NFL! It's okay to jump up in the stands, spike the football (wouldn't that be a prop by their logic?), dump popcorn on your head...but don't throw snow up in the air...