The Broncos have decided to deactivate Brandon Marshall for tomorrow’s pivotal game against the Chiefs.  Coach Josh McDaniels decided to bench Marshall after a MRI showed no signs of an injury to Marshall’s hamstring which he claims happened in practice this week.  Marshall will be impossible to replace as he has caught 101 passes for 1,120 yards (11.1 avg) with 10 TD grabs so far this year.  With Eddie Royal (37 rec, 345 yards) injured and TE Tony Scheffler (31 rec, 416 yards, 2 TDs) demoted to second team the Broncos are in serious trouble tomorrow as far as the passing game goes.  If will be up to Jabar Gaffney (40 rec, 519 yards, 2 TDs), Brandon Stokley (14 rec, 284 yards, 3 TDs) and Daniel Graham (24 rec, 260 yards, 1 TD) to carry the Broncos passing game tomorrow.  I don’t like the fact that Josh McDaniels is willing to bench the best offensive player on the team in the Broncos biggest game of the year because MRIs don’t show everything.

37-year old Mitch Berger has not played bad overall for the Broncos this season.  He has played in 9 games in which he has punted the ball 45 times for 1,887 yards (41.9 avg).  Berger has only 1 touchback (2.2%) and he has pinned the opposing team inside their 20-yard line 10 times (22.2%).  But, Berger was horrific last weekend against the Eagles as he punted the ball 7 times with a 34.9 yard average.  The Broncos have signed 24-year old rookie Brian Colquitt just in case they need to make a change at punter.

What’s the point for keeping a player that you never, and I mean NEVER, want to use in a game?  They would be better off going with rookie Tom Brandstater a 6th round pick last April out of Fresno State as the backup to Kyle Orton.  The only things that the 29-year old Chris Simms has in common with his famous daddy is the fact that they both play QB and have blond hair.  That is where the comparisons end.  Chris Simms has played in 2 games for the Broncos this season and he has completed 5 of 17 passes (29.4%) for 23 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 INT (15.1 QB Rating).  He has now played in 22 games in his career and he has completed 297 of 511 passes (58.1%) for 3,117 yards with 12 TD passes and 18 INTs (69.1 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 30 times for 52 yards (1.7 ypc) with 1 TD run in his career.

Chris’ daddy Phil played in 164 games (159 starts) in his NFL career.  He led the Giants to a 95-64 (59.7%) record as a starting QB including 1 Super Bowl win.  The elder Simms completed 2,576 of 4,647 passes (55.4%) for 33,462 yards with 199 TD passes and 157 INTs (78.5 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 349 times for 1,252 yards (3.6 ypc) with 6 TD runs.  Maybe Chris should have been paying more attention when his daddy played so he could have learned something.  Like I said before, the Broncos should just cut Simms and go with the rookie as the backup or sign Jeff Garcia.

33-year old WR Brandon Stokley got off to a great start this season catching 6 passes for 157 yards (26.2 avg) with a TD grab in the first two games of the year for the Broncos.  But, in his last 7 games, Stokley has only caught 5 passes for 43 yards (8.6 avg) with a TD.  This is coming from a player who caught 49 passes for 528 yards (10.8 avg) with 3 TD grabs last season in 15 games for the Broncos.  Did he somehow get in Coach McDaniels’ Dog House?  You have to wonder because at worst he is the third best receiver on the Broncos’ roster behind Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal.  The Broncos are really wasting a weapon here by not throwing the ball to Stokley.

23-year old WR Eddie Royal was oustanding as a rookie last season for the Broncos playing in 15 games in which he caught 91 passes for 980 yards (10.8 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  He also returned 14 punts for 140 yards (10.0 avg) and 23 kickoffs for 600 yards (26.1 avg) last year.  But, this season the Broncos have not been using Royal nearly enough on offense.  He has played in 9 games this season and he has caught 27 passes for 253 yards (9.4 avg) without any TD grabs.  Royal should be the #2 WR on the Broncos’ offense without a doubt as he and Brandon Marshall were a pretty lethal team last year.  Royal has been solid on special teams for the Broncos this season as he has returned 17 punts for 198 yards (11.6 avg) with a TD and he has returned 18 kickoffs for 426 yards (23.7 avg) with a TD return this year.  The fact that he’s playing so much on special teams should not hamper him from being a starting WR for the Broncos.