It feels a bit strange, doesn’t it?

There’s no Denver Broncos football today…tonight…or even tomorrow.

At least we can get seven uninterrupted hours of Scott Hanson on NFL RedZone!

“Past and Present” Headlines:

• Bleacher Report: Looking at Knowshon Moreno’s role for Denver for the rest of the season.
• Denver Post: A top priority for Denver is improving pass protection as the Broncos prepare for the Baltimore Ravens.
• Denver Post: The Broncos’ short week goes a long way in showing their grit.
• Denver Post: The Broncos’ eight-game win streak, their first since 1998, is about substance, not style.

Von Miller Headlines:

• CBSDenver: Von Miller should be NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
• Rant Sports: Von Miller will be NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

Other Headline(s):

• Denver Broncos: Read a conversation with four football legends – John Madden, John Elway, Ronnie Lott, and Howie Long – and the NFL commissioner.

Follow Denver Horse Force on Twitter at @DENHorseForce and Facebook at www.facebook.com/denverhorseforce.

It’s a SUPER SIZED collection of headlines this morning.

The Denver Post: Have a question for Eric Decker? You have just a little bit longer to submit your Q for “Fan Mail.”

The Denver Post: Now that defenses have a better idea what the Broncos offense is up to, it may be easier to stop…in theory.

DenverBroncos.com: Kickoff for the Broncos’ Week 13 game against the Vikings has been moved.

DenverBroncos.com: Tickets for the Kenny Chesney/Tim McGraw concert go on sale Dec. 10.

Yahoo! Sports: Tebow-mania is playoff-bound, according to this fan.

SB Nation Kansas City: Broncos rookie LB Von Miller is doing his best Derrick Thomas impersonation.

ESPN: Checking in on the AFC West teams…good news for the Broncos and Raiders.  Not so good news for San Diego.

ESPN: Tim Tebow makes Page 2′s Web Video of the Day - and it’s not for this.

Media Post: Love reading about NFL ratings and shares?  Okay, I do, but then again, I worked in television for seven years.  Am I alone here?

Deadspin: Ex-Broncos quarterback Jake Plummer reacts to current Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow.

Opposing Views: Tim Tebow’s success is a testament to hard work.

USA Today: Speaking of Tebow’s success, Howie Long isn’t a believer.

Follow Denver Horse Force on Twitter at @Aerys_Broncos and Facebook at www.facebook.com/denverhorseforce.

DHF Home

The NFL’s “Broadcast Boot Camp” enters its final day tomorrow.  This year the program is only available to former players due to the ongoing labor strife.  That means former Denver Broncos Nick Ferguson and Maurice Williams will be among the 16 participants at the fifth annual tutorial/seminar/crash course in talking football for a living.  The top performer at this year’s event will serve as a studio analyst for NFL Network’s U.K. presence on Sky News.

Certainly, it’s worth wishing Ferguson and Williams the best of luck in a potentially new career surrounding football.  A number of former Denver Broncos have done extremely well for themselves as commentators.  Tom Jackson, Mark Schlereth, Shannon Sharpe, John Lynch, and Dave Logan are among those that made the transition, and with the exception of Lynch, who now has one season under his belt, have thrived for multiple years.

Frankly, the train from the field to the booth is a lot more crowded than it used to be.  Twenty years ago, it was pretty easy to find game analysts who didn’t play the game at the professional level.  That’s not the case today as basically every color commentator used to be a star on the field.  While that may seem like a welcome sign for former players looking to join broadcast teams, it is really an indicator that the odds aren’t in their favor unless they don’t mind starting small.  Figure it this way: in non-bye weeks there are only 14 games played on CBS and FOX.  Take five of those games off the board as Nantz/Simms, Buck/Aikman, Gumbel/Dierdorf,  Stockton/Davis/Mora, and Albert/Johnston/Siragusa are all pretty locked down teams.  So now you have nine game analyst spots left.

Up next for Nick Ferguson, the broadcast booth? (Courtesy Jeffrey Beall)

Some of the names filling those seats last season: Brian Billick, Steve Tasker, Kurt Warner, Dan Fouts, Rich Gannon, Solomon Wilcots, and the aforementioned Lynch.  No offense to Ferguson or Williams, but all those guys carry a lot more name recognition.  Let’s also not forget the star-power occupying the various sets of pre and post-game studio shows.  In the end it adds up to a whole bunch of former players vying for what in reality is a handful of seats in front of the camera.

However, should Ferguson, Williams, or some of the other participants at this year’s Broadcast Boot Camp (Antonio Freeman and Amani Toomer are notable names) find themselves in a TV gig, there are a few key things to remember.  As someone who has personally spent  the better part of a decade in television broadcasting, here are a few tips on style.

Stick with what you know

The most recent edition of Real Sports on HBO codifies this point with Tiki Barber who is now banking on an NFL comeback after a failed television foray.  Tiki’s problem is he tried to go “all in” as a newsman.  There’s a reason it takes journalism degrees and several decades in small markets for people like Matt Lauer to make it onto Today.  Actual journalism is difficult work believe it or not.  Just because you have the “look” or the “voice” doesn’t mean you are a journalist capable of functioning on national television.  Stick to the X’s and O’s of football.  A perfect example of this is Michael Strahan.  The guy was getting buzz as a great TV personality years before he left the league.  He didn’t try to exceed those expectations by pursuing a full-on reporting gig…he just met them by talking about football in a fun, articulate, and natural way.  That’s allowed him the opportunity to avoid a somewhat odd retun-to-the-glory-days quest.  If you were known as having a magnetic personality in the locker room, it’s okay to keep that magnet focused on football once you enter television.

Good Mentors: Michael Strahan, Deion Sanders, Shannon Sharpe, Lynn Swann

» Continue reading “Broncos in the Booth”