The Cincinnati Bengals thought they had themselves a 7-6 win over the Denver Broncos today, but luck was on the side of the Broncos.  With about 30 seconds left and the ball on 13-yard-line, the Broncos had pretty much no chance.  Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton’s first attempt down field was down the right sideline to Brandon Marshall, when Johnathan Joseph caught and seemingly intercepted the ball.  Yet, he landed out of bounds ruling the pass incomplete.  The very next play is when all the magic happened for the Broncos.

Kyle Orton fired down the left sideline to a streaking Brandon Marshall, when the Bengals’ Leon Hall leaped high in the air and got a hand on the ball.  The ball was deflected perfectly to the Broncos Brandon Stokley who then ran untouched to the end-zone, even having room to run along the goal line to tick some extra seconds off the clock.  The Broncos failed on a 2-point conversion attempt and the Bengals got the ball back with 11 seconds left.  A Carson Palmer hail Mary was intercepted by the Bronco’s Tony Scheffler to end the game with the Broncos winning 12-7.  Quite an exciting and lucky start for the Denver Broncos.

Here is video of the amazing play…it sounds like it gave announcer Gus Johnson a heart attack:

The Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler wont have to wait long to get his first taste of the Bears-Packers rivalry.  The Green Bay Packers will be looking to give Cutler a bad taste of that rivalry, as I am expecting them to blitz Cutler heavy and often.  The Packers run a 3-4 front, with defensive coordinator Dom Capers calling the shots.  Capers is well aware of Cutler’s big arm, so he will be looking to pressure the Bear’s new talented QB and try to force him into some mistakes.

Cutler’s primary wide receiver will be the super athletic Devin Hester, but I’m looking for Cutler and TE Greg Olsen to hook up early and often.  I think Olsen has the ability to be a Pro Bowler, as he has great hands and can move very well for a TE.  Bear’s running back Matt Forte will also probably get a lot of touches through the air, as he was the Bears leading receiver last year.  Although the Bears have a much more talented QB than they have had in years (probably decades), I would still like to see the Bears offense revolve around a strong running attack.  Matt Forte proved he is a top tier running back in this league, as he rushed for 1,238 yards last year as a rookie and led all rookie running backs in total yards and receptions.

The Bears defense will have their hands full, as the Packer’s QB Aaron Rodgers proved last year that he has what it takes to be successful in this league.  In his first year as a starter, Rogers threw for 4,038 yards with 28 TD’s and only 13 INT’s.  He had a 63.6 completion percentage and finished the year with a 93.8 passer rating.  He has a very talented Greg Jennings to throw to, as well as the proven veteran Donald Driver.  The Bears were not very good at pass rushing last year and hopefully the Bears’ defensive end Mark Anderson can look more like the Mark Anderson of three years ago when he had 12 sacks.  Lovie Smith has taken over the play calling on defense, and improving the defensive line play has been an emphasis during the offseason, but I think Rodgers will not have too many problems with the Bears’ rush as the Packers offensive line has improved.

With the Bears offense greatly improved from last year, mainly because of the Jay Cutler acquisition, and the proven Aaron Rodgers on the Packers’ side, I think this could be a high scoring affair.  I think both defenses will struggle to contain the talented QB’s and each will have his way with the oppositions defense.  The Bears have the edge at running back and even though the Packers’ Ryan Grant rushed for nearly the same amount of yards as Forte last year, Forte proved he is not a one dimensional player as he led the team in receptions.

The X-factor, as it often has been in the past for the Bears, will be Devin Hester and the special teams.  Hester struggled last year returning punts and kicks, especially on kickoff returns.  Hester was moved to just a punt-returner but I would like to see Hester back returning kicks again, as he is still a huge threat for big returns.  His problem seemed to be that he would try to do too much last year, but it could take only one good return for Hester to get that confidence back.  So, overall I think this will be a battle of the QB’s with the Bears edging out the Packers 31-28.

With the recent news of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ star safety Troy Polamalu spraining his MCL, it makes you wonder if the Madden Curse is real.  Polamalu shares this year’s NFL Madden 2010 video game cover with Larry Fitzgerald.  With Polamalu’s injury, it makes the last seven out of eight players who were on the cover of Madden miss at least one game due to injury.  The only Madden cover player in the last eight seasons to not miss a game the year he was on the cover is the NFL’s iron man Brett Favre.  Yet, Favre ended up with a shoulder injury and should have sat out some games last year.  Larry Fitzgerald better be praying that this curse is not real, because he is next on the curse’s list.

The Minnesota Vikings defensive tackles Kevin Williams and Pat Williams cannot be suspended this year by the NFL for violating the league’s anti-doping policy…for now.  The two Williams, who are unrelated, both tested positive for a banned substance in the 2008 training camp.  The NFL wants to suspend them both four games.  The two both tested positive for the diuretic bumetanide, which is on the league’s banned substance list.  The bumetanide got into their system through an over-the-counter weight loss supplement called StarCaps.

The problem is that StarCaps did not list the banned substance, bumetanide, in its ingredients and the players say that they did not know the banned substance was in the product.  After the NFL issued their four game suspensions, the Vikings tackles sued the NFL in Minnesota state court.  According to Minnesota state law an employer must give an employee the opportunity to explain their positive drug test, which the NFL did not do.  It went to federal court after that, and for the time being both Williamses will not be suspended.

I think this is a terrible ruling, as every professional athlete should know exactly what they are putting in their body no matter what.  The NFL even issued a warning about products like StarCaps in 2006, telling players that there are often more ingredients in those over-the-counter supplements than they are required to list.  This is great news for Vikings fans though, as the Williams combo are great run stoppers and will be able to plug up holes all season long.

After watching the 2009 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies, I had an even greater feeling of respect for John Stockton, David Robinson, Jerry Sloan, and Michael Jordan.  Each speech was entertaining, heartfelt, and sincere as you got to see the huge heart and big smile of David Robinson on display.  You got to see the hidden comedian in John Stockton, as he had the crowd laughing every 30 seconds.  Jerry Sloan reluctantly gave his speech, and although slow and monotone, you got an inside look at what kind of life Sloan had and why he is the tough, no nonsense guy that he is.  The usual tough and emotionless (unless hes yelling at a ref or player) Sloan paused and fought back tears when he began to speak about his former teammate and long-time friend Norm Van Lier, who passed away earlier this year.

Then there was Vivian Stringer, who the only thing I knew about before tonight was that she is the head coach of Rutgers University Woman’s Basketball team.  I’m not exactly a woman’s basketball fan and the only reason I knew she was Rutgers coach is because of that idiot Don Imus and his “nappy headed hos” comment he made about Stringer’s 2007 Final Four team.

What I learned from Stringer’s speech is that she is an incredibly strong and influential woman who overcame a lot to get where she is today.  Stringer was an essential part in getting equality for women in athletics long before Title IX was enacted and brought three separate teams to the Final Four.  She battled personal tragedies when her daughter was paralyzed and unable to speak from a Meningitis infection as a young child.  Tragedy struck again with the sudden and untimely death of her husband when he was only 47-years-old, but she persevered to mentor and influence generations of young women and strove for their equality on and off the court.

Then, of course, there was Michael.  “His Airness” was in tears before he could even begin his speech, as he went on to speak about his competitive fire and all the people that fueled that fire.  My favorite story was when a young Bryan Russell told a then retired Michael Jordan in 1994 that he could have guarded Michael and that he could shut him down.  When Michael returned he wreaked havoc on Russell for the rest of his career, including a few game winning shots over Russell in a few different NBA Finals.

It seemed as if Mike had plenty of fuel left to play, and half-jokingly talked about playing as a 50-year-old.  He could probably still average 15 a game at 50.  Hell, if he read this he would say he’d average 20 easily.  That was the great thing about Michael, the extreme competitiveness but also that extreme confidence.  The belief in himself that he had what it takes, no matter what.  Michael Jordan is the best to ever play the game of basketball but is also probably the most competitive and driven player the NBA has ever seen.  This Hall of Fame class is the best ever.