i still wouldn't mind Broncos, I mean Welker and Decker, plus Manning and Wolfe on D. not a terrible team to root for, sure, nothing like Patriots a year or two before but still.
it's hard since Pats are even giving Ebner some defensive snaps now, i wouldn't pick Broncos OVER Pats, but over any other alternative? sure.
The Broncos are indeed preferable over many other current playoff “contenders” such as the 49ers, Bengals, Colts, Chiefs, Bears, Saints, Panthers, and Seahawks.
Last season, Denver had about the same number of white players on their 53-man roster (14-15-16), but had two additional white offensive lineman (Koppen and Kuper) starting instead of their two “Hispanic Sumos.” Also, they had Jacob Hester at running back at times, Stokley at WR, Chris Gronkowski at FB, and Dreessen/Tamme at TE, who were dynamic but have been utterly ignored this season in favor of Manning’s favorite slow-footed pet, “Julius”...
CAPTION: Better Times
Defensively, along with Wolfe/Unrein on the DL, they also featured Keith Brooking at LB and Jim Leonhard at SS during certain packages. Both have been purged.
In 2012, there were games when Denver started 9 whites. In 2013, it’s been around 4-5 (Manning, Decker, Welker, Beadles, and sometimes Wolfe). Over the course of the season, Welker isn’t on the field for about 20% of all offensive snaps (he averages about 55/70). Derek Wolfe’s snaps are being shared with Robert Ayers and Malik Jackson, making his already-abysmal stats (in what was supposed to be his “breakthrough season”) appear even worse.
Despite the loss of Welker and Woodhead, New England’s current squad is actually more “white-friendly” than their 2011 Superbowl team. Before Sebastian Vollmer’s unfortunate injury, New England started 13/22 whites (Brady, Develin, Gronkowski, Amendola, Edelman, 5 OL, Ninkovich, Vellano, and Gregory) in a game. During that contest, DT Chris Jones (who appears white but is likely 1/8 black) also started, Austin Collie played some at WR, Mulligan played some at TE, and Dane Fletcher played some at LB. In my 15+ years of being a “racially aware” football viewer, I’d never seen such a thing before.
As others have noted, a Patriots/Eagles or Patriots/Packers Superbowl clash would be a win-win situation. With the Vikings eliminated, the only other mildly-palatable NFC squad is Dallas. In the AFC, Denver and San Diego are the “next whitest,” but it isn’t really close.