Happy Friday, Broncos fans! PFW hears that the arrival of Peyton Manning has allowed John Fox to devote more of his time and energy to the defense, and how many times will that unit be blamed for allowing over 40 points in 2011 games? Let's go over a few points, shall we?

Denver first allowed 40+ last year to the Packers, who hung 40+ on five other teams, including the Lions and Saints. There is no shame in getting torched by the Packers, and there was a defensive score among Green Bay's seven TDs.

Those Lions put up 45 at SAF@MH, and it was a thrashing for sure. But they also forced three turnovers, two of which went the other way for touchdowns. Detroit also posted 34+ points against six other teams, including Green Bay, San Diego, and Dallas.

The two losses to New England included no Patriots defensive scores, but the Broncos did cough up five turnovers in the two games. And, the Patriots averaged 32.1 points per game and scored fewer than 27 points in just three regular season games. Like with Green Bay, giving up a lot of points to New England last year was nothing to be embarrassed about.

The 40 points scored by Buffalo included a punt return TD, two defensive scores, and just one offensive touchdown.

To recap, were it not for defensive touchdowns, the Broncos would have only given up 40+ to the always prolific Packers and Patriots, which does not alone make for a bad defense.

Denver's defense allowed 19 points to Buffalo, and the commentary has often been that the Broncos gave up 40 offensive points to the lowly Bills. Couldn't be farther from the truth.

Obviously, none of this is to remove all blame from the 2011 defense - there is plenty of room for a second straight year of improvement - they were 24th in points and 20th in yards a year after being worst in the league in both (32nd).

The team gave up 40 points on all of those five occasions, to be sure.

But let's not be characterizing the 2011 Broncos as having had a sievelike defense. It's just a really lame story and ignores some pretty basic, significant facts.

Broncos

Jeff Legwold lists the key storylines for Denver's 2012 season, and it's a rather sensible collection of thoughts.

In a Q&A for the official site, QB coach Adam Gase says Manning is "hands down the hardest worker I've ever been around" despite the media narrative that said last year's QB/author/salesman/speechgiver was the hardest working human in history. Gase also says Adam Weber has plenty of confidence, and that Brock Osweiler has a very steady demeanor.

Stuart Zaas goes over the team's QB depth chart.

Trimmings

Saints interim coach Joe Vitt questioned the legitimacy of the league's evidence in the bounty case. Meanwhile, Mike Florio points out that the NFL's evidence against Scott Fujita is that the LB contributed to a pay-for-performance pool, even if there may be no proof any of this money went toward injury bounties.

During the Monday appeal hearing, Peter Ginsberg, who is representing Jonathan Vilma, accused the league of distorting evidence and silencing witnesses, including coaches, via threats.

Percy Harvin was already back at Vikings practice yesterday despite having reportedly requested a trade.

Detroit brought back QB R.J. Archer; Jacksonville signed QB Nathan Enderle.

Following his guilty plea to burglary and drug charges in Montana, Ryan Leaf is likely to have his probation in Texas revoked for a prior drug-related burglary.

Raiders assistant athletic trainer Chris Cortez teamed up with two others to rescue a woman from a sinking car.

The Ravens are examining sleep studies to help their players perform better during the season, especially when traveling across the country. Denver should be doing the same, especially with four early kickoffs and five night games on the schedule this year.

Scrapple

On his way out of NJ, Plaxico Burress threw the Sanchize and Teebs under the bus; KSK's latest Sex/FF Mailbag.

Bucky Brooks says Cam Newton, Percy Harvin, and the Sproles type are among the league's best multipurpose players.

Scott Kacsmar reviews the 2009 Draft classes of the AFCE teams, giving the Jets high marks despite them having made just three selections.

Matt Bowen analyzes a TE route designed to beat Cover 2 in the red zone, and he explains the value of teams holding joint practices.

Tony Pauline checks in on some more Big Ten prospects for the 2013 Draft.