Busted Broncos get back to business

DENVER — The Broncos have been busted, their coach and front office fined $100,000 and their video director fired.

Now comes the hard part for the red-faced franchise that had lost 15 of 20 games and plenty of fans heading into their game Sunday against St. Louis.

The Broncos pledged to restore a sullied reputation as they try to convince skeptics, as they did the NFL, that Steve Scarnecchia acted alone in filming a San Francisco practice in London last month and that nobody ordered him to do it or viewed the incriminating tape.

Many are wondering why Josh McDaniels was allowed to hire a buddy who had already run afoul of the NFL's rules back in New England and why he didn't do anything about it when Scarnecchia brought him an illicit 6-minute snippet of the practice.

McDaniels said he didn't look at it, and the Broncos lost to San Francisco 24-16 the next day.