BLOG BY FANS FOR FANS:

First of all, I’ll preface this by saying that I am and will forever be a Mike Shanahan fan.  I love a run oriented west coast offense.  But I do think it was time for a change in Denver.  After Elway retired, the Broncos only managed to win one playoff game in nearly a decade with Shanahan.  Over those years we got embarrassed by the Colts two years in a row and had a monumental meltdown in the final weeks of last season.  It was time for a change.

Enter Josh McDaniels, protege of Bill Belichick.  I live in Boston and am forced to listen to people idolize Belichick on a weekly basis (with the exception of the 4th and 2 call against the Colts).  I hate the Patriots and I hate Belichick, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re the most successful team of the last decade.  Cheating scandals aside, he won three Super Bowls, four AFC Championships, and had eight playoff appearances in the last ten years.  That doesn’t mean McDaniels is going to do the same thing with the Broncos, but he comes from a system that is proven to work.  Part of that system however, includes ruling with an iron fist and making controversial personnel decisions despite heavy criticism.  When Belichick decided to stay with Tom Brady over Bledsoe, it was not an obvious choice.  He kept a three time All-Pro QB on the bench in favor of someone who had simply gone 5-3 in this first eight NFL games as a starter.  Looking back it was the right decision, but he took plenty of flack for it at the time.  This season, he kicked Randy Moss out of practice for showing up late to a meeting the morning we had a blizzard here in Boston.  I could go on about when he released Lawyer Milloy or traded Seymour, but I think the point is made that Belichick does somethings that a lot of people don’t agree with and some of them probably are mistakes.  But he wins games, he makes the playoffs, and he wins Super Bowls.

Josh McDaniels has done similar things his first year with Denver.  He got rid of Cutler, he had an early feud with Marshall and then he won six straight games.  Yes, we then ended up going 2-8 to finish out the season and had more than our fare share of personel controversy with Marshall, Sheffler, etc.  To reference Belichick yet again, he went 5-11 his first year with the Patriots but hasn’t had a losing season since.  So, yes McDaniels has made some mistakes, but this controversial coaching philosophy can be very successful.  It was successful with Belichick and it was successful with Parcells before him.  For it to be successful requires sticking to the plan.  Belichick is an arrogant prick, but he does not bend to outside pressure.  He sticks with his plan and it works.  McDaniels is going to do some things that look terrible from the outside.  He’s going to piss people off and get bashed for this or that.  But that doesn’t mean he won’t have success.

I’m not saying we should applaud McDaniels for what he’s done so far.  But we should give him a chance.  We might not agree with all his decisions, but if we make someone a head coach we need to give them a chance to succeed.  Let’s trust that he has a plan.  After all, that highly criticised Cutler trade looks good in hindsight, at least to me, especially if we make good use of the draft picks.  The Broncos would have won the Super Bowl in Shanahan’s second year if it hadn’t been for the Jacksonville disaster, and Belichick won one in his second year.  I don’t know if we have the weapons to necessarily win the Super Bowl next year, but we should be in the playoffs.  If we finish 8-8 again next year then go ahead and throw McDaniels under the bus.

Well the 2009 season came to an end and now the looming questions begin. The staff, the players, the fans. Who will return in 2010/2011? Orton is a free agent, JMac broke a lot of hearts, Dumervil is worth a lot more…. Oh boy, here we go. So the coaching staff is already looking like the last day of high school with everyone getting out of town as fast as they can and heading on to bright futures with their tightest old friends. After 15 years on the Denver Broncos coaching staff, the team’s running backs coach Bobby Turner has been named the new assistant head coach/running backs for the Washington Redskins where he will join Shanahan. longtime Denver Broncos assistant Rick Dennison will leave the Broncos to call plays as the offensive coordinator with the Houston Texans. Dennison will now coach under Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, a former Broncos coach and player as well. Dennison has been a member of the Denver Broncos as either a player or coach for 24 years, his knowledge and experience will be tough to fill. This leaves the door wide open for offensive changes on the coaching staff as well as the prominent players. We know with the way the season ended Scheffler and Marshall could be done with this organization, only time will tell. The offense was not very impressive this year and struggled to get points inside the red zone, who will that burden fall on. Orton is a free agent, did he do enough to keep his job? He put up some impressive numbers this year despite a lack luster points out-come.

The only category Cutler wins in Dorts or INT and attempts.

ONE FAN’S MCDANIELS MUSINGS

I admittedly HATED this hiring from day one. I am not a Belichick fan (despite his success, I find the way he goes about it a giant turnoff, and figured wed be getting a cheap knock off if we hired someone from his coaching tree) I wanted Leslie Frazier/Steve Spagnuolo to get the job. Then McJaygate happened, which in retrospect MAY (repeat: MAY work out. I think once Cutler gets some help [better OLine, WR, offensive coordinating) He will be an elite QB, as much as I hate to say it. Orton did a fine job this year but he CANT stretch the field, and once teams figured that out they struggled in the second half of the season. He started to panic in the KC game and we saw how that turned out. They got the miracle win Week 1 which sparked them to a nice 6-0 start. I even loved seeing how firey McD was after the NE win, the first time I started to accept him as my coach. The developments of the last week have thrown be back to my initial feelings on him. I am abhorred by how he handed the Scheffler situation: From what I read it sounds like McD overreacted, and instead of calling Tony in for a meeting to work out their differences before a HUGE game, he blindly suspends him, then throws Marshall under the bus w/ the injury stuff. I think the PLAYER would have a better idea of if he can go or not, and given the misdiagnosis from last season Marshall has grounds to be skeptical of their findings. It struck me as sophomoric & NOT the way that situation should be handled. The other players look at that and think, "I can't say anything about how I'm feeling, even to OTHER PLAYERS cuz it will get back to McD & Ill get suspended, so lets all walk on eggshells this week as we are obviously collapsing" He choked this year away WORSE than Shanny did last year, in my opinion. At least Mike went into battle with his best guys on the field. I think they were beat before they even stepped onto the field with the "Leader" flaunting such boorish behavior towards his own guys. I found myself cheering AGAINST Denver, because I didn't want to see "big brother" leadership rewarded with a valient 'lets save our season' effort. He got what he deserved, IMO. How can you inspire your guys to kill themselves for you when you'll willingly bench our most talented guys over an ego driven hissy fit. This guys ego is completely out of control, and I am considering becoming a Houston Texans fan (During the NYJ pasting of Cincy, they briefly talked to Texans QB Matt Schaub, who had effusive praise for his coach, former Bronco Gary Kubiak) until McD is dismissed. I can't imagine any Bronco uttering similar sentiments about McDaniels given how the season ended.

I added McEgo's High School Card I came across, hope you don't mind Shone.

Denver looses badly at home to a very soft K.C. team as they come into our house and beat the Broncos. 44-24 at Invesco. Josh McDaniels calls out Brandon Marshall and benches his biggest offensive weapon in a must win situation. So the “new look” Broncos, well look just like they did at the end of last year only with fewer Pro Bowl nods on the offensive side of the ball. The Broncos and McDaniels needed to win and make a statement about this team. They failed miserably at this seemingly simple task. Turnovers killed them and to be frank I am glad. I think Josh has a lot of growing to do as a coach and making the playoffs would have only given his band-wagon further reason to roll rather than burn. I don’t think he needs to go by any means but this could be a huge ego check for our young coach. Linebacker Derrick Johnson, who had three career interceptions in five seasons entering the game, had two interceptions and returned both for touchdowns. Horrible end to another mediocre season.

One fan's opinion. Hmmmm.