Guest blog by David Sedbrook
Well another season is behind us and yet again the Denver Broncos again fell victim to yet another late season collapse. The question in Denver is who is to blame for Broncos’ 8-8 finish. By reading most of the blogs it seems that JMAC is on the receiving end of a lot of the blame which is probably rightfully so as he was the skipper of the sinking ship the last 10 weeks of the season. However, let’s go back and review a few key issues many fans are pointing to as the reason we missed the playoffs here in Denver.
1. Jay Cutler – The ‘error’ apparent was in our grasps last season as he slipped into the pro-bowl mix when a more prolific Philip Rivers was snubbed by pro-bowl voters because they voted before the Denver Broncos collapses last season. By the way if another quarterback were to drop out of this year’s pro bowl Kyle Orton would be on his way… but that’s beside the point. The real point is if Jay Cutler had the same year he just had in Chicago all Denver fans would be calling for his head…. Speaking of heads I think the word is out on Jay Cutler as they are unable to hire an offensive coordinator in Chicago for 2 reasons… 1 is Jay has been labeled as an un-coachable head case and Luvy Smith is on his way out after next year. My response to all you Cutler lovers is sure Kyle Orton doesn’t have the physical abilities Jay has and he won’t lead us to a Super Bowl win. However, his leadership and willingness to work is far superior to Cutler’s. I’m just happy we didn’t commit 10 million dollars a year to Kyle Orton… Aren’t you???? If we could just figure out how to take Kyle Orton’s head off and put it on Jay Cutler’s body we would have a Hall of Fame quarterback.
2. The second issue fans are so upset about is Brandon Marshall. A very talented wide receiver, who by the way was rumored to be cut by Mike Shanahan had he stayed in Denver, is on the outs with the organization. Many people are saying Brandon has the opportunity to become one of the best wide receivers in the game, and by the way his agent is interested in making him the highest paid receiver in the game. Are you kidding???? Is Brandon Marshall better than Andre Johnson and Larry Fitzgerald and don’t forget Brandon is a pair of handcuffs away from a season long suspension… But let’s forget the question of how he stacks up with other receivers and let’s forget that Jabar Gaffney had a pro-bowl like game against Kansas City when Brandon was out. Let’s also pretend that Brandon Marshall is one of the premier wide receivers in the game for a moment and even that his work ethic matches his ability. Now I want you to look back at the last 10 years in the NFL and tell me how many of those premier wide receivers have Super Bowl rings???? Terrell Owens, Ocho Cinco, Larry Fitzgerald, Andre Johnson, and Randy Moss all have no Super Bowl wins. Wide Receivers don’t win you championships period. Spend your money on guys who play inside of the hash marks unless they are a shut down cornerback. If Brandon goes let him go. The Denver Broncos need a lot of things but they don’t ‘NEED’ Brandon Marshall to win a Super Bowl.
3. The last issue is Mike Nolan has left the Denver Broncos and everyone seems to think the team is falling apart. All I know is Elvis Dumervil (a guy we should be worried about keeping) is happy about the promotion of Don Martindale the linebacker coach of a year ago. I think Don Martindale did a heck of a job getting a lot out of our linebackers this year and I also love the conversation he had with Robert Ayers at the end of the season. Ayers told Coach Martindale he wanted to get good and Coach Martindale turned and said, ‘I’m not going to coach you to be good. I’m going to coach you to be great.’ I’m fine with our defensive coordinator and I think we are seeing the next generation of coaches in the league.
I think the biggest problem in Denver isn’t the 8-8 finish, the late season collapse, or even JMAC. It’s change in Denver. Mike Shanahan and his philosophy was here a long time but I think we can all agree his best years as a coach are behind him and those memories of he and John Elway holding the Lombardi Trophy are over a decade away. It’s time for change Denver Bronco fans, because John Elway isn’t coming back and Terrell Davis isn’t taking another hand off in Mile High. Give the new regime a chance as they grow into the future and let go of the past. Mediocrity is not good enough in Denver and I hope JMAC succeeds in finding the next group of players that will win a championship. I hope he creates the next great Denver Bronco team…. But he needs time.
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5 Responses
Kevin Shone February 8th at 7:03 pm
Dave: A couple thoughts:
Its impossible to guess what kind of season Cutler would have had as a Bronco. To use a basketball analogy, imagine if Chancey Billups & Devin Harris switched places. I’m not trying to say the Bears are historically inept the way the Nets are, but you get my drift. Could Chauncey be nearly as effective with Courtney Lee & Brook Lopez to set up? Highly unlikely. His numbers would undoubtedly suffer, and he would try to do too much probably, just as Cutler did this season with the Bears.
Looks like the Bears have decided to bring in Mike Martz, which should scare the rest of the league. Jay could break Marino’s record for passing yards (and Testaverde’s for INTs) but, you take the good with the bad when your QB has that swashbuckling attitude.
Personally I find it much more exciting to follow a player like that. Given your style arguments, it seems you would have rather had KC’s system quarterbacks back in the day (Gannon, DeBerg, Bono, Grbac) than Elway. Young guys need time to mature. John was such a special talent, the game was less complicated in the 80s- he was able to take some sad sack Broncos teams to the Super Bowl more or less by himself. The league is different now. When was the last time a stud QB dragged an inferior team all the way to the Super Bowl?
To quote Dave:
“My response to all you Cutler lovers is sure Kyle Orton doesn’t have the physical abilities Jay has and he won’t lead us to a Super Bowl win. However, his leadership and willingness to work is far superior to Cutler’s. I’m just happy we didn’t commit 10 million dollars a year to Kyle Orton… Aren’t you???? If we could just figure out how to take Kyle Orton’s head off and put it on Jay Cutler’s body we would have a Hall of Fame quarterback.”
You make it seem like its impossible for a person to mature and change their ways. WE HAD THE GUY WITH THE PHYSICAL TOOLS ALREADY. You can’t teach that shit. We are NEVER teaching Orton to run or throw like Jay. I believe You can teach dicipline, sacrifice, teambuilding, taking what the defense gives you when its appropriate, stretching the field when its called for, etc.. All those qualities could have been imported to Jay if Josh had taken the time to iron out their differences and work together. I truly believe that.
His unwillingness to compromise when we clearly had a top 5 talent guy at the position (and hes doing it again with Marshall, Ill get to that) Drives me crazy and makes me hate him as a Broncos fan. Work with the talent you have. Don’t trade away the talented guys with egos (you need some of that in a macho sport like football) for less talented yes men.
This is my biggest problem with McD, his appearent ‘my way or the highway’ attitude won’t lead to anything but conflict when it comes to the most talented guys.
From that quoted passage, I infer that means you think Jay has the physical tools to lead a team to the big game, or win a regular game by himself, the main reason I was pissed off when we jettisoned a clearly talented, but brooding and self confident, guy. That doesn’t mean he can’t figure it out eventually, much the way Elway did in his later years.
Okay now onto Marshall. He is in extremely rare air. Remember how he was suspended for Week One last year, and how McD benched him for the last critical game this year?
Despite that, he has caught 100 plus passes in 3 consecutive NFL seasons. Guess how many peers he has on that list? 4. Four!!! And I’m guessing those guys did it with 16 GP all three years.
Here are a couple quotes from Brandon’s divisional opponents:
“Brandon Marshall is a defensive lineman playing wide receiver. He wants to inflict punishment on you. He wants you to try to tackle him so he can shove you off of him and get more yards.” -Chiefs CB Brandon Flowers. Oakland Raiders CB Nnamdi Asomugha said Marshall is “the toughest guy to bring down, one-on-one.” That’s from one of the elite CBs in this league. He is def top 2, either him or Darrelle Revis.
I haven’t even mentioned his record breaking day against Indy this year. Whats the score of that game if Marshall checks out or doesn’t try? 49-3?
We have to stop getting rid of elite guys who are FUN to watch and make me happy I’m a Broncos fan. If I wanted to blindly devote myself to the ‘Patriot Way’, I would have just become a fan of them. We don’t need New England West. We need our own identity- to me McDaniels is getting rid of all the guys that make it fun to follow the Orange & Blue.
Dave, all your points trail back to winning a super bowl, something that is incredibly hard to do, and there’s no guarantee these moves are a step in the right direction. You are putting a ton of faith in a 33 year old guy who THINKS he knows how to win because he saw how Belichick did it. His closed mindedness when it comes to winning strategy irks me. There’s more than one way to do it, and I guess I can’t blame him for falling back on what he thinks he knows.
This is why I hated this hire from day one because I didn’t want us to turn into NE West. Id argue they’re going the other way. You need talent to get to the SB, much less win. Why trade away the clearly most talented guys then, just because you struggle to ‘get along’ with them? This is a business. Drop the skirt and get it figured out, instead of clearing out all of Shanny’s studs. Completely nonsensical.
I can see your point in the last paragraph, but being a fan is supposed to be FUN, right? This is how I have fun, criticizing an approach that I don’t really care for. Kind of puts me in a wierd spot.
I mentioned before I found myself cheering against the Broncos in the KC game because I was so turned off by McD’s demeanor heading into it. I was hoping a loss would push him to change his ways a little bit, show him the error of his ways. I guess that remains to be seen, but pushing Nolan out when the D was the reason they jumped out to 6-0 isn’t a great start.
Drew February 16th at 5:37 am
I’m with Kevin. I feel like McD has imposed his will on us since day one rather than ever coming in and getting an appreciation for what matters to fans and this organization. You don’t win a lot of Super Bowls with OK QB’s. I think we should have built around “franchise” a.k.a Cutler and let him mature, but he what do I know as a kid who watched Elway growing up I guess I like big armed QB’’s who take risks and make you think anything is possible till the last second of the game. McD looks like he came up through the Giants organization with his my way or the high way approach. I’m sure letting go of coaches with over 35 years of Combined Broncos experience and the D-Co0rdinator who turned the second to worst D around to the third best with much of the same players and promoting 2 more Pats coaches and your kid brother to QB coach is the smart move. I don’t know how to root for this team. It doesn’t look like my team….
David February 16th at 11:20 am
Listen guys I love John Elway as much as any other Bronco Fan… But guys this isn’t the 1980’s anymore… And to use John Elway and Jay Cutler in the same breath Kevin is an insult to John Elway and the Denver Broncos. Jay Cutler has never had a winning season while by year 4 John Elway was in a Super Bowl with a team that was quite honestly not that good. Elway was a winner and Jay Cutler…. well he’s on his last year guys. If he doesn’t produce this year he could be out of the league before you know it. Quarterbacks just don’t get 10 million dollars a year to throw 25 picks and have losing seasons.
Also it seems that everyone is obsessed with the ‘tools’ of a quarterback… Like being big enough… Having a rocket arm etc…etc… Jay Cutler has all of these attributes and… so did Jeff George and Ryan Leaf. In fact, many scouts said that Ryan Leaf had more ‘tools’ than Payton Manning…. Unfortunately, when people start talking about tools they forget about that all important ‘brain thing’ that Ryan Leaf or Jeff George didn’t have. I’m just not sure Jay Cutler has it either…. He can drink like a champ though. I have first hand experience. Is that good for diabetes. Also going back around to tools… you know bigger guys with huge arms. How about that Drew Brees????
And yes Mike Martz is headed to Chicago after criticizing Jay Cutler’s antics this year… And yes Kevin he did run a prolific offense in St. Louis… But once again that is an insult to the future hall of famer Curt Warner.
David February 16th at 11:27 am
Drew… Going back to the okay quarterback talks… You see quarterbacks like Drew Brees were ‘OK’ until they were good and even great. Drew Brees wasn’t recruited by one school in Texas where he played high school football because the tools weren’t there. He’s short, He has a decent arma nd he doesn’t run great…. So he went to Purdue and then he didn’t have the ‘tools’ to be a first round selection… So the San Diego Chargers took him the second round. He then was shipped out of San Diego because his skill set or ‘tools’ were only ‘OK’ and not good enough to win in the NFL.
Now I’m not comparing Drew Brees to Kyle Orton because I don’t believe that Kyle Orton will ever win a Super Bowl… Just don’t get too wrapped up in huge arms…. I mean the best arm in the NFL will be sitting on the sidelines in Oakland next year and he was the first pick overall in the draft. Hey Jamarcus has all the ‘tools’ too. He’s tall, mobile and the guy can throw the ball 70 yards from his knees. I think I’d rather go with the ‘OK’ Drew Brees than Mr. Cutler or Jamarcus…. I don’t know that’s just my thought.
David February 16th at 11:37 am
The last point I’ll make is about Josh McDaniels. I think you have to understand when you’re a young coach you have to take control of your team. I’m also not sure why everyone is so turned off by the decision to bench BMARSH and Tony Sheffler.
1. BMARSH didn’t think he needed to show up for treatment on his hamstring even though he couldn’t practice and we were in the middle of a playoff push???? By the way Kevin did you check out Jabar Gaffney’s stats that day?? Pretty prolific.
2. Tony Sheffler… Well let’s be honest Tony Sheffler doesn’t fit into the Denver Bronco offense anymore. He’s a tight end who doesn’t block well anymore and we all knew he was gone after the year was out didn’t we??? And to top it off Tony Sheffler says, ‘I can’t wait until the season is over’ in the locker room after practice… So Josh McDaniels obliged and gave Tony what he wanted. His season was over.
It’s true that winning a Super Bowl is tough Kevin but this type of attitude will not win you any world championships… Do you think Drew Brees was saying, ‘I can’t wait for this season to be over,’ after they lost to Tampa Bay? Do you think Dwight Freeney didn’t show up for treatments on his ankle the week before the Super Bowl Kevin?