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1 perfect day as a Bronco

Jason Elam,  holds up a jersey with Pat Bowlen, owner of the Denver Broncos football team, in Englewood, Colo., on Wednesday, March 31, 2010. Elam kicked field goals and extra points for 17 years in the NFL, the last two years with the Atlanta Falcons. Elam retired Wednesday as a Bronco. Nearly four months after being waived by the Falcons, Elam signed a one-day contract with Denver and retired. The Broncos drafted him in the third round in 1993. An Awesome geasture and a gentlemens agreement. I was very happy to see this happen. Give it up for one of the best, the Broncos go to guy, leading all-time points getter. Captain Clutch retires a good guy.

Special memories flooding back buddy

JASON ELAM

Opening comments
“I’d like to thank the Broncos so much for putting this together. To Mr. Bowlen, this is a dream come true for me to go out like this. This gesture is huge. It’s huge for me…”I turned 40 just a few weeks ago and you just know. I know when I go out there and I kick, especially this last year. I started to feel it when I was about 35, that I just wasn’t as strong. But I felt like I was maybe even more accurate. I was able to pull back a little bit and I was much more of an accurate kicker. Even, not this past year but my first year with the Falcons, it was my best statistical year and I wasn’t nearly as strong as I used to be….You can’t spend 15 years with one organization and not feel a special thought. You can’t spend 15 years with one organization and not feel a special thought.”

Brady Quin- notice the blurry image of a preditor in the tall grass behind him.

Trade News around our camp. The Broncos acquired the former first-round draft pick from the Cleveland Browns for fullback Peyton Hillis, a 2011 sixth-round draft pick and a conditional pick in 2012. The teams announced the trade Sunday and said the deal is pending physicals.

Ostensibly, Quinn will compete with Kyle Orton for the Broncos’ starting job, Quinn’s departure comes one day after the Browns agreed to terms with free agent Jake Delhomme on a two-year contract. Quinn went 3-9 in 12 starts for Cleveland, which drafted him with the 22nd pick in the first round in 2007 out of Notre Dame. Brady Quinn could not keep his starting job in Cleveland of all places loosing it multiple times because of mistakes and injuries to back up Derek Anderson. So far he has not lived up to his draft potential.

Kyle

Brady

You all know how I love Peyton Hillis and I will be very sad to see him go. I think he could have done more in our system with the right coach and offensive mind-set. This is a low-risk venture with big pay-out potential. Worst case scenario Quinn has a good camp and competes for the starting position and rattles Orton, thus creating more quarterback controversy in Denver. Best case scenario he finds his spot as number two and we develop him as a young talented former number 1 pick. He makes a lot of mistakes and bad decisions on the field. I think it could be extremely beneficial for him to learn from a guy like Orton who is known for not taking big risks and turning the ball over. Then barring injury or time Quinn steps in and reaches his potential. I am not worrying about it much right now I just hope they use him in the second scenario and don’t try to rattle the already shaky ruins of this rebuilding Broncos team.

Hillis traveling circus

Best of Luck Peyton Hillis and the best traveling fan club in the NFL, you will be greatly missed by this blogger, so am I still c0ming to Thanksgiving?

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.

Another tough loss on the road and Denver finds themselves well right where we were last year.  I have been kicked around by this up and down team all year. Of course I want the Playoffs and I truly think we can beat any team in the league on any given Sunday, but the fact is (sorry in advance) this team does not deserve the playoffs. Some small victories to be had and if we can sneak into the playoffs as a wild card, great. We are a tough team to score on and if the offense shows up and just takes the field and doesn’t turnover the ball we are fine. Every week we say we are in control of our destiny, down but not out, well boo to that. We are not in control. If you need teams to lose for you to make it you are not the one in control, if you need multiple teams to loose and a few to tie and the sun to shine on certain parts of the world at certain times, yikes. It’s like the Cinci game (week 1) we may get there but we’ll need some luck. The Philly game had promise especially considering, they are one of the most high powered offenses in the league and we are beat up. No Eddie Royal (not that they’d use him anyway), a struggling running game (beat up Buckhalter and a disappointing Moreno) with Russ Hochstein and Ryan Harris hurt, returner Kenny McKinley will get hurt (replacing Royal), Stokley will give the high five heard round the stadium and be ejected. All that and we muster one of our better offensive showings… on the road. What is this team made of? So inconsistent. I place a lot on McDaniels because I feel he has got to earn our respect and allegiance, so far an O.K. at best showing. Focus! Don’t assume we will beat K.C. we were supposed to beat Oakland remember and they got beat by the Browns.

So we need to make a statement and dominate K.C. (again) at home! Then Denver needs a Jets and/or Ravens Loss AND a Pittsburgh Loss or Texans Win. In control, ha. According to the NFL here’s 10 ways we can make the playoffs. I love all the “tie” scenario, Philly didn’t even know that could happen last year. Technically we can get in even if we loose but well here is the break down… enjoy.

1. DEN win & NYJ loss or tie & BAL loss or tie OR
2. DEN win & NYJ loss or tie & PIT loss or tie OR
3. DEN win & NYJ loss or tie & HOU win OR
4. DEN win & BAL loss or tie & PIT loss or tie OR
5. DEN win & BAL loss or tie & HOU win OR
6. PIT loss &BAL loss & HOU loss & JAC loss OR
7. PIT loss & BAL loss & HOU loss & NYJ loss OR
8. PIT loss & BAL loss & JAC loss & NYJ loss OR
9. PIT loss & HOU loss & JAC loss & NYJ loss OR
10. MIA loss or tie & NYJ loss & BAL loss & HOU loss & JAC loss or tie.   Confused, just sit back and watch, we need to beat the Chiefs, and then either the Jets or the Ravens must lose. Also, we can’t end up in a head-to-head with Pittsburgh, because they’ll win that tie (yet, in a 3 way, they will lose on conference record), so we also need either Pittsburgh to lose or the Texans to win. As always Go Broncos!

This just in, we have lost Brandon! I repeat our best player on the field will be M.I.A. Brandon Marshall injured his hamstring during practice today and will not be able to play Sunday. Hopefully the Broncos prevail and the laundry list of other things will happen, the universe will align and we will enter the playoffs with a healthy team.

Yeah we're surprised too big guy.

The Broncos, who were down 17 in the 3rd quarter, staged a furious comeback in Philadelphia to tie the score at 27 to 27 in the fourth quarter.  The key to the comeback was the Broncos defense who shut down big play receiver DeSean Jackson and harassed Donovan McNabb.  However, with the Eagles backed-up, under the shadow of their own field goal and facing a third and 25, the Broncos D had a mental lapse and failed to account for McNabb who reeled off a 27 yard run to convert the first down.  (Though, McNabb has not run as much in the last few years due to injuries, he is still one of the NFL’s all time most agile QBs).  The drive did not lead to points for the Eagles, however it flipped the field position for the Broncos and gave them the ball back on the 8 yard line.  After a three and out, the Eagles easily drove into field goal range (with a great catch by Jeremy Maclin) and kicked the game winning field goal with 3 seconds left.

The Broncos 2-7 record since starting 6-0 has been highlighted by mental lapses, penalties (the Broncos had a season high 9 for 95 yards), and little mistakes.  The difference between the elite teams in the NFL - Indy, New Orleans, and Minnesota - is that these teams do not make these crucial mistakes that are the difference in a game.  JMcD had a great honeymoon in Denver, however its over now.  If he wants to be a coach who is going to stick around for awhile he needs to have a better disciplined team (highest yardage in penalties since 2004) that is capable of making plays in crunch time to win games (the Broncos were out-gained 394 yards to 241 yards and were unable to move the ball in the 4th quarter).

The Broncos no longer control their own destiny for the playoffs.  There are a number of scenarios that can happen for the Broncos to get in, but first and foremost the Broncos need to beat KC next week and reestablish some of that early season MoJo.

Merry Christmas!

The holiday season is a time for giving.  And this upcoming weekend the Broncos hope to give the Eagles a variety of gifts.  I can see it now, Dawkins unleashing his Christmas spirit as he unloads upon WRs across the middle and RBs at the line of scrimmage (particularly since his former team refused to give him a contract for the money that he is worth).  Champ giving the young DeSean Jackson a gift in “how to become irrelevant during a game”.  And Brandon Marshall distributing a gift basket of stiff arms, broken ankles, and an assortment of “posterized” moments.  To the Eagles, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and the Broncos give you the greatest gift of all… a LOSS!

Both Drew and I want to wish all Broncos fans a Happy Holidays!  We hope everyone is spending time with family and friends!