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View Full Version : QB controversy? McD can learn from Shanny's mistake



Denver Native (Carol)
03-23-2010, 11:29 PM
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_14740459

Quarterback controversies: football coaches despise them, but fans love them.

They fuel barstool rants and talk-show tirades.

But a word of caution: Be careful what you wish for.

And a bit of advice for Broncos coach Josh McDaniels: Don't play cloak-and-dagger with your starting QB. You've said all along that Kyle Orton is No. 1 and Brady Quinn is No. 2. If you change your mind, you'd better be up front about it.

I was covering the Broncos in 1999, the season after John Elway hung up his famed No. 7 jersey. All summer long, veteran Bubby Brister was touted as the No. 1 quarterback. (Are you listening Mr. Orton?) But two weeks to the day before the two-time defending Super Bowl champions faced the Dolphins
in the season-opener, coach Mike Shanahan benched Brister and installed young Brian Griese as the starting QB. (Are you ready Mr. Quinn?)

The result was a media circus and an unmitigated disaster for the Broncos, who stumbled out of the gate 0-4 and lost star running back Terrell Davis to a devastating knee injury.

Two days after he was benched, Bubby went ballistic, telling the media at Dove Valley that Shanahan had betrayed him. It was a jaw-dropping moment.

"If it was just between me and Mike, I probably wouldn't have come back," Brister said. "But I can't walk out on (Bill) Romanowski and (Ed) McCaffrey and Brian (Griese) and the guys. I can't do it; can't do it. Now if it was a one-on-one card game and Mike dealt me that hand, I would probably do like they did back in the old days."

Shanahan was about as angry as I've ever seen him. And that anger simmered for much of that poisonous season.

But then a strange thing happened at the end of it all. Shanahan admitted he fumbled the QB situation by not being more up front about it.

"I made a mistake in not telling the (team) more specifically why I was making the change," Shanahan said before the Broncos final game of the '99 season. "I should have done a better job of telling everybody at that time why I was making the decision.

"If I had to do it over again — not that I would have changed the decision (to go from Brister to Griese) — but I would have been more specific about why I did it to the team. Sometimes I'm more concerned about protecting somebody than letting everybody know, and I think if I had to do it over again, that's the way I would go."

So while McDaniels has clearly slammed the door on the Shanahan era, he might want to learn from one of Shanahan's biggest mistakes.

UnderArmour
03-23-2010, 11:36 PM
"If it was just between me and Mike, I probably wouldn't have come back," Brister said. "But I can't walk out on (Bill) Romanowski and (Ed) McCaffrey and Brian (Griese) and the guys. I can't do it; can't do it. Now if it was a one-on-one card game and Mike dealt me that hand, I would probably do like they did back in the old days."

Oh how I miss the days when professional athletes would conduct themselves professionally...

Shazam!
03-24-2010, 12:46 AM
Brister was friggin' awful in preseason. This is a bad example.

'99 would've been a horror show no matter what. I dreaded that Season for years.

dogfish
03-24-2010, 01:02 AM
JMFMCD does need to learn from shenanigans' mistakes-- and draft him a defensive line. . . .

Northman
03-24-2010, 01:46 AM
Brister was friggin' awful in preseason. This is a bad example.

'99 would've been a horror show no matter what. I dreaded that Season for years.


Yea, i was going to say if Brister even took it half as serious as he should have he would of been the starter. Instead, he chose to believe he didnt have to work at it anymore since he got two rings.

broncofaninfla
03-24-2010, 07:35 AM
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_14740459

Quarterback controversies: football coaches despise them, but fans love them.

They fuel barstool rants and talk-show tirades.

But a word of caution: Be careful what you wish for.

And a bit of advice for Broncos coach Josh McDaniels: Don't play cloak-and-dagger with your starting QB. You've said all along that Kyle Orton is No. 1 and Brady Quinn is No. 2. If you change your mind, you'd better be up front about it.

I was covering the Broncos in 1999, the season after John Elway hung up his famed No. 7 jersey. All summer long, veteran Bubby Brister was touted as the No. 1 quarterback. (Are you listening Mr. Orton?) But two weeks to the day before the two-time defending Super Bowl champions faced the Dolphins
in the season-opener, coach Mike Shanahan benched Brister and installed young Brian Griese as the starting QB. (Are you ready Mr. Quinn?)

The result was a media circus and an unmitigated disaster for the Broncos, who stumbled out of the gate 0-4 and lost star running back Terrell Davis to a devastating knee injury.

Two days after he was benched, Bubby went ballistic, telling the media at Dove Valley that Shanahan had betrayed him. It was a jaw-dropping moment.

"If it was just between me and Mike, I probably wouldn't have come back," Brister said. "But I can't walk out on (Bill) Romanowski and (Ed) McCaffrey and Brian (Griese) and the guys. I can't do it; can't do it. Now if it was a one-on-one card game and Mike dealt me that hand, I would probably do like they did back in the old days."

Shanahan was about as angry as I've ever seen him. And that anger simmered for much of that poisonous season.

But then a strange thing happened at the end of it all. Shanahan admitted he fumbled the QB situation by not being more up front about it.

"I made a mistake in not telling the (team) more specifically why I was making the change," Shanahan said before the Broncos final game of the '99 season. "I should have done a better job of telling everybody at that time why I was making the decision.

"If I had to do it over again — not that I would have changed the decision (to go from Brister to Griese) — but I would have been more specific about why I did it to the team. Sometimes I'm more concerned about protecting somebody than letting everybody know, and I think if I had to do it over again, that's the way I would go."

So while McDaniels has clearly slammed the door on the Shanahan era, he might want to learn from one of Shanahan's biggest mistakes.


Carol, this is exactly what I was saying in the other Mcd post.....

rcsodak
03-24-2010, 07:18 PM
Uh-oh. Hope Rav doesn't see this... :eek:

...he thinks ALL the players just LOVED Shanny to death!!!!!!

:D

broncobryce
03-24-2010, 08:17 PM
If only Shanahan could have learned from his own mistakes