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Magnificent Seven
08-26-2008, 03:05 PM
Coach promises team will make playoffs this year.

ENGLEWOOD -- While the architects were designing the bowling alley and racquetball court at his sprawling 35,000-square foot home that started to take shape over the winter, Mike Shanahan went to work remodeling the Denver Broncos.

Shanahan has lasted a quarter century in the NFL by constantly making changes to keep the game from passing him by, and this offseason was filled with more revisions than usual.

He engineered a front office shake-up, a roster retooling and a coaching staff makeover in response to a second straight campaign without a playoff berth and the team's first losing season since 1999. That's when the franchise was going through the John Elway retirement hangover after two successful Super Bowl trips.

Jettisoned were general manager Ted Sundquist, defensive boss Jim Bates, recalcitrant receiver Javon Walker, troubled tailback Travis Henry and aloof linebacker Ian Gold, among many others.

After getting burned by high-risk, high-reward signings such as those of Walker, Henry and Todd Sauerbrun, Shanahan and owner Pat Bowlen focused on character in their offseason additions, which included Boss Bailey, Niko Koutouvides, Marlon McCree, Ryan Clady and Eddie Royal.

Then there were some of the not-so-easy goodbyes to the likes of perennial Pro Bowl receiver Rod Smith to retirement and Jason Elam, the team's career scoring leader, to free agency, leaving 37-year-old center Tom Nalen and his balky left knee as the lone remaining link to the team's glory days.

Adding to the vacuum in locker room leadership was the departure of nine-time Pro Bowl safety John Lynch, who agreed to a pay cut for a reduced role this winter but asked for his release just days into training camp when he found himself a second-stringer for the first time in his career.

Despite all the alterations, Shanahan went on the air to declare that the Broncos would make the playoffs in 2008, a bold statement from the calculating 55-year-old coach whose teams have won just one playoff game in the last decade.

As defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban pointed out, such statements are usually the domain of rookies who don't know better. But Shanahan set the bar high for a young team that's not drawing such lofty expectations anywhere outside Dove Valley.

"The man has the right to make a statement like that," cornerback Dre' Bly said. "It's up to us. We understand the scheme. All we have to do is execute it."

And what if they don't?

What if this season is but another small step back to respectability and not the big leap he predicts?

Does Shanahan, who's been on the job longer than any other NFL coach besides Tennessee's Jeff Fisher, get shown the door after 14 seasons in Denver?

Don't bet on it.

"I don't put pressure on him and say, 'If we don't win 11 games ...'" Bowlen said. "There are so many variables, such as injuries and bad luck. You can't say, 'If we don't do this, this is going to happen.'"

Bowlen said he has complete faith in the direction of the team under Shanahan and didn't have a problem with the firing of Sundquist, Bowlen's hand-picked deputy.

Shanahan, who is 138-83 in 13 seasons in Denver, feels the heat to turn things around quickly.

"I think anybody that's in this profession always understands they're in the hot seat," he said. "That's the nature of this game. The reason you stay with the job that you have is because you win. And if you don't win, you don't keep your job."

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/aug/25/shanahan-retools-broncos

Lonestar
08-27-2008, 03:55 PM
Coach promises team will make playoffs this year.

ENGLEWOOD -- While the architects were designing the bowling alley and racquetball court at his sprawling 35,000-square foot home that started to take shape over the winter, Mike Shanahan went to work remodeling the Denver Broncos.

Shanahan has lasted a quarter century in the NFL by constantly making changes to keep the game from passing him by, and this offseason was filled with more revisions than usual.

He engineered a front office shake-up, a roster retooling and a coaching staff makeover in response to a second straight campaign without a playoff berth and the team's first losing season since 1999. That's when the franchise was going through the John Elway retirement hangover after two successful Super Bowl trips.

Jettisoned were general manager Ted Sundquist, defensive boss Jim Bates, recalcitrant receiver Javon Walker, troubled tailback Travis Henry and aloof linebacker Ian Gold, among many others.

After getting burned by high-risk, high-reward signings such as those of Walker, Henry and Todd Sauerbrun, Shanahan and owner Pat Bowlen focused on character in their offseason additions, which included Boss Bailey, Niko Koutouvides, Marlon McCree, Ryan Clady and Eddie Royal.

Then there were some of the not-so-easy goodbyes to the likes of perennial Pro Bowl receiver Rod Smith to retirement and Jason Elam, the team's career scoring leader, to free agency, leaving 37-year-old center Tom Nalen and his balky left knee as the lone remaining link to the team's glory days.

Adding to the vacuum in locker room leadership was the departure of nine-time Pro Bowl safety John Lynch, who agreed to a pay cut for a reduced role this winter but asked for his release just days into training camp when he found himself a second-stringer for the first time in his career.

Despite all the alterations, Shanahan went on the air to declare that the Broncos would make the playoffs in 2008, a bold statement from the calculating 55-year-old coach whose teams have won just one playoff game in the last decade.

As defensive end Ebenezer Ekuban pointed out, such statements are usually the domain of rookies who don't know better. But Shanahan set the bar high for a young team that's not drawing such lofty expectations anywhere outside Dove Valley.

"The man has the right to make a statement like that," cornerback Dre' Bly said. "It's up to us. We understand the scheme. All we have to do is execute it."

And what if they don't?

What if this season is but another small step back to respectability and not the big leap he predicts?

Does Shanahan, who's been on the job longer than any other NFL coach besides Tennessee's Jeff Fisher, get shown the door after 14 seasons in Denver?

Don't bet on it.

"I don't put pressure on him and say, 'If we don't win 11 games ...'" Bowlen said. "There are so many variables, such as injuries and bad luck. You can't say, 'If we don't do this, this is going to happen.'"

Bowlen said he has complete faith in the direction of the team under Shanahan and didn't have a problem with the firing of Sundquist, Bowlen's hand-picked deputy. Shanahan, who is 138-83 in 13 seasons in Denver, feels the heat to turn things around quickly.

"I think anybody that's in this profession always understands they're in the hot seat," he said. "That's the nature of this game. The reason you stay with the job that you have is because you win. And if you don't win, you don't keep your job."

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/aug/25/shanahan-retools-broncos



I particularity like the comment about TED having been Pat's hand picked GM. I always wondered how that happened I never thought he was all that terrific no wonder mikey finally got him....