2005 Pittsburgh Penguins and 2007 Denver Broncos similarities

[East Coast Fan]

These are my favorite teams in hockey and fottball and have been for over 30 years each, and I got to thinking that we are in a similar situation as the Penguins were 2 years ago. I'll explain: two years ago, it seemed like every couple of weeks the Pens were signing new players-BIG name players like Sergei Gonchar, Mark Recchi, Ziggy Palffy and more. I remember thinking "this is unbelievable-they should be a real good team". Well they WEREN'T-the new players didn't gel, even though they were all experienced, good players. What the Pens did was keep only those veteran players for experience and leadership who they thought would fit their "system" and they went with youth-good young players-and built the team up from there, and today are among the better teams in hockey. Just thinking that perhaps Denver should follow this lead-keep only those veteran players that are an "asset" to the team and build around Cutler and hopefully have a team that would be together for the future. It's just a thought...

[Joel]

We didn't really sign that many vets though. Adams, who's probably gone after this season regardless, Bly, who should remain an enduring presence and doesn't seem to be disrupting chemistry, Stokley, who's got a good shot of sticking, Graham, who instantly became our best tight end. And Henry, of course, but I'm pretty much resigned to the fact he's done in Denver. There's Holland and McKinley of course, but their history is such they'll stand or fall on their talent alone anyway. Two of the vets we signed are probably gone after this season automatically, leaving five others, only three of whom are really big name players, though I certainly won't complain if McKinley and/or Holland change that in the near future; McKinleys stats from the brief times he was healthy in Cleveland seem to show he might be able to do so, but I'm kinda hoping he's rotating with Thomas beside a couple of drafted NTs next year, unless Adams is good enough and healthy enough to stick around and rotate with a drafted NT.

[gobroncsnv]

Mo-bar, did you mean NT, in that you think we'll be switching to 3-4, or did you mis-spell DT?
Anyway, we did indeed sign some vets who could help us at the offense "weapon" type players (Graham, Stokes, and Henry oh well), and Bly at corner. And I do think we drafted some folks who will help us on the line (Thomas, Crowder, Moss, Harris), it's just that the system we seem to run here limits the reps a rook can get in playing time during the season. Even Pryce wasn't a complete regular his first year. So I still think we have more to do on our front 4, and oline...
But THAT said, I think we're looking at LB this next year. If we found a way to move DJ back to WILL, he would shine again. Wouldn't mind if he proved me wrong, but I'm just not sure he has the instincts at MIKE. He has talent, and speed, no doubt, but needs to learn to read the ball better, like a great centerfielder. He makes a lot of tackles, but way too many are downfield.
Then again, maybe the whole defense is still having to think too much. Gap responsibility takes time to learn.