titan
06-11-2009, 11:55 PM
Tonight I attended the May meeting of the Bronco Quarterback Club. They showed the 2008 highlight film and long time Broncos PR man Jim Saccomano answered questions from the group.
The highlight film focused on the young players that are still with the team. Short segments featured Royal, Marshall, Larsen, and Hillis. Some of the big victories were spotlighted, like the San Diego and New Orleans home wins and the Jets and Atlanta road wins. Whoever did the editing did a good job of editing out Cutler wherever they could. In watching the film often I'd see a pass flying in the air and a great catch by Royal, Marshall, etc without seeing who even threw it!
The most interesting part of the highlight film was McDaniels miked up during one of the team's minicamps. In one segment Josh is shown talking to another coach saying "can you believe (Royal) only got the ball 20 times last year on returns???" Then McDaniels is shown going up to Royal saying "you're going to get it 45 times this year!"
After I got home I checked the stats and Royal had 23 kickoff returns last year - so from this I'm guessing we'll see Eddie on alot more kickoff returns this season.
McDaniels is very hands on in his practice sessions. I've seen this in some clips on tv and it is even more emphasized in the highlight film.
After the film, Saccamono did a good job of answering any questions the audience had about the team. Someone asked about Alphonso Smith and Saccamono said "McDaniels likes his cornerbacks to be in the 5'9 to 5'10 range - he thinks 6'1" cornerbacks can't cover the speedy little receivers like the Eddie Royals". (Smith is actually a little shorter than that but you get the idea - McDaniels thinks height is overrated in cornerback play). I asked him if he was surprised Shanahan was fired. He said not really - he knew that Bowlen had been unhappy with the team's performance for quite some time. On the Cutler issue, Sacco thought agent Bus Cook had a big part in it and that the team has "phone records" showing the multiple calls to Cutler with no return calls from Jay. In contrast, Brandon Marshall called McDaniels from the recovery room after Brandon's recent surgery saying "I'll be ok, coach" (Marshall will report on Friday according to Sacco)
Saccamono is a PR guy, not a football coach, so some of the more detailed football questions he dodged (like "what rookies are looking good in camp?"). The qb club is working on getting McDaniels for a future meeting which would be great - I always liked Shanahan's past appearances as it was a chance for the average fan like myself to ask questions direct to the coach.
The highlight film focused on the young players that are still with the team. Short segments featured Royal, Marshall, Larsen, and Hillis. Some of the big victories were spotlighted, like the San Diego and New Orleans home wins and the Jets and Atlanta road wins. Whoever did the editing did a good job of editing out Cutler wherever they could. In watching the film often I'd see a pass flying in the air and a great catch by Royal, Marshall, etc without seeing who even threw it!
The most interesting part of the highlight film was McDaniels miked up during one of the team's minicamps. In one segment Josh is shown talking to another coach saying "can you believe (Royal) only got the ball 20 times last year on returns???" Then McDaniels is shown going up to Royal saying "you're going to get it 45 times this year!"
After I got home I checked the stats and Royal had 23 kickoff returns last year - so from this I'm guessing we'll see Eddie on alot more kickoff returns this season.
McDaniels is very hands on in his practice sessions. I've seen this in some clips on tv and it is even more emphasized in the highlight film.
After the film, Saccamono did a good job of answering any questions the audience had about the team. Someone asked about Alphonso Smith and Saccamono said "McDaniels likes his cornerbacks to be in the 5'9 to 5'10 range - he thinks 6'1" cornerbacks can't cover the speedy little receivers like the Eddie Royals". (Smith is actually a little shorter than that but you get the idea - McDaniels thinks height is overrated in cornerback play). I asked him if he was surprised Shanahan was fired. He said not really - he knew that Bowlen had been unhappy with the team's performance for quite some time. On the Cutler issue, Sacco thought agent Bus Cook had a big part in it and that the team has "phone records" showing the multiple calls to Cutler with no return calls from Jay. In contrast, Brandon Marshall called McDaniels from the recovery room after Brandon's recent surgery saying "I'll be ok, coach" (Marshall will report on Friday according to Sacco)
Saccamono is a PR guy, not a football coach, so some of the more detailed football questions he dodged (like "what rookies are looking good in camp?"). The qb club is working on getting McDaniels for a future meeting which would be great - I always liked Shanahan's past appearances as it was a chance for the average fan like myself to ask questions direct to the coach.