dogfish
07-12-2009, 01:57 AM
And my crystal ball is all fogged up. . . Seriously, it’s been forever since the last time the Broncos headed into a season with this many unknowns. I guess that’s what happens when you have the same head coach for fourteen years. How many did Detroit and Oakland go through in that time? Although even the most stable NFL franchises experience noticeable personnel turnover from season to season, in Denver so many things had been consistent from year to year, so much so that fans really had come to take them for granted. Mike Shanahan and his scripted plays. The West Coast offense and the zone blocking scheme. A strong running game. Fast, undersized linebackers. And unfortunately, too much of the poor drafting, cronyism, questionable free agent signings, bad defensive line play, blowout losses in big games and team collapses down the stretch that finally brought Shanahan’s tenure to an end.
Now that’s all gone, the good along with the bad and the ugly. Gone with it are Jay Cutler and a large portion of last year’s roster and coaching staff. The other thing that’s gone is any reliable basis for prediction regarding this year’s Broncos. How do you even guess what’s going to happen with a team that has a new, first-time head coach, new offensive playcaller and defensive coordinator, half a dozen new position coaches, and could potentially begin the season with as few as nine returning starters from last year’s squad? Especially when the team will be running completely new offensive and defensive schemes as well as a new base defensive alignment? Yea, good luck with that one.
The one thing that can be said with accuracy is that the 2009 edition of the Denver Broncos is going to look quite a bit different than former incarnations. Whether that’s a good thing or not remains to be seen. The beatdowns suffered in crunch time over recent seasons won’t be missed, but the almost guaranteed winning record sure could be if things don’t fall right with rookie head coach Josh McDaniels and his grandiose and unconventional schemes. Owner Pat Bowlen took a real chance firing Shanahan. Many felt that it needed to be done, but plenty of owners would have been more than content to win more games than they lost and keep their stadium filled. We’ll see shortly if Bowlen is an uncompromising visionary, unwilling to settle for mediocrity, a dollars-first business man who was tired of paying Shanahan a huge salary for mediocre results and ready to move on to a new, more profitable business model, or merely an increasingly senile and disconnected drunk.
The answer rides on how well McDaniels executes his ambitious plan. Bowlen could have played it safe, and brought in a defensive-minded head coach to shore up the team’s most glaring weakness while leaving a talent-laden and rapidly improving young offense largely intact. Instead, he succumbed to the lure (and envy) of “the Patriot Way,” and rolled the dice on an unproven supposed boy wonder from New England. McDaniels promptly dismantled a large portion of the team and started rebuilding more or less from the ground up. Coordinators, position coaches and starting players were sent packing with equal abandon, culminating in the controversial Cutlergate fiasco that resulted in the trade of the 25-year-old franchise quarterback. McDaniels also puzzled plenty of league observers, both in free agency when he remodeled the team’s secondary while largely ignoring an exceptionally suspect front seven, and again in the draft where he burned through picks with a complete disregard for conventional wisdom, sacrificing value to make not one but four aggressive moves up. Though some of the moves seem haphazard on casual inspection, it actually does seem that he has a plan. And soon enough, we’ll get to find out whether it was a good one or not.
In a best case scenario, he’ll prove that he really is smarter than the aforementioned conventional wisdom, and his willingness to sacrifice some talent in exchange for a team-first mentality will result in a tougher, more cohesive group of players on the field and replicate, at least to some degree, the success that the system produced in New England. Maybe this year’s Broncos really will come out as a hard-nosed, blue collar bunch that’s hungry to win and willing to do whatever’s necessary to make it happen. Kyle Orton will realize the potential that he flashed in college, flourishing in McDaniels’ offensive scheme with more talent around him than he had in Chicago and proving that his winning record as an NFL starter is no fluke.
Brandon Marshall will eventually report to camp, healthy and ready to work, and put together a dominant season as he plays for a new contract. Eddie Royal will kill it in Welker’s role, and McDaniels will create mismatches all over the field with Tony Scheffler, the dynamic receiving tight end he never had in New England. Our young offensive line will just continue to get better. Bolstered by Daniel Graham and Richard Quinn, they’ll plow open holes for a tough and functional group of backs led by Rookie of the Year Knowshon Moreno. Peyton Hillis will crack skulls as the punishing back end of one of the league’s better one-two punches, as well as excelling as a short-yardage specialist and catching fifty-plus passes out of the backfield. We’ll have weapons all over the field, and Orton will manage the game with smart decisions, spread the ball around and limit mistakes. Our offense will have exceptional balance with the ability to spread the field with four wide and the shotgun formation, or line up and play smashmouth with two tight ends. McDaniels will wow the league with his playcalling, seamlessly integrating all these diverse options into a productive and efficient attack.
You can’t ask for miracles on defense, but in this scenario we’ll at least find that we did enough to improve to a middle of the pack unit that will give us a chance to win, while laying the building blocks for further improvement in the future. Mc Daniels’ analysis, that tackling in the secondary was a major cause of problems last year, will be proven correct. The veteran DBs we brought in from Miami will bring some of that defensive squad’s hard-hitting mentality and professionalism, and the young guns from the draft will make gamechanging plays with their ball skills. Brian Dawkins will have something left in the tank, making some of his trademark big hits while giving us the field general that we’ve lacked since Al Wilson went down. The older guys will add accountability and work ethic to a unit that has folded shamefully under pressure in the past. Champ will be Champ. He’ll come back fully healthy and pick up where he left off before the injury, when he was shutting down Randy Moss.
It’s too much to ask that the front seven become an impact unit, but maybe, just maybe a new coaching staff can get an adequate performance out of this group. The D-line will at least prove capable of being effective cloggers and occupying blockers so the back seven can do their thing relatively unhindered. Fields and Kenny Peterson will respond to their promotion to fulltime starter, and Marcus Thomas will pack on the pounds and continue to improve. Chris Baker will show that he’s past his off-field problems and perform like the high draft pick that many felt he could have been based on talent alone.
D.J. Williams will use his considerable physical gifts to transition effectively to yet another position. Andra Davis will provide a reliable tackling machine. Spencer Larsen’s grit and instincts will play well on the inside of the 3-4, and he’ll challenge Davis for a starting spot by the end of the year. Elvis Dumervil will flourish rushing the passer from a two-point stance instead of banging with offensive tackles every play, and return to the double digit sack form he displayed in 2007. Mike Mayock will be right about Robert Ayers, and he’ll show that he is indeed the best defensive player from this year’s draft class, duplicating his college success at playing tough against the run and making plays behind the line of scrimmage. Ayers will also improve on his college sack numbers to add some much-needed punch to our anemic pass rush, giving us a versatile weapon that can be used effectively all over the field. Maybe a new regime and a few years worth of experience will even produce some results from Jarvis Moss or Tim Crowder. Well, okay. . . let’s not get too carried away here.
Only a blind homer, drunk on unfounded optimism and cheap whisky would expect this defense to turn into the type of unit that can win games on its own, but maybe they can at least display enough heart and toughness to be competitive, force some turnovers here and there, and generally just not give up the ass like a five dollar whore on two-for-one night down on Colfax. Even some marginal improvement could go a long ways at this point.
Same goes for the special teams. Maybe Prater comes back and plays the whole year the way he started ’08, drilling 50-plus yarders and pounding kickoffs out the back of the end zone. Eddie Royal builds on the flashes he showed last year as a returner, and gets a chance to really show how dangerous he can be when he actually gets a few blocks to spring him to some open field. Guys like David Bruton and Darrell Reid bring some nastiness to the coverage units, and we stop getting torched by all-too-frequent breakdowns that leave the opposition starting drives around midfield.
None of these things are impossible, or even all that improbable on an individual basis. Things would have to shake out just about perfectly for it to all come together like that, but it can happen. Ask the Atlanta Falcons or the Miami Dolphins.
Now that’s all gone, the good along with the bad and the ugly. Gone with it are Jay Cutler and a large portion of last year’s roster and coaching staff. The other thing that’s gone is any reliable basis for prediction regarding this year’s Broncos. How do you even guess what’s going to happen with a team that has a new, first-time head coach, new offensive playcaller and defensive coordinator, half a dozen new position coaches, and could potentially begin the season with as few as nine returning starters from last year’s squad? Especially when the team will be running completely new offensive and defensive schemes as well as a new base defensive alignment? Yea, good luck with that one.
The one thing that can be said with accuracy is that the 2009 edition of the Denver Broncos is going to look quite a bit different than former incarnations. Whether that’s a good thing or not remains to be seen. The beatdowns suffered in crunch time over recent seasons won’t be missed, but the almost guaranteed winning record sure could be if things don’t fall right with rookie head coach Josh McDaniels and his grandiose and unconventional schemes. Owner Pat Bowlen took a real chance firing Shanahan. Many felt that it needed to be done, but plenty of owners would have been more than content to win more games than they lost and keep their stadium filled. We’ll see shortly if Bowlen is an uncompromising visionary, unwilling to settle for mediocrity, a dollars-first business man who was tired of paying Shanahan a huge salary for mediocre results and ready to move on to a new, more profitable business model, or merely an increasingly senile and disconnected drunk.
The answer rides on how well McDaniels executes his ambitious plan. Bowlen could have played it safe, and brought in a defensive-minded head coach to shore up the team’s most glaring weakness while leaving a talent-laden and rapidly improving young offense largely intact. Instead, he succumbed to the lure (and envy) of “the Patriot Way,” and rolled the dice on an unproven supposed boy wonder from New England. McDaniels promptly dismantled a large portion of the team and started rebuilding more or less from the ground up. Coordinators, position coaches and starting players were sent packing with equal abandon, culminating in the controversial Cutlergate fiasco that resulted in the trade of the 25-year-old franchise quarterback. McDaniels also puzzled plenty of league observers, both in free agency when he remodeled the team’s secondary while largely ignoring an exceptionally suspect front seven, and again in the draft where he burned through picks with a complete disregard for conventional wisdom, sacrificing value to make not one but four aggressive moves up. Though some of the moves seem haphazard on casual inspection, it actually does seem that he has a plan. And soon enough, we’ll get to find out whether it was a good one or not.
In a best case scenario, he’ll prove that he really is smarter than the aforementioned conventional wisdom, and his willingness to sacrifice some talent in exchange for a team-first mentality will result in a tougher, more cohesive group of players on the field and replicate, at least to some degree, the success that the system produced in New England. Maybe this year’s Broncos really will come out as a hard-nosed, blue collar bunch that’s hungry to win and willing to do whatever’s necessary to make it happen. Kyle Orton will realize the potential that he flashed in college, flourishing in McDaniels’ offensive scheme with more talent around him than he had in Chicago and proving that his winning record as an NFL starter is no fluke.
Brandon Marshall will eventually report to camp, healthy and ready to work, and put together a dominant season as he plays for a new contract. Eddie Royal will kill it in Welker’s role, and McDaniels will create mismatches all over the field with Tony Scheffler, the dynamic receiving tight end he never had in New England. Our young offensive line will just continue to get better. Bolstered by Daniel Graham and Richard Quinn, they’ll plow open holes for a tough and functional group of backs led by Rookie of the Year Knowshon Moreno. Peyton Hillis will crack skulls as the punishing back end of one of the league’s better one-two punches, as well as excelling as a short-yardage specialist and catching fifty-plus passes out of the backfield. We’ll have weapons all over the field, and Orton will manage the game with smart decisions, spread the ball around and limit mistakes. Our offense will have exceptional balance with the ability to spread the field with four wide and the shotgun formation, or line up and play smashmouth with two tight ends. McDaniels will wow the league with his playcalling, seamlessly integrating all these diverse options into a productive and efficient attack.
You can’t ask for miracles on defense, but in this scenario we’ll at least find that we did enough to improve to a middle of the pack unit that will give us a chance to win, while laying the building blocks for further improvement in the future. Mc Daniels’ analysis, that tackling in the secondary was a major cause of problems last year, will be proven correct. The veteran DBs we brought in from Miami will bring some of that defensive squad’s hard-hitting mentality and professionalism, and the young guns from the draft will make gamechanging plays with their ball skills. Brian Dawkins will have something left in the tank, making some of his trademark big hits while giving us the field general that we’ve lacked since Al Wilson went down. The older guys will add accountability and work ethic to a unit that has folded shamefully under pressure in the past. Champ will be Champ. He’ll come back fully healthy and pick up where he left off before the injury, when he was shutting down Randy Moss.
It’s too much to ask that the front seven become an impact unit, but maybe, just maybe a new coaching staff can get an adequate performance out of this group. The D-line will at least prove capable of being effective cloggers and occupying blockers so the back seven can do their thing relatively unhindered. Fields and Kenny Peterson will respond to their promotion to fulltime starter, and Marcus Thomas will pack on the pounds and continue to improve. Chris Baker will show that he’s past his off-field problems and perform like the high draft pick that many felt he could have been based on talent alone.
D.J. Williams will use his considerable physical gifts to transition effectively to yet another position. Andra Davis will provide a reliable tackling machine. Spencer Larsen’s grit and instincts will play well on the inside of the 3-4, and he’ll challenge Davis for a starting spot by the end of the year. Elvis Dumervil will flourish rushing the passer from a two-point stance instead of banging with offensive tackles every play, and return to the double digit sack form he displayed in 2007. Mike Mayock will be right about Robert Ayers, and he’ll show that he is indeed the best defensive player from this year’s draft class, duplicating his college success at playing tough against the run and making plays behind the line of scrimmage. Ayers will also improve on his college sack numbers to add some much-needed punch to our anemic pass rush, giving us a versatile weapon that can be used effectively all over the field. Maybe a new regime and a few years worth of experience will even produce some results from Jarvis Moss or Tim Crowder. Well, okay. . . let’s not get too carried away here.
Only a blind homer, drunk on unfounded optimism and cheap whisky would expect this defense to turn into the type of unit that can win games on its own, but maybe they can at least display enough heart and toughness to be competitive, force some turnovers here and there, and generally just not give up the ass like a five dollar whore on two-for-one night down on Colfax. Even some marginal improvement could go a long ways at this point.
Same goes for the special teams. Maybe Prater comes back and plays the whole year the way he started ’08, drilling 50-plus yarders and pounding kickoffs out the back of the end zone. Eddie Royal builds on the flashes he showed last year as a returner, and gets a chance to really show how dangerous he can be when he actually gets a few blocks to spring him to some open field. Guys like David Bruton and Darrell Reid bring some nastiness to the coverage units, and we stop getting torched by all-too-frequent breakdowns that leave the opposition starting drives around midfield.
None of these things are impossible, or even all that improbable on an individual basis. Things would have to shake out just about perfectly for it to all come together like that, but it can happen. Ask the Atlanta Falcons or the Miami Dolphins.