Tned
08-22-2012, 02:50 AM
The Tale of Two Johns - can the Broncos rise like a phoenix on the wings of Johns?
By Tned -- On Twitter @BroncosForums
As most Broncos fans know, following the greatest achievement in Broncos history, winning back to back Super Bowls in ’97 and ‘98, the Broncos suffered a 12 year stretch filled with ups and downs, twists and turns. After several years of floundering play, made worse by aging, injured and/or retiring stars, the Broncos finally appeared to be headed back in the right direction, only to experience consecutive embarrassing, blow-out losses to the Peyton Manning led Colts. Then, when again it seemed the ship had been righted and the Broncos reached the AFC Championship game in 2005, fans had their hearts ripped out when the Broncos were thoroughly outclassed in every phase of the game that fateful Sunday by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While most fans thought that things couldn't get worse than those the dark years following the Broncos winning Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII that always seemed to ended either by missing the playoffs or experiencing embarrassing blowouts, the reality was the truly tumultuous years were yet to come.
The final three years of the Shanahan era were marred by late season collapses, assistant coach controversies, and a sense among Broncos fans, and obviously Pat Bowlen, that it was time to move on. The Broncos needed a new leader. After missing the playoffs for three straight years, and having a .500 record during that stretch, it was time for the Broncos to move in a new direction.
So, Pat Bowlen, Joe Ellis and their search committee looked at candidates and ultimately fell in love with Josh McDaniels. How could any long term Broncos fan not. He was a young Mike Shanahan reincarnate. A young, offensive genius coming from a team where he was mentored by a great head coach. The stars were aligned – the Broncos had captured lightening in a bottle a second time. Fourteen years after Pat Bowlen had hired the young whiz, later to be nicknamed the Mastermind, he found a new young kid who on paper was soon to be The Mastermind II.
As they say sports, the game isn't played on paper; it's played on the field. Apparently it isn't coached on paper either.
After an offseason of trading stars away, and getting into public pissing matches with the stars he didn't trade, the Broncos managed a miraculous 6-0 start to the '09 season. It took immaculate deflections, and last second 50 yard, 6 tackle-busting TD catch and runs, and many other lucky breaks and great defensive play to do it, but the naysayers were wrong. McDaniels was magic in a bottle, and he had the Broncos winning.
There finally was a light at the end of the tunnel for the Broncos organization and for Broncos fans. Of course, we now know that the light we saw was from an oncoming train.
The Broncos only managed two wins in the final 10 games of the '09 season, and only managed to win three of the their first 12 games in 2010, before Pat Bowlen pulled the plug. The McDaniels era included the worst 22 game stretch in Broncos history, and overall McDaniels .393 winning percentage was the worst by a Broncos head coach in 37 years.
How could the Broncos have fallen so far, so fast? A team that hadn't had to use the dreaded "rebuilding" word since Pat Bowlen bought the team in 1983, found themselves as the second worst team in the NFL. The only team worse in 2010 was the John Fox led Carolina Panthers.
Pat Bowlen, and his right hand man Joe Ellis, had to find a way to right the ship and do it quickly. The Broncos had gone five years without making the playoffs. Suffered through the worst losing stretch in Broncos history, and watched fan apathy reach an all-time high.
Bowlen turned to a man that led the Broncos to five Super Bowls, winning two of them, the unquestioned comeback kid. If John Elway was going to pull this comeback off, it would be his greatest since The Drive.
Elway turned to the man that coached the only team worse than the Broncos in 2010, and decided that if he was going to turn the Broncos around, that John Fox was the perfect guy to partner with to get the job done.
Fast forward 18 months, the Broncos opened the 2012 training camp with a revamped roster, which included the biggest free agent signing in the history of the NFL, and fan excitement at or near historic levels. The broncos shattered attendance records at training camp and the Broncos team scrimmage held at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
However, that fan excitement, that signing of the biggest free agent of all time, that taste of success that came from the Broncos winning a playoff game at home in ‘2011--- that had led to very lofty fan expectations.
While excitement is very high overall, some fans remain pessimistic about a true playoff run, and forget actually winning the Super Bowl this year, because of Peyton Manning’s year away from football, or concerns about his age or arm strength, or even if they think the offense will be fine, they don’t believe the defense is championship caliber.
Yet, while some fans are pessimistic, most fans believe that the Broncos have a very small window, maybe only a couple years, to win with Peyton – to have the $96 million man lead the Broncos back to the promised land and return home with the Lombardi Trophy.
Can the Broncos win it all this year? Have the two Johns created a Manning led Phoenix that can rise from the ash covered ruins left over from McDaniel’s brief, but destructive, tenure as the Broncos head coach and de facto GM?
If the Broncos are going to win, they will have to do it while facing a murderer’s row of opponents in the first half of the season, with six of their eight opponents playoff teams from last year. They will visit a seventh playoff team later in the year, when they visit the always tough to beat at home, Baltimore Ravens.
If the two Johns and their $96 million man are going to make the playoffs, not to mention making a deep playoff run, they will first have to survive the first half of their schedule. They will have to do this with a once great QB that is still regaining arm strength and shaking off the rust of a year away from football and four neck surgeries. They will have to do it with a defense struggling to gel with a retooled secondary and defensive line, and who are working under the tutelage of the Broncos 7th defensive coordinator in 7 years. They will have to do it with a running game that failed to flourish last season without the use of the parlor trick known as the “read option,” and that has failed to find its legs in the first two preseason games this year.
A lot will have to go right this year, including a lack of injuries to a team with little depth at most positions, If the two Johns are going to achieve their ultimate goal this year, which is for John Elway to lift the Lombardi and say “this one’s for Pat!”
John Elway, the Comeback Kid, led the Broncos to 34 fourth quarter comebacks. Yet, a Super Bowl win this year might be his greatest comeback of all.
By Tned -- On Twitter @BroncosForums
As most Broncos fans know, following the greatest achievement in Broncos history, winning back to back Super Bowls in ’97 and ‘98, the Broncos suffered a 12 year stretch filled with ups and downs, twists and turns. After several years of floundering play, made worse by aging, injured and/or retiring stars, the Broncos finally appeared to be headed back in the right direction, only to experience consecutive embarrassing, blow-out losses to the Peyton Manning led Colts. Then, when again it seemed the ship had been righted and the Broncos reached the AFC Championship game in 2005, fans had their hearts ripped out when the Broncos were thoroughly outclassed in every phase of the game that fateful Sunday by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While most fans thought that things couldn't get worse than those the dark years following the Broncos winning Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII that always seemed to ended either by missing the playoffs or experiencing embarrassing blowouts, the reality was the truly tumultuous years were yet to come.
The final three years of the Shanahan era were marred by late season collapses, assistant coach controversies, and a sense among Broncos fans, and obviously Pat Bowlen, that it was time to move on. The Broncos needed a new leader. After missing the playoffs for three straight years, and having a .500 record during that stretch, it was time for the Broncos to move in a new direction.
So, Pat Bowlen, Joe Ellis and their search committee looked at candidates and ultimately fell in love with Josh McDaniels. How could any long term Broncos fan not. He was a young Mike Shanahan reincarnate. A young, offensive genius coming from a team where he was mentored by a great head coach. The stars were aligned – the Broncos had captured lightening in a bottle a second time. Fourteen years after Pat Bowlen had hired the young whiz, later to be nicknamed the Mastermind, he found a new young kid who on paper was soon to be The Mastermind II.
As they say sports, the game isn't played on paper; it's played on the field. Apparently it isn't coached on paper either.
After an offseason of trading stars away, and getting into public pissing matches with the stars he didn't trade, the Broncos managed a miraculous 6-0 start to the '09 season. It took immaculate deflections, and last second 50 yard, 6 tackle-busting TD catch and runs, and many other lucky breaks and great defensive play to do it, but the naysayers were wrong. McDaniels was magic in a bottle, and he had the Broncos winning.
There finally was a light at the end of the tunnel for the Broncos organization and for Broncos fans. Of course, we now know that the light we saw was from an oncoming train.
The Broncos only managed two wins in the final 10 games of the '09 season, and only managed to win three of the their first 12 games in 2010, before Pat Bowlen pulled the plug. The McDaniels era included the worst 22 game stretch in Broncos history, and overall McDaniels .393 winning percentage was the worst by a Broncos head coach in 37 years.
How could the Broncos have fallen so far, so fast? A team that hadn't had to use the dreaded "rebuilding" word since Pat Bowlen bought the team in 1983, found themselves as the second worst team in the NFL. The only team worse in 2010 was the John Fox led Carolina Panthers.
Pat Bowlen, and his right hand man Joe Ellis, had to find a way to right the ship and do it quickly. The Broncos had gone five years without making the playoffs. Suffered through the worst losing stretch in Broncos history, and watched fan apathy reach an all-time high.
Bowlen turned to a man that led the Broncos to five Super Bowls, winning two of them, the unquestioned comeback kid. If John Elway was going to pull this comeback off, it would be his greatest since The Drive.
Elway turned to the man that coached the only team worse than the Broncos in 2010, and decided that if he was going to turn the Broncos around, that John Fox was the perfect guy to partner with to get the job done.
Fast forward 18 months, the Broncos opened the 2012 training camp with a revamped roster, which included the biggest free agent signing in the history of the NFL, and fan excitement at or near historic levels. The broncos shattered attendance records at training camp and the Broncos team scrimmage held at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
However, that fan excitement, that signing of the biggest free agent of all time, that taste of success that came from the Broncos winning a playoff game at home in ‘2011--- that had led to very lofty fan expectations.
While excitement is very high overall, some fans remain pessimistic about a true playoff run, and forget actually winning the Super Bowl this year, because of Peyton Manning’s year away from football, or concerns about his age or arm strength, or even if they think the offense will be fine, they don’t believe the defense is championship caliber.
Yet, while some fans are pessimistic, most fans believe that the Broncos have a very small window, maybe only a couple years, to win with Peyton – to have the $96 million man lead the Broncos back to the promised land and return home with the Lombardi Trophy.
Can the Broncos win it all this year? Have the two Johns created a Manning led Phoenix that can rise from the ash covered ruins left over from McDaniel’s brief, but destructive, tenure as the Broncos head coach and de facto GM?
If the Broncos are going to win, they will have to do it while facing a murderer’s row of opponents in the first half of the season, with six of their eight opponents playoff teams from last year. They will visit a seventh playoff team later in the year, when they visit the always tough to beat at home, Baltimore Ravens.
If the two Johns and their $96 million man are going to make the playoffs, not to mention making a deep playoff run, they will first have to survive the first half of their schedule. They will have to do this with a once great QB that is still regaining arm strength and shaking off the rust of a year away from football and four neck surgeries. They will have to do it with a defense struggling to gel with a retooled secondary and defensive line, and who are working under the tutelage of the Broncos 7th defensive coordinator in 7 years. They will have to do it with a running game that failed to flourish last season without the use of the parlor trick known as the “read option,” and that has failed to find its legs in the first two preseason games this year.
A lot will have to go right this year, including a lack of injuries to a team with little depth at most positions, If the two Johns are going to achieve their ultimate goal this year, which is for John Elway to lift the Lombardi and say “this one’s for Pat!”
John Elway, the Comeback Kid, led the Broncos to 34 fourth quarter comebacks. Yet, a Super Bowl win this year might be his greatest comeback of all.