Jack Del Rio goes 3-1 as Broncos coach, impresses John Elway

[Denver Native (Carol)]

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jack Del Rio tried to succeed as an NFL head coach while his team played against Peyton Manning twice a year.

Del Rio found the goal easier to attain when Manning was on his side playing quarterback. Filling in for John Fox during the most difficult stretch of the Broncos' schedule, Del Rio posted an impressive 3-1 record as interim head coach.

When the team plane landed back in Denver on Sunday night, Del Rio's job as boss was done. Fox will be back Monday morning as head coach while Del Rio returns to his full-time role as defensive coordinator.

"He has great command in team meetings, addressing the team and you can tell he has been an experienced head coach," Manning said of Del Rio.

rest - http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_24635285/jack-del-rio-broncos-coach-john-elway

[wayninja]

He was a good fill in for fox, even going 0-2 on challenges as an homage.

[tomjonesrocks]

No offense to JDR, but I frankly wasn't that impressed.

He's a great D-Coordinator. But the (historic) Pats loss, the way it happened, was inexcusable. I thought he looked like a deer in headlights when Brady started heating up.

Fox, despite his flaws, acts like a tough SOB out there. Like a leader of men. I don't think JDR has what he has.

The D came thru today after a very rough start, so he deserves credit. Still, I don't think I want him as HC of this team. JMO.

[Shazam!]

I do think players respond to him because he was a good LB not too long ago. He understands from their perspective.

[Captain Speardog]

Congrats to Del Rio. I know most of us stated that we would be satisfied if Denver made it through this four game stretch at 3-1 and we did. We are in the driver's seat in the AFC and life is a bowl of peaches.

Nothing but respect to JDR.

[Joel]

He was a good fill in for fox, even going 0-2 on challenges as an homage.
Didn't he win some against SD or in the first KC game though? Honestly don't remember; maybe they were just calls we all thought were WORTH risking (like todays) rather than Foxs "that first down wasn't a first down by as much as you said, and I'm gonna blow one of my maximum-three challenges debating it, so I can lose a time out and only have one challenge left if I'm wrong."

Bottom line though is still that Del Rio went 3-1 in 3/4 of our toughest regular season games, all back-to-back, and nearly won all four despite last weeks awful passing and devastating second half injuries. That's with a team designed to run someone elses style, and practicing it weekly for two years.

The offense is almost entirely Manning, so we're mainly talking D (only fair, since it's Del Rios strength,) but in his one loss his D had to compensate for losing its best DB and DT, while defending two short fields thanks to that offense. By the fourth quarter they somehow managed to do it, allowing Brady only a FG (on one of those short fields) for nearly two full periods at the end. Really, that should've been more than enough after TAKING 17 pts from Brady before the first quarter was half done.

The one glaring flaw is special teams, which have been horrible. Holliday's no longer a threat to anyone but us, but that's been a periodic problem. Worse, we gave up the longest play in the Chiefs 50+ year history on a kick return that nearly put us away early, and they had some nice returns in the last game, as did NE last week; all OUR return game did was get DRC sidelined for at least a game and a half, then give away the NE game when just fielding the kick cleanly all but assured us at least a tie.

[Northman]

I dont know if that is good or bad. Was he expecting less? I mean JDR is basically Bubby Brister. He's given the keys to a Ferrari, dont screw up basically. lol

[Broncolingus]

3-1 over that stretch was a good job, so I'll give him some props...

Does the NE loss add an asterisk to it? I honestly don't know...

I think that regular season success is great, but I think most fans (not Donksters) want to see some sustained success in the postseason...

JMO...

[Northman]

3-1 over that stretch was a good job, so I'll give him some props...

Does the NE loss add an asterisk to it? I honestly don't know...

I think that regular season success is great, but I think most fans (not Donksters) want to see some sustained success in the postseason...

JMO...


Well, if you ask the Texans i guess the Pats cheated at halftime and knew that we would turn it back over 3 times to lose that game.

[Broncolingus]

Well, if you ask the Texans i guess the Pats cheated at halftime and knew that we would turn it back over 3 times to lose that game.

Ha!

I read that too and was going to put that in my post :D

[BroncoWave]

Food for thought:

When JDR took over we were in second place in the AFCW and in the 5 seed. As he hands the keys back to Fox we are in first place and in control of the 1 seed. I don't see how anyone could have any problem with that.

[Dapper Dan]

He'll do great at USC.

[Dapper Dan]

Food for thought:

When JDR took over we were in second place in the AFCW and in the 5 seed. As he hands the keys back to Fox we are in first place and in control of the 1 seed. I don't see how anyone could have any problem with that.

I'm sure it would have happened with Fox. We finally played KC.

[BroncoWave]

I'm sure it would have happened with Fox. We finally played KC.

No doubt. I'm just saying maybe JDR did a little better job than some are giving him credit for. Pretty much everyone agreed that getting out of the KC-NE-KC stretch 2-1 would be a great accomplishment, and we did just that. Yes the fashion of the one loss was ugly, but it is what it is. We are still in the driver's seat for the one seed.

[artie_dale]

I'm pleased that an interim HC that coached during the toughest of any 4 game stretch for any team, finished 3-1. And the team we lost to, in the cold, rarely loses at home. Whether it was a defensive collapse, offensive collapse, special teams collapse, or coaching collapse, NE is no push over and home field advantage is a real thing for them.

Not too shabby. I'm ready for this defense to be more consistent and be a more dominate force, the way I've expected them to eventually be all season. But maybe, I'm delusional.

[Dapper Dan]

No doubt. I'm just saying maybe JDR did a little better job than some are giving him credit for. Pretty much everyone agreed that getting out of the KC-NE-KC stretch 2-1 would be a great accomplishment, and we did just that. Yes the fashion of the one loss was ugly, but it is what it is. We are still in the driver's seat for the one seed.

I'm not sure if that had to do with coaching. It was going to be great to go 2-1 regardless of the coach. I'm sure there were still people doubting him.

[Denver Native (Carol)]

Food for thought:

When JDR took over we were in second place in the AFCW and in the 5 seed. As he hands the keys back to Fox we are in first place and in control of the 1 seed. I don't see how anyone could have any problem with that.

Also, when JDR took over, he had/kept the duties of DC, besides taking over the HC position - managing the game on the field, etc. On game day, he was doing two jobs. I think he did an outstanding job. As far as the offense, that was up to Gase/Manning.

[Captain Speardog]

I dont know if that is good or bad. Was he expecting less? I mean JDR is basically Bubby Brister. He's given the keys to a Ferrari, dont screw up basically. lol

He swept a 9-0 and 9-2 KC team and went on the road and beat a pretty tough S.D. team... yeah he deserves some props just like Bubby did. Watch the 1998 games again Bubby played fabulously. Who had the better AT KC game I wonder Bubby or JDR? LOL they were both pretty great.

[Joel]

I dont know if that is good or bad. Was he expecting less? I mean JDR is basically Bubby Brister. He's given the keys to a Ferrari, dont screw up basically. lol
When Del Rio took over we were coming off a bye facing a decent divisional opponent on the road followed by three games (two on the road) against opponents with a combined record of 16-2. We had to play an unbeaten divisional opponent (who already led us by a game) twice in three weeks, once at their house, with a visit to Foxborough in the middle. When the dust cleared, the only reason we weren't 4-0 through the toughest part of our season was that Manning and our special teams collapsed @NE.

I DO fault Del Rio for the special teams gaffes over the past month, but otherwise, what more could any reasonable person expect out of our last 4 games than 3-1, with a 2 game lead over the rest of the divison and 1 game over the rest of the conference. This whole team is premised on PFM being PFM and the rest being just good enough to make up the difference; they've been that in every game under Del Rio, and even when PFM morphed into Christian Ponder we STILL almost won thanks to the D scoring 17 pts and allowing only a FG in the final two periods.

I've questioned our discipline, our focus, concentration and consistency, but that was in question long before Del Rio took over (he wasn't in charge for the 4 TO Indy game, for example.) In terms of what's happened on Del Rios watch, I can only reiterate: If the results aren't good enough, what WOULD be?