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claymore
10-05-2009, 10:48 AM
DENVER – To those of us who concluded that the Denver Broncos’ tumultuous offseason foreshadowed a meltdown of mile-high proportions, the final two minutes of Sunday’s game at Invesco Field provided some of the most surreal scenes imaginable.

With the score tied late in the fourth quarter and 76,440 fans screaming, quarterback Kyle Orton(notes) dropped back in the pocket, cocked his lightly regarded right arm and delivered a brisk pass more than 20 yards downfield to the right sideline. Reaching above Dallas Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman(notes), Denver wideout Brandon Marshall(notes) – the trouble-prone player whose childish behavior on the practice field in late August got him a nine-day suspension for insubordination – made a terrific catch, cut to the middle of the field and darted back to his right, spinning away five defenders to complete a spectacular 51-yard touchdown reception.


And then, naturally, Marshall and rookie coach Josh McDaniels hugged on the sidelines, a scene that a month ago seemed as likely as Brett Favre(notes) and Packers general manager Ted Thompson taking simultaneous sips out of the same milkshake glass.


Slurppppppppppp.


Weirder still was the sight of the Broncos, by far the NFL’s most surprising team through the first quarter of the season, relying on the league’s stingiest defense to close out the game. First safety Brian Dawkins(notes), a Philadelphia Eagles castoff eight days shy of his 36th birthday, ran down 24-year-old Cowboys wideout Sam Hurd(notes) after a 53-yard fourth-down catch-and-run to save a touchdown. Then, with the ball at the Denver 2-yard line and nine seconds remaining, Dallas quarterback Tony Romo(notes) twice tested Champ Bailey(notes), the Broncos’ perennial All-Pro cornerback, by firing crisp passes to Hurd in the end zone.


Not since Romo’s infamous trip to Mexico before the Cowboys’ 2007 playoff defeat to the New York Giants had the quarterback made such a regrettable decision: Bailey broke up both throws, and the Broncos celebrated one of the most inconceivable 4-0 starts in recent NFL memory.


“We’re not supposed to win,” said veteran defensive lineman Vonnie Holliday(notes), who had one of Denver’s five sacks Sunday. “People probably still don’t believe in us. It doesn’t matter. We believe in ourselves.”


The most unbelievable statistic of all: The Broncos have allowed 26 points in four games. To put that in perspective, think back to Denver’s most celebrated victory before Sunday’s, a last-minute win over the San Diego Chargers in Week 2 of the ’08 season – the infamous Ed Hochuli game.


On that day alone, the Broncos gave up 38 points.


Of course, back then Denver also had a young, strong-armed, franchise quarterback in Jay Cutler(notes), and there was no team in football the Broncos couldn’t theoretically outscore.


Then came the colossal collapse at the end of the ’08 season, a three-game losing streak in which Denver allowed 112 points; owner Pat Bowlen’s surprising firing of longtime coach Mike Shanahan; his decision to hire McDaniels, the soon-to-be-33-year-old Bill Belichick protégé; and, most shockingly, the swift collapse of McDaniels’ relationship with Cutler – and the eventual decision to trade the quarterback to the Chicago Bears for multiple draft picks and Orton.


When Marshall, upset over his contract and the team’s misdiagnosis of a hip injury during the ’08 campaign, also asked to be traded in June, it seemed as though the franchise had become a theater of the absurd. The unintentional comedy intensified in late August as Marshall, in a videotaped practice-field hissy fit, provoked his suspension by intentionally knocking passes to the ground and kicking balls across the field rather than hand them to a waiting ball boy.


So yeah, a lot of outsiders like yours truly thought these developments were a harbinger of very bad things to come for McDaniels and the Broncos. In fairness, some current Denver players shared those concerns.


After Sunday’s game, when I asked tight end Tony Scheffler(notes) if he ever questioned the organization’s direction, he smiled and said, “I can’t really comment on that.”


Holliday, signed as a free agent just eight days before the start of the regular season, was more forthcoming about his doubts.


“I was on the outside, too, and believe me I came in with the same questions that you and everybody else had,” Holliday said. “I was thinking, ‘What is going on here?’ Brandon Marshall … Jay Cutler … A young coach with a big ego? Is he out of his mind? What’s he doing out there?”


Holliday, 33, wasn’t sure what to believe. Phone conversations with Dawkins and two of Denver’s other offseason free-agent signees, safety Renaldo Hill(notes) and cornerback Andre’ Goodman(notes) (each of whom was a former Miami Dolphins teammate of Holliday’s), convinced him that despite the drama, McDaniels was a knowledgeable coach who’d gotten most of the team to buy into his program.


Still, before he put pen to ink, Holliday wanted to make sure he felt comfortable with McDaniels. The two men, who happen to be the same age, met in the coach’s office, and Holliday wasn’t shy about sharing his concerns.


“I didn’t know what to expect,” Holliday recalled. “I’ve played a long time, and I wanted to know, ‘What am I signing up for?’ I don’t have time to beat around the bush. I asked him about the Brandon Marshall situation, and he held his ground. He said, ‘Look, this is what I had to do for my team going forward. If you want to be part of this, come on. If not, we’ll go on without you.’


“I respected that. By the time I left his office, I was a believer.”


Not everyone in the Broncos’ locker room was such a quick sell.


“It took a long time for me, actually,” conceded inside linebacker D.J. Williams(notes), whose second-quarter recovery of a Romo fumble (forced by Hill on a blitz) set up Orton’s nine-yard touchdown pass to rookie halfback Knowshon Moreno(notes). “Even up to the second preseason game, we still had a lot of kinks to iron out. But now I’ve bought into what we’re doing, and I love it.”


Before Sunday’s game, it was easy to make the case that the Broncos’ early success was somewhat fraudulent. It took a freakish finish for Denver to pull out its opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Broncos’ next two victories, while convincing, came against the conspicuously inadequate Cleveland Browns and Oakland Raiders.


McDaniels’ team’s mastery of the Cowboys, however, was undeniably legitimate. Offensively, Denver did what it had to do: Orton (20-of-29, 243 yards, two touchdowns) avoided throwing his first interception as a Bronco while backs Moreno, Correll Buckhalter(notes) and LaMont Jordan(notes) ran for a combined 116 yards on 22 carries.


Denver’s defense – coordinated by Mike Nolan, who was fired as the San Francisco 49ers’ coach last October after an unsuccessful three-plus-year stint – was the real story of this game. Coming in Dallas had averaged a league-leading 193.7 rushing yards per game, and 6.8 per attempt; the Cowboys ran for only 74 on 25 carries (2.96 average) on Sunday.


Pass-rushing linebacker Elvis Dumervil(notes) had two sacks to push his season total to eight, tied with the Bengals’ Antwan Odom(notes) for the NFL lead. Bailey made a brilliant, diving interception of a Romo pass at the Denver 3 to end a Cowboys scoring threat early in the third quarter. And, of course, he was a willing and able shutdown specialist on the game’s final two plays.

“I love it,” Bailey said of the Cowboys’ decision to go at him. “Please do it. I want every chance I can to make a play.”


Said Dawkins: “That surprised me both times, for them to challenge a [future] Hall of Famer. I’m glad they did.”


After all, given what has gone down in Denver, no one on the Broncos is in position to question brash behavior. McDaniels and Cutler … McDaniels and Marshall? Apparently it was all a big, silly, overblown misunderstanding that was part of a larger plan to which the rest of us were not privy.


Now, with Belichick and the Patriots coming to town next week, McDaniels is free to bask in the glory of a sizzling start that only he and his players – well, some of his players – saw coming.


At his media session following Sunday’s game, McDaniels was asked about his sideline hug with Marshall and the words they exchanged. While maintaining the requisite secrecy – remember, he learned from Belichick – McDaniels began to giggle, seemingly overwhelmed by the sheer improbability of it all.


Suddenly, Marshall swooped into the room and up to the podium, and he and his coach embraced once again.


“I’m not gonna tell ‘em [about our conversation],” McDaniels said as the wideout walked away. “So don’t you.”


Of course Marshall won’t.


Welcome to the Surreal Life, and don’t bother trying to make sense of it.


All you need to know is that McDaniels and his players believe in one another, and for now, that seems to be enough

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ArWUOzDGAIK0QfuiuOyy5kVDubYF?slug=ms-morningrush100509&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Good article.

Day1BroncoFan
10-05-2009, 10:59 AM
Great article, thanks. :D

Dirk
10-05-2009, 11:26 AM
Nice read! Thanks Clay!

I am still riding on cloud nine! I love how this team has turned it around!

Kudos to McD and his winning ways!

TXBRONC
10-05-2009, 11:34 AM
All I know is that if Denver can clean up the mistakes they're going to beat a few more of those team on our schedule that they're suppose to lose too.

claymore
10-05-2009, 11:41 AM
All I know is that if Denver can clean up the mistakes they're going to beat a few more of those team on our schedule that they're suppose to lose too.

If we can start clicking on offense, we are scary.

Zweems56
10-05-2009, 12:05 PM
If we can start clicking on offense, we are scary.

What happened to negative nancy?

LRtagger
10-05-2009, 12:33 PM
Claymore are you on board the gravytrain?

claymore
10-05-2009, 12:34 PM
What happened to negative nancy?


Claymore are you on board the gravytrain?

I still think Orton is the weak link. But, I am happy with our defense. I believe in them.

The Glue Factory
10-05-2009, 04:10 PM
Suddenly, Marshall swooped into the room and up to the podium, and he and his coach embraced once again.


“I’m not gonna tell ‘em [about our conversation],” McDaniels said as the wideout walked away. “So don’t you.”


I wonder if that includes a personal bet between the two? :listen:

WARHORSE
10-05-2009, 05:29 PM
Theres still some adversity to endure that will come from losing..............possibly.

But as I stated before..........sans the Cutler fiasco..........I love everything Ive seen so far from McD.