Denver Native (Carol)
10-06-2009, 08:02 PM
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=tsn-broncosclearfocushas&prov=tsn&type=lgns
Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels doesn't put timetables on his process. He never placed limits on what the '09 Broncos could accomplish.
And that didn't change when, in early April, Jay Cutler's wildcat strike successfully bought the mercurial quarterback passage to Chicago.
All over the club's facility, McDaniels' New England-imported slogan—"Do Your Job"—is plastered. The Broncos' 4-0 start is evidence that, despite all the swirling controversy in the Rocky Mountains, the roster the new regime assembled never sidetracked from doing just that.
So how do you tune out all the noise?
With Brian Dawkins cleaning up in the secondary, Denver's defense has been Orange Crush-like.
"It's a simple answer: Those things were a distraction for everyone else, but they weren't a distraction inside this building," McDaniels told Sporting News on Monday night. "That's the bottom line. We were not going to get back into all of that, it was not going to be a distraction.
"We had a clear focus on what we were trying to accomplish. And when everyone else was still talking about that, we were so far past all of it."
And as surprising Denver's 4-0 start is to most, it's really not hard to figure where the Broncos have improved over last year's aesthetically pleasing, efficiency-lacking outfit:
—The defense has been invigorated with Brian Dawkins, Andra Davis and Ronald Fields, among others, coming in, and new coordinator Mike Nolan pushing the buttons. Through four games, the Broncos' defense ranks third in pass defense, fifth in run defense and second in total defense, yielding 239.8 yards per game, 134.8 fewer than last year's 29th-ranked unit.
—The Broncos lead the league with a plus-7 turnover ratio, with 10 takeaways against just three giveaways. Last year, they had a league-worst minus-17 ratio, with 13 takeaways and 30 giveaways.
Then, there's the moxie present that last year's Broncos lacked in their late-season flameout, a product, McDaniels repeats, of the investment his players have made in the '09 season.
That mojo, the coach emphasizes, is a product of another Bill Belichick tenet carried over from New England—being ready for all situations—and it's where McDaniels takes pride in Sunday's win over Dallas that legitimized the Broncos to the nation.
"It's not the quality of the opponent—we've played some good teams, and Dallas is a good team," McDaniels said. "What I enjoyed watching was a team that was behind most of the game, fighting back when it wasn't going well for the offense for a stretch and for the defense. We hung in there.
"We won the turnover battle, and we performed in the fourth quarter when we needed to, scoring 10 points and keeping them out of the end zone. We always talk about situational football. Well, we made a play at the 2 at the end. We won the situation."
And at the end of the victory, it seemed like McDaniels' promise earlier in the offseason—"if we start winning, it won't matter"—crystallized.
No one was talking about Cutler. No one was complaining about Kyle Orton, the everyman more important to the Cutler trade than many realized, being the quarterback.
All is forgiven—for now, at least—in Brandon Marshall's world.
Instead, another malcontented holdover from the Mike Shanahan regime provided the quintessential moment Sunday. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall and McDaniels embraced on the field and later in the media room to celebrate Marshall's 51-yard game-winning catch-and-run touchdown.
"I know this: That was a coach who loves to coach and a player who loves to play on the same team, celebrating a big play in a big game," McDaniels said Monday night. "I enjoyed it. He enjoyed it. … I know he's a guy who loves to practice, who loves to play, and we were both excited to about winning the way we did."
The seeds for the Broncos' success were planted in New England—McDaniels has compared his trade of Cutler to Belichick cutting popular veteran safety Lawyer Milloy before the 2003 title season, using that experience as a guide—and really took root last year.
After McDaniels declined interviews for head coach openings in Baltimore and Atlanta in January '08, Belichick took his young assistant's experience to the next level, giving him insight into things (salary cap, draft, contracts, personnel decisions) that coordinators wouldn't normally get. That provided the foundation for the overall structure of his Denver regime, with Brian Xanders his hand-picked GM and ex-Patriots scouts Keith Kidd and Matt Russell trusted to lead the search for system-specific players.
"My hope is Bill knows I was working my butt off for him," McDaniels said. "I know he was trying to help me, even though it might not help him, because it would eventually lead to me leaving."
And so here we are, McDaniels leading his undefeated Broncos into an AFC showdown with the Patriots on Sunday afternoon, where one team full of tough, smart, versatile players faces another. It's no mistake, either, that McDaniels knows what's possible with that kind of group.
It's why, when so many questioned his work, he set no limits.
Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels doesn't put timetables on his process. He never placed limits on what the '09 Broncos could accomplish.
And that didn't change when, in early April, Jay Cutler's wildcat strike successfully bought the mercurial quarterback passage to Chicago.
All over the club's facility, McDaniels' New England-imported slogan—"Do Your Job"—is plastered. The Broncos' 4-0 start is evidence that, despite all the swirling controversy in the Rocky Mountains, the roster the new regime assembled never sidetracked from doing just that.
So how do you tune out all the noise?
With Brian Dawkins cleaning up in the secondary, Denver's defense has been Orange Crush-like.
"It's a simple answer: Those things were a distraction for everyone else, but they weren't a distraction inside this building," McDaniels told Sporting News on Monday night. "That's the bottom line. We were not going to get back into all of that, it was not going to be a distraction.
"We had a clear focus on what we were trying to accomplish. And when everyone else was still talking about that, we were so far past all of it."
And as surprising Denver's 4-0 start is to most, it's really not hard to figure where the Broncos have improved over last year's aesthetically pleasing, efficiency-lacking outfit:
—The defense has been invigorated with Brian Dawkins, Andra Davis and Ronald Fields, among others, coming in, and new coordinator Mike Nolan pushing the buttons. Through four games, the Broncos' defense ranks third in pass defense, fifth in run defense and second in total defense, yielding 239.8 yards per game, 134.8 fewer than last year's 29th-ranked unit.
—The Broncos lead the league with a plus-7 turnover ratio, with 10 takeaways against just three giveaways. Last year, they had a league-worst minus-17 ratio, with 13 takeaways and 30 giveaways.
Then, there's the moxie present that last year's Broncos lacked in their late-season flameout, a product, McDaniels repeats, of the investment his players have made in the '09 season.
That mojo, the coach emphasizes, is a product of another Bill Belichick tenet carried over from New England—being ready for all situations—and it's where McDaniels takes pride in Sunday's win over Dallas that legitimized the Broncos to the nation.
"It's not the quality of the opponent—we've played some good teams, and Dallas is a good team," McDaniels said. "What I enjoyed watching was a team that was behind most of the game, fighting back when it wasn't going well for the offense for a stretch and for the defense. We hung in there.
"We won the turnover battle, and we performed in the fourth quarter when we needed to, scoring 10 points and keeping them out of the end zone. We always talk about situational football. Well, we made a play at the 2 at the end. We won the situation."
And at the end of the victory, it seemed like McDaniels' promise earlier in the offseason—"if we start winning, it won't matter"—crystallized.
No one was talking about Cutler. No one was complaining about Kyle Orton, the everyman more important to the Cutler trade than many realized, being the quarterback.
All is forgiven—for now, at least—in Brandon Marshall's world.
Instead, another malcontented holdover from the Mike Shanahan regime provided the quintessential moment Sunday. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall and McDaniels embraced on the field and later in the media room to celebrate Marshall's 51-yard game-winning catch-and-run touchdown.
"I know this: That was a coach who loves to coach and a player who loves to play on the same team, celebrating a big play in a big game," McDaniels said Monday night. "I enjoyed it. He enjoyed it. … I know he's a guy who loves to practice, who loves to play, and we were both excited to about winning the way we did."
The seeds for the Broncos' success were planted in New England—McDaniels has compared his trade of Cutler to Belichick cutting popular veteran safety Lawyer Milloy before the 2003 title season, using that experience as a guide—and really took root last year.
After McDaniels declined interviews for head coach openings in Baltimore and Atlanta in January '08, Belichick took his young assistant's experience to the next level, giving him insight into things (salary cap, draft, contracts, personnel decisions) that coordinators wouldn't normally get. That provided the foundation for the overall structure of his Denver regime, with Brian Xanders his hand-picked GM and ex-Patriots scouts Keith Kidd and Matt Russell trusted to lead the search for system-specific players.
"My hope is Bill knows I was working my butt off for him," McDaniels said. "I know he was trying to help me, even though it might not help him, because it would eventually lead to me leaving."
And so here we are, McDaniels leading his undefeated Broncos into an AFC showdown with the Patriots on Sunday afternoon, where one team full of tough, smart, versatile players faces another. It's no mistake, either, that McDaniels knows what's possible with that kind of group.
It's why, when so many questioned his work, he set no limits.