TXBRONC
10-21-2009, 03:59 PM
http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_13605870
McDaniels worth his weight in gold
By Woody Paige
The Denver Post
Posted: 10/21/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
Josh McDaniels is The Golden Bo . . . er . . . The Golden Man.
Everything McMidas has touched with the Broncos has turned to gold: the management crises, the quarterback conundrum, the wide receiver saga, the defensive coordinator appointment, the 3-4 transition.
The Doom switch to linebacker, the Gloom defense, selecting a running back at the top of the draft (and not a defensive lineman), the free-agent acquisitions in the defensive backfield and at running back and wide receiver, the offensive scheme changes.
The miraculous victory in Cincinnati and the impressive late victories against Dallas, New England and San Diego, the return of Eddie Royal to return man and the returns.
The fist pump, the hoodie, the stars and vertically stripes forever.
And a 6-0 start.
Take a breath and take a bye.
Josh McDaniels has become America's Prodi-Gee Whiz . . . Man.
There are seven rookie head coaches in the NFL. McDaniels has more victories than five of the others combined — Rex Ryan (3-3), Todd Haley (1-5), Jim Schwartz (1-5), Steve Spagnuolo (0-6) and Raheem Morris (0-6).
A substantial majority of the crawling slugs (including this mollusk), fans and betting parlors believed McDaniels' record would be among those other first-year coaches going into the bye week.
Only Jim Caldwell is undefeated too, at 5-0, but he was a head coach-in-waiting with the Colts. Caldwell and McDaniels will meet in Week 14. Considering what has happened so far, both still may have perfect records. Caldwell does have Peyton Manning, but McDaniels has Orton Hears a Woo-Hoo.
The 1978 Washington Redskins and the 2003 Minnesota Vikings are the only NFL teams who won their first six games of the season and failed to reach the playoffs.
The Broncos' chances are stronger than sodium borate. By prevailing in five of their remaining 10 (only four against teams with winning records), the Broncos would finish 11-5. But that wasn't quite good enough for McDaniels' former team, the Patriots, to get to the postseason in 2008.
McDaniels' version of Hannibal's march over the Alps has overcome four obstacles (at Oakland, Dallas, New England, at San Diego), with possibly seven more hindrances ahead before the Raiders lurch into Denver during Christmas week.
Maybe, though, McDaniels knew more than the rest of us when, just before the opening of training camp, he chided me for picking the Broncos to have a dirt-poor season. McDaniels said the Broncos would be improved and that the schedule couldn't be based on the results of opponents' performances of last season.
Rather emphatically, with just the two of us in his office, he added, "I've never been a part of a losing season since I began playing football."
He gave me a gargantuan clue. I should have listened. McDaniels' magic number for a winning season is three. The Broncos' magic number for a world championship is 13.
McDaniels' mark since his sophomore year at Canton (Ohio) McKinley High School, when he was a kicker and a backup quarterback, is 17 seasons without a losing or .500 record. (And tack on three earlier seasons in junior high.)
At McKinley, the Bulldogs finished 9-1, 8-2 and 10-3 — McDaniels was the starting quarterback as a junior and a senior — under coach Thom McDaniels, Josh's father. In Josh's final season, 1994, McKinley was edged in overtime, 42-41, by fierce rival Massillon Washington. Josh missed the final extra point, and a local sportswriter stated he "kneeled on the sideline with head bowed."
A few weeks later, in the region final, McDaniels got his revenge against Massillon with the winning touchdown pass — a 47-yard connection with receiver Mark Thewes — and, on a trick halfback pass play, made the two-point conversion catch. Thewes is now the assistant to the Broncos' head coach.
At John Carroll University, McDaniels was converted to wide receiver, and started four years on teams that compiled 6-2-2, 9-1, 10-2 and 8-2 records.
Then-Michigan State coach Nick Saban — who had recruited Ohio, knew McDaniels' father and said recently he "watched Josh carefully for years" — gave the young man a graduate assistant's position. The Spartans ended up 10-2 in 1999. (Saban left before the bowl victory.)
With Saban gone, McDaniels was out of football for a year, then was hired by the Patriots — first in the personnel department, then the coaching staff. The Patriots won 18 games once, 17 twice, 14 twice, 11 twice and nine once from 2001-2008. And, he's 6-0 this year.
His overall record as a player, front-office assistant and coach, from 1992 to 2009, is 187-46-2.
The Man has been golden since he was a boy.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
McDaniels worth his weight in gold
By Woody Paige
The Denver Post
Posted: 10/21/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT
Josh McDaniels is The Golden Bo . . . er . . . The Golden Man.
Everything McMidas has touched with the Broncos has turned to gold: the management crises, the quarterback conundrum, the wide receiver saga, the defensive coordinator appointment, the 3-4 transition.
The Doom switch to linebacker, the Gloom defense, selecting a running back at the top of the draft (and not a defensive lineman), the free-agent acquisitions in the defensive backfield and at running back and wide receiver, the offensive scheme changes.
The miraculous victory in Cincinnati and the impressive late victories against Dallas, New England and San Diego, the return of Eddie Royal to return man and the returns.
The fist pump, the hoodie, the stars and vertically stripes forever.
And a 6-0 start.
Take a breath and take a bye.
Josh McDaniels has become America's Prodi-Gee Whiz . . . Man.
There are seven rookie head coaches in the NFL. McDaniels has more victories than five of the others combined — Rex Ryan (3-3), Todd Haley (1-5), Jim Schwartz (1-5), Steve Spagnuolo (0-6) and Raheem Morris (0-6).
A substantial majority of the crawling slugs (including this mollusk), fans and betting parlors believed McDaniels' record would be among those other first-year coaches going into the bye week.
Only Jim Caldwell is undefeated too, at 5-0, but he was a head coach-in-waiting with the Colts. Caldwell and McDaniels will meet in Week 14. Considering what has happened so far, both still may have perfect records. Caldwell does have Peyton Manning, but McDaniels has Orton Hears a Woo-Hoo.
The 1978 Washington Redskins and the 2003 Minnesota Vikings are the only NFL teams who won their first six games of the season and failed to reach the playoffs.
The Broncos' chances are stronger than sodium borate. By prevailing in five of their remaining 10 (only four against teams with winning records), the Broncos would finish 11-5. But that wasn't quite good enough for McDaniels' former team, the Patriots, to get to the postseason in 2008.
McDaniels' version of Hannibal's march over the Alps has overcome four obstacles (at Oakland, Dallas, New England, at San Diego), with possibly seven more hindrances ahead before the Raiders lurch into Denver during Christmas week.
Maybe, though, McDaniels knew more than the rest of us when, just before the opening of training camp, he chided me for picking the Broncos to have a dirt-poor season. McDaniels said the Broncos would be improved and that the schedule couldn't be based on the results of opponents' performances of last season.
Rather emphatically, with just the two of us in his office, he added, "I've never been a part of a losing season since I began playing football."
He gave me a gargantuan clue. I should have listened. McDaniels' magic number for a winning season is three. The Broncos' magic number for a world championship is 13.
McDaniels' mark since his sophomore year at Canton (Ohio) McKinley High School, when he was a kicker and a backup quarterback, is 17 seasons without a losing or .500 record. (And tack on three earlier seasons in junior high.)
At McKinley, the Bulldogs finished 9-1, 8-2 and 10-3 — McDaniels was the starting quarterback as a junior and a senior — under coach Thom McDaniels, Josh's father. In Josh's final season, 1994, McKinley was edged in overtime, 42-41, by fierce rival Massillon Washington. Josh missed the final extra point, and a local sportswriter stated he "kneeled on the sideline with head bowed."
A few weeks later, in the region final, McDaniels got his revenge against Massillon with the winning touchdown pass — a 47-yard connection with receiver Mark Thewes — and, on a trick halfback pass play, made the two-point conversion catch. Thewes is now the assistant to the Broncos' head coach.
At John Carroll University, McDaniels was converted to wide receiver, and started four years on teams that compiled 6-2-2, 9-1, 10-2 and 8-2 records.
Then-Michigan State coach Nick Saban — who had recruited Ohio, knew McDaniels' father and said recently he "watched Josh carefully for years" — gave the young man a graduate assistant's position. The Spartans ended up 10-2 in 1999. (Saban left before the bowl victory.)
With Saban gone, McDaniels was out of football for a year, then was hired by the Patriots — first in the personnel department, then the coaching staff. The Patriots won 18 games once, 17 twice, 14 twice, 11 twice and nine once from 2001-2008. And, he's 6-0 this year.
His overall record as a player, front-office assistant and coach, from 1992 to 2009, is 187-46-2.
The Man has been golden since he was a boy.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com