Denver Native (Carol)
10-22-2009, 11:13 AM
http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_13613757
It's beginning to look like my prediction of a 5-11 Broncos season will be slightly off the mark.
Math was never my strong suit, but I've consulted experts, and they tell me it would be hard to get there from 6-0. So it's probably a good time to fire my research assistant and blame bad information.
Unfortunately, I don't have a research assistant, a fact that becomes more obvious all the time.
I've made a lot of erroneous forecasts over the years — an occupational hazard — but seldom this erroneous. This is forecasting 30 and snow and getting 80 and sun. So I could always be a TV weatherman.
But seriously. The rest of the NFL's first-year coaches are a combined 10-25, which makes what Josh McDaniels has done in Denver all the more amazing.
So I hydroplaned down to Dove Valley to see if McDaniels, in the relative relaxation of a bye week, would open up a little about how he has done it. And he did, speaking to the wretches for more than half an hour.
My first question was how a new roster and new coaching staff could come together so quickly. His answer was that he had tried to make the best decision in the case of every signing, every hire, every draft pick.
I assume other coaches try to make their best decisions too, so this didn't really help me. The question remained why McDaniels' decisions have come out so much better than, say, Todd Haley's.
My next question was about the halftime adjustments that have produced the Broncos' ridiculous 76-10 second-half advantage through the first six weeks. Here, McDaniels helped.
He started by saying there are no knee-jerk reactions, no overhauls to the game plan, just pointed, specific corrections and adjustments. Then he went on:
"I think one of the biggest keys to our success in the second half, not only have we been in good condition and been able to play hard for 60 minutes, but we have smart players that you can actually tell them something at halftime and not practice it and then go out there and execute it.
"Whether some other team can do that or not, I don't know, but I think that's really been a key to our success in terms of the adjustments that we have made, is that we don't need to go out there and have a walkthrough in order to make it go right.
"Whether it be defensively, offensively or in the kicking game, those guys have been able to take the information, go out there, process it and then just play. And it has worked. And it's made some big differences in the second half of games."
Since his arrival, McDaniels has talked repeatedly about collecting tough, smart, versatile players, but that's what everybody talks about. What coach doesn't want tough, smart, versatile players?
The difference is McDaniels' emphasis on the smart part. Intelligence is not a luxury in his complicated system; it's a necessity. And his team's ability to process information has turned into a big advantage so far. It helps to explain not only the second-half domination but the enormous defensive improvement.
Which was my next question. He described a holistic defensive approach in which all the coaches watch film of the upcoming opponent together and share ideas, coming up with a general strategy. Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan translates the strategy into a game plan.
That makes each defensive game plan, like each offensive game plan, completely original, tailored to that week and disposable immediately afterward. This is different from most teams in the NFL, which employ similar tactics, playing to their defensive strengths, week after week.
As New England's offensive coordinator, McDaniels was known for coming up with original offensive game plans and packages each week. With the assistance of offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, he has done the same in Denver.
But McDaniels has extended that practice to the defense. When I asked him if the defensive game plan changes as much week to week as the offensive game plan, he nodded.
"Similar," he said. "Similar. It really does. Again, it's whatever we feel like we've got to do to win."
Evidently, it took Pat Bowlen and Joe Ellis only about a week to figure this out. It took me a little longer.
Top to bottom, the Broncos are smarter than your average football team. They're also well- conditioned and well-coached, but it's the team intelligence that has set them apart so far.
Luckily, that's not nearly as important in this job.
It's beginning to look like my prediction of a 5-11 Broncos season will be slightly off the mark.
Math was never my strong suit, but I've consulted experts, and they tell me it would be hard to get there from 6-0. So it's probably a good time to fire my research assistant and blame bad information.
Unfortunately, I don't have a research assistant, a fact that becomes more obvious all the time.
I've made a lot of erroneous forecasts over the years — an occupational hazard — but seldom this erroneous. This is forecasting 30 and snow and getting 80 and sun. So I could always be a TV weatherman.
But seriously. The rest of the NFL's first-year coaches are a combined 10-25, which makes what Josh McDaniels has done in Denver all the more amazing.
So I hydroplaned down to Dove Valley to see if McDaniels, in the relative relaxation of a bye week, would open up a little about how he has done it. And he did, speaking to the wretches for more than half an hour.
My first question was how a new roster and new coaching staff could come together so quickly. His answer was that he had tried to make the best decision in the case of every signing, every hire, every draft pick.
I assume other coaches try to make their best decisions too, so this didn't really help me. The question remained why McDaniels' decisions have come out so much better than, say, Todd Haley's.
My next question was about the halftime adjustments that have produced the Broncos' ridiculous 76-10 second-half advantage through the first six weeks. Here, McDaniels helped.
He started by saying there are no knee-jerk reactions, no overhauls to the game plan, just pointed, specific corrections and adjustments. Then he went on:
"I think one of the biggest keys to our success in the second half, not only have we been in good condition and been able to play hard for 60 minutes, but we have smart players that you can actually tell them something at halftime and not practice it and then go out there and execute it.
"Whether some other team can do that or not, I don't know, but I think that's really been a key to our success in terms of the adjustments that we have made, is that we don't need to go out there and have a walkthrough in order to make it go right.
"Whether it be defensively, offensively or in the kicking game, those guys have been able to take the information, go out there, process it and then just play. And it has worked. And it's made some big differences in the second half of games."
Since his arrival, McDaniels has talked repeatedly about collecting tough, smart, versatile players, but that's what everybody talks about. What coach doesn't want tough, smart, versatile players?
The difference is McDaniels' emphasis on the smart part. Intelligence is not a luxury in his complicated system; it's a necessity. And his team's ability to process information has turned into a big advantage so far. It helps to explain not only the second-half domination but the enormous defensive improvement.
Which was my next question. He described a holistic defensive approach in which all the coaches watch film of the upcoming opponent together and share ideas, coming up with a general strategy. Defensive coordinator Mike Nolan translates the strategy into a game plan.
That makes each defensive game plan, like each offensive game plan, completely original, tailored to that week and disposable immediately afterward. This is different from most teams in the NFL, which employ similar tactics, playing to their defensive strengths, week after week.
As New England's offensive coordinator, McDaniels was known for coming up with original offensive game plans and packages each week. With the assistance of offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, he has done the same in Denver.
But McDaniels has extended that practice to the defense. When I asked him if the defensive game plan changes as much week to week as the offensive game plan, he nodded.
"Similar," he said. "Similar. It really does. Again, it's whatever we feel like we've got to do to win."
Evidently, it took Pat Bowlen and Joe Ellis only about a week to figure this out. It took me a little longer.
Top to bottom, the Broncos are smarter than your average football team. They're also well- conditioned and well-coached, but it's the team intelligence that has set them apart so far.
Luckily, that's not nearly as important in this job.