Official Denver Broncos Thread

[Salhus]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Yeah. The price tag would be high. Sort of wondering why the Broncs are just unloading guys rapidly, tho.

[av7]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Yeah. The price tag would be high. Sort of wondering why the Broncs are just unloading guys rapidly, tho.

Seriously? Of those players that have been cut, Bly has the only case to really be around and it's still not a extremely strong one. I dont understand why people are shocked with this when its a new coaching staff, & GM. The defense has been getting the free pass by Shanahan for the past few years despite being horrible.

I dont want either Peppers or Haynesworth, I want McDaniels to do it right and bring in young talent that will be around for a good, long time. There is no quick fix for this defense, a major overhaul is needed that has to be addressed in the draft and the draft alone.

[kehlis]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Basically, it seems like we will be in for another year just like last year:

Offense that gets the job done and can be dominant, but absolutely no defense. I have a bad feeling that we will be in a full rebuilding year.

[av7]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Basically, it seems like we will be in for another year just like last year:

Offense that gets the job done and can be dominant, but absolutely no defense. I have a bad feeling that we will be in a full rebuilding year.

8-8 would be great for the schedule we have coming into the new season unless they hit homeruns on defense during the draft.

Lets not kid ourselves, this franchise has been in a rebuilding mode for awhile now. Luckily we had a stellar draft on offense in the past few years or we're easily a 4 or 5 win team. Imo, we're looking at our window in 2-4 years.

[kehlis]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Lets not kid ourselves, this franchise has been in a rebuilding mode for awhile now.

lol...I have to kid myself or it would be much harder for me to justify buying the NFL package.

We will see how free agency and the draft goes. They have a lot of work to do, but like you said, they were in a rebuilding mode this year and still were competitive, I just want them to improve defensively next year and i would probably be happy.

[av7]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

lol...I have to kid myself or it would be much harder for me to justify buying the NFL package.

We will see how free agency and the draft goes. They have a lot of work to do, but like you said, they were in a rebuilding mode this year and still were competitive, I just want them to improve defensively next year and i would probably be happy.

McDaniels needs to keep Nolan around to give the defense some kind of identity. I'm sure all the players are tired of learning a new scheme year to year and would like to get the ship in one direction. Next, we need a staff that knows how to scout and draft defense. I dont think we'll see anything special this year with the amount of young players we'll have on defense; you can compare it to the situation KC has.

[Salhus]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Seriously? Of those players that have been cut, Bly has the only case to really be around and it's still not a extremely strong one. I dont understand why people are shocked with this when its a new coaching staff, & GM. The defense has been getting the free pass by Shanahan for the past few years despite being horrible.

I dont want either Peppers or Haynesworth, I want McDaniels to do it right and bring in young talent that will be around for a good, long time. There is no quick fix for this defense, a major overhaul is needed that has to be addressed in the draft and the draft alone.

Seriously.

I'm not shocked at all. I'm curious to whether this is going to be a make-over or are we preparing to bring in a huge name?

I'm with you on the solution to our defense, but I don't want to rule out a quick fix:

Falcons of 07 (5-11)- Sacks=25, PPG allowed=26
Falcons of 08 (11-5)- Sacks=34, PPG allowed=20

Dolphins of 07 (1-15)- Sacks=30, PPG allowed=27
Dolphins of 08 (11-5)- Sacks=40, PPG allowed=20

Both teams hired new coaches AND GM's.

Quick fixes are possible. The long run isn't always the answer.

Maybe a new system and D coordinator can fix things, maybe. Sometimes a new look helps.

[av7]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Seriously.

I'm not shocked at all. I'm curious to whether this is going to be a make-over or are we preparing to bring in a huge name?

I'm with you on the solution to our defense, but I don't want to rule out a quick fix:

Falcons of 07 (5-11)- Sacks=25, PPG allowed=26
Falcons of 08 (11-5)- Sacks=34, PPG allowed=20

Dolphins of 07 (1-15)- Sacks=30, PPG allowed=27
Dolphins of 08 (11-5)- Sacks=40, PPG allowed=20

Both teams hired new coaches AND GM's.

Quick fixes are possible. The long run isn't always the answer.

Maybe a new system and D coordinator can fix things, maybe. Sometimes a new look helps.

I still dont understand how you were wondering why the Broncos were giving defensive players pink slips? If they weren't doing that, then I would question if Bowlen really wants to win. The practice squad had more heart than what was on that field. No one should expect or feel comfortable that they'll be back.

Judging last year is fine, yes it can happen but the odds arent in favor of that happening. Last year had alot of odd things happen; 8-8 team won a division, a team lost the division for the first time with a 3 game lead and 3 games to go, a 9-7 team made the Super Bowl, Kerry Collins strapped up and went 13-3. We'll see if the Falcons and Dolphins had a fluke season in '08 or not.

Shanahan had chased the elusive quick fix for some time now, even resorting to bringing the entire dline of the Browns here thinking thats what would put us over the top. I'm pretty tired of hearing about the next patch that'll heal this defense. Tear the ugly piece of **** that is our defense down and rebuild it. You try to cheap out or cut corners, it'll catch up to you at some point.

[Salhus]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

I still dont understand how you were wondering why the Broncos were giving defensive players pink slips? If they weren't doing that, then I would question if Bowlen really wants to win. The practice squad had more heart than what was on that field. No one should expect or feel comfortable that they'll be back.

Judging last year is fine, yes it can happen but the odds arent in favor of that happening. Last year had alot of odd things happen; 8-8 team won a division, a team lost the division for the first time with a 3 game lead and 3 games to go, a 9-7 team made the Super Bowl, Kerry Collins strapped up and went 13-3. We'll see if the Falcons and Dolphins had a fluke season in '08 or not.

Shanahan had chased the elusive quick fix for some time now, even resorting to bringing the entire dline of the Browns here thinking thats what would put us over the top. I'm pretty tired of hearing about the next patch that'll heal this defense. Tear the ugly piece of **** that is our defense down and rebuild it. You try to cheap out or cut corners, it'll catch up to you at some point.

I was only wondering what the intentions were. Either clearing space for a big time free agent or going towards a complete makeover

[av7]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

I was only wondering what the intentions were. Either clearing space for a big time free agent or going towards a complete makeover

Gotcha. I rather bring in Lewis or Scott from Baltimore than Haynesworth who played his "heart" out for the payday.. with him it's too sketchy for me to like.

[Salhus]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

Gotcha. I rather bring in Lewis or Scott from Baltimore than Haynesworth who played his "heart" out for the payday.. with him it's too sketchy for me to like.

If Haynesworth lands in KC or OAK, I really hope your right about him.. I would hate to face the 07 and 08 Haynesworth twice a year

[Broncos218]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

I feel the same w/ Haynesworth... I don't know if he would play like he did the past 2 years, or if that was for the $. And while a Baltimore LB would be nice, I think DL is their biggest weakness

[av7]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

I feel the same w/ Haynesworth... I don't know if he would play like he did the past 2 years, or if that was for the $. And while a Baltimore LB would be nice, I think DL is their biggest weakness

It'd be nice to get a veteran for both the dline and LB crew to establish some sort of attitude. NT we need to hit a homerun on to be an immediate impact.

[av7]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

With Bowlen hiring Xanders as the GM, I wish Bowlen would have really went after Pioli. Who knows though, maybe he did try going after him.. if he didn't I'm sure the money came up.

Anyway, another peak into what Josh McDaniels is

New Denver coach Josh McDaniels met with the media Friday at the NFL combine in Indianapolis.

Here are some highlights of his session:

McDaniels likes some parts of his roster but he thinks it needs to improve in all three phases.

Josh McDaniels: I think there's a lot of good pieces in place. We've got some productive players that are coming back on both sides of the ball. I think our focus now on the roster as it currently stands is that we're going to try to improve every phase of our team. There's a big focus on the defense, but to me, every player that we bring in is going to help us in some capacity. Our offense needs to improve. Our defense needs to improve. Our special teams needs to improve, and we need to improve, and we need to improve significantly in all three areas. We didn't make the playoffs, and there is always a reason for that. It's not all the players' fault, but we're going to try to mold the roster and make it the most competitive we can at every spot. It's not just one side of the ball or the other.

McDaniels said the team will be active in free agency.

JM: As aggressive as we need to be. We're interested in a lot of things and we have areas that we can improve on. We have, obviously, like every team, needs and holes to fill, you know, if there's a player out there that will feel that, then we're going to be aggressive and pursue him.

McDaniels said he and new general manager Brian Xanders will have no problem working together.

JM: We're going to get it right, and we're going to work together. That's part of the process. At the end, you have to decide on somebody, and maybe that means who yells loudest, but that's what we're going to do, and the final decision will come down, and we'll make sure we're on the same page.

McDaniels said he was consulted before the firing of executives Jim and Jeff Goodman last week.

JM: I was definitely part of the conversation. I think that's the only way to do it. If you're going to make a decision like that, you want to make sure everyone in the organization, in particular the head coach, is on board with what we're doing. We're going to move forward and we're going to get right.

McDaniels explained the teams' plans for moving to a 3-4 defensive scheme.

JM: I don't think there's a timeline on it. It could be quicker. It could be a little longer into the future. We gave up 450 points last year doing it one way, and I think the goal is to get something in place that's going to be consistent, and we can adapt to it, and we can adapt to it based on the players we have in the system. We're not going to tie our hands and do one thing or the other. Whatever we have and whatever we feel best about when we get to September, that's what we'll play on defense. And it's going to be the same way on offense, the same way in the kicking game, because to me, that's the way you win. You don't win by saying this is what we do, and no changing. Because if you don't change in this league, somebody will figure out a way to beat you doing what you think is best if you're never going to move. We're going to make moves and try to get people in we feel can handle our system the best, and then we're going to adapt as we go and try to be as competitive as we can once September hits.

McDaniels also expressed excitement about his relationship with his new quarterback, Jay Cutler.

JM: I wasn't worried about it. I met with him several times. I'm confident in what I can do and what our staff can do and how good we can be, and Jay's going to be a big part of that. My focus is on telling him how he's going to be better. We all can improve, and certainly that's our goal. That's what my communication with him has been, to get him up to speed and you know to talk to him about how I feel next year and going forward it's going to different than the years he's played here in Denver already. I think we have a good relationship now. I think it's on the right track, and I'm looking forward to working with him this year.

I'm slowly warming up to him, I like his attitude and the fact that he uses "we" for last seasons defense.

Also, "You don't win by saying this is what we do, and no changing. Because if you don't change in this league, somebody will figure out a way to beat you doing what you think is best if you're never going to move. ", not changing or staying fairly stale reminds me sometimes of what Shanahan would be/do.. teams definitely adjusted better than we would.

[Salhus]

Re: Official Denver Broncos Thread

^Yeah. Obviously our biggest weakness is defense, but he keeps saying the team as a whole needs improving. Offense, Defense, and Special Teams.

That is good coming from the head coach. His job is to improve the team and it looks like he is sticking to it