titan
10-18-2007, 11:52 PM
Mike Shanahan made his annual appearance at the Bronco Quarterback Club tonight. Here is what I remember from his talk:
Shanahan started by praising the Colorado Rockies and all the adversity they've overcome to get to the World Series. Shanahan knows Rockies President Keli McGregor well from Keli's days with the Broncos. Shanahan said the Rockies have strong character and "character always finishes strong". The message - the Broncos are going through adversity right now but we have lots of character guys on the team and we'll bounce back.
Then Shanahan gave a quick overview of the team. On the defense he said it is rare that you get 3 good defensive linemen in one draft. Marcus Thomas is playing 70 to 80% of the defensive snaps now and is doing very well. Close behind are Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder.
The linebackers "are taking longer than we expected" to adjust to the new defensive scheme in run support. The secondary is fine.
On offense Matt Lepsis is the only returning current starter from the opening game of 2006, so the young players have had some growing pains, but Shanahan said this is the best young group of offensive talent he has had since he's been coaching. He says the offense is moving the football and is in the top 5 in most offensive categories except points. With the team moving the ball "the points will come". Cutler appears to be quiet but is actually turning into a team leader (the players voted him as one of the captains).
Then Shanahan answered questions from the crowd:
What do you think of Selvin Young?
Selvin was injured alot in college. He was never able to stay healthy and with the athletes Texas had he didn't really get a chance to show his speed and athletic ability. The Broncos had Young rated as a 5th rounder and were thrilled to sign him as a free agent. Young is "remarkably tough and mature for his age"
What adjustments have you made during the bye week?
We spent 3 days of practice changing things up on defense, and working on special teams. On defense if you can't stop the run you can't win on any level of football. In the San Diego game we actually were improved in stopping the run - we gave up two big plays on blown assignments - otherwise we held them to 2.8 yards/carry. But championship teams don't give up big plays and we are working on that. We hope to see continued improvement vs the run. We will blitz more.
The offense is moving the ball and will eventually start scoring points (reemphasizing that he is not worried about the offense).
Will Rod Smith play this year?
Rod is running routes in practice. I think he'll be in uniform for 8 games this year.
What's up with Javon Walker?
Walker looked great in practice on Monday, then on Wednesday he was limping again. We thought the bye week would help but it didn't as much as we hoped. Walker had knee surgery and the doctors say he'll be out 3 to 6 weeks.
Have you considered bringing in Jeremy Bloom as a returner?
We really liked Jeremy coming out of college. Jeremy has had a history of hamstring problems, though, and hamstring problems tend to reoccur as a player ages. So we haven't brought Jeremy in due to the hamstring issue.
What's up with Travis Henry?
(Shanahan gave a response but asked that it "not leave the room" so I am not going to repeat what he said. Generally Shanahan likes Henry and hasn't given up on him)
With that Shanahan stuck around and signed autographs for 20 minutes.
Overall Shanahan was his usual positive self and said not to give up on the team just yet. He said the season is still young and expect improvement in the coming weeks. Yes, typical Shanahan but he convinced me. He is a very good speaker if you ever get the chance to hear him in person.
Shanahan started by praising the Colorado Rockies and all the adversity they've overcome to get to the World Series. Shanahan knows Rockies President Keli McGregor well from Keli's days with the Broncos. Shanahan said the Rockies have strong character and "character always finishes strong". The message - the Broncos are going through adversity right now but we have lots of character guys on the team and we'll bounce back.
Then Shanahan gave a quick overview of the team. On the defense he said it is rare that you get 3 good defensive linemen in one draft. Marcus Thomas is playing 70 to 80% of the defensive snaps now and is doing very well. Close behind are Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder.
The linebackers "are taking longer than we expected" to adjust to the new defensive scheme in run support. The secondary is fine.
On offense Matt Lepsis is the only returning current starter from the opening game of 2006, so the young players have had some growing pains, but Shanahan said this is the best young group of offensive talent he has had since he's been coaching. He says the offense is moving the football and is in the top 5 in most offensive categories except points. With the team moving the ball "the points will come". Cutler appears to be quiet but is actually turning into a team leader (the players voted him as one of the captains).
Then Shanahan answered questions from the crowd:
What do you think of Selvin Young?
Selvin was injured alot in college. He was never able to stay healthy and with the athletes Texas had he didn't really get a chance to show his speed and athletic ability. The Broncos had Young rated as a 5th rounder and were thrilled to sign him as a free agent. Young is "remarkably tough and mature for his age"
What adjustments have you made during the bye week?
We spent 3 days of practice changing things up on defense, and working on special teams. On defense if you can't stop the run you can't win on any level of football. In the San Diego game we actually were improved in stopping the run - we gave up two big plays on blown assignments - otherwise we held them to 2.8 yards/carry. But championship teams don't give up big plays and we are working on that. We hope to see continued improvement vs the run. We will blitz more.
The offense is moving the ball and will eventually start scoring points (reemphasizing that he is not worried about the offense).
Will Rod Smith play this year?
Rod is running routes in practice. I think he'll be in uniform for 8 games this year.
What's up with Javon Walker?
Walker looked great in practice on Monday, then on Wednesday he was limping again. We thought the bye week would help but it didn't as much as we hoped. Walker had knee surgery and the doctors say he'll be out 3 to 6 weeks.
Have you considered bringing in Jeremy Bloom as a returner?
We really liked Jeremy coming out of college. Jeremy has had a history of hamstring problems, though, and hamstring problems tend to reoccur as a player ages. So we haven't brought Jeremy in due to the hamstring issue.
What's up with Travis Henry?
(Shanahan gave a response but asked that it "not leave the room" so I am not going to repeat what he said. Generally Shanahan likes Henry and hasn't given up on him)
With that Shanahan stuck around and signed autographs for 20 minutes.
Overall Shanahan was his usual positive self and said not to give up on the team just yet. He said the season is still young and expect improvement in the coming weeks. Yes, typical Shanahan but he convinced me. He is a very good speaker if you ever get the chance to hear him in person.