If Pat Bowlen and Joe Ellis do it right this time, the Broncos can finish 11-5 next year and return

[Bronco Rob]

If Pat Bowlen and Joe Ellis do it right this time, the Broncos can finish 11-5 next year and return to the playoffs.



Read more: Klis: If Broncos don't panic, they can rebound quickly - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_16894569#ixzz18YwDu800
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

[Jesterhole]

Lol. Hiring Elway to help restore some respectability is the first step. Hopefully we'll find out today that we have a winner in Tebow and don't have to worry about QB moving forward.

[Ratboy]

Lol. Hiring Elway to help restore some respectability is the first step. Hopefully we'll find out today that we have a winner in Tebow and don't have to worry about QB moving forward.

Do you really think it will matter?

Chances are the new coach will come in here and evaluate our players. If he does not deem them suitable for his system, they will probably hit the door.

I think Broncos fans would like nothing more than Tebow to come out and toss 4 touchdowns, would give us some type of future (in Tebow or trade value).

[CEH]

I found this article more depressing than uplifting.
Gee what McKay is saying has been parroted here for some time

You want to build a house you don't dig a hole and fill it back in with different dirt more appealing to the eye you use the existing quality dirt and start building a house

Right now we have a 3/4 filled in sink hole still waiting for EPA approval to build on plus the messed up septic tank in the back yard is still an eye sore and stinking the place up. Some see this as an improvement. I see it as a waste of time.

A clutch QB will the fastest way back. Maybe Tebow shows a flash of clutchness to build upon. He'll have his hard knocks for sure these last 3 games but I would hope to see just a "glimmer of leadership" with Tebow leading what the article called probably the worst team in 50 years

.

[spdirty]

Do you really think it will matter?

Chances are the new coach will come in here and evaluate our players. If he does not deem them suitable for his system, they will probably hit the door.

I think Broncos fans would like nothing more than Tebow to come out and toss 4 touchdowns, would give us some type of future (in Tebow or trade value).

The best coaches are the ones who will adapt their system to the players they have. If our new coach demands he needs 10 new starters on offense and 9 new starters on defense then he ought not be our new coach. Because that coach will be fired in 2 years.

[Bronco Yoda]

Exactly. If the next coach can't work with what we already have and then build upon it. NO THANK YOU.

[serious hops]

I don't think a quick turnaround is out of the question. I don't think we're in worse shape than the Atlanta team that Smith and Demitroff took over, and we have a similar stack of resources to be thrown at it. We sure as shiat aren't going to see some fast change if the "new" regime is Xanders and some third-rate hack of a coach, though. Bowlen needs to get it right by putting the right people in place at the very top, and that starts with a real personnel exec as a fully-empowered GM.

[fdf]

If Pat Bowlen and Joe Ellis do it right this time, the Broncos can finish 11-5 next year and return to the playoffs.



Read more: Klis: If Broncos don't panic, they can rebound quickly - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_16894569#ixzz18YwDu800
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

IMO, this is way too optimistic. Blowing the team up twice in two years is not likely to produce a playoff team next year. New blocking schemes, mostly new defensive personnel, new quarterback, new coaching staff. It's going to be a long year next year. I just hope Bowlen is astute enough and lucky enough to find a coach who is a 3-4 Defensive coach to minimize the D turnover and who knows what to do with Tebow. If we get a 4-3 guy and one of the many coaches who thinks Tebow should not be an NFL QB, it'll be 3-4 years before we see .500 again.

[NFLBRONCO]

We said, the exact things for over a decade when will denial end here. We need quality longterm additions to this team. I'd love to blow up team if we add quality coaches and gm if not more of the last decade on its way.

[Taco John]

I'm not terribly optimistic for a quick rebuild. I think 8-8 over the next two season and upwards after that is a promising proposition at this point. This team is poorly conceived right now. Our offense is built for big plays in the passing game, but terrible on the ground. Our defense - *sigh*. It's the worst defense in the history of the franchise (points per game). It's statistically worse than what we had in 2008.

We have a long ways to go, I'm afraid.

[bpc]

I think there are some pieces in place to succeed. Depends on what we do at the top with a GM and HC.

Personally, I'd like to see us give a defensive coach the reigns who is strong in the 3-4. Find an offensive counterpart who believes running the football is the key to winning games in Denver and also the NFL.

On offense we have Knowshon who's starting to come around and has versatility in his rushing/catching ability. We are pretty deep at WR and have some youth and talent on the OL. We have Tebow at QB who will gain a rapport with his WR's and will be able to pick up some first downs with his arm and legs. The leadership aspect speaks for itself. I think we could immediately compete on this front if they aren't totally brain-dead from coaching the offensive line standpoint, ie, work to your lines strengths, not run a square peg into a round hole.

On defense we're in a more precarious situation but there are some players to be excited about. We need somebody who will build off this 3-4. Doom's best position and gamebreaking ability shows well as an OLB. I thought Ayers was coming around this year to being an impact player, even if his stats don't show it. He's tough to block, he'll be even more so when Doom is pressuring QB's on the other side of the LOS. DJ Williams has become an idiot as of late but is still a talented player under contract with tread left on his tires. Mays is a solid young player as well. Obviously we need some depth at these positions.

DL has some guys who can play in the NFL, maybe not necessarily starters though. We need players here especially some long term options. I love Nick Fairley coming out in the draft. Ayers could probably also bump down in a pinch if we needed him to. That would open up another hole in our front 7 that maybe a player like De-Quan Bowers could fill.

Even worse is the secondary that McDaniels wasted too many resources and draft picks at. McD essentially tied us to a 31+ club of players on the backend and they got old extremely fast. Many of us were not surprised by these turn of events but now it goes to take some solid drafting and FA pickups to rectify the situation. We should resign Champ and there probably isn't more of a sure bet in this draft than Patrick Peterson, a young Champ Bailey.

Whomever comes in will have to build up the DL/DB's quickly and use the players we have on offense while we do that.

I doubt we can dominate next year but this is the AFC West so anything is possible with the right coaching.

[THE719!]

If Pat Bowlen and Joe Ellis do it right this time, the Broncos can finish 11-5 next year and return to the playoffs.



Read more: Klis: If Broncos don't panic, they can rebound quickly - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_16894569#ixzz18YwDu800
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

of course they can.... thats what some fans dont get..... only thing we need is a solid draft and get good free agents then boom! were back.... but its hard for some to wrap that around there head

[Garcia Bronco]

there is no season next year

[SoCalBronco]

I don't want Pat Bowlen and Joe Ellis "doing" anything. Turn it over to someone competent, credible and not moronic, i.e. not yourselves. Someone like DeCosta or whatever needs to make all the football decisions, not Bowlen, not Ellis and definitely not Elway.

Don't be idiots......again.

[Tombstone RJ]

Taking Ryan at #3 was no easy pick for the Falcons. Yes, Ryan has proven to be a very good QB but how many times have a top 10 QB pick with a similar or even better skill set tanked?

Whether they admit it or not, the Falcons got lucky with Ryan. Look at how David Carr panned out for the Texans.

So yah, it's possible to turn a 3-10 franchise around immediately, but a lot, I mean A LOT of things have to go right....

[ro_50]

I think there are some pieces in place to succeed. Depends on what we do at the top with a GM and HC.

Personally, I'd like to see us give a defensive coach the reigns who is strong in the 3-4. Find an offensive counterpart who believes running the football is the key to winning games in Denver and also the NFL.

On offense we have Knowshon who's starting to come around and has versatility in his rushing/catching ability. We are pretty deep at WR and have some youth and talent on the OL. We have Tebow at QB who will gain a rapport with his WR's and will be able to pick up some first downs with his arm and legs. The leadership aspect speaks for itself. I think we could immediately compete on this front if they aren't totally brain-dead from coaching the offensive line standpoint, ie, work to your lines strengths, not run a square peg into a round hole.

On defense we're in a more precarious situation but there are some players to be excited about. We need somebody who will build off this 3-4. Doom's best position and gamebreaking ability shows well as an OLB. I thought Ayers was coming around this year to being an impact player, even if his stats don't show it. He's tough to block, he'll be even more so when Doom is pressuring QB's on the other side of the LOS. DJ Williams has become an idiot as of late but is still a talented player under contract with tread left on his tires. Mays is a solid young player as well. Obviously we need some depth at these positions.

DL has some guys who can play in the NFL, maybe not necessarily starters though. We need players here especially some long term options. I love Nick Fairley coming out in the draft. Ayers could probably also bump down in a pinch if we needed him to. That would open up another hole in our front 7 that maybe a player like De-Quan Bowers could fill.

Even worse is the secondary that McDaniels wasted too many resources and draft picks at. McD essentially tied us to a 31+ club of players on the backend and they got old extremely fast. Many of us were not surprised by these turn of events but now it goes to take some solid drafting and FA pickups to rectify the situation. We should resign Champ and there probably isn't more of a sure bet in this draft than Patrick Peterson, a young Champ Bailey.

Whomever comes in will have to build up the DL/DB's quickly and use the players we have on offense while we do that.

I doubt we can dominate next year but this is the AFC West so anything is possible with the right coaching.

Excellent post.

I hope they can resign Champ but I bet he will go to a contender to try and win that Super Bowl.

[uplink]

It is interesting what the Falcons, Packers, Chiefs are doing with there GM structure and head coaching hires. Hope the broncos can make some good decisions, I don't think hiring Kubiak or another ex-broncos assistant is the answer.

[broncocalijohn]

Oh boy, we should hope for 5 and 11 then get wishful thinking then 11-5! Of course there is a possibility we can go 8-8 or 9-7 next year and feel it is a big accomplishment. A lot has gone on since the end of Shanny and McDaniels teams and that is we have regressed. It takes more than a stud rookie to turn us into a winner again.

[bloodsunday]

IMO, this is way too optimistic. Blowing the team up twice in two years is not likely to produce a playoff team next year. New blocking schemes, mostly new defensive personnel, new quarterback, new coaching staff. It's going to be a long year next year. I just hope Bowlen is astute enough and lucky enough to find a coach who is a 3-4 Defensive coach to minimize the D turnover and who knows what to do with Tebow. If we get a 4-3 guy and one of the many coaches who thinks Tebow should not be an NFL QB, it'll be 3-4 years before we see .500 again.

That's why you find a coach that is flexible and creative. You don't go hire a Gruden, Cowher or Parcells that will want to come in and do it HIS way.

[bloodsunday]

This is a cart before the horse scenario in that what has ailed Denver for decades (and now become a public humiliation) is our in ability to develop and draft players. Combine that with our rotating door on defense and you have a HUGE mess on that side of the ball in particular. Yes we've had our hits, but we've had far too many misses. The core of our Super Bowl era team was FAs and players near retirement.

In my opinion, we need to build on, not erase what McDaniels was doing. We need to stick with the 3-4. We need to fix the mistakes made by Bowlen and Ellis and get a real personnel department and separate it from the coach! That was the most obvious reason to fire Mike Shanahan and they didn't even fix that?! Going back to a Kubiak/Sundquist regime would be just nostalgia and not fix any of the real issues that McDaniels was actually right about.

I'm also sure there will be many that hope we go after Cam Newton and Andrew Luck. Don't count me as one of them (maybe Luck). Orton is good enough to at least see us through a transition. Tebow hasn't even begun his second off-season, so he deserves more time. If we draft anything other than OL, DL, or LB I will likely have a stroke.

[~Crash~]

Do you really think it will matter?

Chances are the new coach will come in here and evaluate our players. If he does not deem them suitable for his system, they will probably hit the door.

I think Broncos fans would like nothing more than Tebow to come out and toss 4 touchdowns, would give us some type of future (in Tebow or trade value).

Get a Coach that can with what is on the team !

[Bigdawg26]

I don't think we really need to focus to much on offense. Maybe another RB for depth in the mid to later rounds. But we really need to get strong up the middle. I would love farley or powe as a true NT. I think bannan and vickerson are decent enough at de. I hope champ resigns so we don't have to use to top pick on a corner. Also a the LB core can be tweeted ip a bit. A stud mlb with flare to light up the defense with big hits would be huge. can and maybe another pass rushing olb and maybe another safety wouldn't hurt.

[jhns]

We need a GM that will keep the few good players left and build around them. That is a good idea. That said, we still need to redo the entire coaching staff and the majority of the roster. 11-5 would be great but my expectations are much lower for the next few years.

[BroncoInferno]

I'm not terribly optimistic for a quick rebuild. I think 8-8 over the next two season and upwards after that is a promising proposition at this point. This team is poorly conceived right now. Our offense is built for big plays in the passing game, but terrible on the ground. Our defense - *sigh*. It's the worst defense in the history of the franchise (points per game). It's statistically worse than what we had in 2008.

We have a long ways to go, I'm afraid.

I don't quite agree. Dumervil has been out the entire season, and Ayers has missed most of it. You get those two back healthy and pair them with someone like Da'Quan Bowers, and now you are getting somewhere on the front 7. I think the D can at least be respectable next season. Offensively, I think we are loaded at WR, the OL is starting to gel IMHO, and Moreno looks good when healthy. To me, we just really need a TE who can catch the ball and some depth at RB. I don't think we are in as bad of shape as Miami was a couple of years ago when they went from 1-15 to 11-5 with Pennington at QB, or Atlanta when they had a similar turnaround (can't remember the records...think it was 3-13 to 11-5). The two keys will Bowlen hiring the right people, and Tebow proving himself a legit franchise QB. Two big "ifs", granted, but I think its doable. I don't think McD left the roster as devoid of talent as the results may suggest.

[edog24]

There is a ton of parity in the NFL at the lower/mid levels of teams. That is the only thing we have going for us. Talentwise, we are basically an expansion team at this point. Tebow looks good which is great, but I think anything greater than or equal to 500 ball next season would be a huge step in the right direction.

[Broncoman13]

Here is what really sucks with the Ayers and Doom thing.... Doom will get back on the field next year and he'll likely be a 12 sack guy. But we still don't have anything opposite of him and we don't have any pressure from the middle (usually). And b/c we invested such a high pick in Ayers its almost necessary to have him on the field, even if he can't get after the QB, struggles to set the edge vs the run (due to discipline rather than ability), and can't cover.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I think we should switch back to a 4-3 and draft Fairley in the 1st. He can get that pressure from the inside. Doom at one end, Ayers at the other. Thomas

[TheReverend]

Here is what really sucks with the Ayers and Doom thing.... Doom will get back on the field next year and he'll likely be a 12 sack guy. But we still don't have anything opposite of him and we don't have any pressure from the middle (usually). And b/c we invested such a high pick in Ayers its almost necessary to have him on the field, even if he can't get after the QB, struggles to set the edge vs the run (due to discipline rather than ability), and can't cover.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I think we should switch back to a 4-3 and draft Fairley in the 1st. He can get that pressure from the inside. Doom at one end, Ayers at the other. Thomas

I would base that entire decision on whether or not Champ stays or goes. If Champ leaves, you can go switch to a base cover 2 and minimize the loss fairly well.

Doom, Bannan, Williams and Ayers on the DL and we'd have good rotational depth with Vickerson Thomas Fields Hunter etc

It thins our linebacker spot leaving DJ, Woodyard and Haggan, but it would allow Denver to finally attack a true MLB in the draft and have more speed on the field.