Have we entered the "A Once Proud Team" Era?

[baja]

It's a poll


Oh and Why.

[TennBronco]

I think we'll be ok with a few changes on the field. I like the young talent we have, but developing these guys is a concern.

[summerdenver]

I voted no. Its because we are in a rebuilding mode and we are already half way thru it. I think we need a good draft to be a playoff team and two good drafts to be elite team. I would bet on us improving enough to make the playoffs next year.

[RhymesayersDU]

It really depends on your outlook.

I personally believe Cutler is the real deal, and with a good QB, you'll always at least have a chance. You'll always have a shot at winning every week, you won't be 1-15, etc.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

I'd say as long as Shanahan remains GM all bets are off.

Year after year he refuses to address the same old problems and makes more bone-headed decisions every season, it seems.

I'm still shaking my head in disbelief at his decision to fire Coyer and hire this half-wit DC we have now.

[yavoon]

the franchise is on jay now.

[Crushaholic]

Absolutely not. We are spoiled as Broncos fans, because we haven't had a truly down year in a LONG time. EVERY franchise goes through this and it's just our time.

[Paladin]

I voted no because there are so many new people on the D and the Oline. These will be the players of the future, maybe in backup roles, but they are learning. I honestly think that the Broncos will come around much quicker than the sparkies did, and will certainly be further along than the faiders. The mullets have a ways to go to get into the game.

2 losing seasons in 13 years? The other AFCW teams would only hope to do that......

[SoCalBronco]

No. Not at all.

We have built a very solid foundation here, which simply needs to be supplemented in certain areas. I wouldn't trade this foundation for anything. A franchise QB (top 3 when fully developed), a pro bowl caliber WR, another pro bowl caliber WR when healthy, two very useful TEs, some decent backs, talented rotation of young ends, a young, athletic and versatile linebacker, and a very deep corps of cornerbacks, which, even among the starters, still have a good 4,5 years in them. This doesnt mean that significant work isn't required, it obviously is, but to say its a "once proud team" is a complete canard. We have a very solid base here to build on, some of which includes burgeoning pro bowl talent at key positions.

[snowspot66]

We have a good setup at the skill positions. Now we just need some attitude and talent on the lines. We get the lines fixed and this team will be down right scary.

[RMANCIL]

Yes it looks like the Donks are done. I think most fans will have to talk about the glory years of Elway and company and live in the past. The Chargers will own the division the rest of the decade and into the next.

[Sir Mawn]

We have a talented QB with a rocket arm, an up-and-coming giant WR, two very capable young running backs, perhaps the best CB tandem in the league and a 2 time SB winning coach who is 2 years removed from playing for the Conference Championship.....

NO.

[penguintheory]

YES. Cutler has not yet shown the intangible ability to get his team fired up and in sync. Hopefully this will be part of his maturation process, if he doesn't get his kidneys cracked before that happens.

[summerdenver]

After that 2002 Super Bowl game, I told Belichick at the Patriots' team party, "You've just given a blueprint to every team in the NFL -- draft well, find a quarterback and fill in all the cracks through middle- and lower-class free-agency.''

"I know,'' he said.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...k16/index.html

This is an interesting insight into how patriots have built their team. This might sound crazy now, but i think we are doing similar things in the last 2/3 years. We drafted well, found our QB and invested in midddle to lower class free agents. The problem for us this year was
a) some free agents did not pan out
b) some of them were old/injured.

We won't be able to fill all the holes thru draft alone. We should draft for future and fill the other needs with lower/middle relatively young free agents (e.g. Holland, stokley), we can be competitive again quickly

[richpjr]

Football games are won in the trenches. The Broncos will not have much success until they get a serious infusion of talent on both the oline and dlines. And that is hard to do overnight.

[CBF1]

Cutler is not a top 3 talent. He will never be better than Manning, Brady and Favre. So maybe a top 4

We are a ways away from being a complete team and vying for a division title. I am just worried that by the time that happens, It is not past Champ and some of the other veterans prime.

[Ray Finkle]

yes,
for the next few years anyway. To many holes (OL, DL, RB, FB, LB, DB, P, K)....all need to be addressed.

[elsid13]

Heck No. This is the NFL were crappy teams rise to playoff contender in single off season. We are transition into new team that has potential stars on both sides of the ball, we just need to add to it and get the chemistry right.

[Drek]

Originally Posted by L.A. BRONCOS FAN

I'd say as long as Shanahan remains GM all bets are off.

Year after year he refuses to address the same old problems and makes more bone-headed decisions every season, it seems.

I'm still shaking my head in disbelief at his decision to fire Coyer and hire this half-wit DC we have now.

Isn't that contradictory?

You dislike Shanahan for refusing to address the same problems, but the last several years a major problem has been that Coyer's defenses were getting by on smoke and mirrors, not an actual scheme of any kind.

So he brings in Jim Bates, a guy who helped create one of the more proven defensive schemes in the NFL, and you don't like it?

Bates basically tried to bake bread without any flour this season. Guy needs something to work with before he's going to show results. He's had one off-season on the job and it was an off-season with very little available DT help and working for a team with too much money locked up in it's linebackers to make any drastic changes to that unit. Give him another off-season and lets see where we are around week 8 or 9 next season, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

And we're still a proud franchise. Every team has down seasons, its not like we've been a cellar dweller for 5 years now. This is a brief blip and thankfully we bottomed out enough in one season to get a quality pick that should assure us of some premium talent coming home next draft.

[orinjkrush]

absolutely no progress on D. regression on all D fronts. Bates scheme hasn't worked; wrong system, wrong time wrong players. Shanny should have seen this coming.

[lazarus4444]

Not even the greatest defensive coach in NFL history can do something without enough talent. The D has too many talent weaknesses, i say we get bates a D-Line and 2 competent LB's and two competent safeties and we'll be fine.

As for the poll, i voted no because its only one bad season. We would need multiple bad seasons like the 49'ers to be considered "A once great team" like them.

[bloodsunday]

I don't think so. There is reason for optimism. BUT... this is a pivotal year in 2008.

The good:
1) Young, emerging talent in key areas -- primarily skill positions
2) Reasonable salary cap position
3) An owner an organization that is committed to winning
4) I think (hope?) our issues are over-blown. We are getting beat right up the middle on both Offense and Defense. That has a way of making your whole team look worse than it is. If we can fix those areas (Guard and DT) we have the skill position players to make rapid progress.

The Bad:
1) We must learn to better utilize the draft to build depth, youth, and energy.
2) We must learn to acquire talent and coaches that are hungry. Denver has become the Washington of the west in that we are over-spending on coaches and have too many cooks in the kitchen.
3) Special teams continue to be an after-though in the Mike Shanahan era. We are now the longest running team without a kick off return.

The ugly:
1) This team has no fight. The San Diego Chargers were laughing at us in front of the whole country last night and we didn't act as those we cared. Other than Cutler no one even responded. It was as though we should just expect that kind of treatment.

[bloodsunday]

Originally Posted by Drek

Isn't that contradictory?

You dislike Shanahan for refusing to address the same problems, but the last several years a major problem has been that Coyer's defenses were getting by on smoke and mirrors, not an actual scheme of any kind.

This is true -- Coyer did a lot with very little talent. As we now know.

Originally Posted by Drek

So he brings in Jim Bates, a guy who helped create one of the more proven defensive schemes in the NFL, and you don't like it?

I think there is a power struggle going on between Slowick and Bates myself. I don't think the Bates move was a bad one except that I don't think Shanahan is committed to it. I think he was looking for an instant fix and when he didn't get it -- he started to take over. I bet money that Bates is gone this year because I guarantee he hates it here.

[Dendave]

I voted no, every team has a bad year or two...I'd rather be where we are than Detroit, San Fran, Miami

[Drek]

Originally Posted by bloodsunday

This is true -- Coyer did a lot with very little talent. As we now know.

Coyer had plenty of talent for his mutated form of the Cover 2. Good linebackers while he was here, Shanahan went out and got him a pretty solid secondary. There just wasn't a whole lot of DL help, but the scheme didn't focus heavily on the DL, so it worked out fairly well.

I think there is a power struggle going on between Slowick and Bates myself. I don't think the Bates move was a bad one except that I don't think Shanahan is committed to it. I think he was looking for an instant fix and when he didn't get it -- he started to take over. I bet money that Bates is gone this year because I guarantee he hates it here.

I doubt it. Bates was brought in to actually build a defensive system here, and thats what he'll do. Slowik will stay because he does a very good job with the DBs, but Shanahan picked Bates because it is a defensive system we can keep running even after he's gone.

With Coyer we relied week to week on if he could find a scheme to beat that week's opponent. We didn't do a whole lot the same from year to year or even week to week at times. We changed tactics midstream very often, etc.. This year Bates has begun putting down the foundations of his scheme which you play the same week in and week out, year after year. This is important because you can't draft talent that fits your system without actually having a damn system.

Now we'll have a clear type of player in mind for each position and the FO will know where to go. I think a lot of people believe Bates is under more pressure than he really is. The FO did a layup drill defensively last off-season to let Bates see what we had on hand. Notice how many cuts we made throughout the season? It was all separating the wheat form the chaff. This off-season will be the actual attempt to remake the defense.