Shanahan at the broncos qb club

[titan]

The last couple of years I posted a summary of Shanahan’s comments at his annual Bronco Quarterback Club appearance. People seemed to like it so here’s a report on Shanahan’s visit to the club tonight from a few notes I jotted down.

Shanahan opened his remarks saying how he always enjoys meeting with the Bronco QB Club. It is the only fan group he talks to during the season. He’s been making appearances at the club since he was a Bronco assistant coach in 1984.

Shanahan then gave a quick review of the Broncos offense and defense:

Offense –

Cutler – if the draft were held today he’d be the #1 pick overall. In my experience there’s a big jump between a quarterback’s 2nd and 3rd year – you are seeing that jump in Jay. When we lost to Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship game I thought that was about as good as we could do with Jake. We are calling some plays now with Jay that we could never have done in the previous 7 years.

Wide receivers:

We drafted Royal as a returner. We found he was so good as a wide receiver we decided not to risk him on kickoff returns, where the chance of injury is greater. If the draft were held today Royal would be taken in the top 10 picks.

Brandon Marshall – he’s maturing. He’s got one heck of a career ahead of him now that he’s straightening up.

Stokely – best 3rd wide receiver in the NFL

OLine:

Clady and Harris will be bookend pro bowl tackles for the next 10 to 12 years. That is a great foundation to build on.

Nalen – ultimate warrior, we miss him

Casey Wiegmann – I admired him from afar while he was with KC. He has a lot of years on him but he’s playing extremely well.

Kuper – chance to be one of the top guards in the nfl

Running backs:

Spencer Larsen will start at fullback this week. Never played fullback before in his life. Great on special teams and we think he’ll be a great full back.

We’re averaging 5 yds/carry so we are pleased with our running game. Torain is 225 lbs and has a chance to come back after the bye week. Torain is one of the better running backs I have been around in my career – you will like him.

Tight end – we have 3 guys who can play

Defense:

DB’s: Champ is the best defensive back in the league. Bly is doing a good job. J Williams has great speed and will get better with more playing time. We are playing safeties by committee. We have 4 new safeties.

LB’s: DJ is signed for the long term. He is playing at a pro bowl level this year.

Boss – has been hampered by an ankle injury he suffered in the first preseason game. This is the 1st week he’s really been healthy.

Overall the defense is a work in progress but it’s coming together. The year Indy won the Super Bowl their defense was ranked last towards the end of the season. We gained a lot of yards on them. But they got it together in the playoffs. We have young players who can step up to make our defense better.

Special teams:

Kern has an extremely strong leg. Can punt 80 to 85 yards in practice. Hasn’t shown fully what he can do yet in games.

Fell in love with Prater and his strong leg. Having him handle kickoffs is a big plus because we can save a spot on the 45 man roster for an extra special team player (instead of saving one spot for a kickoff specialist). Prater still has to prove himself in games – so far so good.

Then the coach took questions from the crowd:

How is Jeremy Bates doing?

He’s a great coach. He’s a coaches son. He puts in a lot of hours as qb coach working with Cutler, just like I did early in my career with Elway. In that position he has to know what the quarterback wants, and he’s doing a good job of it.

What’s the biggest surprise for you in the division so far?

It’s still very early. San Diego getting beat the 1st game was a surprise. They may not be as good on defense as last year. Buffalo going 4-0 so far is a surprise.

This past week Huard made much better throws for KC than Thigpen had the previous week. He surprised us some. Dwayne Bowe caught some big passes against us – Bowe had some crucial drops against New England otherwise the Chiefs would have won that game.

Does Rod Smith have a future in the organization?

I told Rod he has a job with us when he is ready, whether it be in administration or in coaching.



The overall theme of Shanahan’s talk: he likes this team. It is young and will go through growing pains, but has lots of talent and character. I got the impression he is really enjoying coaching this group.

[Ratboy]

Too bad no one mentioned Bob Slowik.

[BigPlayShay]

Spenser Larsen starting at FB... Wow, his work on Special Teams must really be impressing the coaches.

[ludo21]

Larsent to start??

I thought Hillis was doing well.. weird, cant wait to see why! Not for his hands after dropping that onside kick

[Ratboy]

It's because Peyton Hillis will be our starting Runningback vs Tampa.

[rovolution]

thanks for these nuggets titan.

btw...what does it take for one to become a member of the Broncos QB Club?

[rovolution]

Originally Posted by ludo21

Larsent to start??

I thought Hillis was doing well.. weird, cant wait to see why! Not for his hands after dropping that onside kick

i remember Shanny saying Peyton wasnt exactly perfect and that he was struggling a little bit and that there was a learning curve, but i think Larsens hit last week won him a starting job, albeit on offense.

[s0phr0syne]

titan, thanks a lot for posting this again this year. I've enjoyed reading these reports the last couple of years!

[BMarsh615]

Thanks for sharing! But I do disagree with Shanahan on something... Eddie Royal would not be a top 10 pick if the draft were held today.

[elsid13]

I rather have Larsen getting sometime on the field with the defense then the at FB spot

[bpc]

Great news and notes. I don't agree on Royal being a top 10 pick if the draft was reheld again this year however, I don't think people would have picked Marvin Harrison in the top 10 of his draft if they could redo it over again 4 games into the season. We'll be alright there.

Larsen starting at FB is shocking. He is the consumate type player so I know he can handle it with maturity but from never playing the position before to doing it against one of the best defenses in the league is going to be a challenge. Barrett Ruud is playing at a high level so its going to be interesting to see what happens this weekend. I still wish they would groom him for MLB.

[backup qb]

Originally Posted by bpc

Great news and notes. I don't agree on Royal being a top 10 pick if the draft was reheld again this year however, I don't think people would have picked Marvin Harrison in the top 10 of his draft if they could redo it over again 4 games into the season. We'll be alright there.

Larsen starting at FB is shocking. He is the consumate type player so I know he can handle it with maturity but from never playing the position before to doing it against one of the best defenses in the league is going to be a challenge. Barrett Ruud is playing at a high level so its going to be interesting to see what happens this weekend. I still wish they would groom him for MLB.

If they thought he had a future there they would be.

[Broncoman13]

I think he lacks the speed to play MLB but I too wish we would stick with him at the Mike. He plays with bad intentions on the field and lays the wood. In fact, I'm going to refer to him as "WOOD" from now on. Dude is tough as nails! Hillis is a good player as well. I think we should have worked him into the offense a little bit and threw him the ball a bit more, but that will come. Nice problem to have if Wood comes in and starts putting LBs on their ass!

[Meck77]

Thanks for the update Titan. Here you go ludo.

http://denverbroncosqbclub.com/

[_Oro_]

I thought Id compare this years Shanny at qb club with last years:

"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."

Note he didn't give any props to the D-Line picks... And I guess he's not
thinking the secondary is "fine"

[maher_tyler]

Running backs:

Spencer Larsen will start at fullback this week. Never played fullback before in his life. Great on special teams and we think he’ll be a great full back.

I thought this was a bit surprising...i thought Hillis was playing pretty good at FB!!

[titan]

casson, shanahan is always very positive at these meetings so you do have to take some of the comments with a grain of salt. Still he has said some revealing things in the past that turned out to be true. 2 years ago he said Cutler's arm strength was a "10" and compared him in arm strength to Marino and Elway (this was in Cutler's 1st preseason). And last year when the team was struggling he said this was the best young offensive talent he has been around.

Shanahan didn't say too much about the dline last night in his review. I thought one of his most interesting comments was about Torain being "one of the better backs I have been around - you will like him"

He also said he had a special play in mind to use against San Diego in the final game but asked to "keep that in the room". Maybe I will login to chat when they are playing the Chargers that last game and post what he said.

[lazarus4444]

Thanks for the update, didn't know shanny spoke to groups like this. How much does it COST to get into the qb club? it doesn't say in their pdf.

[titan]

It's around $35/year to join the qb club. They usually meet once a month during the season with an additional meeting charge of $20 (includes a buffet dinner, the meetings are at Red and Jerrys)

[Beantown Bronco]

Originally Posted by titan

Kern has an extremely strong leg. Can punt 80 to 85 yards in practice. Hasn’t shown fully what he can do yet in games.

As nice as it would be to see, hopefully we never put him in a position where he has to kick it that far. I don't think this offense will ever make it a habit of going three and out deep in their own zone.

Originally Posted by titan

Fell in love with Prater and his strong leg. Having him handle kickoffs is a big plus because we can save a spot on the 45 man roster for an extra special team player (instead of saving one spot for a kickoff specialist).

A lot of good that's doing them.

[_Oro_]

titan

Yeah that'd be funny if he was really morose about the team. So
I understand him being upbeat. But unfortunately not too much
to say about those dline picks. I'm still holding out that they can
turn into something.

Its interesting that he's been on Torain's high horse since the beginning, calling him a first rounder and all. Here's hoping to he's the next TD.

[FISH]

Originally Posted by OSKIE!!!

...In fact, I'm going to refer to him as "WOOD" from now on. ..

Are you going to call Woodyard "LARS"

[FISH]

When seeing the hit Larsen made this past game (I didnt see the NO hit) it made me think of TD playing special teams (in Japan I think for a pre-season game?) and getting that huge hit on kick off coverage. That hit, for TD, opened everyone's eyes to his talent and I remember thinking the same would happen for Larsen right after his big hit at KC.

[elsid13]

Originally Posted by OSKIE!!!

I think he lacks the speed to play MLB but I too wish we would stick with him at the Mike. He plays with bad intentions on the field and lays the wood. In fact, I'm going to refer to him as "WOOD" from now on. Dude is tough as nails! Hillis is a good player as well. I think we should have worked him into the offense a little bit and threw him the ball a bit more, but that will come. Nice problem to have if Wood comes in and starts putting LBs on their ass!

Larson has enough speed to play MLB in the league. He not going to be a Tampa-2 MLB and be able run down the middle of the field or cover the TE one on one, but that why we signed Boss and DJ. Larson has plenty of speed to get to the hole and stop the run and get to the flat to slow down a FB/RB on a flare until his support shows up.

[philiptr2]

Originally Posted by FISH

When seeing the hit Larsen made this past game (I didnt see the NO hit) it made me think of TD playing special teams (in Japan I think for a pre-season game?) and getting that huge hit on kick off coverage. That hit, for TD, opened everyone's eyes to his talent and I remember thinking the same would happen for Larsen right after his big hit at KC.

That is the first thing that came to my mind too. I remember a comentary that I saw once, where Shannon Sharpe was talking about that play...

Sharpe saw the hit and starting screaming on the sidelines...He asked who did that? Someone replied, "TD". Shannon said, "The Running Back?"

Ahhhh...good times.