Man Were we Spoiled.

[rugbythug]

As the Sun Sets on another Bronco Year I sat thinking about how we ended up here. Sometime if I pause long enough I start to remember the way we b****ed about this and that in the past. Now if only we could go back. I am specifically thinking about 3 players who at the end of their bronco tenure were unappreciated, if only I had known how much further down we could go.

1. Trevor Pryce- as a whole we railed and railed no sacks was the cry, Overpaid we whined. Yes he has pressures but no sacks. Into his spot strode a white knight named John Engleberger and the rest is History.

2. Al Wilson- Never wraps up we complained. Slowing down we shouted. Well his worst games as a Bronco would be Considered Webster finally starting to turn the corner.

3. John Lynch- Slowing down he was, A liability in Coverage. Well you could clone Marquand Manual and put him on the field twice and he would still be in the wrong spot more often than a 38 year old Lynch.

We didn't know what we had as an average Defense back then. Now that we are among some of the leagues worst, Now I can appreciate what we had.


Lets hope in the dawn of a new head coach we don't look back on the Shanahan era with the same wistfulness.

[listopencil]

Heh, you bet your sweet ass we will. We just lost one hell of a coach.

[Bronco LB 59]

Add Larry Coyer to the list. His top 12 defensive units look awfully good now.

[Ray Finkle]

Originally Posted by Bronco LB 59

Add Larry Coyer to the list. His top 12 defensive units look awfully good now.

please....he was rode out of town for his failure to adapt.

People here b**** and moan about Kubiak, Plummer, Elam, Pryce, and Coyer all the time forgetting that they "could call plays well", "choked under pressure", "didn't have the leg anymore", "has done little other then 1 year with the Ravens" and we massively called out before the left.


Hell, 99% of the posters here wanted Shanahan fired are the ones are now saying it was a mistake....

[Meck77]

I laughed my ass off at the idiots who b****ed thru the entire 2005 season. We're winning ugly! Oh no!

That was one fun season at that stadium. If I only had that pic of Kaylore rocking it with the ladies.

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by Meck77

I laughed my ass off at the idiots who b****ed thru the entire 2005 season. We're winning ugly! Oh no!

Yea.

We're winning ugly...
Jake is just 'managing' the game...
We're winning with smoke and mirrors...

Blah, blah.

[Ray Finkle]

Originally Posted by tnedator

Yea.

We're winning ugly...
Jake is just 'managing' the game...
We're winning with smoke and mirrors...

Blah, blah.

that being said, I still believe Shanahan made the right call with Cutler....

[Jason in LA]

I see teams go through coaches and kickers like crazy. Up until recently the Broncos didn't have to worry about either. Shanahan and Elam were constants. When other teams were searching for the right guys at those positions, the Broncos were cool. Now the Broncos are ready to get rid of Elam's replacement after one season because he sucked. It won't be long before the Broncos are getting rid of who ever they hire to replace Shanahan.

The AFC West opponents went through 18 coaches combined during Shanahan's tenure, and none of them have fixed their coaching problem yet. Now the Broncos will join them in going after coach after coach. I didn't even bother counting the amount of kickers those teams went through combined during Elam's tenure. The Raiders are the only other team that has had a consistent guy.

We're going to be banging our heads year after year as Pat Bowlen tries to find the right guy, when he had the right guy all along. This team wasn't far away. Everybody complains that the Broncos didn't build through the draft. Well the finally do and then they dump the coach before he could cash in on those players.

This is a really bad time to be a Bronco fan.

[tnedator]

Originally Posted by Ray Finkle

that being said, I still believe Shanahan made the right call with Cutler....

I agree. I think he jumped the gun giving him the starting job in '06, and should have left him on the bench until '07, but there is no way to know how the season would have ended with Jake at QB, or how the Broncos would have done in the playoffs if they won one more game with Jake, than with Jay.

[eddie mac]

I certainly dont feel we've been spoiled over the past 3 seasons. Infact in certain games we played like the worst franchise in the league.

If some on here have short memories lets have a little recall.

2006 SD away lost 48-20
2006 SF home lost 16-13 eliminated from playoffs at home
2007 JACK home lost 23-14
2007 IND away lost 38-20
2007 SD home lost 41-3
2007 DET away lost 44-7
2007 OAK away lost 34-20
2007 HOUT away lost 31-13
2007 SD away lost 23-3 eliminated from playoffs
2008 KC away lost 33-19
2008 JACK home lost 24-17
2008 NE away lost 41-7
2008 MIAMI home lost 26-17
2008 OAK home lost 31-10
2008 CAR away lost 30-10
2008 BUFF home lost 30-23
2008 SD away lost 52-21 eliminated from playoffs after 3 game lead with 3 to play.

Then have a close look at the majority of victories over the last 3 seasons and note how close many of those games were, a lot of them won by 3 points or less.

I've no idea about the rest of you but for me as a Bronco fan I certainly haven't been spoiled over the last 3 years, infact I've been downright embarrassed by this franchises' performances not only on the field but also off it. Including various botched FA moves which would give Al Davis a run for his money, various personnel issues, including drugs, felony charges etc.

You only have to look at the dead cap room on the 2008 cap to realise what a total **** up Shanahan made of free agency/trades over the last few years.

The time for a change was now and thank god Bowlen seen that. I'll miss Shanahan as much as the next guy as a Head Coach but IMHO the man lost it some time ago as a Personnel guy. A combination of useless players and underachieving ones and his failure to recognise the real defensive needs here cost him his job. In an ideal world he'd have stayed on as a pure coach but we all knew that would never happen.

Shanahan's defensive ideal of the linebackers being the lynchpins of his defense finally wore down around the same time his leader Al Wilson did and many other posters on here have been saying season after season the "throwing **** at a wall and hoping it sticks" attitude would never work for a defensive line and here we sit 3 years on and it's still just as bad.

Let's hope the new guy(s) recognise the immediate need and attempt to address it without the blindfold on.

[baja]

Originally Posted by Jason in LA

I see teams go through coaches and kickers like crazy. Up until recently the Broncos didn't have to worry about either. Shanahan and Elam were constants. When other teams were searching for the right guys at those positions, the Broncos were cool. Now the Broncos are ready to get rid of Elam's replacement after one season because he sucked. It won't be long before the Broncos are getting rid of who ever they hire to replace Shanahan.

The AFC West opponents went through 18 coaches combined during Shanahan's tenure, and none of them have fixed their coaching problem yet. Now the Broncos will join them in going after coach after coach. I didn't even bother counting the amount of kickers those teams went through combined during Elam's tenure. The Raiders are the only other team that has had a consistent guy.

We're going to be banging our heads year after year as Pat Bowlen tries to find the right guy, when he had the right guy all along. This team wasn't far away. Everybody complains that the Broncos didn't build through the draft. Well the finally do and then they dump the coach before he could cash in on those players.

This is a really bad time to be a Bronco fan.

ya it's gonna suck not winning that one playoff game the next ten years.

[TomServo]

these newer fans are starting to really pss me off. "were spoiled."
if you cant recall lou saban having garbage dumped on his front lawn or the mutiny on the broncos you dont know sh*t. sorry if your a new fan but the broncos are more than mike shanahan.

This is a really bad time to be a Bronco fan.

i dont want to offend, but considering bronco history...you dont know sh*t.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by eddie mac

I certainly dont feel we've been spoiled over the past 3 seasons.

Pfft... The last three seasons were nothing. 1990-1995 was much worse than anything we ever experienced in the Shanahan era. We just got off "It's a Small World" at Disneyland by comparison with a fricken balloon sized lollipop in our hand.

[Atwater His Ass]

Get over yourself. People have a right to be concerned no matter how long they've been a fan.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by baja

ya it's gonna suck not winning that one playoff game the next ten years.

Shanahan has this team in a much better situation than that. That's the nice thing about where we're at - most coaches get fired after leaving a team in shambles. We've got a hell of a squad right now.

[Atwater His Ass]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Shanahan has this team in a much better situation than that. That's the nice thing about where we're at - most coaches get fired after leaving a team in shambles. We've got a hell of a squad right now.

On offense.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by Atwater His Ass

On offense.

Well no kidding... But we've got a ton of draft picks and the most salary cap space we've had in a decade right now to build a defense with. People act like Shanahan had amassed these resource to go out and get another fleet of wide receivers or something. Of course not - he was going to turn the Goodmans loose to build us a defense.

[NFLBRONCO]

One thing that surprised me about Shanny is if he would have dropped his ego and hired a DC with creativity and let him run that side longer then a year we'd be NE of the west and he'd still be coaching here imo. Fact is 10+ yrs and D is awful at worst it should be solid by now so no wonder he got fired.

[NFLBRONCO]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Well no kidding... But we've got a ton of draft picks and the most salary cap space we've had in a decade right now to build a defense with. People act like Shanahan had amassed these resource to go out and get another fleet of wide receivers or something. Of course not - he was going to turn the Goodmans loose to build us a defense.

While I'm on the time for a change crowd I did think about giving Goodmans a chance at building a D in 09. Then it happened so we will see what happens now will our next coach have an eye for D.

[Taco John]

Originally Posted by NFLBRONCO

One thing that surprised me about Shanny is if he would have dropped his ego and hired a DC with creativity and let him run that side longer then a year we'd be NE of the west and he'd still be coaching here imo. Fact is 10+ yrs and D is awful at worst it should be solid by now so no wonder he got fired.

When people say stuff like this, it's clear to me that people just don't understand the resource drain that Shanahan put in over the last two years to reubild the offense from the ground up. Which player do you want off the offense? Brandon Marshall? Jay Cutler? Eddie Royal? Ryan Clady? Scheffler?

If Bowlen would have had the guts to see it through, we would have seen our Hall of Fame coach lifting another lombardi trophy for us within three years, instead of being fired in disgrace.

[baja]

Originally Posted by Taco John

Well no kidding... But we've got a ton of draft picks and the most salary cap space we've had in a decade right now to build a defense with. People act like Shanahan had amassed these resource to go out and get another fleet of wide receivers or something. Of course not - he was going to turn the Goodmans loose to build us a defense.

Granted we are in good shape now but we floundered for years with bad draft choices and horrendously bad free agent signings leaving huge dead money on the books. Truth is we should already have a much better D. It doesn't matter what you think we were going to do on D the point is Shanny should already have a decent D. He has failed badly on that side of the ball. You said it yourself in a previous post, T. Pierce is a player that is a good example of why Shanny got removed and you are right. How many 1st 2nd and 3rd round picks were wasted in the last 10 years? No Pat did the right thing and thank God he had the courage to do it. I have huge respect for Mike but as Pat said "It was time".

Even Mike said, "I didn't get it done".

[Jason in LA]

Originally Posted by baja

ya it's gonna suck not winning that one playoff game the next ten years.

So you think the future looks brighter than the past? I had faith that Shanahan rebuilding this team was going to pay off in the very near future. The future looks terrible at this point. I don't have much faith in Bowlen to do anything.

[baja]

He hired Shanahan what makes you think he is incapable of finding the next great coach for the Broncos. Consensus is Bowlen is one of the best owners in the NFL. Hell Mike thinks he is the best owner in all of sports and said so today.

[Play2win]

I actually see a bright future. Next season, I am not sure about. It might take a little while to conduct a good search. Who knows maybe he **really** already has someone in mind.

Why I am optimistic is because maybe what Shanahan always called "good problems to have" can get real world solutions...

i.e., no real SLB, but seamingly always having 2 WLB, Jason Elam KO's (already fixed), Running back situation (Hillis??), real safeties, etc.,

Also maybe, finally, we will get some strength in the interior and middle of our defense... A big, strong, physical, and sturdy backbone...

Big, Strong DT's, MLB (and other LB's), and physical Safeties... Take back the middle of our field!!

That is why, in the long run, I see good thing that can come because of this move...

[BroncoMan4ever]

Originally Posted by NFLBRONCO

One thing that surprised me about Shanny is if he would have dropped his ego and hired a DC with creativity and let him run that side longer then a year we'd be NE of the west and he'd still be coaching here imo. Fact is 10+ yrs and D is awful at worst it should be solid by now so no wonder he got fired.

instead we are basically the AFC version of Dallas.

people usually think of Denver as a team that could compete, and every year we tend to fall way short of expectations.