An Improbable Success Story
October 10th 2009 07:28
After a tumultuous offseason, the Denver Broncos weren't exactly garnering high expectations around the league. To start, long-time coach and 2-time Super Bowl Champion Mike Shanahan was unexpectedly fired, and the offseason of scrutiny was on.
The Broncos, it seemed, could do nothing right. First, they fired Shanahan, widely regarded as one of the league's premiere coaches. They replaced him with the 32 year-old offensive coordinator from the New England Patriots, Josh McDaniels. McDaniels was the latest in the long line of Bill Belichick disciples, and was being groomed for a head coaching job. Still, the time and the situation of the Denver hiring seemed wrong for McDaniels because of the great potential for failure.
McDaniels got off to a bit of a rough start. He immediately butted heads with franchise cornerstone, QB Jay Cutler. Cutler's feelings were hurt, the coach-player relationship was damaged beyond repair. Next thing anyone knows, Cutler is on his way to the Chicago Bears for Kyle Orton and a couple of high draft picks. The media thought Denver got hosed in the trade, receiving 70 cents for the dollar they gave up. The fans, already disgruntled over Shanahan's firing and Cutler's unhappiness, piled on. By all appearances, Denver gave in when things started getting tough.
Not to be outdone, star receiver Brandon Marshall demanded a new contract or a trade, maybe both. Marshall was suspended, came back and purposely dropped a few passes, and punted a football to the moon during practice. His discontent was ongoing, lasting into the regular season.
McDaniels was in an impossible situation. First head coaching job, inheriting a bottom 5 defense in total defense and points allowed, a new quarterback, a seething superstar, and a rabid fan base on the verge of rioting. He looked in over his head, and on his way to permanently losing his team and the fans.
So the season started and the Broncos actually started playing games. McDaniels has his team out to a shocking 4-0 start while giving up a league-low 26 points. McDaniels has put Orton, always thought of as a mediocre signal caller, in position to excel; Orton has responded with 225 passing yards per game, 5 TD passes against 0 interceptions, and a rating of 97.7.
McDaniels has also found a way to appease Marshall, who has undergone a complete change of heart and is playing all out without complaining about his contract. Reports explain that Marshall now enjoys playing in Denver's new system and wants to stay with his team. There's no confirmed word that an enigmatic and fickle wide receiver has decided he wants to stay because he found out his team is actually good, but that kind of speculation doesn't seem too far from the truth.
McDaniels has done an unspeakably fine job at turning his team around from the highly disparaged offseason. A look inside the schedule shows that Denver has yet to be truly tested. The Broncos first month of games included wins over the Bengals (shockingly good- 3-1), the Browns (possibly belong in college football's MAC conference somewhere), the Raiders (growing more dysfunctional and poisonous by the day), and the Cowboys (incredibly soft and poorly coached). The only win on that schedule that could even be considered impressive is the victory in Cincinnati in what will be the best game of the 2009 season.
The proof is in the pudding for McDaniels and the Broncos as 8 of the next 9 games come against New England, at San Diego, at Baltimore, against Pittsburgh, at Washington, against San Diego, against the New York Giants, and at Indianapolis. That's a combined record of 22-8. The assessment of McDaniels' coaching job will inevitably be linked to that stretch of games, and any lasting impression will have stood the test against some of the NFL's best.
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