Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels is not the droid you're looking for.
Josh McDaniels is crazy.
April 25, 2010
Draft Reax
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized | Tags: Denver Broncos, Josh McDaniels, Tim Tebow |Leave a Comment
April 16, 2010
My Draft Wish List
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized | Tags: Denver Broncos, NFL, sports |1 Comment
It’s that time again. It’s not too much of a stretch to say that this draft will have a big part in determining whether Josh McDaniels gets replaced after three years, or if he sticks. Once they trade TE Tony Scheffler (which should be any day now), Shanahan’s guys will be gone and the team will have McD’s fingerprints all over it. There’s still some time to go before the 2009 draft can be judged fairly, but the top trio of Knowshon Moreno, Robert Ayers, and Alphonso Smith produced a resounding “meh” in their rookie season. So if McD blows this draft… not good. Here’s what I’m hoping the Broncos do in the first three rounds this weekend:
Round 1: Trade down, if possible, to collect an extra pick. If they can’t, then get center Maurkice Pouncey. Not exciting, but exciting should not be job one for McDaniels and GM Brian Xanders. Denver needs to replace Casey Wiegmann, and Peter King says teams look at Pouncey and see a ten-year rock in the middle of the offensive line.
April 15, 2010
An Omnibus Sports Post
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized | Tags: Brandon Marshall, Denver Broncos, Iowa Hawkeyes, Phillies, sports |Leave a Comment
Haven’t had time to write this week, and not just because I’ve been playing with the iPad. Dissertation, grading, baby, new season of Mad Men on DVD… Life is busy at Chez Panoptiblog. But there are three sports-related stories I would hate to miss commenting on…
October 24, 2009
Quite a fall so far
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized | Tags: Denver Broncos, Iowa Hawkeyes, Phillies |Leave a Comment
I wanted to get this post in before today’s Iowa game, which scares me a little. I’ll be on a plane, or in airports, for much of the evening, so I won’t see them play Michigan State. Regardless of how this season ends, right now I’m having a shockingly good season as a fan. And it’s not just how well my teams are performing, but how unlikely these performances are individually, much less simultaneously.
Iowa: 7-0, alone at the top of the Big Ten, which only happens every fifteen or twenty years. Second-longest winning streak at 11 straight wins. The last time the Hawkeyes had a double-digit winning streak? The 1920s.
Denver: 6-0, in control of the AFC West. The surprise of the year. The optimistic predictions out there had them winning six games all year. Others said they’d win three. New coach, new QB, new offensive and defensive schemes.
Philadelphia Phillies: In the World Series for the second consecutive year. That hasn’t happened in the NL since the early 90s.
It’s been a wild run so far.
October 19, 2009
A Monday Night Sports Post
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized | Tags: baseball, Denver Broncos, football, Iowa Hawkeyes, NFL, Phillies, sports |Leave a Comment
Uh-oh. Non-Iowans are starting to buy into the Hawkeyes.
I can see why. The Hawkeyes are now 7-0, with impressive road wins at Penn State and Wisconsin. The Buckeyes, who were previously assumed to be very capable of dropping Iowa on November 14, lost their second game of the season. The Hawks are now, in sports cliche-speak, “in control of their own destiny.”
It’s easy to be upset about the first BCS rankings that came out, with Iowa sitting at number six behind a team from the WAC (Boise State) one from the Big East (Cincinatti). You look at those two teams’ schedules and it makes you ill. Who have they beaten? But asStewart Mandell points out for SI.com, Boise State’s weak schedule is going to catch up to them in the computer polls.
And while I have a lot of respect for Pete Carroll, I really, really don’t want to hear him complain about not being ranked higher in the polls. Why is there a “huge discrepancy” between the human and computer polls? Because computers don’t understand USC and the other big programs are supposed to get special treatment. You’ve had every benefit of the doubt for nearly a decade, coach. Don’t drop games to teams you should beat and it won’t be a problem.
***
The Broncos have beaten the Chargers at San Diego. It’s not just that Kyle Orton has 9 TDs to 1 INT, or that Elvis Dumervil already has ten sacks. It’s not just that they’re 6-0 heading into their bye week. Try this on: they’re 2-0 in their division, with both games against the Chiefs, and home games against the Raiders and Chargers remaining. Wow.
The Phillies just came back to shock the Dodgers 5-4, with SS Jimmy Rollins hitting a two-out, two-run double. First guy since Kirk Gibson to bring a team back with a walk-off run when they’re only one out away from losing in the playoffs. Meanwhile, Ryan Howard hit a two-run homer in the first inning to tie a record for consecutive games with an RBI. Who else holds the record? Lou Gehrig. When you start throwing the names Kirk Gibson and Lou Gehrig around, you know you’re doing something right. They’re one win away from a second consecutive World Series. Wow.
October 11, 2009
Denver 20, Boston 17
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized | Tags: Denver Broncos, Josh McDaniels, NFL |Leave a Comment
A few thoughts upon completion of Denver’s fifth consecutive win to open the season:
1) Wow.
2) Josh McDaniels is now one of four coaches to begin his career 5-0 (including former Denver coach Red Miller). When Pat Bowlen hired him, and especially after the Cutler and Marshall fiascos, Bowlen had to be thinking about a couple of years down the line. McDaniels is making good on his potential a whole lot earlier than anyone thought. And the fist-pumping to the crowd after the game? Love it.
3) I teach with this guy named George. Good guy, Bears fan. He keeps reminding me that Orton has second place on all the Purdue passing records, behind Drew Brees. I was kidding George that he’s the Bears’ biggest Orton fan. But boy, I’m a believer now. He finally threw his first interception, a meaningless hail mary snatched by Randy Moss at the end of the first half. So now he’s got 7 TDs to the one INT. He’s clearly got what it takes to lead McDaniels’ offense. With the glove off today, he looked even better.
4) The last three of those Orton TDs have been to Brandon Marshall, who suddenly loves Denver so much he shows up for postgame interviews in a Colorado Rockies jersey and batting helmet. And what’s he talking about to Tiki Barber on NBC? Staying humble.
5) This team still has to improve a whole lot before they’re ready for teams like the Colts and Giants. But the next five games, against San Diego (twice), Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Washington? Bring ‘em.
6) After today, they can break out those 50s uniforms anytime they want, vertical socks and all.
October 4, 2009
A Sunday Sports Post
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized | Tags: baseball, Denver Broncos, NFL |Leave a Comment
Over Labor Day weekend, I was visiting friends up in Decorah, seeing the scores come in on my iPhone. The Iowa Hawkeyes, in their home opener, were losing to Division-II UNI. Though they would come back to win, my thinking went like this:
- the Hawkeyes, having lost starting tailback Jewel Hampton, are going to have a rough year;
- the Broncos, with a new QB, a new coach, and a suspended star receiver, are going to have a rougher year;
- at least I still have the Phillies.
Fast forward a month. The Hawkeyes are a top-dozen team, the Broncos are 3-0 (though they’re down 10-7 to Dallas as I write this), and the Phillies have limped into the playoffs.
The Hawkeyes are for real, even though they didn’t put a hapless Arkansas State team away until the very end of the game. I don’t often think Pat Harty is worth reading (and can’t they find a better photo of the guy?), but he is right that people shouldn’t panic about that performance this weekend. It’s hard to win games against lesser opponents when you just had a huge game, and are about to have another huge game. That’s why they call it a trap.
The Broncos? I can’t tell yet if they’re for real. They seem to have a genuinely good defense. Their offense is questionable. But one thing I’ve appreciated about them, that’s come through in the press, is that McDaniels is preaching not only being smart and disciplined, but “humble.” That’s been a tough task in recent years, with the pouty Cutler and insolent Marshall demanding respect, money, and/or trades. But the team is, by all appearances, buying in, and even Marshall is now suddenly soft-spoken.
The Phillies? I don’t know what’s going on with them, because they’re not on TV around here. They’re having trouble with their pitching, starting with their closer, but apparently including their starters as well. Anything can happen in the playoffs, and they do have home-field advantage in the first round, but against a hot Rockies team I wouldn’t be shocked by a quick exit.
Oh well. At least I still have the Hawkeyes and Broncos.
September 13, 2009
Dramatic, Victorious Start to McDaniels Era in Denver
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized | Tags: Denver Broncos, Josh McDaniels, NFL |Leave a Comment
I don’t know much, only seeing little icons and colored lines on the computer screen, but it looks like Kyle Orton and Brandon Stokely have rescued the Broncos’ season opener on the road. I haven’t even seen the highlight yet, but with maybe 20 seconds to go, Orton threw an EIGHTY-SEVEN YARD TOUCHDOWN to Stokely. They win, 12-7. Wow.
UPDATE: I’m reading now on Pro Football Talk that Stokely grabbed a tipped pass. So all credit goes to Stokley. Orton continues his reputation of playing ugly, yet somehow winning games. McDaniels will take it.
UPDATE II: And in the night game, Jay Cutler throws a critical pick that seals the loss for Chicago. McDaniels will take that, too.
September 6, 2009
Broncos Prediction: Have Faith
Posted by Michael under Uncategorized | Tags: Denver Broncos, football, Josh McDaniels, NFL, Ta-Nehisi Coates |Leave a Comment
Writing briefly about the Denver Broncos, Ta-Nehisi Coates wants to know “how they blew it with Jay Cutler.” He links to Peter King, who has this to say:
It was a tale of two teams. Chicago, the team on the rise with the petulant franchise quarterback, Jay Cutler, who forced a trade from the Broncos. Denver, the team on the stumble that let the franchise quarterback go and dealt for Chicago’s retread Kyle Orton. Chicago rising. Denver on the ropes.
On the ropes is too nice. Everything the Broncos have touched in the last five months has turned to crap. Even in the lead-up to this most interesting of practice games there was another slap in McDaniels’ face: Star wide receiver Brandon Marshall had to be suspended for two weeks for insubordination, and there’s no telling if this 6-year-old football player will show up more mature when the suspension ends.
So, all this could turn out to be true. But it’s really separate from the Jay Cutler question. (more…)
