It's 1995 all over again..

by Zappa on Oct 1, 2007 6:27 PM MDT

I had somewhat of an apiphany today. I think we all underestimate Mike Shannahan and his genius. If you look at this team we got it reminds me of what Shanny was doing with the Broncos in 1995. For the first time since he took over this team, he has decided to start over from scratch and rebuild a championship team.

Gone are the days of "Stop Gap" measures to make a championship run every year. I think he has realized this wasn't possible. You have to build a championship team through the draft which he started to do during the 2006 draft.

Everyone hates Bates now, but this defense is in transition and will become a Championship calibur defense in the next few years. The offense is good, but inconsistent. Why? Because we have a quarterback that has started just 9 games and a lot of young players. This team is like the 89-90 Cowboys baby! I think Travis Henry may have just been a temporary guy for Shanny...I think we all know Selvin Young is the real deal. I see so much TD in this kid it scares me(I actually have to hold myself back from calling for him to be the starter, he just isn't ready yet).

My biggest concern for the future is our Special Teams play. We just don't have the personnel right now, but any serious run at the Super Bowl will require a better than average ST unit.

Here is a look at what we got on defense:

You look at our DLine and I see nothing but young studs that will become impact players under Bates system. I see DJ Williams eventually turning into a solid MLB, but he will not be able to shine while Gold and especially Webster are starters. Obviously our CBs are great. Our biggest concern for the next couple of years will be replacing Lynch and to a lesser extent Fergueson. I see Hamza taking over one of those positions, but we do need another Lynch/Atwater calibur player back there if we intend on being a dominate defense. So I see us using the draft for a safety and especially linebackers in '08.

As for our offense, well, we got an excellent young QB and tons of talent at WR and TE. Obviously we have Henry, but I see Selvin Young taking his spot no later than '09. Our biggest concern is our OLine, specifically the depth of our OLine. That can be fixed easily enough through the draft or free agency.

So there you have it. I see a Super Bowl victory no later than 2010, probably a year earlier if Shanny continues to set his draft priorities correctly like he has done for the past two years.

I am not giving up on this year or any of that. I am only saying that I am beginning to see what Shannahan is doing with this team. It IS the 1995 Broncos in so many aspects. I have not been this excited about the future since about 8 months after the loss to Jacksonville in the 1996 Division Playoffs.

My advice to all of you is not to judge to harshly this year. Look at the big picture. We are in for one hell of a ride the next couple of years!!!!

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rockies

yea and rockies made the playoff like in 95

by vietminh55 on Oct 1, 2007 10:38 PM MDT 0 recs

yikes!!

and the Cowboys and Packers were the best in the NFC that year!

Clinton isn't in the White House right?

by mdierk on Oct 1, 2007 10:53 PM MDT 0 recs

Just Me.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: it was a mistake to take Jarvis Moss ahead of Reggie Nelson in the first round of last year's draft. Nothing against Moss (and I'm not saying that Nelson is a sure thing) but if we felt confident in taking Crowder in the second round, we should have addressed safety in the first.

Looking ahead, we need two OLBs, two safeties (sorry, I don't buuy into the Hamza hype) and a big DT. I don't know what our salary cap situation is like for the upcoming seasons, but I'm guessing that we'll need to address much of this in the draft and that means we're more than a year away from competing for a championship.

Look, a playoff birth is nothing to sneeze at, but I'd to have some confidence that we could make an impact in the postseason as well! It's nice to know that IF we do everything right, we'll be in the thick of things in 2-3 years, but I'd like to be truly competative in the meantime as well. Rebuilding isn't exciting, it's painful.

by ejruiz on Oct 2, 2007 4:11 PM MDT 0 recs

Hamza hype

The thing about the Hamza hype is it was coming form his on-field work and was building of its own momentum when Lynch stepped up and cut to the chase saying "This guy can be a stud in the league." After that the hype skyrocketed, not based on Hamza anymore, but more on what a respected veteran like Lynch thought. If he hadn't said anything the hype would have built anyway because Hamza produces when he is on the field, in limited work.

His injury needs to be watched for lingering effects, but don't worry about Hamza. He is for real.

by styg50 on Oct 2, 2007 8:53 PM MDT up 0 recs

ejruiz...

I'm saying we are doing everything right. We are not as thin at Safety as you think and we can pick up a DT and a LB in free agency.

I would be suprised if we are not back in the Super by next year. I'd shocked if we weren't there by '09(Not to mention calling for Shanny to be fired at that point). 2 years is a small demand, considering it's been 9 years since our last Super Bowl appearance(longest drought since we first went to the big game in 1977).

by Zappa on Oct 2, 2007 5:04 PM MDT 0 recs

Surprise!

Picking up DTs and LBs in FA worked well for us this year, no? Watching Champ having to play corner AND safety simultaneously (or at least bite on PA fakes) because no one other than Lynch can step up and make at tackle from back there is sad. Our CBs having to play soft and look bad when they release their guy to where the safety is supposed to help and our guy isn't there, is worse.

Are you saying that we should be favored to make it to the Super Bowl before the turn of the decade??? Last time I checked, the AFC contenders (and even the pretenders) also have young cores, at least to the point that they won't be debilitated considerably anytime soon. I think this is likely to be our worst year since Shanny's first and it will probably get much better as soon as next season.

Look, I'm not a pesamist, but I am a realist. This is the first time in a long time that I haven't had a single week in which I felt like our Broncos could win it all and it sucks. I hate the fact that this team looks more likely to get a top ten pick in next year's draft than it is to make the playoffs. We can look at the rest of our division and laugh, but I see a bunch of teams that could "get healthy" against us the way that we're playing. Heck, it took a perfectly timed TO to beat Oakland... at home... in OT.

I hope for the best every week, but I hate it when people just let the losing (and worse, the embarassing play) slide, thinking of what this team might look like in two years or more. There's really no way to project that, so you might as well live in the now. Yeah, it sucks at the moment, but that's part of being a fan, too.

P.S.: Shanahan is 125-71 (8-5 in the playoffs) as our HC. We've won two Super Bowls, made the playoffs more often than not (7-5), posted a losing season only once (non-winning seasons only thrice) and developed everything that has become synonymous with Denver Broncos football. I'm sorry, but until he runs this team into the ground completely and for more than one season in a row, he keeps his job. You guys sound like Steelers fans after 2003; I'm sure you'll all play it off if it turns out the same for us, too.

by ejruiz on Oct 3, 2007 11:03 PM MDT up 0 recs