Thanks HT for the heads-up on this book. Let’s see, I have a birthday coming up; maybe the missus will get the hint.

Stefan Fatsis

I like the insight on Shanny

I am slowly working my way back into a schedule now that I am home. First thing is always to get caught up on my Broncos reading.

Two things, both from the “Mind of Shanny” bit, jumped out at me:

“This is basically the fourth time they’ve been introduced to the first three days of camp,” Shanahan says. “So when we go to camp and start with the first practice on July 28, it’ll be the fifth time they’ve gone over it. They can react and don’t have to think.” The coaches then will be better able to evaluate each player’s ability, physically and mentally. No one can complain that he hasn’t had enough time to learn the team’s practice routine and playbook.

But Shanahan also tells me he already has a good idea of who’s going to make the 53-man roster. Based on performance and salary, he and the coaches and front office assess the team after each three-day camp. The long camp and the preseason games are the final data points. That essentially means that 30 or so players have little or no chance of making the club. They will suffer through training camp with little hope, barring someone else’s injury, of playing for the Denver Broncos in 2006. They just don’t know it.

I thought this was interesting and would make a good subject for discussion once my birthday present arrives this year (july 24th is the start of training camp). Imagine, they are 99% sure of who is going to make the team, right now.

The other part that jumped out at me was the final section on dumb punter. While unfortunately the journalist had a rare opportunity to speak to Shanny and he chose a topic that was destined to be old news someday, he did a halfway decent job of spotting the important premises inherent in the situation, including Shanny’s attitude towards recidivism (Walker, Henry, et al.) It raised questions for me about the current “character movement” the Broncs have undergone, and leads me to believe that since William’s death, Shanny has been asking himself some tough questions about how teams are built. The switch form Sundquist to the Goodman’s seems to be motivated primarily by two differing ways of looking at people.

Good find HT!