he was prepared for wholesale change, obviously—change including dumping the entire offensive staff. Granted, if we hire one of these DCs we’re interviewing, it would make sense to keep the guys Styg put on posters this weekend. However, if we hire a young offensive guy most of those guys are gone obviously. In addition, while I’m generally a fan of Bates, he does not have the resume of McDanials.

McDanials held a similar position to Bates in 2006, where he called the play and wasn’t a true OC and was very effective. Then, in 2007 he took charge of the entire offense at the coordinator level and put together the greatest year in history. This year, he did a great job coordinating an offense when its best player and leader went down in the first game. Throw in his experience on defense and you have the makings of a great head coach. Again, Jeremy Bates is no Josh McDanials.

This is an easy conclusion to draw, but maybe he brings in Crennel to run a 3-4 defense that we can build through the draft this year? Maybe that’s why he’s the front runner???

Personally, I would love this move. This is an offensive football team, and maintaining and improving the offense must be the number one priority. I posted last week about the hedgehog principle from my business background— if a company has a particularly strength or dominance in a certain area of business, it must focus on that first and foremost and must never get distracted. It must exploit that strength relentlessly without diluting it through excessive diversification.

I can draw some parallels here. Our strength is in the offense. If we bring in a defensive-minded coach and leave Jeremy, Bobby, and Rick alone over there, it may fall apart without Mike. Hell, many of us feel the offense went downhill when Kubs left, what’s going to happen to our current system without Mike??? Brining in a guy like McDanials ensures the offense will continue to improve. In addition, we have the talent on that side of the ball to be a pass-first, spread offense. Obviously, otherwise Mike wouldn’t have abandoned the WCO this year. Please don’t tell me Bates made that call in the offensive meeting room deep inside Dove Valley, he may have advocated, but it had to be Mike’s call.

If Josh can bring in a big-time DC with him like Crennel and the front office is committed to getting defensive talent in here through FA, Trades and the Draft, it’s a no-brainer in my mind.

Look guys, I understand that we have Jeremy Bates. And I understand that Eric Mangini and Romeo Crennel have been fired. And that Charlie Weis should be. But I prefer McDaniels to the to the other candidates by a fat margin. Why? He’s got experience on both sides of the ball. He’s come up through the ranks in an organization that values systems, schemes and on on-the-field approach that makes the GM’s job easier by prioritizing certain kinds of players over others.

Let’s go over the objections to McDaniels.

1) We already have Jeremy Bates. Great, keep him. I know the deck was stacked against the offense this year, but our guys had to move the ball a long way to score points. The Patriots have excelled at offensive efficiency (i.e., they typically travel far fewer yards per point scored).We’ve all seen the red-zone hell the Broncos have lived in for years. I’m sure Shanny’s approach rubbed off on Bates. McDaniels would be new thinking. New thinking is good!

As a bonus, I’d bet a large sum that McDaniels would keep the zone blocking system. The Patriots organization is all about maximizing value. Zone blocking lets you lock in a great running game cheap. The guy isn’t dumb and he would understand this.

2) Look at other Pats coaches running NFL teams — Yikes. Look, the other three guys were NFL lifers who fell into the Pats system for a few years and became highly sought-after targets because owners go the lazy route of hiring coordinators from championship teams. McDaniels differs from these guys in that he’s more entrenched in that system. He is by all accounts a comer in terms of brains and personality (try saying that about Weis and Crennel). Young stud versus retread who happened to be in the right place at the right time. You can’t worry about him because he’s from the Patriots — those arguments just don’t stand up.

3) We need a coach focused on D. No we do not. We need a coach who is smart and dynamic and who understands that the salary cap casts an increasingly long shadow on the playing field. I don’t know what Josh McDaniels would do on D. But I’m sure he’s put in place some kind of a scheme that maximizes value (a 3-4 which allows for cheaper pass rush, the Tampa-2, or something). Shanny’s scheme was execrable because it needed great all-around players to thrive. Not much of a scheme! McDaniels has worked on both sides of the ball and comes from an organization that understands the modern NFL game.

Look, Spags sounds like a pretty good coach. But if you look at the best organizations around the leage (the Pats and Steelers), you see a tight fit between coaching schemes and the front office. I don’t know that Spags would bring that here. But I’m sure McDaniels would.

I had the same worries, at first.

Schefter covered this information in interviews this morning (one in particular I heard on KOA in Denver), saying not only what he did above but pointing out that it was in fact speculation – but that it was speculation based on feedback he has been hearing thus far.

Spagnuolo, according to Schefter is very much a top candidate and could well end up being the man.

He also brought up another good point – bringing in a ‘defensive mind’ for the top job doesn’t necessarily translate out on the field; Wade Phillips was such a man and Denver’s defense on his watch left a lot to be desired.

Now, while directly comparing Phillips and Spagnuolo may be apples and oranges I think the point was that bringing in a ‘defensive guy’ or an ‘offensive guy’ is something that can’t necessarily be taken at face value to mean the other side of the ball is going to get short shrift.

I got the impression when I heard him speak that all Schefter was trying to say is that at this time, there seems to be a ‘front runner’ but there are a couple of other strong candidates and that nothing is set in stone.

Personally – and it isn’t like I know the man – I think Pat Bowlen is well aware of the Broncos’ most serious needs and that whichever way he goes with a head coach, the eventual choice of GM and the final makeup of the coaching staff and front office will be in a position to address it seriously.

I just can’t see Bowlen shaking things up the way he has otherwise. Bowlen seems to be taking this process very seriously and pulling out all the stops to cast a wide net and make an informed decision. Maybe I am being overly optimistic but I get a good feeling from what I hear that they are making every effort to do this right.

At least I hope so, because if they don’t the next few years are going to be dark times in Broncos Country.

Isn’t that a possibility?

Look at Mangini and Crennel just getting fired, and Charlie Weis struggling so much at Notre Dame. I think this is a lot of speculation by Schefter based upon his perception of history. I think Spagnuolo, Morris, and Frazier are all more likely in the end than McDaniels is. I actually think McDaniels will ultimately end up in KC with Scott Pioli, provided Kirk Ferentz doesn’t want that job.

But I know Schefter has very close ties with the Broncos and he seems to be pretty acurate in his reporting over the years, so I don’t necessarily see this as something out of left field. Maybe it is a sign that Pioli and McDaniels would be coming over in a package deal and they may hire Crennel as a DC, would not be my favorite option, but that would be a new direction. I could also see that Bowlen may want to appease his young star QB by getting an offensive minded HC coach.

I have no problem with McD. His philosophy seems to be “run-whatever-system-you-have-personnel-for”, and I hope we keep this setup!

I certainly have no problem with injecting some NE-way-of-thinking – you can hate them but can’t argue with their succes.

He’s young, so we, if (big if) he has succes, we won’t be in this possision to soon again.

Also: The combi of Pioli and McD in Denver… I think i came a little in my pants there..

I would have liked the great square jawed one who led Pittsburgh back to the promised land. My guess would be we get some unheard of nobody. I wish we could steal Kubiak back.

I would to at least like to see Rex Ryan get interviewed. Plus what I have been reading about him is that he is hungry for that HC position and his guys love playing him all 60 minutes of the game.

Have you seen what others from the Pats coaching family have done (Clevland, ND, ect.)?

I am floored by the tons of insight in this comments thread. This has to be an early contender for “value added thread of the year”.

MHR rocks! :)

Who will bring the best FAs from his current team with him? I sure wouldn’t mind a few of those Giants DLs in orange and blue. ;)