If Frye or Gradkowski or anybody besides JaMarcus Russell is playing earlier this season, the Chargers lose at least one of their games to Oakland. Even when Russell went out for 2-3 plays in the first game Gradkowski came out shredding the Chargers D. It’s not a bad team.

I’m not suggesting the Broncos should forfeit a playoff appearance should they get one. I didn’t write anything about them quitting, or about this being a lost year. I am pleased with the progress from 2008 to 2009, and I have high hopes for them next year and beyond.

future looks good! and we are not done yet. Broncos can win last two..

Too much of the playing-not-to-lose mentality.

Assuming we don’t give up some gigantic sack or a big INT return, I’m figuring a failure to convert means giving Oakland the ball at their own 3-yard line down a field goal. I think calling a tie “almost for sure” in that scenario is reaching a bit.

I thought we were screwed the second we failed to convert that TD on 1st and goal at the 2…..a 6 point lead is just that….

Before this season started, many people weren’t expecting year 1 improvement. They were expecting 5 wins or less this year, and a little improvement each of the following years. I know it’s hard to go back to that, but you can’t compare McD’s Year 1 with Shanahan’s final year. It’s not fair to Josh.

We do not know what adjustments McD will make in the off-season. I too am confused by his play calling. Maybe he just does not have a handle on how to adjust, perhaps he is smarter than we think and he is not willing to let other teams see what adjustments he will make for next season. At this point, he is in a no lose situation. A better record than anyone was expecting, solid players in several positions and no where to go but up.
I sincerely hope you are wrong McGeorge on your estimation of the 2010 season, I do believe you are wrong. McD has shown some inteligence and I will just have to believe for now that he has a plan. I would not want other teams to see what I plan to do to fix all this with only a few games to go and an almost assured early exit from the playoffs. Why not wait, get through the draft, sign your FA’s and then get to work. You now know what worked, what didn’t work and you can get to work.
I can see no reason to doubt that this is the plan

As our players learned the system, got comfortable with each other and the coaches, we got worse.

2009 is his first year as an NFL head coach. It’s shocking to me that anyone would expect someone in any field to come in and be elite at anything in their first year in doing anything. If anything, he’s done an exceptional job thus far, and you’re right, he has a long way to go, which is a good thing.

As for the play calling, I thought it was fine yesterday. Let’s take a look at the plays during the four trips to the RZ yesterday:

First trip: Okay, the Iron Clady screen probably not the coach’s finest hour. All I could think about was Horvil Tiki lobbying for the Iron Clady to carry the rock last year down the stretch, I digress. After that it was a sack, followed by a WR screen to Eddie that was blown up.

Second trip: Start off with a 6yrd run on first down by Lamont Jordan. Then a quick snap QB draw by Orton, then you had a third and three run to KM that went nowhere.

Third trip: No runs here. On first down KO throws it away, on second down he hits the Beast over the middle where he dominated all day.

Fourth trip: first down was a roll-out pass play designed to go to Marshall that KO, again, smartly threw away. Second down a KM run to the right, where Kuper and Polumbus got blown up (like they did all game). Third down, they spread Scheffler out against LB, which has been very effective in the past, they just missed it.

That doesn’t seem like bad play calling to me. I forgive the Tackle screen and the quick QB draw. When you’re struggling badly in the RZ I like to see the coach take some chances, change things up a bit. I guess you could argue that he should completely abandon the run and only throw it down there. Didn’t we hate Bates for that last year? Look, the running game is in complete disarray right now, but I don’t think you can just abandon it as a play caller.

I admittedly have only a barstool’s knowledge of football philosophy, but I’ve always viewed ineffective running plays as important. You have to make the other team respect it the run, and at the same time, have faith that you’re going to break it one time— after all, that’s what you’re paying these professionals to do. My last observation is that the third down play on the last trip is an example of great offensive coaching and play calling, like I said above, it just didn’t happen. I agree with Doug. Perhaps the biggest coaching error yesterday was not going for it on fourth down.

and I guess they’re really pissed at McDaniels too. It’s okay to be angry, but rampant negativity such as this really agitates me.

He was the primary third down back the first couple weeks and had three or four dropped passes, a couple on huge third downs against Cinci. He was the featured goal line back the first couple weeks, and yes he got in once, but was largely ineffective and put the ball on the ground inside the five yard line against Oakland. He was given the chance to return kickoffs and fumbled against Cleveland. He was given a prominent role on ST coverage units and continually missed blocks and made dumb penalties. He was given the chance to be the starting fullback and again missed blocks and slipped-up in the backfield.

It’s also obvious to me that he’s not practicing well, otherwise Lamont Jordan wouldn’t be playing ahead of him. Anyone who argues that McD will only play his guys, I would point out that he started a guy off the PS ahead of the guy he traded a first round pick for in this year’s draft. Oh, and don’t bring up how he dominated late in the game against KC. KC isn’t very good to begin with and was gassed by the time Hillis got in there. Hell, I even heard people saying you had to discount everything Knowshon did that day because he was playing against “scrubs like Dorsey”.

So yes, Peyton was given many chances to play, he just wasn’t that good. He had a couple good games last year (NY & MIA) after three or four backs had already gone on IR, and I was excited as anyone to see what he would bring to this year’s club. I’ve been disappointed. Oh, and yes someone will pick him up next year because he will be cut, perhaps very soon. I wish him the best.

luckily my wife and daughter were out of the house… until the last minute… and then luckily they were upstairs because my tone was similar

You won’t catch me saying anything remotely close to that. The Bears season has been a perfect storm of crappiness, and Jay is the captain of the boat.

Well, those were changes I made late this morning after reading Sean’s comments. My original writing was perhaps a bit too emotional…

But I’ve got to ask…have you been to any other games over the past two seasons, or are you bringing us a mountain of bad luck? ;-)