Poll of the Week, 1/18/10 - Are the Broncos headed in the right direction?

This was however his first year and so I’d prefer to wait at least one more season (ideally 2) to really judge this teams progress under McD.

2-8 over the last ten games as the players got more comfortable with their coaches. Home losses to KC and Oakland. An anemic effort in a must win home game vs KC. Never ending public disputes between players and staff. Young players that regressed or looked lost most of the season.

If this is the right direction, I hope we head in the wrong direction next season. I prefer a direction where Denver actually plays well in the 2nd half of the season. I prefer a direction where our players and coaches back up their words.

It’s fun to watch them lose, but I’m tired of rooting against San Diego every January. I’d much rather be rooting for Denver.

I like the direction so far, but this reloading-season could go a long way in easing some fears. FA and the draft will tell us if they are serious about fixing some glaring woes or if McD already thinks he sees the talent needed on this roster. Specifically I have the O line in mind. I think upgrading the talent there will help the rest of the team across the board. If he pulls a Shanny and stands pat, I’ll be concerned. Kenny Chesney is not the answer at O line.

I am pleased with how the Defense is shaping up, the scrubs Nolan worked with turned out pretty well… It’s a promising scheme that needs another year of FA signings and competent drafting

I’m not happy with the fade in the last quarter of the season, the team totally tuned out out the coaches towards the end. Losing to Oakland at home for the past two season brings my piss to a boil.

The offense looks anemic, Orton choked when it needed him the most. Yes the O-line was hurt and they were in a scheme transition, but his lack of playmaking ability really hurt us towards the end…

and i’m curious to see opinions on how the broncs are headed the right way. i agree on the defense being better but the offense isn’t. more importantly, going position by position, this looks more and more like a long term rebuild than an upward swing. it’s hard for me to say this is a better, more talented team than 2008, or that the coaching was improved (again, excepting nolan).

that said, it’s a new staff and new systems all around so there’s that reasoning (although the Jets won’t be using that one), and sometimes to make big leaps forward you have to rock the car backwards to get it out of its old grooves. hope that’s the case here.

hired Mike Nolan, signed Dawkins, switch to 3-4, Doom to LB, going to power running attack, spoiled brat players being held accountable, how well this offense looks when it is on, the domination of the defense when it is ON, I expect more and better next year.

Defense? Nolan, Doom, Dawkins, Bailey, Goodman, Hill…How could you not like it?

Special Teams? It’s better even considering Berger’s roller coaster. Reid, Woodyard, Bruton, Larsen. man-o-man I can’t remember the last time I cheered for ST like I did this year.

Offense? I’m REALLY happy with this new idea where we keep the ball when we’re in the red zone trying to score. I like the direction the offense is heading. Now I just want to see some results after a year in the new system.

Put me in the “maybe” category. I like the improvement made by the defense but I’m concerned about the regression on the offensive side of the ball. A lot of the slide had to do with the largely unforeseen regression of the o-line and Royal’s sophomore slump, but I have concerns about the overall offensive scheme. Despite those issues (and the o-line was a big issue) I thought the play calling was less than stellar. Where were the tight ends this year? There were games where the run clearly wasn’t working but the coaches stubbornly kept wasting first downs trying to run.

I understand that McD has a system that he wants to implement; however, I was expecting him to be smarter about using the resources he had available to him instead of trying to cram a square peg in a round hole. If you have Scheffler, you throw him the ball. The offense this year had a Dan Reeve’s era feeling to it = scheme that didn’t play to the strengths of the pieces and parts.

The defense and special teams finally seem to be heading in the right direction. Sadly, with the likely departure of Marshall and Sheffler, I can’t say the same about the offense.

limiting it to a yes or no answer just doesn’t allow you to capture the overall feelings of the MHR members IMO. Maybe you could add in “Maybe, but I need to see what happens in the off season.” That’s really where I’m at. I think the Broncos cuuld be going in the right direction, but, really need to see what’s going to happen in FA and the draft to make up my mind. Even then I may still have questions. Generally speaking I believe we could be going the right direction, but, the 2-8 record in the last 10 games would say we’re stuck in the mud somewhere.

to what Bronco fans are really thinking if we had more options. This reminds me I guess of some of the politcal polls that are tailored get the answer they desire to support what they think. I know that’s not you intent here. Or maybe I’m over thinking it a bit, I have a habit of doing that. I would say yes to some areas and no to others based on how the season progressed. So a maybe or I don’t really know might be nice.

For the simple reason that in football you are judged by wins and losses. With the exact same record as the previous season, we moved sideways, which is not the right direction. IOW, if you are not making improvement, then everyone else is passing you bye.

FWIW, I held my 9-7 preseason prediction throughout that 6 game winning streak (indeed until the final game’s final 2 minutes or so), and if we had achieved that, I would have voted yes in the poll.

Losing to the Faiders at home – TWO YEARS IN A FRIGGING ROW!!!! NOT the right direction!!!

However, being a true fan who bleeds predominantly orange, I remain hopeful that next season will be better.

But it’s not a sweeping “yes” as I previously would have noted. I’m generally happy with the way things are going. A lot will depend on the FA and draft though.

I’ve accepted that Marshall is most likely leaving, so as long as McD and X get something of good value in return, then I’m ok with it. Losing a guy like Marshall can be one of two things. It will either devastate a team that relied on him so much at key points during the season, or it will unite the team and the team-first attitude while giving lesser known players the opportunities to show their salt as well. Some people would say we’re losing the biggest playmaker on the field, and while that’s true, I highly doubt guys like Dawkins, Champ and Dan Graham will allow the other players to start whispering things that would eat the team inside out after Marshall leaves.

All in all, I’m very excited for 2010 and beyond because I feel like McDaniels is making the changes necessary to get this team out of the rut it’s been in for 5 years. The issues of mediocrity were here long before McD showed up, so I won’t pin him to the cross about it yet and neither should anyone else.

but it would have been nice if we were moved a bit faster and a bit closer to “the end product”

Mostly because I could not decide. I figured if I could say that I felt like yes is the right answer, then it must be no.

Having said that, on the defensive side of the ball, I do like the direction. If we upgrade the talent on the D-Line and add another quality LB, then we may be in very good shape. I am a bit worried about the age of the CB position (S is old, too, but I like Bruton and McBath as future starters). Alphonso Smith needs to step up next year at the nickle spot.

On the offensive side of the ball, I am far less happy. I am not a big fan of the “Patriots Spread” offense. I am also not really a big fan of the spread at the college level. Some of that is just my bias towards a strong running game and play action passing. You have to be able to pass at the NFL level to win, sure, but you have to be balanced, too.

I feel like I can see where the defense is going, but the offense is much more in a state of flux going into McDaniels’ second season than I would have hoped. There are too many questions. For example:

1. Do we have the right personnel on the O-Line for whatever the new post-Dennison blocking scheme will be? (My answer is probably no and we needed a talent upgrade in the middle of the line anyway)

2. Is Orton really the QB of the near future (2-4 years)?

3. Who will be the primary receivers next year? (Marshall and Scheffler are likely gone, Royal was extremely disappointing this year)

4. Is Knowshon Moreno a real #1 back? (His heart, character, and enthusiasm are not in question but can he make plays — honestly, I thought he would make more of them this year based on his draft position)

Finally, other than Prater, Special Teams are an area of concern.

Too many questions for me to vote yes. I have been generally supportive of McDaniels, but the Raiders and Chiefs games left me feeling quesy.

McD is clearly struggling to maintain control of this organization.

Mike Lombardi just said on the NFL network that Mike Nolan has been let go………..

Yay, re-treads!

the Broncos didn’t give Nolan a high enough suit budget.

Doug’s poll was the Poll of the Week.

Mike Nolan fired!!!
I’ll go ahead and change my vote now please!!

Dammit

This afternoon on KOA’s the Ride Home that Wade Phillips is safe in Dallas. The only vacancy he spoke of during that interview (~3:45PM MST) was (going to be) be Cable, and he predicted we’d find out within the next 48 hours. If there was something in Miami, he didn’t share it on-air this afternoon when specifically asked about the coaching carousel.

I could see Nolan going to the Raiders though. If he doesn’t take an HC job though it looks bad on Josh to me.

However I like the new philosophy McDaniels has brought in except for airing our laundry to the MSM. That has to stop. I know it is McDaniels’ first year as a HC so I will cut him some slack. For once I want to see some consistency through 16 games whether we make the playoffs or not.

I am optimistic that things will work out, it’s just that I can’t vote “yes” because we are still a .500 team that still can’t win the game when it matters the most.

But backed into a corner, based on the factual information in front of me, I had to vote No. The 2-8 finish is the only hard core evidence we have in what direction the team is heading. Can they turn it around? Sure. Will they? Nobody really knows, imo.