Denver Broncos News: Horse Tracks - 10/25/10

It doesnt matter, the Horse Tracks keep comin´. Thanks John!

I’m more and more cynical and the Raiders game was the final straw. Tebow to me seems like a bargaining chip for McDaniels. Tebow is McDaniel’s last carrot to dangle in front of Bowlen and the Denver fan base. If McDaniels plays him and he fails McDaniels will no longer be able to point toward the future with and convincing hope. He will hold on to Tebow until he absolutely has to play him to try and save his job. I feel bad for Tebow because it seems to me he is being used.

Ya I know, it’s a cynical view, but this team is falling fast. We are now without a doubt a worse team than the Raiders. That’s a fact. We are a worse team than the Chiefs. That is also a fact. Those two points should speak volumes to where this team is. McDaniels needs a get out of jail free card to save himself and Tebow is it.

A Broncos source told him (so unconfirmed) that after the Jets game in which the team played hard (and in my personal opinion very good), Josh was really tough on the players, and apparently the players were very frustrated with how the coaches responded after the game…. though it was not specifically mentioned, if this is true it sounded like like Josh lost some players. If this is true, then we have a serious locker room problem.

Again.. unconfirmed….

I didn’t sleep very well last night.

Bronco fans are crazy. Orton has put up some of the best numbers in the industry, and as soon as he struggles as a result of the entire team sucking you want to dump him for a long-snapper posing as a QB? Did Orton give up 59 points? And will Tebow prevent the defense from giving up 59 points?

I really hate the Monday after a bad football Sunday. Beyond horrible Broncos game, almost equally horrible Bears game, bad pickem… about the only saving grace was seeing BritFar get pummeled by the Packers. Even my coffee doesn’t taste all that good this morning…

And now I have to somehow find a way to do work…

sigh… sigh

The sky is still up there today. I guess we can only wait to see how the team responds.

“McDaniels has talked from the beginning about playing smart, but the Broncos self-destructed Sunday with a series of stupid mistakes.

He has talked from the beginning about playing tough, but the Broncos can neither run the ball nor stop the run. All they can do is throw it. They are the very definition of a finesse team.

He has talked from the beginning about mental toughness, but after last week’s last-minute loss to the Jets, his team crumpled psychologically like a bug against a windshield.

His team, in fact, is pretty much the complete opposite of everything he has talked about since his arrival. So you have to wonder: Has it occurred yet to Bowlen or Ellis that they are victims of a bait-and-switch?"

“Touchdown RRRRRRRaiduhs!!!!” over and over and over yesterday. I think even the local homer radio guy got tired of doing his signature radio call.

And what’s up with Moreno celebrating his 2 touchdowns like he scored a gamewinner when we are down by a gazillion points?

The coach just lost them. Thats the only way to explain it. We’re not that much worse than the Raiders.

I don’t think anybody here is questioning McD’s prowess with QBs, his ability to design a good offense, etc. The drafting was much improved. But he needs someone that can help him coach the mental aspect of the game, because this team does not respond to losing. I have no clue why, but this team needs help with this. It might not even be something we can fix this year.

At least we’re not the Vikings.

I am a Broncos fan and all I want are wins. If we get a better shot at winning then do what it takes. Fire the staff, fire the players, I don’t care anymore. I want W’s.

Bring in a coach that will get the players fired up and play tough smash mouth football.

I want a nasty defense. I don’t care about offense at this point. I have watched too much “pretty” [unproductive in the score column] football from the Broncos the last 7 years. Too much bend but don’t break. Too much break without pressure.

I want to see desire from my players and coaches. I want heart back in my team. I want a hundred yard opposing team run day to be the rarity, not the standard. I want gritty yards. I want hard hits and ball stripping. I want pressure from the line, the backers, the DB’s. I want my linebackers closer to the line, corners closer to the wide outs. I want opposing offensives to cry when the come into our house. I want our house to go back to being our house, not a vacation home from opposing players.

I want my team to be coached up beyond their abilities. I want less drama. I want my daughter to grow up without having to hear her say, ‘maybe they can win next week daddy’ again because she saw the frustration in my face the last two weeks.

Thanks,
Todd

…There’s nothing staring back at him. At that moment, man finds his character. And that is what keeps him out of the abyss.

-Lou Mannheim, Wall Street

McDaniels is staring into a dark place right now, and he needs to ask himself some tough questions. He is on an island now.

It was the second time in three weeks the team was non-competitive (to say nothing of the special delivery gift W from the Jets we refused to sign for). Losses I can handle – the games against Baltimore & Oakland were more like forfeits, and in professional football, there is simply no excuse for that. Not injuries, not turnover from the Shanahan era, not “rebuilding.”

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/sports/are-wholesale-changes-hand-titans

Obviously that loss was terrible and unacceptable. But hopefully we can figure learn from our mistakes and improve. Lets see what the rest of the season brings before calling for anyone’s head.
As far as good play, the only players that looked like they were playing an NFL football game were Knowshon and DJ Williams. I’m really not sure what everybody else was doing, they were terrible.

“my sources said” “inside sources tell me” “someone close to the situation” “someone with knowledge of what happens inside”….

Putting Tebow into a bad and still deteriorating situation like that would not have done him or the team any good.

As for the general state of the team, hopefully the knee-jerk, emotional overreactions will die down in another day or so.

I’m not ready to sell my orange and blue soul. I don’t think that day could ever come.

and then do some serious soul-searching during the bye. This game could be the kick in the walnuts that this team needs. We are not a playoff team yet. We are a very young and average football team who needs something or someone to light a fire under the arses.

A healthy defense when we come back the next week against KC would be a very nice situation.

And it is still there. It really did happen. Wake me up in 2012.

a team lacking in talent, youth and that can’t run is destined for a 4 – 12 season. I was castigated for making that prediction earlier in the season…I dunno, I still believe 4 – 12 is right on.

This isn’t a schematic issue. This isn’t Orton’s fault. This is simply a poorly constructed team. Shanahan was fired because he couldn’t get the right personnel as a GM to win, and McD’s decisions make those look like gems.

But why does McD have this control in the first place? He’s a young coach, and this organization SAID they didn’t want the HC making personnel choices after shanny, saying that plan was a recipe for failure. And then they just gave McD the same power, and we act surprised when he’s terrible at team-building, when this formula doesn’t work?

This failure falls on McD the GM’s shoulders in large part, but let’s not forget who made him a GM in the first place. Bowlen and the ownership/hiring team made some very, very bad calls here, and they deserve much blame as well.

But my feeling was that a lot of players were confused about their roles yesterday. This falls on the coach. If the playbook is that difficult, maybe McD should work on making it easier to train by “dumbing it down” some. With constant roster turnover you can’t run a system that takes 2 years to learn. I have been a McD apologist, but maybe the emperor just has no clothes….

How about the Dolphins. They got royally screwed out of that game yesterday.

As we were gifted the Hoculli bowl, I hope those Pitt fans know that winning on a bad call comes with two years of bad calls the other way.

It was that kind of week in the NFL (actually, it’s been that kind of year). Anyway:
Browns 30, New Orleans 17?
Baltimore needs OT to beat the Bills?
Orton throws one INT after the Broncos go down 24-0 in the first quarter? Meanwhile, Drew Brees throws 4 INT’s; Cutler 4 and McNabb 2; Favre 3, Rodgers 2; Kevin Kolb 2, Kerry Collins 2.

And the statement at the beginning!

I just have to say that the worst effort I’ve seen from Orton this season was the last offensive play vs. the Jets. That looked like he had given up more than any time during the Raiders game. Sure he looked quite down after three of the four sacks, but… I suppose what I’m getting at, is Orton would have to do pretty horrible against SF in order for Us to start Tebow.

I personally think that was the main reason We signed Orton to an extension. Trade value. I like Kyle a lot, and think he could be the answer at QB until we bolster up the O- Line some before starting Tebow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSHuHykh5mM