Mile High Mystique

he will open up his game, and allow McD to open up the playbook.

referencing the difference they feel from last year to this year….

And many have used that exact phrasing – “Night and Day” to draw contrast.

I am super stoked, and growing ever moreso with each passing moment….. I love the fact that WR’s, TE’s and hopefully the RB’s all get that blocking part down.

A big part of the reason We were able to win with the ’97 and ’98 teams, is Eddie and Rod had absolutely no problem with blocking.

I can’t wait to see this team in action too.

I think our offense has the potential to be THE surprise of the NFL!

proved he was a 15-20 qb last year. If he improves, He’ll be proving he is a top 5-10 qb. Why did you show a picture of a db getting an interception against Thomas. Last year it was noted by MHR that the running game was better with Larson as FB. If he sticks in the NFL it will be at FB.
I think this is year 2 in a three year plan and all is going well. I believe it is an at least 10-6 team with anything possible in the playoffs.

Eugene Robinson that got pancaked… That said, Great article. Rec’d

I really enjoyed reading this. Great outlook! I am now very thirsty and am going to take a big drink!

Marine does! Nice POST!!! Really getting us ready for the season, aren’t ya? REC’d for getting the competitive juices raging!
I think much of your post has the potential to actually occur; certainly we have reason for hope without being labeled as delirious….last year our hope was based on much less actual talent and on the assumption the scheme could be implemented quickly.
 Regarding the comments, I don’t think that our offense will be as likely to explosively emerge this year if we go with Tebow.; IMO, his inexperience with the system would remove more options than his athleticism would add. KO is ready to take us up past base camp to the last camp before the summit; then comes Tebow, fully prepped and equipped to succeed. Quinn is, in my mind, truly a backup; he is there for that period of time KO is unavailable but Tebow in unprepared. Can’t wait for the season to start!!!

To make big changes each off-season to the playbook isn’t a smart move, each time you change it, you force the players to relearn or add to their existing knowledge. Now this isn’t the easiest thing to do, let alone completely change the offense from last season. I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface because McD has said that Orton ran about 60% or more of his playbook last season. While we will see new things, next season won’t be a huge jump, except maybe some changes in the Wild Horses as well as Tebow lining up as a Z position player. But overall, I don’t think the offense will be hugely different. I think we will be better offensively next season, especially in running the ball, but I think we might be getting carried away with how big we think the changes will be.

Great take, great read and rec’d

Last year proved that McDaniels and Xanders aren’t drafting for immediate impact

That’s all I would disagree with. We drafted Moreno because we needed a starting running back. We drafted Phonz because we needed a nickleback. We drafted Ayers because we needed impact at linebacker. This year, we drafted Thomas and Decker because we need impact at WR now that Brandon’s gone. We drafted Walton because we need impact at OC. We drafted Beadles because we need a beefier guard and better backup on the ends.

Contrary to popular belief, I firmly believe that we do draft for need in the early rounds. We draft to fill holes and hope they work out even though we know they can’t all work out. The goal, IMO, is to use your top resources to draft areas where a guy has room on the roster to make immediate impact. Tebow, McBath and perhaps Quinn are exceptions, but I think McX generally uses top picks to address problem areas. That strategy will likely change now that we have less holes. We’re now in better position to not need to draft for need going forward.

Anyway, just my take. I’m drinking the koolaid, though. I think this team has the potential to catch the NFL by surprise this year. If just half of these new guys meet or surpass expectations we really could have a great offense already.

Congrats! Great piece!

I’m in the camp that believes there’s no way that Tebow sits on the sidelines all year. He WILL be involved in some way shape or form, most likely in the short yardage, RZ area of the field. That condition alone warrants the possibility of very dynamic offense. This, as opposed to the sometimes anemic offense we saw last year in those areas.

Throw in the rookie WR’s, if completely healthy, and we could be hard to defend.

This tempered koolaid prediction sounds completely plausible to me!

I voted “pretty different”, but that takes into account Tebow in for some plays too. I think Orton will be more comfortable, but I see him relying on Eddie and Jabar a lot in the first half of the season. If they can find space to give Orton targets, our offense will be better. DT will be thrown at long to keep defenses honest, but Moreno-Eddie-Jabar will see 90% of the action IMO…until DT, Decker, McKinley and maybe Branson get more in the loop.

…and expect even more changes through out the year and into 2011.
Very good read, thanks bud!

Great post and realistic enough to see some exciting football this season.

The one thing that is obvious, this team is loaded with young talent and being built for the long haul. If by chance two or three rookies can play at the same level Eddie Royal did his rookie year we should enjoy an exposive offense and great entertainment.

Alexander Wall; I completely agree with you. I believe Tebow will be ready to start his career by the 12th or 13th game of the season. IMO regardless how well Orton or Quinn do during the season Tebow will play. The face of this franchise will soon be on Tebow’s shoulders ready or not he plays sometime this coming season.

As I recall Elway played in approxmately 11 games his rookie year going 7-4 [going by memory].

I believe that McDaniels is the type of coach who has a style of offense and not a set of plays that will define his career, therefore I voted for night and day on the basis that he will call the plays to make us succesful regardless of the players playing. Although Tebow will help to make some of the plays more interesting.

I hope that as a team we are constantly changing our Offensive game plan in an effort to keep the upper hand so I guess my vote is in wishful thinking and Kool-Aid splendor.

Our O better be much improved in 2010 because they sucked in 2009. If we get a similar offensive output in 2010 as we did last year, Denver will be below .500 and slotted in the Top 10 of the 2011 draft.

Pretty much across the board, our returning offensive players need to improve over their 2009 seasons. That is unusual in the NFL that an entire unit (individually and as a whole) would regress like we did in 2009 (sans Marshall – whom was actually improved in 2009 and Orton, whom was "decent"). Moreno and Royal need to make the biggest gains for Denver to have success in 2010. Kuper also needs to step up his game. You guys seem to believe in these players, but I need to see it to believe it. I didn’t see jack squat in 2009 that impressed me about McDs offense.

Until McD proves he can coach on game day and develop the younger players, we are an average team at best.

I’m getting pretty stoked as well. I also belive we will see Tebow in at least a decoy type roll inside the 10 yard line. He’s going to be to good a threat not to utilize down there. Watched him do it to my SEC buddies teams for years. He is a bonafied stud inside the 10.

Semper Fi, Bro’
Post!

all the hate against Orton at the top of this thread? Yes, I will concede Tebow’s the quarterback of the future, but the present will still be really bright. Orton knows the playbook better than anyone and can do great things. He’s got plenty of talent around him!

It’s not going to magically reappear in one season, nor will it come back because of one guy… I don’t know that Invesco will ever have what the old Mile High had, but it can be close. It’s all about the fans and the fans will only get into that zone when the team starts winning consistently.

The team was definitely headed there after the 6-0 start and beating the Patriots in 2009… but, the fall from grace reminded everyone that the new group of guys is the same as the old group of guys.

I think Denver fans have been jaded a bit – our expectations are high and after consecutive years of “being average”, I think a lot of folks want to see consistency. So, the magic of Mile High can and will return… but, the team has to show the fans something. You’ll see hints of it during games, but it won’t come back in full until this team turns around.

Some think it will never be like it was in the 70-90s… but, I dunno, I think it can be close. The fans just need a reason to believe.

Quinn maybe? Sure, he’s a veteran. He has some quality experience, has great arm for the deep ball

Quinn’s arm is worse than Orton’s arm!

You nailed it…if the o-line can get the power scheme down and get some push it will change the entire dynamics of our O. Open up the passing game and make our offense much more difficult to gameplan. It will be interesting to see what the additional 30% of McD’s playbook contains if we can get to that tipping point.

and I think we are all jacked up on kool-aid at this point in the offseason and rightfully so. I do like the outlook of our team over the next few seasons. I am always excited for the season to start more than the year before and I hope to see some improvements. The O-line is what I am concerned about with the Clady injury. Especially over the course of a whole season to see if our guys can handle the long hall.

I am really looking forward to watching our WRs more than ever. I was initially bummed Marshall was traded, yet I don’t really miss him at all. I like the guys we have and picked up and without Marshall, our offense will be more spread around.

I like the RBs we have, it is just that I hope to see Moreno put a tighter grip on the ball this year.

I’m almost glad I don’t write posts that garner this many responses. Granted I haven’t focused nearly as much time and effort into mine as most posters here, but I have to keep posts like this in mind when I do, and be prepared to perpetually contribute back to it.

I’d have to take a day off work, to keep up….. As has been mentioned, this definitely deserves the attention. Thanks again Marine.

It’s like the Twilight Zone in here, with yet another edition of rookie-bashing.

In an era of instant gratification, it’s hardly surprising to see such demands that a team perform like we expect it to, when it has had such a vast roster turnover and scheme changes on both sides of the ball. But I do wish we’d cool it a bit, since building a team takes time. Yes, the 2009 rookies were disappointing to varying degrees, but some of them showed up late to camp because of overdue contract signings by other teams – it was a domino effect and only delayed their learning curve prior to the season, which is about the worst thing that can happen to a rookie. The scouts also had less time to go after the players they’d like to draft, so it’s possible that it was more “miss” than “hit,” for that reason alone. Note, I said “possible.”

Will the 2010 draftees have better rookie campaigns than their previous year’s teammates? No one knows. So let’s just watch the season before we decide whether they’ll perform to expectations, and whether the second-year players finally show up as we expect them to.

What a shame that this post degenerated into another b%&#@-fest about everything that went wrong for the Broncos last year, since it was a pretty good post to begin with. I can’t fault anyone for having an optimistic long-term outlook in here in July, by far the most boring month of the year in football. We don’t know this yet, but if McD is building a dynasty in Denver, then I hope that short-term pessimism will be replaced with long-term optimism after this season.

If I ever see another b%&#@-fest on MHR about the rookies or McD, it’ll be too soon. Starting stopwatch…