What would training camp be without controversy? I mean, if you are covering a football team, and that team is coached by a guy that would just as soon do away with the media, then you HAVE to talk about something, right?
I'm not criticizing, not at all. I am seeing the closed-up shop first hand alongside them. This is not my day job and I freely admit that, so I appreciate how hard it is to get story lines when no one is talking. In the end, you simply become what many of us are - people who deliver opinion to the masses.
Take Champ Bailey, for instance. He is on the PUP list, and no one knows why. Ask McDaniels, and he gives the status quo line, "...as soon as they are ready to practice physically, they will be out here...". Not much to go on there.
Ask Bailey, and he'll tell you he's not allowed to divulge any information.
"What we have here is, failure to communicate..."
That leads to speculation. We've seen it in the links on Horse Tracks all week. Is Champ unhappy? Is Josh McDaniels punishing Bailey for being critical, at times, of McDaniels actions. Is Champ hurt?McDaniels has made it clear that injury status, whether it be today, in September, or January, will not be discussed. Period. That is a slight change from the Shanahan-era in which the coach was rather blunt with injury updates. Other than the information above, all we know about Bailey - and Renaldo Hill and Marcus Thomas for that matter - is they are out before and after practice running 50-yard sprints before heading into the weight room.
Much the same type of information is swirling around Brandon Marshall. For those of you that were out here yesterday morning, you saw the positive influence teammates can have on an "unhappy" camper.
Just prior to practice, Daniel Graham grabbed Marshall and said a few things to him, probably along the lines of "It's time to help us win football games, everything else will work itself out.." Marshall listened. He was upbeat, dancing with the music, and most importantly, making plays.
After 14 years of knowing the ins and outs, of having a relationship with Mike Shanahan who seemed to enjoy the interaction with the media throng each day, Josh McDaniels is bringing in a new philosophy, one the that believes coaches and players should be seen and not heard. The Belichick-philosophy that is slowly taking the League over.
Along with many of the other issues surrounding the Broncos complex right now is this one. A tug-of-war so to speak between the coach and the media that is tasked with covering him. Add another log to the fire.