Josh McDaniels is an idiot. Right? He's a fool, a fop, a child, a moron, unsuited for his job, making decisions based on who was chosen by Mike Shanahan, making decisions based on nothing more than a passing feeling and never plans anything at all. Right? Well, if you believe a lot of the posting from last night and this morning, that's the facts, carved in stone, writ by the finger of God.Then something else happened.
Then the other shoe dropped, and we found out what really happened...
There has been a pattern to the past year that has become undeniable by any but the few that have some kind of personal hatred for McDaniels. The first aspect is that Josh McDaniels does not tend to try his cases in the media. He prefers to simply announce decisions and once everyone has come out with their own personal perspective as to why he's a fool, we find out that he actually had a reason and it was a perfectly good one. So, today, when we found out that Brandon Marshall showed up late for a treatment and also blew off a practice, claiming that the cold weather made it difficult for him to breathe.
Uh-huh.
When my health was good, I had the privilege to live at 9200 feet, in beautiful Summit County, Colorado. It's one of the most breath-taking (as in beautiful) spots left on this earth, a stunning place in which walking out your front or back door can remind you of just how incredibly wondrous nature is. The people there are as fine as anywhere I've ever been, too - always there to help you, living in a way that reminds us all that we are our brother's keepers. I've snowshoed Mesa Cortina at -20 degrees and telemarked at even less, but a top athlete can't practice because it was too cold? Where is Vince Lombardi when you need a talus bone (instep) hammered into someone's gluteus maximus?
Yesterday, just for the fun of it, I sent this to some of the members and staff, folks that I enjoy chatting with. There's no shortage of such folks on MHR.:
Guys
I had a thought regarding this entire Scheff/Marshall/McD thing: Just a quick thought on it all:
I'm betting that we don't know the real story yet. We know some outside things - yes, Scheff and Marshall aren't playing, Marshall might be benched, we're not sure, Scheff has been handed his hat (metaphorically speaking) because of his crappy attitude. Thank goodness. I hope that a few more are identified and dealt with, although the season is basically up.I want a few of these cats GONE . They're a virus and it's very contagious. Remember my rants about last year's people being the ones that were probably the offenders? Bingo, so far.
But a few more names will come to mind, and quite soon, I'd expect. We'll be trading as soon as it's legal. But there's one more piece to the puzzle.
Scheffler and Marshall did something. They may have done it along, it might be a conversation, they might have laughed at the wrong thing, told the wrong joke, sneered at some coach - who knows. But I'm betting you stars to spittoons that there is a solid reason for this and that in keeping with his style of management to date, McD just isn't telling.
My advice - since it's free, it might be worth the cost - for what it's worth, I'm not going to get too caught up in things right yet. It just doesn't make sense that the whole story is out - it's not, I'm betting. This goes far deeper than anyone currently is aware. Give it time - you'll feel very smart when it all comes out and you're sitting pretty.
It's just a theory, of course. But it fits ALL the known facts. That might be worth something. If not - my words were soft and tender, so I won't mind eating them as much
Best with it all. I had a triple morphine day, yesterday, so I'm still pretty quiet. Talk with you soon - things are, overall, very good. Hope all is with you and yours
Tony Scheffler? Mr. 'There are other players mad about me sitting out, too"? Here's a quote from ESPN:
According to Broncos sources, the problems with Marshall and Scheffler came after team leaders including Brian Dawkins, Champ Bailey, Kyle Orton, DJ Williams and Daniel Graham all met with McDaniels on Monday and encouraged him to take a hardline approach in preparing the team to finish the season against the Chiefs.
Anyone who believes Scheffler's response about how 'other players' are also angry at his benching should rethink their concept. If Dawk, Champ, Kyle Orton, DJ and DG all want players dealt with more strongly, what do you think that the odds are that any player who WILL be there next year gives a rip about Scheffler's widdle feelings?
There was a great lesson here for anyone who wants to see it. When something doesn't make sense, the odds are great that you don't have most of the facts. Giving things a little time will often give you the rest of the story (I will always miss Paul Harvey, who I actually used to wait on while working my way through school. He was a fine a man as you'd think from his show) and will keep you from making a lot of statements that will turn out to be perfectly incorrect and utterly without basis, although not without bias.
So, the next time that something 'breaks' in the local sports news and it makes not a whisker of sense, you might want to wait a few moments. Maybe even a day or two, until the rest of the facts are out and we can have a sensible discussion about the circumstance. With the last game of the year on the line, catering to someone who is trying to claim that it's too cold to play outside doesn't get too far with me. Scheffler? If the above list of players has an issue with him - so do I. That's too high class a group to question their passion for football, their willingness to play or their desire to win. If Tony hasn't won them over, I've lost a lot of respect for him.
Good for McDaniels, for being willing to step up and take the heat for making that decison. As he tends to, he didn't give the media or the public all the facts. He protected his players, even the ones who were disciplined. That's exactly what he's been doing since the start.
Maybe it's time to give him some credit. He handled it like a man and like a good head coach should. Some people handled it less well. It's as simple as that.