McDaniels Reties Broncos to Patriots

Just before yesterday's Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos game it was confirmed that former Broncos head coach Josh McDaniels would be returning to his former team the New England Patriots in some fashion (as they currently employ an offensive coordinator).

Now I am big on storytelling and spotting a possible circumstance in which McDaniels might draw a team full of Tim Tebow, Demaryius Thomas, J.D. Walton, Robert Ayers, Zane Beadles and the many other, "Mistakes," he made as a head coach with general manager powers while he was in Denver was just too poetic.

See, being on my side of the keyboard you get a higher pedestal, but you also don't have much between yourself and those who disagree with you. I spent the last two years defending McDaniels it seems. It all started with some beef between McDaniels and Jay Cutler and ended with a failure to report some video.

McDaniels never gave up on the Broncos, they were forced to let him go. As the team continues to play and the NFL continues to move forward the more and more McDaniels looks like a genius. Just look at yesterday's final play. That was Tebow to Thomas. Thomas you will remember was a reach and was picked ahead of Dez Bryant and Tebow... Well, you remember.

This season was supposed to feature the ultimate showdown, Cutler was returning to Denver to face McDaniels and the Broncos. Cutler ended up being hurt and McDaniels was long gone. There was a Tebow/Kyle Orton showdown, but it was basically for nothing and might as well have been an exhibition game. Denver went to the playoffs despite losing.

However, now, it what really can't be looked at as a revenge game for the Broncos--being that a large portion of the players currently employed by Denver were either signed or re-signed while McDaniels was employed by Pat Bowlen. It's more of a revenge game for McDaniels and here in lies the poetry...

McDaniels has to compete against a team that he hand picked and the only real way for him to justify his time in Denver is by losing. No, I am not saying that he will throw a game, nor do I expect him to give anything less than every single thing he knows about the Broncos to New England. I am saying that it's a win-win for him. Win and he's the better coach, lose and he lost to the team he put together.

Fans will remember that McDaniels was the offensive coordinator in New England before signing with Denver to be the head coach. What fans probably forgot is that McDaniels got his start not on offense, but on defense as a defensive coaching assistant. Being that the Patriots currently employ an offensive coordinator McDaniels could simply be floating around assisting whichever department needs the most help.

As I said, I don't expect many Broncos to look at the signing of McDaniels to the Patriots for any type of extra motivation. The embarrassing way Denver played against New England in Week Fifteen should serve as motivation enough; for McDaniels though this is one heck of a trial by fire with a lot to prove.