Broncos Dec. 20, 2009

Here is my take on the Broncos losing to the Raiders Sunday.

Denver is a good team. I truly believe that. At the beginning of the year I predicted them to finish anywhere from 7-9 to 9-7 while most others had them doing much worse. By no means do I think of them as a great team, a Super Bowl contender. They have a little ways to go before they get to that level; maybe next year. However, they are a good team. Yet, when the playoffs are on the line, you are playing a division rival that you happened to beat on the road by a large margin earlier in the season and you are playing at home YOU SHOULD NOT LOSE.

Generally I can look at a few missed plays, a poor player performance or simple mistakes that led to a loss but in this game I have to look solely at the coach, Josh McDaniels.

Coach McDaniels is a good coach and I believe he has a bright future. However, right now he is being out-coached by more seasoned professionals. He was good as a young Offensive Coordinator on a great football team with a very good and savvy Head Coach overseeing his work. But now, on his own as the head man he simply is getting beat by coaches far better and more experienced than he is. It probably was a good time to make a change when Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen fired Make Shannahan and hired McDaniels but in doing so he let go of a proven mature coach who knew how to correct mistakes and brought in a guy who will have to spend a few years learning what Shannahan already knew.

I hate to say it but McDaniels, at this point, is predictable. I am a J.V. High school Defensive Coordinator and I know what he is generally going to do in short yardage situations before he does it. If I can figure him out, and I admit I am nowhere near his level of expertise, then what can seasoned NFL Defensive Coordinators see? Shannahan was more creative and knew how to utilize every player on the field. He understood talent and how to use it. Sometimes I question if McDaniels does. I like McDaniels, I really do, but as a rookie Head Coach he is getting his tail whipped.

Here is a couple of thoughts. Why in the world is McDaniels so against putting Peyton Hillis in the game. I hope it is not to prove he is better than Shannahan or to prove some point to Hillis because it should never be about those sorts of things. It should be about winning games and if it is Hillis should find himself on the field far more than he is now. Why was a slow, past his prime running back, in Lamont Jordan, playing in front of what I would consider one of the best 3rd down, up field power running and blocking backs in the NFL? Nothing truly against Jordan but he is not where Peyton Hillis is right now and probably never has been. In my mind Peyton Hillis is a great football player waiting on his time to shine. Also, why in the world does McDaniels insist on running Knowshon Moreno up the middle in short yardage situations. He is not a short yardage back (another something Hillis should be doing). McDaniels does it every time and it never works. Knowshon never gets it. One side note, Knowshon is as a player what McDaniels is as a coach. He is good and has a great future ahead of him but he is not a feature back right now.

This team must grow up if they are to ever truly compete with the Chargers or the Colts or any number of other great NFL teams. They will need more than Brian Dawkins to wake them up; this and next year. It starts with the coach and then moves to the players. As a rookie coach he is simply not getting it done. As a Bronco fan I am a fan of Coach McDaniels now and thus I hope he learns quick. The Broncos can be scary good if he does but right now they are not. Losing to the Raiders this week put an exclamation mark on that point.

Come on Broncos, Coach McDaniels, lets go!