Mike Shanahan returns

[MileHigh64]

Well, this Sunday marks another subplot type of game for the Denver Broncos. The return of Mike Shanahan to Denver. Shanahan is still the all time winningest coach in the history of the club. No doubt, his later years in Denver were marred with some lousy draft picks and playoff droughts, but I still think he's a good coach.

Often we hear that John Elway and Mike Shanahan were merely the benefactors of a great running game and could never have won two Superbowls had it not been for Terrell Davis. While TD was a HUGE part of those championship runs, don't forget that our head coach and personnel man was the one who saw that diamond in the rough in the sixth round. He was also the person in charge of bringing in the zone blocking scheme that TD thrived in.

It's always funny to me how opposing team's fans will look for ways to discredit or discount someone's accomplishments in the NFL. I distinctly recall the aggressiveness that Mike Shanahan had with his scripted offensive game planning. The Broncos were a very talented squad in those years, but the coach was the one who schemed to get off to mega-fast starts and to crush the will of the opponent early in games. Heck, his coaching and scheming with Jay Cutler in his second year in the league was masterful.

Mike Shanahan was and is a great football mind. He not only brought us our two championships to Denver, but he did it with class and humility. I for one will be excited to see him back on the sideline and welcomed with the short video tribute. He deserves it.

Now much like Colts fans last week, I feel that we should give him his due and then the Broncos need to go out and dominate the Redskins. We need a solid, mistake-free, injury-free victory to make our bye week that much sweeter. Welcome back coach, but Go Broncos!!!

MH64

 

[cdumler7]

I loved Mike Shannahan here in Denver as he truly is one of the great offensive minds in the NFL. Honestly I would love to see what he and Peyton could do together. Shannahan's biggest mistake though was taking on being head coach and GM all at once. He is a great coach but not a great evaluator of talent and how to use the Cap. The Broncos over those last few years with Shannahan were the Raiders of today being in Cap hell with so much dead money. This is why I am so glad that Fox does not have this same kind of power as it is hard enough to handle just the coaching side of the job. To throw on another full time job on top of that is just too much for one person to handle.

Definitely ready for this game to happen and get out of here injury free and with a victory. I don't know of a time that this team has more needed a bye week than this one that is coming up. Hopefully that week off can spring board this team for the next 8 games and the playoffs.

Do you think he will be booed when introduced or met with respect and applause?

 

[Morpheus]

He better not be booed. Any classless low-life who boos him Sunday shouldn't be calling themselves a Bronco fan.

Shanahan brought us 2 championships. He deserves the tribute they are doing and a great round of applause.

 

[TDs3nOut]

Well, this Sunday marks another subplot type of game for the Denver Broncos. The return of Mike Shanahan to Denver. Shanahan is still the all time winningest coach in the history of the club. No doubt, his later years in Denver were marred with some lousy draft picks and playoff droughts, but I still think he's a good coach.

Often we hear that John Elway and Mike Shanahan were merely the benefactors of a great running game and could never have won two Superbowls had it not been for Terrell Davis. While TD was a HUGE part of those championship runs, don't forget that our head coach and personnel man was the one who saw that diamond in the rough in the sixth round. He was also the person in charge of bringing in the zone blocking scheme that TD thrived in.

It's always funny to me how opposing team's fans will look for ways to discredit or discount someone's accomplishments in the NFL. I distinctly recall the aggressiveness that Mike Shanahan had with his scripted offensive game planning. The Broncos were a very talented squad in those years, but the coach was the one who schemed to get off to mega-fast starts and to crush the will of the opponent early in games. Heck, his coaching and scheming with Jay Cutler in his second year in the league was masterful.

Mike Shanahan was and is a great football mind. He not only brought us our two championships to Denver, but he did it with class and humility. I for one will be excited to see him back on the sideline and welcomed with the short video tribute. He deserves it.

Now much like Colts fans last week, I feel that we should give him his due and then the Broncos need to go out and dominate the Redskins. We need a solid, mistake-free, injury-free victory to make our bye week that much sweeter. Welcome back coach, but Go Broncos!!!

MH64

Nice post. Couldn't agree more with how much Shanahan did for the franchise. Best tribute we can pay him is to send him back to Washington with an L!

 

[WalkerBoh]

I'm expecting this game to be a laugher. Something we fans could use after the past couple weeks.

1) Mike Shanahan doesn't have a very good record against Peyton Manning. The defense he's trotting onto the field for this game is probably worse than the defenses he had against Manning in earlier contests, and most of those games weren't even close, with exception of one game in Denver where Vanderjagt won it with his leg.

2) While the scoreboard didn't show it, we kept Andrew Luck well under 300 yards passing, and to a mediocre completion percentage. Some of that was short field, true (you don't have as far to drive the team to score), but there were signs of improvement, especially late in the game. Short fields also normally inflate completion percentages. That didn't happen here. Plus, we've shown in the past that mobile QB's don't phase us as much as they do some other teams.

3) A lot has been said that Indy "provided the blueprint" to beating Manning. Yeah, maybe for a short while, but Manning has proven that he can shred such blueprints once he's seen them in action for a little while. Plus, Washington lacks the personnel to follow a similar strategy.

 

[cdumler7]

To me the blueprint was to hope the Broncos have a beat up OL that has players playing out of position. Missing Franklin, playing an injured Kuper (he is still not fully healed and is expected to miss this week but thankfully I think Franklin is expected back), and starting a guy at RT that has never played tackle in his career.

Honestly I think if we have a healthy OL that game is completely different. The run game would improve with better quality players, protection for Manning looks a heck of a lot better, and the coaches could protect against Mathis more instead of having to leave Clark on an island against one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.

Throw in the team looked very flat on offense as Manning just looked drained from a long week preparing to head home to the stadium he pretty much built and a city he called home for a big chunk of his life. I expect a little bit of a bounce back week from all who are involved and for those stupid mistakes that hurt us to be cleaned up. I also expect the coaches are going to duct tape Vickerson's helmet to his head so he can't cost us 45 yards alone in penalties.

 

[Broncos6482]

He better not be booed. Any classless low-life who boos him Sunday shouldn't be calling themselves a Bronco fan.

Shanahan brought us 2 championships. He deserves the tribute they are doing and a great round of applause.

Totally agree with this. To add to it, it's not like he quit, either. He got fired. He didn't bail for greener pastures.

Anyone who boos him is a moron. Greatest coach in Broncos history.

 

[xBxtxDx]

Well, this Sunday marks another subplot type of game for the Denver Broncos. The return of Mike Shanahan to Denver. Shanahan is still the all time winningest coach in the history of the club. No doubt, his later years in Denver were marred with some lousy draft picks and playoff droughts, but I still think he's a good coach.

This is a fallacy, his last few years were actually decent as compared to his middle years. In fact, 2006 was by far his best draft in which he netted Cutler, Scheffler, Marshall, Dumervil, Kuper, and even Hixon. Hixon could have been a very solid player at WR/PR if he had not collided and almost crippled that Bill's player, after that he was just not the same.

2007 was ok with the exception of Moss and I do blame Shanahan for that pick because he had apparently fallen in love with Moss during the National Championship game and ignored all of the red flags surrounding him. Harris and Crowder were casualties of injury and scheme changes and Thomas as said, was ok.

2008 was another decent draft that brought us in Clady, Lichtensteiger (another victim of scheme change, but is currently playing in Washington), Torain (injury plagued), Larsen, Barrett, and Hillis (still not sure what happened between Hillis and McD). Had we not gone through the coaching and scheme change the following year, this probably would have been another solid draft for us.

So, 12 guys from Shanahan's last 3 years, which ended 5 years ago, are still in the NFL. How is that bad? Just as a last point though, I do not give Shanahan much credit in the good draft classes though, the Bronco's drafts immediately started improving when Goodman was promoted to Director of Player Personnel and I give him more of the credit, but still.

 

[MileHigh64]

This is a fallacy, his last few years were actually decent as compared to his middle years. In fact, 2006 was by far his best draft in which he netted Cutler, Scheffler, Marshall, Dumervil, Kuper, and even Hixon. Hixon could have been a very solid player at WR/PR if he had not collided and almost crippled that Bill's player, after that he was just not the same.

2007 was ok with the exception of Moss and I do blame Shanahan for that pick because he had apparently fallen in love with Moss during the National Championship game and ignored all of the red flags surrounding him. Harris and Crowder were casualties of injury and scheme changes and Thomas as said, was ok.

2008 was another decent draft that brought us in Clady, Lichtensteiger (another victim of scheme change, but is currently playing in Washington), Torain (injury plagued), Larsen, Barrett, and Hillis (still not sure what happened between Hillis and McD). Had we not gone through the coaching and scheme change the following year, this probably would have been another solid draft for us.

So, 12 guys from Shanahan's last 3 years, which ended 5 years ago, are still in the NFL. How is that bad? Just as a last point though, I do not give Shanahan much credit in the good draft classes though, the Bronco's drafts immediately started improving when Goodman was promoted to Director of Player Personnel and I give him more of the credit, but still.

I agree that he netted some good picks in his later years. I meant to refer to a lot of draft rounds in the early 2000's. Without looking them all up, I think most would agree that coaching the Broncos and being in charge of player personnel was inevitably not a good thing. I'm certainly not bashing Mike Shanahan. As you can tell from my original post, I'm a fan of his. Just not during tomorrow's game!

MH64

 

[xBxtxDx]

I agree that he netted some good picks in his later years. I meant to refer to a lot of draft rounds in the early 2000's. Without looking them all up, I think most would agree that coaching the Broncos and being in charge of player personnel was inevitably not a good thing. I'm certainly not bashing Mike Shanahan. As you can tell from my original post, I'm a fan of his. Just not during tomorrow's game!

MH64

Did not think you were bashing him at all and roger that, sorry to confuse myself and I agree 100% that his earlier 2000's drafting leaves a bad taste in the mouth. It is just I hear all of the time that the last few years Shanny sucked at drafting and that was when it was starting to get better. Though, I still think it was time for Shanahan to go after the 2008 season.

 

[WalkerBoh]

Offensively, he had a great eye for talent. Defensively, not so much. If Shanny fielded a half competent defense, he'd probably still be our HC.

 

[AmericanTebowFan]

RatFace still doesn't know a thing about defense. It was his downfall in Denver, and it'll be his downfall in Washington. I bet he gets fired after this season. God Bless...

 

[Malibu]

Ratface really?

 

[iknowftbll]

RatFace still doesn't know a thing about defense. It was his downfall in Denver, and it'll be his downfall in Washington. I bet he gets fired after this season. God Bless...

"Ratface" and "God bless" in the same post. Hmm...

As a Christian myself I wish people like you wouldn't masquerade as Christians because I get lumped in with you. As a Broncos fan I wish people like you wouldn't masquerade as Broncos fans because once again, I get lumped in with you.

As for Shanahan's return, I am glad the Broncos showed that tribute and I am glad he was well received by the fans. The man went a long way toward making the Broncos the club they are today and is a big part of why the Broncos are considered one of the more storied franchises in the league. I wish him well with the Redskins and hope he has a chance to continue what he started out there. The Redskins would be crazy if they fired him before he has a chance to actually build that team with the full complement of draft picks and no cap restrictions.

 

[Broncosr0k]

RatFace still doesn't know a thing about defense. It was his downfall in Denver, and it'll be his downfall in Washington. I bet he gets fired after this season. God Bless...

Proof that you never were a broncos fan. I wish Tebowners would go back to worshipping the next star QB in college that will fail in the NFL and leave the rest of football alone.