McDaniels, Denver staff are the reason for the season
One offseason later, the Broncos look like a playoff contender in the making
Broncos Head Coach Josh McDaniels
Josh McDaniels was named the new Head Coach of the Denver Broncos on January 11th, 2009. Nine months later, the New Look Broncos will try for their fifth win in five tries. And they’ll do it against McDaniels’ old team, the New England Patriots.
In the slim margin of time between now and October 11th, media yak and barroom chat will celebrate the timely resurgence of Brandon Marshall, the dominance of the Denver D, and the passable competence of Kyle Orton. But as much as the players deserve their due congrats, the Denver coaching staff is most directly responsible for this amazing remaking of the Broncos.
McDaniels worked to keep continuity by retaining much of the Shanahan-era staff, but made decisive changes at key positions. Mike Nolan, formerly the Broncos’ linebacker coach under Dan Reeves, was brought in to work the transition to a 3-4 defense. Secondary Coach Ed Donatell and a host of free-agent pick-ups were tapped to remake the Broncos’ pass defense. And Wayne Nunnely joined existing staff to work the D-line into a functional unit.
The result has been an average of just over 8 points allowed per game by a defense that has kept Denver’s struggling offense close enough to win. Close enough to manufacture decisive fourth quarter drives in two of four games. And as much as a fresh scheme may have helped this defense wake up from years of mediocrity, the real story is the work ethic that every player now takes into every play.
Each play is contested, missed tackles are forgotten and corrected, linebacker & safety pursuit is quick and effective.
There could be no better indication going into the 2009 season that these re-imagined Broncos were on the right path than seeing a competitive defense take the field week after week. We have instead seen a physical, dominant defense carry Denver to the finish line through an opening salvo of four consecutive wins.
Josh McDaniels is likely not very surprised with his own mastery of his team. After all, he chased off ego competition in Jay Cutler, installing the unimpressive Orton. But wait… Kyle Orton is 17-2 in home games in his NFL career. He’s a proven winner going back to college. He has not fumbled or thrown an interception yet this season. But he has thrown two miraculous catch-and-run game-winning passes in two highly competitive games. In two blowouts Orton has managed the game well, or well enough to at least McDaniels’ liking, if not to that of Broncos Nation.
Another personality brawl resulted in much media chatter about the end of Brandon Marshall as a dominant Broncos receiver, but the most recent chapter of that story has The Beast hearing his number called when the team needed a big play down at home to Dallas late in the game. The narrative continues to hug-filled celebrations between the supposed-to-be rivals that spilled over into a post-game press conference.
Doubters are certainly still many. The Cowboys have struggled to find a rhythm & an identity this season, and the Broncos exploited that. Denver’s previous three opponents range from miserable to spotty. But the fact is that the Broncos are playoff-worthy at best, and competitive versus any opponent at worst.
Ask an average Broncos fan nine months ago what their bare minimum expectations were for this season, and the answer would have been a passive remark about finishing close to .500. Now we see a team that leads the division by two games whose play gets a little more crisp, a bit more defined each week. The ceiling is indeed high for this new era in Denver Football.
