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They've requested permission to interview Shanahan from the Falcons. I've seen the Payton rumor discussed as well. Another idea I've seen but doubt there's much to it is Coughlin as HC, Philips as DC, and Mike McCoy back as OC. As far as OC and DC goes, I love retaining Philips and bringing McCoy back, but I seriously doubt they get Coughlin as a HC. I think Elway wants "younger" at the HC position.
I would absolutely be shocked if Wade Philips isn't retained as D-coordinator. And Wade HAS stated that he would like to return.
A couple names I would like to throw out there would be Vance Joseph and Bill Musgrave. Joseph's name has been brought up on various net sites and he has eleven years of experience as an NFL assistant coach, most recently with the Miami Dolphins as D-coordinator. Musgrave's name hasn't been brought up at all but he has a worthy resume'. He has been an assistant coach for several teams going back to 1999.
Both of these guys has local connections. Joseph played for CU and was part of that 1990 national championship team coached by Bill McCartney. Musgrave comes from my area (Grand Junction, Colo.), and played for the Broncos in 1995 and 1996. He never got a shot at being a starter anywhere. He had the unfortunate situation to ride the bench with Dallas (because of Troy Aikman), San Francisco (because of Steve Young), and Denver (because of John Elway.) In the 41-6 loss to Green Bay in the 1996 season where Shanahan pulled his starters, Musgrave got his throwing shoulder caved in by Reggie White. He tried once more time with Indianapolis in 1998 but guess who got drafted--Peyton Manning. Since 1999 he has been a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for several clubs, this year being in Oakland.
They've requested permission to interview Shanahan from the Falcons. I've seen the Payton rumor discussed as well. Another idea I've seen but doubt there's much to it is Coughlin as HC, Philips as DC, and Mike McCoy back as OC. As far as OC and DC goes, I love retaining Philips and bringing McCoy back, but I seriously doubt they get Coughlin as a HC. I think Elway wants "younger" at the HC position.
Having the younger Shanahan as coach would be an interesting thing. Wonder how daddy Shanahan would feel about that?
No one wants to play them - any given game anywhere
You can beat anyone
I'm a pats fan ,
I hate to say it this way but you guys have had some bad luck
Their seems to be 100 moving parts all at once in a football game
Your offense line could be doing great on a particular play
Giving the qb plenty of time to throw - he throws and the receivers
Miss it!!
This kills a game!
Hey
You guys won the holy grail of football last yr
You can't win every year!
Good points.
The Broncos looked pretty sturdy against the Raiders, a team who had something to play for. Even the Broncos oline did way better than most of the year.
Supports my theory that attitude is important. They got together to play for Kubiak.
The Broncos looked pretty sturdy against the Raiders, a team who had something to play for. Even the Broncos oline did way better than most of the year.
Supports my theory that attitude is important. They got together to play for Kubiak.
Giving your theory some merit I would also posit that the Raiders had a lose attitude coming into that game. I know no player would ever say it was so, but with the injury to Carr and every one in the media dooming them because of it, it had to be lurking somewhere in the back of their minds.
As we await news on the Broncos coaching search, how about some Broncos news/trivia to distract us?
The Broncos finished the 2016 season at 9-7 and an OT period between the Dolphins and Bills away from making the playoffs. For us, 9-7 is a disappointment. Outside of Broncos fans, the narrative around the Broncos put them at 7-9 to 9-7 on the back of an outstanding defense and hampered by what a few out there cited as the league's worst QB situation. That narrative turned out to be partially right: the defense carried the Broncos to a respectable finish but it was the offensive line more so than the quarterback that was the Broncos undoing. A few of us here on this forum (me for one, CD was another) predicted if the Broncos fell short this year it would be the O-line that did them in and unfortunately it looks like we were right.
So with that said, my curiosity was piqued. 9-7 is good enough to get into the playoffs some years, other years not so much. This year the Lions and Texans both reached the playoffs at 9-7, with the Texans actually winning their division at that mark for the second straight year. Around the league, three teams over the years have finished the regular season 9-7 and reached the Super Bowl (1979 Rams, 2008 Cardinals, 2011 Giants) with the Giants going on to defeat the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl.
But for the Broncos, the 9-7 record has not been so friendly. Sort of how some of us view the 13-3 finish as a bad omen, 9-7 is even worse (probably in part because at least in a 13-3 season you have the enjoyment of a dominant regular season that a 9-7 season lacks). This year marks the 5th time the Broncos have finished 9-7 (the same number of finishes for 13-3).
Here's a rundown of the previous 9-7 finishes:
1983: Elway's rookie season saw the Broncos finish in 3rd place but back then it was easier for a 3rd place team to reach the playoffs as a wild card. Not that it did any good. The Broncos got waxed 31-7 @ Seattle Seahawks that year.
1993: Another 3rd place finish as a result of an OT loss to the Raiders in the season finale. That set the Broncos up for a 42-24 beat down by the Raiders the following week in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
2002: Brian Griese got the Broncos off to a good start but a mid-season slump ensured the Broncos faded down the stretch. The last week of the season the Broncos under the leadership of Steve Beuerline destroyed the Arizona Cardinals 37-7 even though they were already out of the playoff picture. The home crowd shouted "WE WANT JAKE!" referring to the Cardinals' Jake Plummer. The next year they got Jake and he went on to put the Broncos back on the football map from 2003-2005.
2006: The Jake Plummer era came to an end with the Broncos sitting at 7-4 but stagnant on offense and Jay Cutler waiting in the wings. The Broncos went into the season finale 9-6 and needing just a win or a tie against a bad 49ers team to reach the playoffs. The 49ers were able to kick a game winning FG in OT to end the Broncos playoff hopes.
2016: This one is fresh in our memories and needs no recap at this point.
So what makes this 9-7 finish different from the ones before? In my mind one man: John Elway. Not John Elway the player (he was around for the first two) but John Elway the front office mastermind. The John Elway that fielded a record setting offense, only to see it destroyed in the Super Bowl and two years later field a record setting defense that destroyed 3 of the top 4 offenses from the 2015 season.
We have questions at O-line, need to shore up the D-line, have a developmental QB and the future QB just finished his rookie season and now we have questions on the coaching staff. But this isn't a team that is going to wallow around in mediocrity or sub-par performances for very long. This isn't the 2003-2015 Raiders. This isn't the Kansas City Chiefs with 1 playoff win in 22+ years, including 8 straight playoff losses. This isn't the Browns, who clean house every two years. This isn't the Chargers, who can't even keep local fans interested enough to keep them in town. This isn't the Bills, who every few years flirt with a season over .500 but for the most part are perennially 8-8 or worse.
This is the Denver Broncos, a team that will content "from now on." And 2015 proved that at the highest level. Despite some frustrations week to week, I highly enjoyed the 2016 season for this reason: No matter what happens, the Broncos are and always will be SB 50 Champs. It seemed the pressure was off and from a fan perspective I could sit back and enjoy the ride this year. It turned out to be a bit of a reset. Some prognosticators said "rebuild" and that's funny because when most teams rebuild it's a 3-13 season. When the Broncos "rebuild" it's a 9-7 season and narrow playoff miss. And I have no doubt the boss man at Dove Valley will make the changes that result in improved performance in 2017 and the Broncos will be back to running the AFC West and being constant Super Bowl contenders.
So enjoy the off season, Broncos fans! Unlike a lot of fans, we have a lot to look forward to in 2017. There's a lot here to build off of and we know our team is run by the right man to pull it off!
Should be the most sought after position this offseason, stable ownership/GM, strong nucleus especially on D, young QB's with Siemian looking not too shabby and only 1 season removed from a Superbowl Championship
Does Elway roll the dice on a coordinator? Could it be another Shanahan at the helm?
If he wants to go the established head coach route who is really out there?
There have been Sean Payton to LA rumors, what about Payton to Denver? Assuming Wade Phillips stays on the D is all set and Payton is an Offensive/QB guru type with a not so shabby 100-69 coaching record
As of now, it looks like Kyle Shanahan and Vance Joesph are the favorites. I'd be happy with either. Kyle is a great offensive mind who grew up watching his father do it, so he knows what the job entails. 95% of his offense is the same as our offense, so there would be minimal learning curve there. He's also shown that he can design effective offenses around all kinds of players. Joesph is also a highly respected mind and worked under Wade Phillips, so it's a safe bet that the defense would be in good hands even if Wade isn't brought back (though he should be, and I have a feeling he will be).
The obvious down side to either of those guys is that they would be first time NFL head coaches, and first time NFL coaches have a pretty high failure rate. You're taking a big risk that they will be one of the ones to find success.
Having Sean Payton in Denver would have me elated, but I don't think that is a realistic option at this point. NFL.com just noted today that the firing of some of his assistants (including former Denver D-Line coach Bill Johnson) is a good sign that he intends to stay in New Orleans.
While there is about zero chance it will happen, I'd really like to see Josh McDaniels back in Denver. Despite much criticism to the contrary, he proved himself to be a fairly capable personnel man in his first stint here and I know that his failings here were a huge learning experience for him. He's an absolutely brilliant offensive mind who I think will be very successful when he gets another shot as a head coach.
As of now, it looks like Kyle Shanahan and Vance Joesph are the favorites. I'd be happy with either. Kyle is a great offensive mind who grew up watching his father do it, so he knows what the job entails. 95% of his offense is the same as our offense, so there would be minimal learning curve there. He's also shown that he can design effective offenses around all kinds of players. Joesph is also a highly respected mind and worked under Wade Phillips, so it's a safe bet that the defense would be in good hands even if Wade isn't brought back (though he should be, and I have a feeling he will be).
The obvious down side to either of those guys is that they would be first time NFL head coaches, and first time NFL coaches have a pretty high failure rate. You're taking a big risk that they will be one of the ones to find success.
Having Sean Payton in Denver would have me elated, but I don't think that is a realistic option at this point. NFL.com just noted today that the firing of some of his assistants (including former Denver D-Line coach Bill Johnson) is a good sign that he intends to stay in New Orleans.
While there is about zero chance it will happen, I'd really like to see Josh McDaniels back in Denver. Despite much criticism to the contrary, he proved himself to be a fairly capable personnel man in his first stint here and I know that his failings here were a huge learning experience for him. He's an absolutely brilliant offensive mind who I think will be very successful when he gets another shot as a head coach.
Hell will freeze over before Mcdaniels comes back, both due in part to Mcdaniels and Bowlen not wanting anything to do with each other.
I think McD does not get enough credit for his personnel moves in his short time here. DT and Decker are great examples. Even Tebow was a good move because without the Tebow year (2011) there is likely no Manning era in Denver because Tebow put the Broncos back on the league's radar. A statistically dismal defense started playing lights out and to a man testified Tebow inspired them and that was a big part of Manning's decision to pick the Broncos.
McD will be a successful HC somewhere, just not Denver. Let's not forget why he was fired in the first place. While the 3-9 record didn't help his cause any, the cheating (if I'm not mistaken it was film of a Kansas City Chiefs practice but memory fades...) that was his real undoing. He won't be welcome in Denver.
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When the Broncos finish 9-7...
