To my mind that’s been one of the biggest problems this year:

Ben Hamilton, our best run blocking guard and the only pulling guard to speak of, never played a regular season down; he’s been replaced by a second year guard making his first starts.

Tom Nalen, the lynchpin of our line, went out early and never returned; he’s been spelled for most of the season by a third year guard making HIS first starts.

Our remaining starting guard, Montrae Holland, has been healthy, but it’s still his first season as a Bronco. The only real stability we’ve had is Lepsis coming back strong from his season ending injury and sophomore Erik Pears showing what a great find he was at RT. That Cutlers sack numbers aren’t in triple digits and our rushing average is >1 is a tribute to Shannys “dafting”.

Rod Smith never played a down; Javon Walker played about a month and a half, and our leading receiver is another second year guy who, if his first two seasons are any indication, will be a star in the future, with the only concern being how to keep him under contract.

Travis Henry has been dinged most of the year, as well as having a lot of off the field distractions; judging by each backs rushing average, if Selvin Young is developing any kind of pass blocking skills at all I’d say he should be the starter (assuming HE can stay healthy).

So many people seem to think Gerard Warren belongs among the unbroken string of Shanahan draft mistakes (for all that he was actually a trade from Cleveland) but he didn’t look too bad the two times we played Oakland. Our porous run D surely could have used him, but the good news is Dumervil has 11 sacks (so far… ) and Tim Crowder has 4 despite missing the first part of the season and backing up Engleburger. Would I be happier if we still had Ebenezer Ekuban to chase down LT from behind for a loss like he did last year? You bet, but we don’t; naetheless, the ends we have are still pretty good, just like last year, but, just like last year, they still need DTs who can draw doubles and collapse the pocket or teams will just run up the gut all year (as they’ve done… ) when they don’t just put two blockers on every end and blitzing LB and throw it deep (see “OT hosting GB” ).

Which brings us to Messers Bates and Shanahan. IMHO, a head coach needs a MINIMUM of five years and an O/DC three to build a team that fits his gameplan. Bates has had 14 games. His philosophy is sound as far as it goes, but we don’t have the personnel to run it–yet. Give us an off season or two to acquire some EFFECTIVE run stuffing DTs and that should change; McKinley has played better than most expected, and if we can find a couple true cloggers to rotate in Adams’ spot next to him, we’ll have the makings of a very stout front four who can give our offense the ability to take advantage of our high rankings in passing and running.

What we CAN’T afford to do is fall into the trap so many mediocre teams do, having a revolving door of coaches who are always trying to turn players chosen by their predecessor to a new style. That’s an exercise in futility, and if you take a look around the League at teams that do that (e.g. the Cardinals) I’ll believe you’ll find that while their fans get what they demand in the short term (“FIRE THE BUMS!!!”) they’re still not happy because they don’t reach their long terms goals of finishing better than .500.

I’d still like another quality MLB to go with D.J. even if he HAS done what he required: Play well and never get hurt. But this is a very talented team whose biggest strength is also their biggest weakness (other than DT… ) : Youth. Young guards, young QB, young backs, young DEs. But all very talented, and all going to get better. We just have to grit our teeth, take our lumps for the present, and use the draft and free agency to fill a few holes and get back to the SB. Be patient, and don’t be a fairweather fan.

YOU R AN IDIOT!!

As are MOST of you here.

There r rational folks here that have made the points I would make here I’ll miss that interaction but honestly you fair weather fans make me madder than the Broncos do in a bad season!!

I’ll say one the thing I always say; It’s REALLY REALLY hard to win in this league and we have won and will win again, I’ll take our future over any team in the league! We’ve got the young integral pieces of the puzzle. If we were healthy we’d be competing THIS YEAR!

Most teams rebuild for years & years & YEARS! Don’t you get it?
Stick with Shanny, he KNOWS he needs help! He’s looking for it!

I’ll be true blue & orange even if we suck one day but we haven’t sucked in years!! How’d you jerks like to be Detroit fans?

Get a grip!

Now that I cleared that up, I do disagree with you about Jay. The kid is good, especially since he is still new to this. Look at the rest of his draft class. Jay’s stats are better, and so is his leadership. I admit that our team struggled this year, especially defensively and on special teams, but you can’t fault Jay or the offense for that. They have improved over the season even with injuries. They are just still young. John Elway is the greatest QB of all tiime in my opinion. Now I am biased since I love Denver, but I always ask myself if I had one series who would I want as QB. I always say Elway. John wasn’t very good his first few years, but you could see the potential. I honestly think Jay has been better his first 2 seasons than John. I’m not saying he will end up in the hall of fame, but he has done a good job.

I don’t like arguing, but sometimes your comments about Plummer drive me crazy. I’m assuming you are sarcastic about Plummer being good too. Either way though, I have to disagree with you about Shanny and most of the players on our team.

Have a good holiday.

The Lakers being ok? Well, they’ve had one quality player for the last two years and still Phil has managed to get them in the playoffs every single time. As Whitehoss said above, Phil and Joe are legends, Shanahan not so much.

I do manage a Fortune 500 company, and we are publicly traded but that doesn’t matter much, I just like the free time it gives me to rock and roll with all you all on the Mason boards!

But thanks, for comparing Shanahan to Rudy Tomjanovich! That was the best comment of the day! That’s exactly what he is. The RUDY T of the NFL. He shouldn’t even be in the SAME DAMN sentence with Phil Jackson or Joe Torre and I have reprimanded myself for that repeatedly for putting them in the same sentence!

Shanahan is a great coach, but he was a much better coach when Bowlen was sneaking around the cap rules to keep his multi-Hall-of-Famer powerhouse roster intact, wasn’t he? The playing field has been leveled since 1998 and he hasn’t gone to the Super Bowl since.

Still, LPP went a bit overboard with the coaches comparison…I don’t think anyone with half a brain could consider Shanahan the NFL equivalent of those two coaches. Shanny’s more of a Rudy Tomjanovich/Cito Gaston type…he’s got a couple of rings, but he’s not Top 5 or anything.

He still gets way too much leeway in Denver for “orchestrating” Super Bowls featuring a Hall of Fame QB, the best TE and RB in the league (both Hall of Fame caliber,) two All-Pro level wideouts (one of which might be a HoF candidate as well,) and a solid, tough defense (and by now we all realize Shanahan has NOTHING to do with team defense.) I don’t know if LPP could have coached that team to a championship, but he probably could have at least won the AFC with them.

Cmon, Denver. Cut the cord. Shanahan has been milking his “Denver’s Daddy” status for too long. Even if you don’t want him immediately fired, at least recognize that he’s not the coach he used to be and criticize his obvious mistakes.

Phil had great players? Joe had great players? SHANAHAN HAS JAY CUTLER! All you people on here think JAY IS THE SECOND COMING