Now 5-0 after a hard-fought, come-from-behind win over the Patriots on Sunday, Head Coach Josh McDaniels can really see his team buying into the “do your job” mentality.
“The players are confident, I think,” McDaniels said. “I think they trust our game plans, and I think we trust them to execute our game plan.”
Following the team’s dramatic win, Mario Haggan called the club’s confidence level “sky-high.” Nonetheless, he said everyone within the locker room realizes they have a lot of work to do moving forward.
“I think we’ve been confident for a long time,” he said. “I don’t think you can win a game without being confident. I just think people are starting to notice some of the things that we’ve done.
“We’re only 5-0, we’re not Super Bowl winners and we’re not in the playoffs,” Haggan added. “We’re just 5-0.”
Not only are coaches and players at Dove Valley echoing that sentiment, even Broncos legend Rod Smith, who was on hand for the 20-17 overtime victory, has noticed how well the team has been on the same page throughout its undefeated start.
“Those guys fight for each other,” Smith said. “Talking to some of the players, they said, ‘The one thing I love about our team is that it’s unselfish.’ Everybody on this team is really thinking about the guy next to them, and they’re making some things happen.”
Although victorious, McDaniels knows the Broncos have to clean up miscues committed in Sunday’s game if the team wants to walk away a winner in its divisional road game at San Diego in Week 6.
Once the team returns to the film room later in the week, he and the rest of the coaching staff will pinpoint those errors and hammer home the proper plan. Above all, McDaniels said he will make sure the team stays focused on the task at hand.
“As long as you understand where you are and what you are dealing with, which is we have won five games, (but) we didn’t play our best football game yesterday,” he said. “I think we played maybe one play better than they did, just a little bit better, and that is why we ended up winning the game. Certainly, we left a lot out there on the field in every phase. We can coach better. We can play better, and they will see that on the film. I don’t have to create that, and no coach on our staff is going to have to create it either because we just watch the film and that is the proof.”
Noteworthy:
McDaniels elected to give his team the day off on Monday. With a long week of preparation for next Monday’s AFC West clash with the Chargers on the horizon, he felt his players earned a much deserved day of rest, thanks to the come-from-behind victory.
“You try to give them a little bit of extra rest and also give them a little reward for playing a tough, physical game,” McDaniels said. “(We are) just trying to give them a little bit of a bone as we head into a long week because we are going to have a long week: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday practice.”
– Zach Eisendrath, DenverBroncos.com
Tags: Head Coach Josh McDaniels, Mario Haggan, San Diego Chargers, Week 6
Sure, there are better QBs out there, but there are more worse ones than better for sure. I was a major sceptic of Orton’s from the beginning and wanted him out….but each game he gives me more faith that he can be the go-to guy. He’s been improving every game. And I’d also rather see 15 plays for 92 yards (increased time of possession) and a score than 2 plays for the same to get in the red zone and choke, which is what cutler showed us all last year.
Trust me, I haven’t annointed Orton the next Elway by any means….and he’s still got a lot of improving to do. But he’s giving me a reason to cheer, not jeer and that’s all I can ask when our team is 5-0.
I appreciate the banter though! lol That’s what this blog is all about…..everyone is entitled to their opinion and as long as at the end of the day we’re all cheering for the broncos and want them to succeed, that’s all that matters!
GO BRONCOS!
Vabroncoguy,
I’m actually 13. Sorry for taking so long to respond, as I was geting in my morning workout and sorry for calling you a troll. I guess we can just say you don’t like the QB, even after he just had his best game of the season, thus far and the first regular season game he has played without the glove on. He was only nominated for air player of the week this week. I think also that his stats speak for themselves as he is the 8th ranked QB in the league with a 63% completion rate, over 1200 yards and 7.5 yds per pass play. I just guess I don’t see what you have to complain about. Granted he is no Cutler, but IMO I don’t really see what there is to complain about with KO so far. I am one very pleased fan with both the offense and the awesome defense. If the D keeps shutting out teams out in the second half of games, we should go deep into the playoffs. I’m not ready to say this is a SB team, but definitely headed in the right direction. Here’s the stats on KO if anyone is interested. http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&statisticCategory=PASSING&conference=null&season=2009&seasonType=REG&d-447263-s=PASSING_YARDS&d-447263-o=2&d-447263-n=1
If we had this defense last season, our D would be in the same position as the Bears D. Working even harder to keep us in games because Cutler is a gunslinger and he throws INTs. We’d be losing the turnover ratio, we’d be losing because Cutler put us in bad situations with is cannon. That’s neither here nor there.
We have San Diego and that’s all that matters, regardless who is on the field.
whitebronco#1
watched that clip. ya i think they are nervous but i also think they are very focused. hope we stay humble or they could cause us some problems come monday!
Go Broncos
“DEFENSES WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS”
CHECK THIS OUT! LOOKS LIKE BRANDON CAN BE A BRONCO FOR A LONG TIME STRAIGHT FROM PAT!
http://blogs.nfl.com/2009/10/13/broncos-bowlen-heaps-praise-on-marshall-mcdaniels/
Baylinor-
“Anyway, welcome to the club, young man, we have a lot of young fans here who are real knowledgeable and true Bronco fans like Dr. Chris and florio’s mom and many more.”
Thank you, I’m glad some one else can see this too. LOL
WOW! what a great team effort. I’m really happy with how this team looks. But like McD himself said, we made mistakes and have lots of room for improvement. We gotta always stay hungry for improvemt and can never be satisfied.
We have to take this one game at a time. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We can’t burn out in December (Cowboys). Ecspecially with the Chargers in our division. They really heat up down the stretch. Hopefully we will pull away so far it won’t even matter.
I think Orton is the 2nd best QB in the league today. (Behind Peyton Manning. Holy Cow that guy is putting up some crazy #s and W’s) This system looks better and better with him in it every week. As for this “the WR’s make him look good is a bunch of garbage. Last time I looked, this is a team sport. Its starts with Casey and the rest of the Oline. He sends off good snaps. The oline blocks the defense and gives orton time. Orton then makes his reads and acts accordingly. Then the WR’s or RB’s or TE’s make the play. See, team effort.
I’ve never seen teamates and coaches put SO MUCH trust in each other. Every time I think about the Broncos, I get a huge grin on my face. This team makes my happy.