Mercifully, the 2007 season is over for the Denver Broncos players, coaches, administrators, and for one of the deepest fan bases in the National Football League.
When the season began to take on that disappointing glow which ultimately would mark it, the campaign became a lot less fun for the fans to watch. It also became more difficult to work, because the frustration just mounts in direct correlation with wins and losses.
It is time now for all involved to take a deep breath, relax a bit, and then slowly ease into the new year.
Of course, the football operations department is heading into the very busy time of personnel evaluation, both ours and everyone else’s, and there are plenty of eager young unsigned players going to tryouts and hoping for contracts.
The Broncos already have signed a number of these young players who seem to the unititiated to be no-names — and we are all no-names until we make names for ourselves, with every season’s history full of young guys who became valuable players upon being given an opportunity.
We’ll continue to post blogs into the offseason, as the impulse and information strikes us, but this is a time for the teams that finished 7-9 to evaluate and reflect prior to moving forward, while the playoff teams get ready for each week’s games.
And each week, other teams will add the salt of disappointment to their own season, as we head toward only one team being supremely happy at the end.
For now, the players have checked out, and they are well into the process of enjoying free time, although the modern NFL player does not get far out of shape ever — the workout concept is just ingrained as part of a regular routine.
But January, February and most of March are the periods of greatest freedom for NFL players, before every team begins the offseason conditioning programs in earnest just before April.
We all have games that could have gone the other way, and every one has injuries.
In Denver’s case, that opened the door for a high number of young players to make an impression, which they did. Coaches and personnel people often say that the greatest jump in skill comes between years one and two, or two and three, and the Broncos have a plethora of players in that category.
That, plus you have to have a quarterback, and there is no doubt that the Broncos do.
There is a tremendous amount of optimism within this building that developing young talent and players returning from injury will combine with a few key acquisitions to make 2008 a year in which the Broncos return to contention.
Tags: Offseason, Regular Season
Well put mr J.S.
our guys did great from back of the office to the water boy, it is only selfish to ask for the ring every year, even the great Playmaker only delivered 2 in five trips to the great Game.I have been fun for over 19 years and only espect the other 3 Rings that Elway couldn’t get, then I can die in peace… our guys need to enjoy this months of vacation ,hung the press,hung the negativity. we will be cheering for our guys time and time again…..Go Broncos thanks for all the memories you guys did GREAT!!!
Respecfully Joram Pineda AKA POBLANO.
Please fire Jim Bates…….please.
All signs point to a successful 2008 season for the Broncos and I fully expect this to transpire. Check the history books, from time to time, the Broncos falter but mediocre seasons are always followed by successful ones. This will continue.
Can I say one more time that it is time to check in the Greek at the old folks home. He needs to hang up his stethoscope and take up cross word puzzles like every other 70 yr old sports enthusiast. He is bad news for the health of our players. Sit him next to Bates on the first bus/trane/plane heading out of town.
Are you quoting Antonopolous (time to rest, then move forward) because I think that is his silver bullet for every athletic injury. Indeed rest is a key ingredient to successful recovery from any injury, but the other ingredients have been forgotten by Mr. Antonopolous. Perhaps Shanny should administer some sort of recertification test or require CEUs for Steve to retain his position.
I’m stating all of this and all my other requests for Steves relocation due to the fact that we seem to have more injuries every year (for the past 7 seasons) than any other team in the league. We can’t stay healthy. Let him go but give him some sort of severance package. He’ll understand.
Please fire Jim Bates and Travis Henry
If I were given the choice to loose Javon or Travis I think almost everyone in Broncos Country would say bye to Travis. We have a very talented QB and our Line allows just about anyone to run. Unless we are able to get that receiver (forget his name) in the draft. I would like to see us pick up a skill player on the Defensive side (Safety, LB) with such a good draft choice. Oh and I really don’t like Ted, but I think it’s mainly because his posts don’t excite me as a football fan. Plus Bates is becoming a senile old man, but maybe his system would work if we had someone who could teach it.
Walker was a buy for us in his first year, but his injury could be as dangerous as Al Wilsons neck. I agree Derkey, I would rather loose Henry than Walker, as Stokley is a better slot WR. Walker and Marshall complement each other, better than say Moss/Stallworth or Fitzgerald/Boldin where one outshines the other. Cutler probably has one more year, but could be ripe in 2008/09!
thanks jim for your input here in blog world. i’m a year round fan so any posts during the off season are appreciated. i really don’t think this team is that far away from being a contender and there are many talented players on the roster. once these guys get some experience under their belts and get to know each other better the rest of the nfl will be in trouble.
we all do our own evalutions here in broncoland on what the team might need but of course we don’t have all the information which makes it great fun trying to guess what moves you will make. i know i speak for everyone when i say some moves just leave us scratching our heads for a while. it keeps me thinking about what thought processes went into those decisions and keeps me watching how they work out. i’m definately looking forward to the next 4 months of bronco football!
on a personal note , my wife’s maiden name is saccoman, her clan dropped the “o” when they came over from the old country to try and escape prejudice based on their country of origin.
happy new year ! go broncos!
well somebody please fire Jim Bates man he was a horrible hire. There are a couple people that we could go after like Rex Ryan, Ron Rivera or even, Rob Ryan
I totally agree I would rather lose TRAVIS THAN JAVON..AND I BELIEVE 2008 WILL BE ONE AWESOME YEAR FOR US!! Can’t wait to see the changes in the up coming months!!
This might not be the best place to ask or suggest this but I am posting it hopes Jim does see my post.
Is there any chance the Broncos will wear either their orange jerseys or throw back jerseys any time soon? I know the orange jersey isn’t a favorite of Shanahan because of the Raiders loss in 2004, but hasn’t it been long enough since then? Also, with the Broncos having such a long and storied past, I am surprised they have not thought about using the throwback jerseys at any point. It seems like every time I watch a Chargers, Cowboys and Steelers they have some form of an alternate or throwback jersey on. As a PR guy, I would think this is something you’ve thought of especially to bring interest and awareness to the Broncos. I would get a kick out of seeing Cutler and some of the other younger Broncos in the old Denver D helmets and orange jerseys, as I’m sure others would too.
there is a doctor in denver that may be able to fix Rod SMith’s hip.
Dr. Jo Ann Douglas does platelet rich plasma injections and prolotherapy to rebuild new ligament, tendon and cartilage tissue. There is no surgery or surgeon that can repair joint tissue. The broncos are under the care of sugeons who have no idea that tissues in joints can regenerate and even if they did, they wouldn’t do it because surgeries are much more lucrative and everyone knows it is all about the money. What I don’t understand is if I was a NFL team owner, I think I would do a little more research and find the best doctors for my assets……
We have some very good players, but mostly, we have some very pretty players that don’t seem to want to get to dirty. Denver needs to get back to the orange crush days and play some smash mouth football again. Shanny stop having work done on your face, Chicks dig Scars and winning football players get Scars!
If you want to get better on the defensive side of the ball, draft some big-uglies. It is no coincidence that Dallas, San Diego, and the Texans got better in a hurry.