The toughest part about giving someone the opportunity to do something for the first time is that you simply don’t know how well that person will do.
In the case of new Broncos’ head coach Josh McDaniels, I’m not overly worried.
The Broncos and the 32-year-old McDaniels made their relationship official on Monday and the new coach spoke with reporters at Dove Valley. He was confident; he was articulate; he was engaging.
Now he is squarely on the proverbial spot, which is just where he wants to be.
“Coach Shanahan is a legend in this game, a Hall of Famer,” McDaniel said. “It’s a privilege to follow his tenure here. I’m very much looking forward to following what he’s done.”
If McDaniels does, the desire many people have to see at least one more Lombardi trophy in the lobby of Dove Valley is just a matter of time.
“There’s a culture here; it’s about winning,” McDaniels added. “That’s been established. It’s all about winning and that’s what we’re going to do on a daily basis.”
That’s what the Broncos are counting on. And it wouldn’t surprise me at all if McDaniels and his new team do just that.
In many ways, I give the Broncos credit. They did exactly what owner Pat Bowlen said they wanted to do: Go in a different direction from the previous 14 years.
So they interviewed seven candidates, none of whom have been an NFL head coach. They bucked the popular opinion that their next head coach needed to be a defensive assistant. They zeroed in on one of the most respected young coaches, some people believe too young, and decided he was ready for the opportunity.
McDaniels addressed the age issue by saying that NFL players will listen to coaches who can help them win. Clearly Patriots’ quarterbacks Tom Brady and Matt Cassel didn’t have any issues with McDaniels’ youth. That alone is good enough for me.
And McDaniels also addressed the thought that he is only an offensive-minded coach. He has been a defensive assistant and he has spent countless hours studying defenses, searching for ways to exploit their weaknesses and break them down.
The Patriots were 42-12 in McDaniels’ three seasons as their offensive coordinator. That, too, is good enough for me.
There is no doubting the element of risk in the Broncos’ hiring Josh McDaniels. It is a risk I am glad they took. And I believe it will prove to be a risk well worth taking.
What do you like about the Broncos’ choice of Josh McDaniels? As always, thanks for posting and thanks for reading.
Best,
Mike
Tags: Denver Broncos, Josh McDaniels
He has not coached a game for the Broncos yet and people are anointing him as the greatest thing since sliced bread. He was not the sole reason for the Patriots success, just a part of it. He didn’t turn Matt Cassell into anything, they lost Brady and they missed the Playoffs.
I hope he comes in and wins more Super Bowls than we could ever dream about, but I’ll wait and see before I jump on the Josh McDaniels express.
Until you do better than the person who came before then you failed to do your job. (See any QB we have had since 1998)
In my opinion it was a mistake to fire Shanahan, the first thing Mr. Bowlen should have done was to get Mike to drop a few of his roles and concentrate on being the Head coach, at least for one more year.
Josh McDaniels will be the first Broncos Head coach in over 25 years who didn’t have John Elway at least for a few years during their tenure, so we will see what he can do with Cutler. Maybe he can get Cutler to play with some heart, and not worry about if his arm is stronger than John Elway’s, because so far he has been a bust. And when I say bust I mean no Playoffs, and not too many wins. He’s been Mediocre at best.
Jake Plummer did better and I could not wait for him to leave. Because just winning some games and getting a lot of passing yards is not the goal, winning the Super Bowl is
I’m thrilled with the choice of McDaniels. Jay is not one of those guys that won’t work with a new hc. They will be best friends by spring. Because he has the winning spirit. He knows McDaniels input will improve his incredible play! And that excites me. Don’t worry about Nolan. He will get rid of Bly and Company. Even rebuilding this years defense, the defense will be in the middle of the pack. Then to come is our next SB win. I’m excited about next season. And we do have a stud rb. Hillis is the real deal. A freak accident put him out. You could go give 20 million for a rb and the same thing could happen to him. Hillis gave up his body for the team and the game. He is a Hall of Famer in my book. He can last a full season and will. I would like to thank Bolen for this late christmas present. Every thing is going in the right direction, up. Can’t wait till preseason begins. Going to be a long spring and summer.
Welcome to Denver coach McDaniels! I am very exited about the future. If we keep a 4-3 D Lets get Ohio States MLB if we go to 3-4 lets get USC MLB either way definitly hope we keep D.J. Get rid of Bly. We are right around the corner of a championship!!
Will y’all please STOP comparing Cutler to that chump in NE Brady. Brady is good NOT great!
There is this constant myth that Brady has won three superbowls single handedly; the TRUTH is that he has ALWAYS been surrounded by awesome talent.
Cutler is twice the QB that Brady is.
With no disrespect to Shanny I am glad we went with change. I think if we get rid of some of the veterans and bring more younger guys where they can all grow together over the years this team will have an oppurtunity to be a dynasty.
Now what we also have to keep in mind is the fact that it is his first year, and we should not hold the pedastal up so high in his first year. That way if he does better then we have a confident fan base which can be huge at home field advantage. So many time this year the crowd just did not seem to be into it when they should have, and yes I understand their were alot of things to be bothered by.
I truly think this is the right direction for the defense. With Nolan at the helm we very well could see the “Orange Crush” come back to Denver and to me that is something to be very excited about. I am not so much worried about the guys they draft or pickup on FA as long as they are smart enough to pick up on the scheme. Nolan was very good at calling plays that snuffed out passes up the middle with Linebackers often times turned into INT’s.
But I agree with some of the other posters that said give the coaches a chance this season before we ridicule them. If Shanahan was going to do anything different he would have in the past 3 years, but he didn’t and he came out .500 each time. Which is not a losing record, but it was a record that made teams not worry about us and to me we need to get back to a stable Attack that will have an Impact in all aspects. And btw Nolan does a great job with adjustments hence the number of 4th quarter comebacks that Elway was a part of!
I don’t care if our defense runs a 3-4 a 4-3 or a 3-3-5 bly has got to go, i think josh bell has a lot of upside to him, if we keep him around and he works with champ he’ll be something great,
on a side note, whos another great saftey coming out of college since tayor mays is going to stay at USC for another year, i think we need to get a safety with our 12th pick, lol our D is so bad because if someone were to say we need to get a MLB with the first pick, or we need to get a DT or DE you wont be wrong we have a lot of holes to fill in, but my thoughts behind gettin a saftey first round is that there ready to play now, i think Bowlen is gonna pull the trigger and and go after a good DT or DE, so we can draft on in the 3rd round, Moss will probably get moved to a OLB witch i think is smart, he’s huge 6’6 265lbs last a big ole bull rusher, and if not trade him off for a 2nd or 3rd round pick,
Loincloth42, I totally agree with your blog. Cutler has talent, but what he seems to lack is Heart. I to am one of the many that questioned the whole coaching change. But I do think we needed some kind of change. Time will tell if this was the correct move or not. I do like his choice for a new Defensive coordinator.
Honestly!!! Jay has no heart? what Cutler have you been watching? Just because he is a salty kind of guy does not mean he has no heart. the only thing Cutler needs is to be a little more disciplined, even though I thought shanny was a great coach he pretty much let Cutler do what he wanted.
Our”O” great last year but with a little more consistency & discipline our offense can be the best in football. I only hope Josh will stick with the run and not become like the patriots and be a pass happy team. we have a great run blocking sceme & with a healthy back field we can be very productive.
BLY MUST GO!!!! along with Webster. Bly is a great guy but lets get honest he is terrible, he had about 2 good games this year & the rest of the time he was missing tackles & getting beat every possible way. I think it will take a couple years to get our “D” right but with the kind of “O” we have we can get buy as long as we dont give up 30+ points every game.
Lets hope ’09 is better than ’08 GO BRONCOS!
Just to quash the Rumor Rick Dennison is not LET GO infact He interviewed with Coach McDaniels yesterday, I just think He want’s a bigger and Better position like assistant HC or HC. I’m not sure He would stay for anything less. I hope He does stay and I hope He gets what He wants, However I read Coach McDaniels is also looking at former Broncos O Lineman and current Carolina OC Jeff Davidson to come in as new OC.
Seriously folks,
That WHOLE season was put on Cutler. EVERY time we had the ball, we HAD to score TOUCHDOWNS. The defense did NOTHING to help (except for a few select games). Cutler will be AWESOME in ’09.
Go Broncos ’09!!!
To all the nay sayer on Mike Nolan the year before He took over the 49rs they were 2-14, give Him some credit. It’s a good first hire
First off I think McDaniels is a great hire. There has been a lot of success around the NFL this season with rookie head coaches. I hope him and Cutler become great friends because just look at Tom Brady and how good he is, and that has a lot to do with McDaniels. I think Cutler also has more potential than Tom Brady ever had or has, Cutler can and hopefully will be the best quarterback in the league, along with Marshall and Royal being two of the top recievers. So I’m excited to see what McDaniels can do with this team. I also think that hiring Nolan was a good idea. I can not wait for next season!!
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exactly what should be said BucknBronco…agreed..who else in the league could have carried the offense without a stable running game (7 diffrnt backs)…Cutler will be amazing for years to come. We have the best O line, Titans only alllowed like 8 sacks, but they barely passed..I praise Cutler for carrying the load….
only thing I want to see out of him (when is on the sideline is to show a little passion) not just sit back on the bench, but actually stand up and enourage the whole team to compete to the very last second.
improve his interviewing skills,,lol
well, there it goes, Taylor Mays is off the draft charts, if only we could get Julius peppers or Haynesworth in the FA. Draft Mauluga if were going for 3-4, I would prefer him over Laurinittis,IDK, get a safety like Jermaine Phillips who’s going to be a FA (someone not affraid to make hits) or draft Orakpo and SS Patrick Chung.
Mike, JJosh McDaniels has done very well for himself in New England. He was ready to become a HC and comes with Belicheks (sp) blessing. The players responded well to him in NE. He comes from a Family that has coached football for generations. Congratulations to Coach McDaniels !! A great selection! The selection of Mike Nolan as Def Coord will pay off big dividends for us. Look forward to next season!
i agree with most off you, Nolan will be a turning point in this franchise and should be given the credit he deserves for the situations he has been put in. all our team really needs in the rest, and a solid running game to run out the clock so D can always be fresh, thats exactly what we need to control the games, getting some speed on the d would be nice too
why doesnt anybody talk about Aaron Curry from Wake forest. He is the best linebacker in college football and very versitile he could play strongside middle and weakside not that we need a weakside linebacker we have two good ones in dj and wesley. i agree with chung in the second though, orakpo should go higher then 12th. Have to try to get Curry with 12th if he is there
is atari bigby from the packers gonna be a free agent now that would be an upgrade in the secondary that and steal namdi from the raiders
cutler is a great player what bothered me most is in that san diego game it seemed as if his focus was on the beef, and not on the game. i think he should have calmed down and got into his groove instead it seemed he played like he was trying to prove to much. he forced plays and seemed to be very frustrated at times. in 08 we could not afford to let our offense have a bad game, and we allowed that to happen in week 17.
Thanks for all your posts…great discussion.
imready…I never suggested that Josh McDaniels reminds Mr. Bowlen of a young Mike Shanahan because I simply don’t know if that is the case.
What I said was, “They did exactly what owner Pat Bowlen said they wanted to do: Go in a different direction from the previous 14 years.”
This is unquestionably true. They had a coach in place for 14 years who had the final say on all football matters. Now they have a young, first-time head coach who will have input on personnel matters but not the final say. As Coach McDaniels said in his press conference, Jim Goodman will have that.
My point in talking about Coach McDaniels’ defensive experience was not to suggest that he prepared defensive schemes or is a defensive expert; rather, it was simply to note that he probably isn’t as inexperienced in dealing with defense as many people think he is and likely knows more about defense than many people think he does.
If someone has worked with an offense as successful as that of New England for several years, I think we can assume he knows at least a little about many defensive concepts. Ultimately, we both know that Mike Nolan will be the one who has to get the overall play of the defense to improve.
Finally, I have absolutely no idea what it means to judge someone on “journalistic smoke and mirrors.” I am being completely fair to Coach McDaniels by offering what I believe to be credible evidence that he will be a good head coach. And believe me, the fact I think he will be a good head coach doens’t put any more pressure on him than he is already putting on himself to get the job done.
I do agree with you in this respect: Time will tell how good of a job he does.
Mike
“junkyard”.. Jake Plummer was not a bad QB at all. not puny either. he’s not in the league because he retired. he was wanted and he was a good QB that took us to the championship game. ur wrong about him IMO.
reaper81 youre right about cutler. he needs to mature alot and i hope he does. you can see it in his body language sometimes he just loses his will. he needs to be disiplined for sure and i hope mcD supplies that. but no way do i want hackney starting. thats insane. he shouldnt even be 2nd on the depth chart. Niko is a special teams monster and thats all he needs to be. he is someone we need to keep. doesnt matter how he does as MLB as long as he’s decent, he’s here for ST. and he’s here to stay hopefully.
cutdown77 i dont know what youre on but i want some of it. to say Tom Brady’s not great is the height of insanity. he could be the best there ever was by the time he retires. thats just a fact.
I too hope our new HC instills some discipline into Cutler. he will be great but he does need it. and as far as Bly, we do need to get rid of him. hopefully we can trade him for a draft pick. i’m not a big fan of bell either and Nate Webster and Jamie Winborn should go. but unfortunately we may have to keep some of em depending on who we can bring in during the offseason. I’m likin where we’re goin with all this though. i can see some good seasons ahead of us. GO BRONCOS 2009!!!
McDaniels is already a star at 32 and will breathe new life into a team that has talent but has continued to under-perform and failed to meet its objectives.
Shanny is a great coach and will do a great job at a new franchise.
The most important thing now is to be patient and get behind Coach McDaniels. He needs to mould the team and make it far more than the sum of its parts. I am certain that Jay will find it particularly enjoyable to work with a young coach with a lot of experience which will broaden his knowledge and abilities.
I am expecting great things and believe McDaniels can be the catalyst to make Jay the greatest QB of all time.
I think he McDaniels will be a good fit for the Broncos. As an offensive coordinator he has to know about defense and to add he was a d cord. too. Look what he did with Tom and Matt from new england and with the talent our offence with eddie royal brandon marshall jay cutler our offense will stay up there and our d will deffinitly com along. I have no worries at all. Except for staying healthy. We always seem to have big injuries. I also hope we stay with peyton hillis!
I dont know about this hire, but we will see, i do know though with this hire and that of mike nolan we are bout to become the newest member of the 3-4 club, which will be a personnel nightmare for us, we have not a single d-lineman suited to the 3-4, and no hardnosed inside LB. however this may give us the opportunity to rehabilitate j-moss n dumervil as potential outside LBs that would seem to be more fitting to their abilities provided they are willing to adapt there could be something there. w our CBs set n 1 inside backer(dj williams) set if those 2(moss n dumervil) make a good transition to OLB we could concentrate on the 3 down linemen and safeties in the draft n free-agency. what do yall think
i see a lot of people hoping Hillis returns as the Rb, first let me say this, he did a remarkable job as the rb and must remain vital to the plans of the team. but an every down NFL back he is not. He is not even the best back on the team, that would be Ryan Torain w his exceptional size/speed combo but he definitely needs to drink his milk. now Hillis if his blocking improves can be something even deadlier a FB that can protect, run the ball and catch the ball thereby remaining on the field in all situations is an NFL rarity n something we may just have in hillis
Honestly we will be a great team if we we stay healthy we had 7 rb alone on IR and had to pick up one at the mall. (thanks T.Bell) lol but really think of all the injuries we had on D and we still managed an 8-8 record wich was surprising considering the health. I agree with the fact that Jay had everything on his sholders he made mistakes but John Elway made mistakes Brett Favre Tom Brady Kurt warner every QB does but Jay has the potential to be GREAT!! And i think he will be!