The Sunsets are Orange, and I Still Don't Care

I

stopped supporting the Denver Broncos when Josh McDaniels was fired, supported the St. Louis Rams when he coached for them, and now support the New England Patriots. I also wished for professional success for certain players (e.g. Kyle Orton, Knowshon Moreno, Brandon Lloyd), but only wished for team success when they went to new teams. My NFL philosophy, now, is more about rooting for individuals instead of teams. Consequently, I have the contradictory task of rooting for the Pats (McDaniels), Miami Dolphins (Moreno), and Buffalo Bills (Orton). (In other words, everyone but the Jets.)

I realise admitting I'm a McDaniels supporter makes me look crazy to many Broncos fans, or those who perceive him as a sleeper agent sent by Bill Belichick to destroy the Broncos. In the first year after his firing, I got into a fair amount of arguments with them, but then, I've resisted responding to thoughtless jabs at the former. Today, though, I was spurred into thinking about the events that led up to why I quit on the team I loved so much, and realised I've never written (in detail, anyway) about one of the catalysts. I thought today, with the 2014 NFL season officially underway, would be a good one to revisit the day I quit on the Broncos.

Jake Plummer

Jake Plummer was my favourite Bronco by far when he was their QB, and even though they lost the AFC Championship game in the 2005 season, I always felt that was a magical season. Not only was Champ Bailey the best defender in the world that year, but Jake the Snake epitomised the creativity and excitement that I loved about football. He was the opposite of the sterile Peyton Manning of the world, and lacked spoilt persona NFL QBs tend to have.

Following that 2005 season, however, Jay Cutler was drafted, and the inevitability of Plummer's departure was all but written in stone. When the 2006 season started with Cutler on the bench and Plummer still starter, I convinced myself that maybe things would be okay. As it should be, the rookie would learn under the veteran, and Jake the Snake would once again get to lead the Broncos to the playoffs. That wasn't meant to be.
Broncos fans have always had a weird relationship with QBs. When you have John Elway for two decades, it becomes hard to see any successor without Elway colouring your view. Plummer couldn't escape Elway's shadow. When Cutler was drafted (he with the arm stronger than Elway's... or so they say), Plummer had Elway hanging over him, and a cannon-armed rookie tugging at his jersey. And then, with every game—and most crucially after two games in a row were lost—Broncos fans and media started clutching that jersey harder and harder. People didn't want Plummer anymore. Mike Shanahan, for all his power in Denver, couldn't resist. He benched Plummer, and the season died with Jake the Snake's career.

Josh McDaniels: How he Built the Broncos, and How he is Rebuilding the Patriots Offence

This article was originally written for Pats Pulpit. Because it is a blog focused on the New England Patriots, this piece was written with that in mind.

Misdirection, use of multiple players, running a multitude of plays out of the same packages. McDaniels' philosophy has always been to keep opposing teams on their heels. But his attempts to implement that philosophy have come under fire, both today and in previous years.

When we look at the team he was building in Denver and compare it with the one built by Shanahan, the difference was this:

Shanahan built a team that was top heavy, and had almost no depth

This meant that when the team was completely healthy, they would be supremely talented and difficult to beat. But the moment injuries occurred, cracks would start appearing. Because all the budget was going to the starters, little was left for the backups, who were, therefore, not very good (in fact, many of the players McDaniels cut from the 2008 Broncos team couldn't find jobs in the NFL afterwards).

It was a philosophy that depended on having its players overcome their predictability. Shanahan knew the team was predictable, but also knew that players like Terrell Davis and Champ Bailey were good enough to overcome it.

(As an aside, Shanahan's offence is also the complete opposite of McDaniels': it has a small number of plays, but runs them out of many different packages.)

McDaniels built a team that sacrificed top talent for top depth

This meant that when the team was competely healthy, they would have to rely on good coaching, game-planning, and playing mistake-free as well as smart football, since the top-level talent against a team like the Indianapolis Colts (who, incidentally, also followed the Shanahan model) would always be a step below, at least until young players started to mature. (Belichick's early Patriots teams are a good comparison, here.) But, what happens when the season gets long and players start going down? No problem. Because the backups were expected to play as well as the starters, the team would plug the next guy in and the machine would continue running.

This was a philosophy that depended on its players overcoming talent deficiencies through scheme and good old-fashioned hard work. The team may still have had enough talent to compete on that alone, but in order to be a Climax team (we will discuss the meaning of this later), they needed more than that.

Simply...

Links: McDaniels Returns to the Patriots, Officially

With the Denver Broncos set to meet the New England Patriots today, NFL pundits are double-checking their notes and rehearsing their predictable, hackneyed storylines.  Many Broncos players will be "facing" the man that brought them in, by which I mean they will be facing the Patriots, while the extent of Josh McDaniels' role is currently unknown and nowhere as expansive as the writers want us to believe.

Masshole Sports' response to Klis and the cries of cheating.

Now that McDaniels' return to the Patriots is official, opinions vary.  The few Chiefs fans that genuinely wanted him are despondent, the rest are jubilant, or masking their bitterness over losing out with jubilance.  Patriots fans appear overwhelmingly positive, save for the odd goof that, blaming the Super Bowl defeat against the New York Giants on McDaniels, belligerently opposes the move.  Others, like the Denver Post's Mike Klis (the article itself doesn't deserve your page view, so I linked to Pats Pulpit's excellent response instead), are screaming bloody murder because the cheating Patriots™ have circumvented the rules yet again, despite the fact that when the Dallas Cowboys did the same thing, no one cared.  They're not the cheating Patriots™, after all.  As for me, let's revisit what I last said:

Links: Update on Lloyd and McDaniels, One

In "Links: Lloyd and McDaniels and Carlin and Kroenke and Hewitt and Schadenfreude", I said:

Chemistry is a vital part of any successful team.  (One can just ask the New Jersey York Jets for confirmation of that.)  That's why it warmed my heart to read this story from STLtoday, about the relationship between a player, Brandon Lloyd, and coach, Josh McDaniels.  How often does a player find a coach that suits him perfectly, and vice versa?  I'll tell you: not very.  And, then, how often does that player admit that wherever that coach goes, he'll follow him?   Again, I'll tell you: not very.  It's remarkable to find an athlete that would rather take that chemistry over money, because he understands the value of a coach that knows how to use you.

Of course, I'm not surprised that this athlete would turn out to be Lloyd, a player that, when you hear him speak, exudes a surprising amount of thoughtfulness.

Now, speaking politically, this development has a fascinating consequence, if Lloyd is actually serious about following McDaniels.  Namely, whatever team hires McDaniels (or in the Rams' case, keeps him), will have the opportunity to get one of the best wide receivers in the NFL right now.  And, conversely, if that team doesn't want McDaniels, getting Lloyd will be trickier.  For example, we know the Rams want to re-sign Lloyd, but we also know McDaniels may not be on the team for much longer, so what do they do?  How much do they want Lloyd?

This is a problem worth considering and worth remembering.  Depending on how the 2012 NFL off-season progresses, we may soon be back here.

It has since been revealed that McDaniels is likely to join the New England Patriots.  I'll have more of an opinion on that when it's official, but I'm both excited and disappointed.  The Patriots will probably be an easier challenge than, say, the Kansas City Chiefs, and thus probably provide less room for growth, but can anyone blame him for preferring a less tumultuous location right now?  It's also worth mentioning that the Chiefs, when McDaniels talked with the Patriots, still hadn't asked the Rams for permission to meet with him.  Give credit to the Patriots here, they went out and got their man while the Chiefs twiddled their thumbs.

Regarding Lloyd, we may recall that the Patriots have attempted to acquire him before.   We don't know whether he'll want to sign with them, but this bodes well for both Lloyd and the Patriots, and I now believe they have the best chance of getting him - if they want him.

Links: Lloyd and McDaniels and Carlin and Kroenke and Hewitt and Schadenfreude

◷◺

With the 2012 election officially underway in the U.S., I want to send my sincere condolences to Americans everywhere. 

◷◸

We'll get properly underway with some personal pimping.  I've mentioned before that I was writing a piece for Mile High Hockey (it was originally two shorter ones, but morphed into one long one).  I've finally finished it and you can read it here.  If you prefer to read it on No. 0, I will be posting it here soon, after it has burned through on MHH.

As expected, the response to "Blanket Trends" has been fair, but underwhelming.  It feels, as expected, like an afterthought in the flavour-of-the-month morass.  And it has not, as expected, gained the traction I wished for it.  Honestly, I am disappointed with that.  I'm not feeling the familiar urge to pat myself on the back after a job well done, which means I'm feeling rather hollow.  Which, yeah, stinks.  But there's no use in whining about it.  Artists, whatever they are, don't choose how their audience responds to their work, no matter how hard (or not) they worked on it.

And, really, the frustration that comes out of learning that is a point of growth as one.  Because if you're not frustrated that what you're working on isn't popular enough, acclaimed enough, or understood enough, then you're either seriously underselling it, or never believed in it in the first place.  If you're content with your lot, then you've stopped growing.  You've very likely begun to stagnate and should start considering alternate occupations.

The pertinent quote here is the one Brian Forte took from Thomas Mann: "[a] writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people".  Were this journey easy, the path would have been a tad more crowded.  Alas, it's rather lonely, and if you're feeling similarly hollow that no one gets your masterpiece, take this advice: suck it up, because clearly we're all dumbasses for not getting it.  And I mean that.

Links: a Dash of McDaniels; a True Coach; a Continental Difference; as Many Concussions as You Can Spare; and One Lemon

Prepare yourself: this will be a sports-heavy edition.  Go!

◷◺

Adam Schefter, the only writer on ESPN worth your time (and it's not even close), points out that Broncos fans elated with the recent successes of Tim Tebow should thank the man responsible for putting him in a Broncos uniform: Josh McDaniels.  I briefly discussed this here; for those too lazy to click, what I said:

Everyone derided McDaniels’ “personnel skills” in the most egregious of ways: by judging them before the decisions had time to mature, i.e. judging a draft a year later, and players before they've had a chance to learn the playbook. But now, those questionable decisions are maturing, and going against the opinions held about them.

When he was fired, the common idea was that he was a good coach, but just bad with personnel. Now that those previously-derided decisions are working out, does everyone change tack and agree that he knows personnel but is a bad coach? Or do we admit that he, Zeus forbid, actually knows what he’s doing?

It’s a sad irony that Fox is winning with the players McDaniels gave him. When he was fired, everyone said Denver was going to feel his influence for years. No one thought it would be positive.

And that's all I'll say on the matter.

Final Thoughts on 2011 NHL Draft

Okay, I may not approve of the Avs' drafting strategy or wished for these particular players, but that doesn't mean I hate the new guys.  As Avs, they have, at the very least, my respect, and from this day forward, I will cheer for them and wish nothing but success.  (Wishing failure on someone, for what it's worth, is one of, if not the, most despicable things one can do.)  After all, if they're winning, we, as Avs fans, are winning, too.  It's a win-win!  So, welcome to the Avs, Gabriel Landeskog, Duncan Siemens, Joachim Nermark, Garrett Meurs, Gabriel Beaupre, Dillon Donnelly!

My only reservation (besides the individual ones) is this:

When Duchene was drafted, there was an audible buzz.  I don't know why, but you could just feel that something special was coming out of the '09 draft.  With Landeskog, I don't feel it.  In the end, I think drafting Duchene at #3 will present higher value to the Avs than drafting Landeskog at #2 will.  That's a shame, considering it's a higher pick, but what can you do?  That's the draft for ya.  Every year is different.

(Incidentally, a large complaint amongst Broncos "fans" looking for another reason to hate McDaniels was the perception and problem that he was drafting character and leadership over skill.  Something to think about.*

*Of course, ultimately, McDaniels will be proven right.)

The McDaniels Approach to Deferrals and Gameplanning

This was originally written for Turf Show Times, in response to a comment by member OcRamfan. 

Pine Tree

I don't know why, but the past few days have really thrown me through a loop. And I really don't know why, but I just feel very shitty because of it. Every time I check in on IAOFM, I feel my chest sinking deeper, like the time my mother was in hospital. I'd go in hoping to see her feeling better, and every day she was, but I'd always leave knowing that she was still back there, alone in her room, surrounded by medical equipment, where something could suddenly go wrong, and the next day I'd be back, with the same hope going in and the same distraught feeling going out.
Fortunately, she got out feeling better (I hope) than when she went in, and I hope (yeah) that eventually I'll be able to look back at my current state of emoness (yeah, yeah) with hearty amusement, but for now, bleh.

Maybe I'm unwillingly partaking in a faux-utopian movie where everything suddenly reveals itself to be not as I perceived it, and it's all actually very dystopian, and I, being the myself am and being the only one that can see through the insanity, have to figure out a way to fix it, but all that I can think of doing is to kill Scott Tenorman probably not do any killing. I dunno. For some reason - perhaps it's because I've gotten too attached and invested so much effort in proving people wrong about McDaniels - Josh's tenure in Denver ending in this way does not compute in my logic-processing unit. It doesn't comply with my world-view. It just doesn't... fit, make sense, work.  Now it's a reality, and my world-view has to adjust to this change.
I put a lot of trust in my belief that Bowlen and the Broncos would be patient, at least give him a chance; but my faith turned out to be misjudged.

Anyway. I'm not overly fond of the above picture... I mean, it looks kinda cool; there is something there, be it the framing of depth of field, but when you look at it up close, it's just not that special. That is, until you really look at it. Something I didn't catch in Remains of Pine Tree's Lopped Branch was that the stump has something dribbling down its chin, and here you can finally see it - as well as the scale of our tree.

Links: Gut Reactions: Action Without Action

TJ "The Dude" Johnson of It's All Over, Fat Man! hits a six with his thoughts of the past two days' developments.

Let me see if I can get this straight.    Ellis admitted that the organization burdened Josh McDaniels with too much responsibility;  he admitted that the organization had not intended to give McDaniels so much power, but that it somehow had "evolved" to that point;  he admitted that McDaniels would end up being an excellent and successful head coach in the league; he admitted that McDaniels was in the top of the league in game-planning; he admitted that the organization needed to do more to help McDaniels with all the responsibilities that came with being a head coach.

So the best course of action was to send the guy packing. 

In Arrested Development, Gob Bluth always makes rash, poorly thought-out decisions, and afterward, he'll pause, consider his error, and exclaim, "I've made a huge mistake!" Of course, the next time, he'll make another poorly thought-out decision, and again exclaim that he's made a huge mistake.

There is going to be this point in our future where we will stop, consider this period, and exclaim, "We've made a huge mistake!" This poorly thought-out decision where the Broncos admit that they don't even have a plan for the future will haunt us. The only thing the Broncos can do now is hope that when the dog comes back to bite you in the gluteal muscles, it won't be too angry about that newspaper you used on it and in two years we don't end up sitting here again, like Gob Bluth, exclaiming without irony that we've made another huge mistake.

The full article: Gut Reactions: Action Without Action

Thoughts, 07.12.2010

After doing some research, it's become clear that Bowlen is the one that told McDaniels trade Jay Cutler, and let him take the criticism for it; Bowlen is the one that showed a lack of confidence in Kyle Orton and told McDaniels to draft Tebow; and Bowlen is the one that told McDaniels to play Tebow instead of Orton - despite the fact that Orton is having the greatest season for a QB in Broncos history.
Pre-McDaniels, it's also possible that Bowlen is the one that wanted Shanahan to draft Jay Cutler, and made him start him over Jake Plummer, who had led the Broncos to the AFC Championship game.
Bowlen also wanted Dan Reeves to play the young John Elway over Gary Kubiak, who had played in Reeves' system in college and knew it better than John.

It's also evident that Bowlen doesn't want an outsider leading the Broncos (which brings up the question of why he hired Josh in the first place). This stems from the beginning of his ownership with the Broncos, every hire he's made has come from within - they were always coaches that had been with the Broncos. This is why it's not a surprise that we're told that Bowlen wants to hire the aforementioned Kubiak, who, though his head coaching tenure in Houston has been utterly mediocre, has been with the Broncos from 1983-2005 and as such is preferable to the unfamiliar McDaniels.

This last fact is what makes the affair worse. The Broncos promised Josh a chance to come in and implement his system. They knew that it was a complicated system that took at least 2 years before it would bear its fruits, and they knew that Josh was young and would require some patience. But they did not show it. And unlike Shanahan, where Bowlen waited and waited and waited for results, McDaniels did not even get his chance. Now, Bowlen wants to hire someone with whom he is familiar, but this person has none of McDaniels' talent and understanding of the game (Kubiak is an offensive guy, whereas McDaniels also focused on defense and special teams).

They're trading familiarity for the endless possibilities of an outsider. That's ultimately it. Josh was an outsider in a land that didn't take kindly to outsiders.

Broncos fans never accepted him from day one. The media never accepted him and tried to run him out of town (just read the Denver Post for proof). And, worst of all, the Denver Broncos never accepted him. No matter what, he'd never be embraced by that city. And that's a fucking tragedy.

Now, players are going to lose their jobs. Coaches are going to lose their jobs. Orton is a dead duck. Tebow will be thrown into the fire by a coach that has no idea how to play him. The offensive line will be torn down. Champ Bailey's leaving. Brian Dawkins will have wasted the final years of his career playing for Bowlen's team. Elvis Dumervil's future is now in question. DJ Williams may have to switch positions again. And Knowson Moreno will have to learn a different system for the third time in his three-year career (next year). And the Denver Broncos have become the Oakland Raiders. Three coaches in two years. No trust in your head coach. No trust in your players. No stability. Cellar dwellars in the bottom-feeding AFC West.

Josh had no chance. And for this, I will never forgive the Denver Broncos organisation, the city of Denver, and media of the city of Denver. Today, I am ashamed to call myself a Broncos fan, and I don't know whether I want to continue to be one.

An Update to the Orange Story (With Another Update)

An intriguing development (with some intriiiiiiiigue).